BEIRUT, 25 March 2005 — The United States called on Lebanon yesterday to hold internationally monitored elections on time and warned that the world would hold accountable all those who resort to violence to destabilize Lebanon.
“Elections must move forward — free and fair elections in the presence of international observers — in their scheduled time. That should be the priority,” Deputy Assistant Secretary of State David Satterfield told reporters in Beirut.
Satterfield said a prompt parliamentary election would create a “different political environment” in Lebanon, which has been dominated by Syria for three decades.
Satterfield is in Lebanon to push for a rapid withdrawal of all Syrian troops on a declared timetable, the US Embassy said. He was speaking after meeting Maronite Christian Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir, who is a key opposition figure.
Damascus bowed to international pressure to withdraw its forces from Lebanon after the Feb. 14 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri prompted street protests.
Syria, which poured troops into Lebanon early in its 1975-1990 civil war, completed the first phase of a troop withdrawal last week by removing at least 4,000 troops.
But further troop movements are on hold pending a meeting of Lebanese and Syrian officials in early April on the fate of up to 10,000 soldiers who remain in eastern Lebanon.
Lebanese protests also brought down the Beirut government, creating a political crisis with elections only weeks away.
The anti-Syria opposition has refused to join pro-Damascus loyalists in a unity government. Failure to form a government by around April 10 could delay the May parliamentary elections. Referring to recent bomb blasts targeting Christians, Satterfield said: “This violence has no excuse and all those responsible will be held accountable. The international community will hold responsible all those involved — individuals, organizations and governments.”
Lebanese President Emile Lahoud said yesterday he was considering an appeal to international and Arab bodies to determine who was behind the assassination of Hariri.
“I am determined to employ all efforts, use all means and to rely on all international and Arab bodies to get at the truth,” Lahoud said in a statement.
He said he was prepared to “severely punish all perpetrators, managers, partners, accomplices and those who have been incompetent.”
The Lebanese opposition and the Hariri family have been demanding an international commission of inquiry into the assassination and have rejected an Arab-led investigation.
Despite denials by authorities here and in Damascus, the Lebanese opposition has accused Lebanese and Syrian security agents in the assassination.
The Lebanese judge who had been charged with carrying out a probe, Michel Abou Arraj, stepped down Wednesday, citing a heavy workload at Beirut’s criminal court.
A United Nations fact-finding team, made up of Irish, Egyptian, Moroccan and Swiss investigators, has in addition completed a mission here and reported to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Annan said Wednesday he would release the report “within the next few days” but added that “a more comprehensive investigation may well also be necessary.”
Veteran Druze politician and opposition leader Walid Jumblatt said last week he had learned that the UN team had determined that Lebanese authorities had “concealed data” in connection with the Hariri investigation.
Hariri’s sister Bahia, a deputy from the southern Lebanese town of Sidon, has said the UN report would be a “turning point” in the probe.
— Additional input from agencies
