UN Secretary General Kofi Annan will try to convince the head of an investigation into the murder of former Lebanese premier Rafiq al-Hariri to stay on after his mandate expires next month, Lebanon's prime minister said. "During a phone call between (Prime Minister Fuad) Siniora and Annan, (Annan) told the prime minister he would use every means possible to convince the magistrate to stay in his post," a statement from Siniora's office said, according to AFP.
 German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis leads the UN investigation into the February assassination of al-Hariri but has said he will step down when his mandate runs out on 1 January. "My employer is my country, Germany. I have other tasks that are waiting for me," Mehlis said this past week.
 US Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton also urged that Mehlis stay on the job, Reuters reported. "We understand he (Mehlis) has extended his tenure once and he's in dangerous personal circumstances there," he said in reference to threats made against the prosecutor. In a letter to Annan on Thursday, Bolton said the United States wanted Mehlis to "continue in his current capacity."
| "Otherwise you know they'll appoint some dipstick from Burkina Faso or Tonga or someplace like that, and the investigation will die on the vine. Which is what Pencilneck wants, of course." |
"I am concerned that a wholesale change in the leadership of the commission would be exploited by the Syrian government to forestall their full and complete cooperation," he wrote. |