Syria agrees to allow UN investigators to question officials
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-26 10:24

Moallem said Mehlis had suggested Vienna at a meeting with Riyad Dawoodi, the Syrian Foreign Ministry's legal adviser, in Barcelona on November 18.

Moallem refused to identify the Syrian officials on grounds of the "secrecy of the investigation," but he dismissed media reports that there were six.

"As far as I know the number of those wanted (for questioning) are five," Moallem told reporters. "I don't know where you got the sixth name."

The commission has not divulged the names of the officials, but Lebanese newspapers have repeatedly said they include the chief of Syria's military intelligence, Brig. Gen. Assef Shawkat, who is the brother-in-law of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Moallem said the officials would go to Vienna only with their lawyers. In its interim report, the commission criticized Syria for insisting that government representatives attend the interviews with Syrian officials in September.

Mehlis' spokeswoman Nasra Hassan said he was pleased by the agreement, but she refused to comment on the guarantees that Syria mentioned.

U.N. spokeswoman Marie Okabe said Secretary-General Kofi Annan welcomed the agreement with the Syrians "and he expects their cooperation to continue throughout Mr. Mehlis' investigation."

Syria's official news agency said Friday that prior to the announcement, President Assad had chaired a meeting of the central command of Syria's National Progressive Front _ the country's highest decision-making body _ at which the U.N. investigation was discussed.

Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem (L) and Riad al-Daoudi, the legal advisor of the Syrian Foreign Ministry, attend a news conference in Damascus November 25, 2005.[Reuters]

SANA also reported that Assad received a call Friday evening from Russian President Vladimir Putin. It said they talked about regional developments and Syria's cooperation with the U.N. commission.

The U.N. Security Council had told Syria that it has to cooperate fully with the commission and warned it of "further action" _ diplomatic code for sanctions _ if it fails to do so. The council's mandate for the commission expires December 15.

The killing of Hariri was a watershed in Syria's relations with its western neighbor, Lebanon. It provoked mass demonstrations in Lebanon calling for the withdrawal of Syrian troops, who had been stationed in the country since the second year of the 1975-90 civil war. It also heightened the international pressure for a Syrian withdrawal.

Syria withdrew its troops at the end of April, and in the May-June elections, Lebanon elected its first parliament in many years that did not have a pro-Syrian majority.