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<P><SPAN class=style213><STRONG><FONT face=Verdana size=4>FACTBOX - Highlights
of U.S.-French draft on Hariri </FONT></STRONG></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN class=style210><FONT face=Verdana>26 Oct 2005<BR>Source: Reuters
</FONT></SPAN></P></DIV>
<P class=style210 align=justify>The United States and France circulated a draft
U.N. Security Council resolution aimed at pressuring Syria to comply with a U.N.
probe on the Feb. 14 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik
Hariri in Beirut. No date is set for a vote on the text, which is bound to be
amended by council members. </P>
<P class=style210 align=justify>The council had approved a request from Lebanon
that a U.N. commission, headed by German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, investigate
the murder. He is to complete his work by Dec. 14 Following are the main points:
</P>
<P class=style210 align=justify>-- The draft threatens to consider "further
measures," such as economic sanctions, if Syria does not comply with the demands
of the investigators. </P>
<P class=style210 align=justify>-- To avoid consideration of sanctions, Syria
must cooperate with the Mehlis commission and detain officials or others
suspected of having been involved "in this terrorist act."</P>
<P class=style210 align=justify>-- Syria also must allow suspects to be
interviewed outside of Syria and without the presence of any other Syrian
official. And Syria has to stop interfering in Lebanese domestic affairs, either
directly or indirectly. </P>
<P class=style210 align=justify>-- The draft says Syrian officials tried to
mislead investigation by giving inaccurate or false statements.</P>
<P class=style210 align=justify>-- The draft invokes Chapter 7 of the U.N.
Charter, which makes a council resolution mandatory for all U.N. members and
lays the groundwork for sanctions. </P>
<P class=style210 align=justify>-- The draft puts a ban on travel and a freeze
on overseas assets of individuals designated now or in the future as suspects in
the "planning, sponsoring organization or perpetration of this terrorist act."
Diplomats said this referred to people already charged by Lebanon and those
Mehlis would name in the future.</P>
<P class=style210 align=justify>-- The draft states the Security Council's
willingness to extend the mandate of the commission beyond Dec. 15 if Lebanon
requests it. (Writing by Evelyn Leopold in the United Nations)
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