U.N. presses for calm in Lebanon

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- Lebanon is tense but the United Nations continues to believe potential disputes can be resolved through dialogue, a U.N. special envoy said.

Lebanon is bracing for indictments from the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which is investigating the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Michael Williams, the U.N. special envoy to Lebanon, said from Beirut that Lebanese leaders needed to stress diplomacy during tense political times.

"We continue to believe that all problems, no matter how sensitive, have to be resolved through dialogue and with all sides relying on the state institutions," he said in a statement.

The special envoy also discussed the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the northern part of the border village of Ghajar with Alberto Asarta Cuevas, the top commander of the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon.

Williams said the measure as an "important development" but noted it was only a "first step" toward restoring Lebanese sovereignty over the south.

The commander of UNFIL in November said Israeli military leaders agreed "in principle" to the mission's proposal to facilitate the withdrawal of the Israeli military from northern Ghajar.

Israel under U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 is obligated to abandon its Lebanese positions. The United Nations drew the so-called Blue Line through Ghajar, leaving parts of the village split between the countries.