PRESS RELEASES
A Condolence Visit to the Family of the Former Prime Minister
Rafik Hariri
15 February 2005
On behalf of the U.S. Government and the U.S. Embassy, Ambassador
Feltman paid a condolence call today on the family of the former
Prime Minister Rafik Hariri offering sympathies to the family. This
follows up the Ambassador's condolence call last evening on Member
of Parliament Bahia Hariri and Baha Hariri, the sister and son of
the Prime Minister, in the late Prime Minister's Qoraytem residence.
In offering sympathy, Ambassador Feltman paid tribute to the many
contributions that Prime Minister Hariri made to Lebanon during
his years of devoted public service. Echoing the words of the White
House, the Ambassador emphasized the leading role Prime Minister
Hariri played in rebuilding a free, independent, and sovereign Lebanon
and in providing hope to the people of Lebanon through his many
tangible building projects and generous charitable works.
Ambassador Feltman informed the late prime Ministers sons, Baha'
Eddin, Saad Eddin, Ayman, and Fahed, that Assistant Secretary of
State William Burns would arrive in Beirut to participate in the
February 16 funeral for the late Prime Minister and to pay respects
to the memory of Prime Minister Hariri. The Ambassador noted that
Prime Minister Hariri's many friends and admirers in the U.S. Government,
the U.S. Congress, as well as the U.S. business and financial community
share a sense of shock, outrage, and profound loss.
The Embassy of the United States of America also reiterates the
call to punish those responsible for this terrorist attack, which
deprives Lebanon of one of its leading political figures and which
killed and wounded so many others. The United States has offered
its help in this investigation. The U.S. Government hopes that the
shock of this terrible crime will lead the Government of Lebanon
at last to sign and ratify the International Convention on the Suppression
of Terrorist Bombings and the International Convention on the Suppression
of Terrorist Financing, which are required under UN Security Council
Resolution 1566. To date, Lebanon has failed to ratify or implement
either of these conventions.
Deploring the atmosphere of political intimidation that had preceded
this attack, the Embassy also hopes that this terrorist attack will
not be used to undermine the principles of freedom and democracy
in Lebanon. In that regard, the United States urges the Government
of Lebanon to move forward decisively now, in the aftermath of Prime
Minister Hariri's death, toward implementation of UNSCR 1559. Within
the spirit of UNSCR 1559, the United States hopes that the legislative
elections, to be held as scheduled in the spring, will be credible,
democratic, and free of foreign interference.
The Embassy also extends its condolences to the other victims of
the terrorist attack that killed Prime Minister Hariri and extends
its strong wishes that those wounded will recover quickly and fully.
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