- Title: SYRIA: Ban ki-Moon discusses Lebanon during a one day visit to Damascus
- Date: 25th April 2007
- Summary: SLATE INFORMATION
- Embargoed: 10th May 2007 13:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVAMTX6F1CW1TZCGBTVD5CS66J
- Story Text: During a visit to Syria on Tuesday (April 24), U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon visited U.N. peacekeepers monitoring a ceasefire between Syria and Israel which has held since 1974.
The U.N. troops, members of UNDOF (United Nations Disengagement Observer Force) are based at al-Fawwar near the Golan Heights.
Ban, who arrived in Damascus earlier in the day, met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Syrian Vice-President Farouq al-Shara.
Diplomats and Lebanese officials say the Security Council would move to set up the tribunal unilaterally if the Lebanese factions, including groups close to Syria, did not pass it through Beirut's constitutional channels.
"I encouraged the President to reach a border agreement with Lebanon. He agreed to reactivate the border committee with Lebanon. I warmly welcomed this positive step," Ban said before ending a one-day visit to Syria.
U.N. officials have also been urging rival Lebanese leaders to approve plans for the Hariri court, which is at the heart of the country's worst political split since the 1975-1990 civil war.
"He said that this is an issue which Lebanese people should decide with consensus opinion"
The Western-backed government in Beirut accuses its Lebanese opponents of trying to derail plans for the court to protect Damascus, which they accuse of killing Hariri and other anti-Syrian figures.
Damascus denies involvement and says if any Syrians were involved, they will be tried at home. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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