Lebanon seeks UN help in Gemayel murder inquiry

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 22 (Reuters) Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has asked the United Nations to help Beirut investigate the assassination of Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today.

Siniora wrote Annan yesterday that his government wanted Gemayel's murder added to the ongoing UN inquiry into the February 2005 murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, Annan told the Security Council in a letter asking it to ''take appropriate action.'' The UN investigation is already looking into 14 other apparently politically motivated attacks in Lebanon since Hariri's killing. Belgian Serge Brammertz, who heads the commission, has reported evidence that all 15 cases were linked in some ways.

The Security Council would have to approve expanding the UN inquiry to include Gemayel, an anti-Syrian Cabinet minister gunned down in his car yesterday near Beirut.

Gemayel was killed after a Cabinet vote to tentatively approve U.N. plans for a new international court to try suspects in the Hariri murder and the 14 related cases.

The Siniora Cabinet, where anti-Syrian ministers hold most seats, voted after the resignation of six opposition ministers in a maneuver seen by many in Lebanon as an attempt to block creation of the special court.

Lebanon's pro-Syrian president, Emile Lahoud, protested that the Cabinet vote was illegitimate. But following Gemayel's murder, the Security Council pushed ahead yesterday with UN approval of the plan, which now requires formal approval from the Lebanese government.

The latest assassination nonetheless pushed the Siniora government deeper into crisis. The death or resignation of two more ministers would bring it down.

Several prominent anti-Syrian leaders have blamed Syria for Gemayel's murder and warned that more assassinations could be in the works. Damascus has denied any role in the Gemayel and Hariri assassinations.

US Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said yesterday Washington would support an expansion of the UN investigation.

''We are looking at exactly what steps need to be taken, but certainly we would support whatever mechanism we need to put in place,'' Bolton told reporters. ''If you look at the pattern of these terrorist assassinations, we think this clearly fits within it.'' REUTERS SP KP2352