Annan recommends a mixed tribunal for Hariri's probe

The secretary general of the UN Kofi Annan has recommended the formation of a special mixed court including UN and Lebanese judges with its headquarters outside Lebanon in order to try those who will be accused in the future by the as yet uncompleted UN investigation into the assassinating the former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri.

This recommendation came in a report he had submitted to the UN Security Council on Tuesday and concentrated on a report by the UN consultant Nicola Michael who was dispatched by Annan to Beirut in January this year for this purpose.

Annan said in his report that the "formation of a mixed court will give better balancing between the need for a Lebanese participation and a foreign participation, on the other hand, for the work of the court."

Annan talked about an assessment on the Lebanese authorities based on security considerations to that the court might not be able to work effectively in Lebanon. He indicated that this point should be taken into consideration.

On the other hand, the UN special envoy in charge of implementing UN Security Council resolution 1559 Terry Rod Larsen described talks he had held in Doha with the Syrian foreign minister Walid al-Muaallim as constructive and encouraging but he refused in an interview with al-Jazeera TV to deal with details of these talks.