LCCC NEWS BULLETIN
MARCH 23/2006

Below news from miscellaneous sources for 23/03/06
UN moves toward special court for Lebanon killings-Reuters
Lebanese PM lauds Hezbollah's role in liberating Lebanese-Islamic Republic News Agency
Hezbollah pledged to secure the release of Lebanese jailed in Israel-Jewish Telegraphic Agency -
Lebanese president vows to stay in office-Jerusalem Post
Lebanon: UN envoy continues regional mission on eve of new-reconciliation talks-UN News Centre
Very crucial weeks for Middle East, says UN envoy-AsiaNews.it
Lebanese leaders resume push to break political deadlock-Middle East Times
Lebanese leaders meet again but deal out of reach-Washington Post
Hariri trial might be outside Lebanon-Jerusalem Post
Sfeir in full support to any initiative that leads the country-AsiaNews.it
Below news from the Daily Star for 23/03/06
Annan urges international court in Hariri case
Explosives uncovered in Sidon's Khan al-Ifranj souk
Participants fail to reach agreement on presidency issue
Medical aid group brings care to camps
NDU students overcome security to get advocacy group onto campus
Finger-pointing mars panel with Hizbullah, March 14 Forces
Saudi ambassador: Only Lebanese can solve their own problems
Regional timing key to resolving presidency  
Sfeir warns against street protests to oust Lahoud
Annan reports on the formation of an international tribunal to try those accused of Hariri's murder
Syria summons Khaddam-AFP
The poverty lurking in Beirut's suburbs-By IRIN News.org
Syria's about-face on Khaddam has the air of political expediency
From dialogue to epilogue in Beirut -By Michael Young
Hamas calls on MPs to approve Cabinet, despite PLO objections

Press Release from NEAL
Boston, Massachusetts - March 21, 2006
As Lebanon buries the remains of some of its soldiers who were unearthed in mass graves left behind by the Syrian regime and its local proxies during 15 years of occupation, the Lebanese government has displayed a callous disregard for the dignity and the feelings of the soldiers' families who have waited for years to learn about the fate of their loved ones. Very few members of Parliament and the government have attended their funerals or expressed their condolences to the families.
Those soldiers - as well as others uncovered in the same and other mass graves and that have yet to be identified by DNA testing - are the unsung heroes of the War of Liberation that culminated in October 1990 by the toppling of the free and legitimate Lebanese government of then-Prime Minister Michel Aoun by the Syrian air force. They died fighting for their country, shot in cold-blooded murder by the invading Syrian soldiers, and were buried in this case in a mass grave on the grounds of their own Ministry of Defense.
Their own military and political leaders were cowards and traitors who knew about these mass graves but preferred to remain silent, not only out of fear for their own lives, but often more out of concern for their positions and the lucrative collaborations they entertained with the Syrian occupier.
These are war crimes that will be investigated, like all the other mass graves whose exhumation was deliberately botched by the Lebanese government in violation of international norms, and in complicity with the government's former Syrian masters only to cover for the atrocities that the Syrian regime and its allies - from the Hrawi-Hariri to the Lahoud-Hariri governments - committed.
The families of the soldiers and all the other heroes whose remains will be identified in the future from the many mass graves of Lebanon should be compensated by both the Lebanese and Syrian governments. Those responsible for committing the crimes and their accomplices should pay the price under the law. Let no one forget that these crimes were committed and covered up by many in the Lebanese political establishment who today claim to be liberators and "anti-Syrian" politicians.
We owe it to our country, and we owe it to our soldiers, and we owe it to our people to preserve the dignity and the rights of our soldiers, even if it is after decades, and even in their death. For how can we rebuild this country of ours, if the dignity and rights of every single Lebanese citizen - particularly those who give their lives to their country - are not upheld?
If the Lebanese government - and the "February 14 majority" from which it derives its legitimacy - wish to prove their "anti-Syrian" label and demonstrate their willingness to confront their past, they must immediately:
- Issue a public call to the Syrian regime to release all Lebanese prisoners held illegally in Syria's jails.
- File an official request with the United Nations Security Council to enter the issue of the Lebanese detainees as a condition for a full implementation of all outstanding resolutions on Lebanon, including resolution 1559.
- All ongoing investigations by the Brammertz commission into the assassinations of Lebanese political figures must include an investigation of the existence of hundreds of Lebanese detainees and missing in Syria.
How can the political and media leaders of Lebanon claim to have any moral fiber if they make an issue out of the assassination of a handful from among their ranks, but not out of the detention and death under torture of hundreds of ordinary Lebanese citizens? Particularly when the suspect is the same Syrian regime with whom they collaborated for 15 years, but turned against it when it killed one of them?
New England Americans for Lebanon.
 

22 March, 2006
LEBANON
Sfeir’s full support to any initiative that leads the country out of its current crisis
by Youssef Hourani
Third round of talks in the national dialogue begins today. It should focus on the presidency and Hezbollah’s disarmament, but it might be suspended till after the Arab summit in Khartoum.
Beirut (AsiaNews) – Maronite patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir has pledged his “full support” to “any initiative that leads the country out of its current crisis”. Speaking on the eve of his departure for Rome where he will take part in the Consistory, the Patriarch said he was opposed to “the use of any violent language against the president of the Republic”.
He said he hoped that the ongoing national dialogue would progress, calling on participants to assume their responsibility before history and warning against the danger of using force.
He also expressed his support for new elections under legislation that is fairer and more representative, adding that everyone should learn from history.
Today, the third and most difficult round in the national dialogue opened but was suspended immediately. At its core is the fate of sitting President Émile Lahoud and, in accordance with UN Resolution 1559, the disarmament of militias, in particular Hezbollah’s.
For the daily L’Orient Le Jour, the atmosphere is particularly charged. The paper reports that the meeting was suspended partly because Saad Hariri, one of the 14 leaders involved in the national dialogue, is currently in Saudi Arabia.
Other sources say that the talks will resume after the summit of Arab heads of state in Sudan on March 28-29 which will also deal with this the Lebanese problem.


UN moves toward special court for Lebanon killings
Tue Mar 21, 2006
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is ready to begin talks with Beirut on creating a special court to try suspects in the 2005 murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, he said on Tuesday.
In a report to the U.N. Security Council, Annan suggested the 15-nation body adopt a resolution authorizing him to launch formal negotiations aimed at establishing an international tribunal that probably would be located outside Lebanon.
Based on security concerns, the Lebanese authorities fear such a tribunal would not be able to operate inside the country, he said. "It will be necessary to carefully and fully consider this issue."
He recommended the court have both Lebanese and foreign judges and staff, with the appropriate balance to be determined based on location, financial arrangements and other factors.
An international tribunal would be very costly, but the authorities have said in preliminary talks that prosecuting those behind the deadly attacks on Hariri and others "could contribute to returning the country to stability and putting in place the conditions for a durable peace," Annan said.
Exploratory talks have already taken place between U.N. Legal Counsel Nicolas Michel and Lebanese judicial authorities after Prime Minister Fouad Siniora wrote Annan in December requesting help in bringing Hariri's killers to justice.
Hariri and 22 others were killed in a February 14, 2005, truck bombing in Beirut that U.N. investigators concluded could not have been carried out without the approval of top-ranked Syrian security officials, working with their Lebanese counterparts.
Syrian officials have denied that President Bashar al-Assad's government was involved in the assassination.
The U.N. investigative commission led by Belgian Serge Brammertz is also assisting Lebanese authorities in probing a string of other assassinations targeting critics of Syrian involvement in Lebanon.
Hariri's death has already altered the Lebanese landscape, triggering international outrage and protests in Beirut that forced Syria to withdraw its troops from the country after a 29-year presence.



Lebanese PM lauds Hezbollah's role in liberating Lebanese territory Brussels, March 21, IRNA
EU-Lebanon-Hezbollah
Lebanese Prime Minister Minister Fouad Siniora met European Union foreign affairs ministers in Brussels Monday to discuss the situation in Lebanon and the country's relations with the EU within the framework of the Council of EU Foreign Ministers which held its regular meeting Monday.

He also separately met EU Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner and EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana later in the evening.

"This visit that I am having is really to keep everybody aware of the developments that are taking place and at the same time to prepare for the Beirut conference for the support of Lebanon," Siniora, who arrived here Monday morning at the head of a delegation including several ministers, told reporters.

"There are no political conditions to this meeting. What we are trying is to come up with a reform programme that is credible to us and to the international community," he said.

For her part, Ferrero-Waldner said the national dialogue and the reform agenda are the right way forward to a better future for Lebanon.

"We support the national dialogue wholeheartedly," said Solana after talks with the Lebanese prime minister.

In reply to a question on the role of Hezbollah, Siniora said:
"Hezbollah is a Lebanese party and it's well represented in the parliament as well as in the government and Hezbollah has played a very important role in the past in liberation of occupied lands by Israel."
He said there were two remaining issues: one having to do with the crisis at the level of the president and the second with the armed presence of Hezbollah in Lebanon.

"These will have to be discussed in the coming meetings of the national dialogue and this in line with the setting up of a national strategy for defendingn Lebanon. This matter is proceeding in the right manner."
The EU is calling for disarmament of Hizbollah and other armed groups in Lebanon .

The EU Council, in a statement, said it values the importance it attaches to the full implementation of UNSC Resolution 1559, including disbanding and disarming of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias.

The Council expressed its support for Lebanon's unity, stability and independence, and reminded its neighbors of their obligation to respect Lebanon's sovereignty.

EU-Lebanese relations are expected to deepen in the next few weeks when the Association Agreement enters intro force on April 1.

The Association Agreement provides a comprehensive framework for the economic, political and social dimensions of the EU-Lebanon partnership.

The main aim of the Association Agreement is to create a free trade area between the EU and Lebanon over a period of 12 years and help increase economic growth.

An Interim Agreement allowed the trade and trade-related provisions to enter into force as of March 2003.

The first meeting of the EU-Lebanon Association Council will take place on April 11 in Luxembourg and will become the main feature of an EU-Lebanon political dialogue in the future.



Hezbollah firm on prisoners
Hezbollah pledged to secure the release of Lebanese jailed in Israel.
“The day or night will come when we will fulfill our promise to the detainees and return them to freedom,” Hezbollah chief Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said in a Beirut speech Monday.
In 2004, Israel freed hundreds of Arab security prisoners, including several Lebanese, in exchange for the repatriation of an Israeli hostage held by Hezbollah and the bodies of three Israeli soldiers killed in a border ambush.
But a leading Lebanese terrorist remains jailed in Israel, where security sources say his release could be contingent on Hezbollah supplying information on the whereabouts of missing Israeli airman Ron Arad.


Lebanon: UN envoy continues regional mission on eve of new reconciliation talks

Terje Roed-Larsen
21 March 2006 – Ahead of tomorrow’s resumption of multi-party talks in Lebanon aimed at bringing about national reconciliation, a senior United Nations official today conferred with senior officials of Qatar, a key regional player.

“Qatar, which currently represents the Arab Group in the Security Council, has long played a very positive role in the Middle East and exerts important efforts to help stabilize the region,” UN Special Envoy Terje Roed-Larsen said in praising his hosts.

“It was for this reason that Secretary-General Kofi Annan dispatched me to Qatar, in addition to my previous stops in Saudi Arabia and Egypt and to my next station, Jordan,” he added of his talks with Qatari Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassem and other senior officials.

Mr. Roed-Larsen is Mr. Annan’s Special Envoy for implementing Security Council resolution 1559, which calls for withdrawing all foreign forces from Lebanon, holding free elections, disbanding all militias and extending Government control over the whole country.

While the first two goals were achieved last year with Syrian withdrawal and parliamentary elections, the Security Council has called for a dialogue on the second two, and earlier this month the Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, Nabih Berri, officially initiated the first round of the so-called Lebanese National Dialogue, a move Mr. Annan welcomed.

“The Dialogue has already yielded important agreements, and we look forward to its next stage,” Mr. Roed-Larsen said today. He also discussed wider Middle East issues, underscoring the fragility of the situation in the region and emphasizing in this context the importance of the Lebanese dialogue.



Lebanese leaders resume push to break political deadlock
March 21, 2006

BEIRUT -- Lebanese political leaders are on Wednesday to resume their drive to break a deadlock on the disarmament of the Hizbullah militia and the fate of the country's pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud.

The chairman of the conference, parliament speaker Nabih Berri, has said that the forum would carry on for as long as it takes to thrash out these issues, "even if this means weeks, or months".

After an eight-day break in the meetings between leaders from across the political and religious spectrum, the question of the presidency, however, will be discussed behind the scenes rather than in open sessions, he said.

Lahoud, who has been under mounting pressure by the anti-Damascus parliamentary majority to resign, repeated on Saturday that he would hold his ground.

"If I quit now, it might be thought that I was a traitor, or that I had violated the constitution," he said.

Also over the weekend, Fatah's chief in Lebanon said that his Palestinian faction would round up weapons from refugee camps amid growing calls for militias in the country to be disbanded in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1559.

"We have decided to collect all the weapons we possess, including individual arms, and put them in secure places [inside the camps], in accordance with the wishes of the inter-Lebanese dialogue conference," said Sultan Abul Aynain.

On March 12 the forum struck an accord on normalizing ties with former powerbroker Syria that were thrown into turmoil by the February 2005 assassination of Lebanon's ex-prime minister Rafiq Hariri.

"Participants want relations between Lebanon and Syria to be as equals, based on the establishment of diplomatic relations and embassies and demarcating Lebanese-Syrian frontiers," said Berri.

Prime Minister Fuad Siniora has been tasked with holding talks with Syria, centered on the Shebaa Farms sector where the Lebanese, Syrian and Israeli borders meet.

Lebanon wants an official demarcation of its border with Syria.

But it has decided to await the results of an Arab summit being held next week in Khartoum that could advance the healing process between Beirut and Damascus, which a UN probe has implicated in the Hariri murder.

The economic crisis in Lebanon, whose public debt amounts to a whopping $38 billion, is not officially on the conference agenda but it has been making inroads.

The main parties in the parliamentary majority, headed by Saad Hariri, the slain premier's son, and Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, want the forum to tackle the issue of economic reforms.

Siniora on Monday briefed European Union foreign ministers in Brussels on his program of privatizations aimed at spurring investments and growth.

EU External Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, after the talks, hailed the dialogue between Lebanese leaders and the proposed reforms as the best way forward.

The dialogue was "a very good base" for progress on the political and economic fronts, she said.


Lebanese leaders fail again to agree on Lahoud's fate

By Alaa Shahine
Reuters
Wednesday, March 22, 2006; 10:13 AM

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Rival Lebanese leaders failed to agree on the fate of pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud on Wednesday, highlighting the wide gaps among Syria's allies and foes trying to end Lebanon's worst political crisis in 16 years.

Political sources close to the "national dialogue" meeting in Beirut had said the talks' third round were not likely to yield breakthroughs on Lahoud's fate and disarming the anti-Israeli Hizbollah guerrillas.


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"We all know that there is a crisis in the country and we are all determined to end it," anti-Syrian parliament majority leader Saad al-Hariri told reporters.

"I am optimistic about the issue of the presidency and God willing we will find a new president for our beloved country Lebanon."

Wednesday's session did not tackle Hizbollah's arms.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said the talks will resume on March 27, a day before an Arab summit in Sudan where politicians say Lebanon is expected to feature prominently through efforts by heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Egypt to ease tensions between Beirut and Damascus.

Syria, the dominant force in Lebanon until the withdrawal of its troops last year, still wields considerable influence in its smaller neighbor and backs both Lahoud and Hizbollah.

The consent of Damascus, therefore, is seen essential for the removal of Lahoud, who many Lebanese see as the last vestige of Syrian tutelage over their country. He has vowed not to quit.

FRANK DISCUSSION

Berri said discussions "were more frank than at any other time before ... We found that the issue needs more discussion and consultations."

"All of our decisions must end in consensus, no one can force his opinion on the others," he said.

One senior politician told Reuters before the session that gaps among the participants were widening. "There are no quick fixes and the dialogue looks set to linger on without results."

Lebanese politicians, Muslim and Christian, pro- and anti-Syrian, first met at the "national dialogue" talks in early March to find a way out of the country's worst crisis since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.

The talks resumed a day after U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he would begin talks with Beirut on creating a special court to try suspects in the 2005 murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.

Hariri's death sparked mass protests in Beirut that forced Syria to end its 29-military presence in Lebanon and ushered an anti-Syrian majority into parliament.


Hariri trial might be outside Lebanon
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
UNITED NATIONS



A mixed Lebanese and international court should be established, probably outside Lebanon, to prosecute those charged in the assassination of the country's former prime minister, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a report.

Following two meetings between senior Lebanese officials and UN Legal Counsel Nicolas Michel, Annan said Tuesday it was clear that a mixed tribunal was needed to ensure that justice is done in the killing of Rafik Hariri and 22 others on February 14, 2005, an event that shook the nation and led to the departure of Syrian forces from Lebanon.

He said the attack on Hariri and other similar bombings "have contributed to creating a climate of insecurity and intimidation which seriously affects the functioning of the country's political institutions as well as economic and social life."

A UN investigating team has spent nearly 10 months looking for Hariri's killers. Last week, the new chief investigator, Serge Brammertz, told the UN Security Council he was cautiously optimistic that new promises by Syria to cooperate after months of refusals and delays could lead to progress in the probe. His predecessor had implicated top Syrian and Lebanese officials in the explosion in Beirut that killed Hariri.

Annan said in the report that UN consultations with Lebanese authorities highlighted the "urgent need" to find the truth behind the assassination, which could contribute to restoring stability and durable peace to the country.

The report was a response to a Security Council resolution adopted on Dec. 15 which asked the secretary-general to help the Lebanese government identify the nature and scope of international assistance needed to try anyone charged in the terrorist attack that killed Hariri.

Annan said "it appears that the establishment of a mixed tribunal would best balance the need for Lebanese and international involvement in the work of the tribunal."

"That balance would be determined by such important characteristics as the tribunal's founding instrument, jurisdiction, applicable law, location, composition, and financial arrangements," he said.

As a result of the recent discussions, Annan said, "there is a common understanding that it would be most appropriate to establish the tribunal through an agreement concluded between Lebanon and the United Nations."

He said Lebanese authorities made it clear that using Lebanese criminal law "would play an important role in ensuring that the Tribunal would have a national dimension." The Lebanese also expressed "a preference for the tribunal to have personal jurisdiction over all those responsible for the crime in which Mr. Hariri and others were killed," he said.

Annan said the issue of where to locate the tribunal must be carefully considered, balancing the objective of having judicial proceedings in Lebanon with the security of the judges, prosecutor, witnesses and those accused.

Logistical and financial implications must also be taken into account, he said.

"At this stage, it is clear that there is a belief, based on security concerns, among the Lebanese authorities that the tribunal might not be able to operate effectively in Lebanon," the secretary-general said.

As for the composition of the tribunal, Annan said, "the Lebanese authorities emphasized that significant international participation would be essential for the tribunal to fulfill its purpose effectively."
The secretary-general stressed the importance of ensuring that the judges, prosecutor and court personnel are selected "in a way that ensures the independence, objectivity and impartiality of the judicial process."
He said the cost of the tribunal "should not be underestimated" and that adequate financing should be guaranteed. "A phasing in of the tribunal's activities, with an initial focus on the most necessary tasks might provide useful cost savings and increase its effectiveness," he said.
Annan said that if "the common understanding" between the UN and Lebanese authorities is acceptable to the Security Council, it should adopt a resolution asking him to initiate negotiations with the Lebanese government aimed at establishing a mixed tribunal.
The secretary-general said he would present recommendations at a later date on expanding the mandate of the investigating commission to cover other attacks in Lebanon since Oct. 1, 2004.


Mouvement SOLIDA" liste@solida.org
Subject: Lebanon News: Detainees in Syria / Mass Graves
Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2006
(la version française suit)
TEN MISSING SOLDIERS LAID TO REST
It is often said that what distinguishes man from beast is that the former buries his dead and pays his last respects to them. To not be able to do that is unbearable for any human being, something akin to psychological torture.
After 15 years of searching for their loved ones who went missing at the hands of the Syrian army, seven families of missing soldiers were able to bury them in dignity on March 18, 2006 after their remains were found and identified on the grounds of the Lebanese Ministry of Defense in Yarzeh.
The soldiers are: Robert Aziz Bou Serhal, Joseph Halim Azar, Nabil Fahim el-Khoury, Elie Hanna Barakat, Jacques Hanna Nakhoul, Elias Youssef Aoun et Georges Mtanos Bachour. For the past 15 years, and after they went missing in action during
battles between the Syrian army and the Lebanese army on October 13, 1990, the families of the missing soldiers fought for information about their fate. Some information suggested they were transferred to Syrian prisons, other information said they were killed after their arrest, but the Lebanese authorities persisted in refusing to admit that they were buried in a mass grave inside Lebanon, most likely after they were executed soon after their arrest.
The unearthing of their remains, followed by their identification with DNA testing and the military honors they were given posthumously last Saturday do bring a sense of closure. However, they also raise several questions, particularly the clear uncovering of a war crime committed by the Syrian army to which those responsible would have one day to answer, and the equally obvious complicity of the Lebanese authorities whose callousness allowed the families of the soldiers to endure fifteen
years of a horrifying uncertainty.
Three other soldiers, who went missing during battles in 1984 and who were also buried in the same mass grave, were also identified and laid to rest in dignity this past Saturday. They are Mtanios Hanna Gerges, Jean Joseph Khoury, and Milad Youssef El-Alam.
The SOLIDA Movement (Support for Lebanese Detained Arbitrarily) pays tribute to these dead soldiers and offers its most sincere condolences to their families.
The remains of ten other individuals were exhumed on the grounds of the Ministry of Defense, but their identities have yet to be confirmed.SOLIDA remains gravely concerned by the total lack of information about dozens of human remains that were unearthed in Anjar in the vicinity of a former center of Syrian Intelligence Services. Those remains were handled with callous negligence by the Lebanese authorities, in violation of international norms that are applicable in this area.SOLIDA urges the Lebanese authorities to demonstrate respect for the dead and for the thousands of families of the missing in the war and
under the Israeli and Syrian occupations, and who to this date continue to suffer an unbearable doubt about the fate of their loved ones.
Beirut, 22 March 2006

FUNERAILLES DE DIX MILITAIRES DISPARUS
On dit communément que ce qui distingue l'Homme de l'animal c'est le fait d'enterrer ses morts et de leur rendre hommage. Ne pas pouvoir le faire est une chose insupportable, que l'on peut qualifier de torture psychologique, pour tout être humain.
Après 15 années de recherches de leurs proches disparus aux mains de l'armée syrienne, sept familles de militaires disparus ont pu les enterrer dans la dignité le 18 mars 2006, après que leurs restes aient été retrouvés et identifiés dans les terrains du Ministère de la Défense libanais à Yarzé.
Il s'agit de : Robert Aziz Bou Serhal, Joseph Halim Azar, Nabil Fahim el-Khoury, Élie Hanna Barakat, Jacques Hanna Nakhoul, Élias Youssef Aoun et Georges Mtanos Bachour.
Depuis 15 ans, suite à leur disparition lors des combats qui ont opposé l'armée syrienne à l'armée libanaise le 13 octobre 1990, les familles de ces disparus se sont battues pour obtenir des informations sur leur sort. Certaines informations indiquaient leur transfert dans les prisons syriennes, d'autres faisaient état de leur liquidation après l'arrestation, mais les autorités libanaises s'étaient toujours refusées à indiquer qu'ils avaient été enterrés dans une fosse commune en territoire libanais, vraisemblablement après avoir été exécutés peu après leur arrestation.
Leur exhumation, leur identification par des tests ADN, et les honneurs militaires qu'ils ont reçu samedi dernier à titre posthume remettent quelque peu les choses en ordre, mais soulèvent de nombreuses questions, notamment concernant la mise au jour évidente d'un crime de guerre commis par l'armée syrienne et dont les responsables devront un jour répondre, et la complicité non moins évidente des autorités libanaises qui ont laissé les familles de ces militaires dans un doute atroce durant quinze ans.
Trois autres militaires disparus lors des batailles en 1984, qui avaient également été enterrés dans cette fosse commune, ont également pu être identifiés et enterrés dignement samedi. Il s'agit de Mtanios Hanna Gergès, Jean Joseph Khoury et Milad Youssef el-Alam.
Le mouvement SOLIDA (Soutien aux Libanais Détenus Arbitrairement) rend hommage à ces disparus et adresse à leurs familles ses plus sincères condoléances.
Dix autres personnes ont été exhumées au Ministère de la Défense, mais leurs restes n'ont pas pu être identifiés.
SOLIDA reste vivement préoccupé par l'absence complète d'information sur les dizaines de restes humains découverts à Anjar à proximité d'un centre des services de renseignements syriens, qui ont été traités avec la plus grande négligence par les autorités libanaises, en violation des normes internationales en la matière.
SOLIDA demande avec insistance aux autorités libanaises de faire preuve de respect à l'égard des morts et des milliers de familles de personnes disparues durant la guerre et les occupations israéliennes et syriennes, qui restent dans un doute insoutenable.
Beyrouth, le 22 mars 2006

ARTICLES
Source: Naharnet
Relatives of Detainees Ask U.N. to Consider Syrian Pullout Incomplete Relatives of Lebanese detained in Syrian jails have asked the United Nations to consider Syria's withdrawal from Lebanon incomplete as long as the issue of the prisoners remains unsolved. Legislator Ghassan Tueni, who met with Annan last month at a conference in Qatar, handed him a letter signed by the relatives and the organization known as SOLIDE, or Support of Lebanese in Detention and Exile.
In the letter, the relatives expressed their disappointment that the U.N. has not addressed the plight of Lebanese held in Syrian jails or the human rights violations that Damascus committed during its 30- year domination of Lebanon. "The Security Council should consider the withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon according to Resolution 1559 incomplete as long as the
issue of Lebanese detainees in Syrian jails has not been solved," the letter said.
Syria withdrew in accordance with the 2004 resolution in April 2005 following international pressure and mass protests that were sparked by former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's murder.
The assassination helped bring prisoners' fate under the spotlight. Relatives of the missing have been staging a sit-in in front of the Beirut headquarters of the United Nations since the Syrian pullout. They want the government and the international community to help resolve the plight of their loved ones.
The letter delivered to Annan asked the U.N. Security Council to form an international committee that would look into the cases of those who were abducted by Syria. This request has been previously made by SOLIDE. An official with the U.N. office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights, acting on Annan's request, visited Damascus last month to take up
the issue with authorities there.
The letter delivered to Annan said the envoy was not able to make any progress as officials in Damascus informed him that they consider the fate of the detainees part of the problematic relations between the two countries.
"This is a clear indication that this humanitarian and tragic matter is being used as a bargaining chip in any future political dialogue between the two countries," the letter said. The relatives say more than 600 Lebanese and Palestinians are
unaccounted for since they have been arrested by Syrian security forces or  disappeared in Syrian-held territory.
Syrian troops entered Lebanon in 1976, a year after the Lebanese Civil War began, and maintained de facto control of the country until their withdrawal last year. Syria has consistently denied accusations of arbitrary arrests and kidnappings.
In June 2004, the Syrian and Lebanese governments established a joint commission mandated with looking into the issue of disappeared nationals from both countries. It has achieved little progress.
Beirut, Updated 14 Mar 06, 13:25
Source: Daily Star Lebanon

Yet more bones found left behind at Anjar mass graves
By Rym Ghazal-Daily Star staff- Tuesday, March 14, 2006
BEIRUT: The mass graves unearthed in Anjar are to be officially sealed off as new reports made it to the media Monday that a Belgian delegation found uncollected bones during a visit to the graves. The announcement came following a report in An-Nahar Monday that a Belgian delegation found bones from a "a foot and a hand" almost three months after the completion of the official exhumation and collection of the bones.
"The graves will be off limits to everyone, except the team commissioned by the government to investigate the mass graves," said the prosecutor general responsible for the case, Abdullah Bitar, to The Daily Star. "There are not supposed to be there any bones left behind. There is even a special officer assigned to the site whose job is to make sure the bones have been collected and keep me updated on what is happening there," said Bitar.
Bitar launched an investigation into the case of the uncollected bones, after the initial discovery by The Daily Star of bones carelessly left behind, just a week after the exhumation process was officially completed by the Lebanese authorities.
"This is absolutely ridiculous and there is total incompetence somewhere," he said, adding that "my officer suggested that perhaps a dog or some animal brought in the bones as the site is completely unguarded."
A report was released in An-Nahar Monday about another mass grave, the one unearthed in November at the Defense Ministry in Yarze.The report said that half of the 20 bodies exhumed at Yarze belong to Lebanese Army soldiers.
The newspaper quoted Brigadier Nabil Kara, the head of an army commission investigating the graves, as saying that DNA testing of the bodies has revealed the identity of 10 soldiers.
Kara refrained from releasing the names of the dead until their relatives are officially notified next week.
However, he said that seven of the soldiers died on October 13, 1990, the date of a Syrian military offensive against then army commander General Michel Aoun who was waging a "War of Liberation" against Syria's domination of Lebanon. The three others died in 1984 in Al-Shahar al-Gharbi in Mount Lebanon during the Druze-Christian war, Kara added. Kara said the identified bodies at Yarze were in army uniform. He said the other remains, which may include civilians, will be returned to the
ministry graveyard and documents related to these cases will be preserved in the military archives.
DNA analyses have been making headlines for the past few months, with a new DNA police laboratory opening in Lebanon and the discovery of the remains of Michel Seurat, a French researcher kidnapped in Lebanon back in 1985, through DNA tests carried out in France after his remains were unearthed by construction workers digging at a rest stop on the airport
road. - With Naharnet