Global Policy Forum

Brammertz welcomes call for 1-year mandate extension

By Leila Hatoum

Chief UN investigator Serge Brammertz's second report on the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri raised more questions than it answered being made public over the weekend. Brammertz, whose mandate ends Thursday, submitted his 30-page report to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Saturday. The report welcomed Lebanon's call for an extension of his panel's term for up to one year, saying this would "provide a sense of continuity and stability, enable progressive operations and planning, and offer assurances to staff."

The Security Council is expected to convene by Wednesday for a briefing from Brammertz on the report's contents. The report presents multiple scenarios as to how the February 14, 2005 assassination was conducted, who was behind it and why. It also deals with a theory that two bombs targeted Hariri's convoy, and another that explosives had been planted underground. The document does not say whether the explosion occurred above or below ground, or whether the device that killed Hariri and 22 others was carried by a white Mitsubishi truck filmed at the crime scene by a nearby surveillance camera.

Brammertz's predecessor, Detlev Mehlis, had concluded that the explosives were "99 percent above ground level" and suggested the Mitsubishi might have been used in the attack. Seeming to support this theory, Brammertz's report says that "evidence collected from within the soil ... indicates that the explosive was most likely located above ground ... An examination of the underground systems within the road and its environs was also conducted and no traces of any part of an initiating device were formed."

According to the report, if the device detonated above ground, the amount of explosives used would have ranged between "1,200 and 1,800 kilograms." The report also refers to "developing numerous new leads and areas of the investigations ... and evidence." The probe "has produced over 1,900 additional exhibits, all of which are undergoing further forensic examination," the report says.

Of particular interest was the claim that a "gearing mechanism of a vehicle was found embedded ... 40 centimeters below the surface ... in the ground inside the crater," a piece of evidence that FBI experts, French investigators, a UN preliminary investigation team and Mehlis' six-month investigation apparently failed to uncover. Brammertz had no criticism for Syria, stating in the report that "the level of assistance provided by Syria during the reporting period is generally satisfactory." But the report stressed that continued cooperation in future was necessary.

Brammertz met with Syrian President Bashar Assad and Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa on April 25, and with several unspecified "Syrian officials" on a regular basis "in Damascus and Lebanon." The report said investigators also interrogated "six Syrian witnesses in Syria." No names appeared in the report, including those of four Lebanese generals held since August as possible suspects, or Syrian witness Houssam Taher Houssam, who later retracted his testimony to investigators.

The report did, however, contain a cautious tone regarding the validity of Syrian statements. The commission "is currently examining the depth and validity of responses provided in the interviews of [Syrian] government officials," it said. As The Daily Star went to press, Syria had not issued an official response to the report. At several points in the report, Brammertz criticized Lebanese law enforcement officials and the judiciary for inefficiency or a lack of expertise, which he said had resulted in a serious delays in investigations into the 14 bombings carried out from late October 2004 to December 12, 2005.

The report also addressed administrative and technical problems, notably a "lack of staff," the creation of a possible "witness protection program," a "supplementary memorandum" with the Lebanese government to ensure privileges and immunity for the probe's staff. Separately, reports that Brammertz had instructed Lebanese authorities to fill in the crater at the Hariri bombing site were refuted on Sunday by a UN spokesperson. The spokesperson said it was "up to the Lebanese authorities to decide" whether to fill the crater or not.

State Prosecutor Said Mirza told The Daily Star it was "too early" to make such a decision. One security source told The Daily Star that officials were still waiting for a green light from the Hariri family, a claim denied by sources close to the family.

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