By DPA
New York : A divided UN Security Council voted 10-0 to establish a tribunal for suspects in the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.
The decision Wednesday was denounced as unlawful by the five members who abstained, but the fact that it was allowed to pass indicated the good will of the United Nations to do all it can to bring justice in the murder cases.
The tribunal would try those responsible for the February 2005 murder of Hariri and at least 16 other political assassinations of Lebanese politicians and journalists who opposed Syria's military occupation of their country.
Five of the 15-nation council abstained: China, South Africa, Qatar, Indonesia and Russia. Those five countries said the council, by adopting a resolution to create the tribunal, violated international law and create legal problems for the tribunal.
"The UN cannot bypass the Lebanese constitution and contravenes its own decision to respect the sovereign and territorial integrity of Lebanon," said South African Ambassador Dumisano Kumalo. "The vote undermines international law and sets a precedence."
But council members who supported the setting up of the tribunal said the decision was in response to the Lebanese government's request to create the court.
US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, the current council president, said Prime Minister Fuad Seniora had asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the council to set up the tribunal with a binding resolution. Seniora and his government was divided over the issue, which deadlocked in parliament between pro- and anti-Syrian legislators.
"We have preferred that the Lebanese ratify the agreement and statute for the tribunal," Khalilzad said. "But we know that it was not possible. No one can say that the Lebanese government, the secretary general or the Security Council failed to pursue every possible options short of council's action on the tribunal."
The council's creation of the tribunal was denounced by Qatar, China, Russia, South Africa and Indonesia as lacking the legal basis, a charge that would make it more difficult to carry out its legal functions to try those implicated in Hariri's murder and subsequently the Lebanese assassinated for their anti-Syrian views.
Those abstaining countries also denounced the three countries – France, Britain and the US – that initiated the resolusion for ignoring their pleas to change the draft resolution and for rushing the vote.
While criticizing the draft, the five countries all supported a tribunal to try the murderers and fight impunity.
Syria, as expected, said the tribunal would go against international law. In Damascus, a Syrian media source said Wednesday evening, following the vote in New York, that "there is no change with Syria's stand" towards the international tribunal for Lebanon.
The source told Syrian Arab News Agency SANA "establishing this court under Chapter 7 of UN Charter is a violation of Lebanese sovereignty that might lead to more deterioration in the situation on the Lebanese arena."
The resolution was adopted under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, making it binding on UN members to implement it.
It gave Beirut until June 10 "to notify the UN in writing that the legal requirements for entry into force have been complied with." The requirements had been agreed between the UN and Beirut and are contained in a document attached to the draft resolution.
The resolution would enter into force the day after Beirut informed the UN in writing.
The resolution said the site of the tribunal would be decided in consultations with Beirut and the country that will host it. Expenses for the tribunal would also be borne by UN members unless Lebanon can take that responsibility.
The proposed tribunal has provoked a tense political standoff in Lebanon, where pro- and anti-Syrian factions have been unable to agree on the tribunal's establishment. Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Seniora asked the UN to do so instead.