Romanian leader calls on Syria to cooperate with U.N. assassination probe

President Traian Basescu called on http://newsfromrussia.com/world/2005/10/18/65466.html Syria to cooperate with a U.N. investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri. Basescu was speaking for the United Nations Security Council, of which Romania currently holds the rotating presidency.

A recent report by U.N. investigator Detlev Mehlis apparently established a clear link between Syrian officials and their Lebanese allies in the assassination of Hariri.

"Romania recognizes the conclusions of the Mehlis report and states that the accusations published in the report are not accusations brought to the Syrian state, but individual accusations," Basescu said late Monday. "Romania calls in Syria to cooperate with the inquiry to show its good faith."

"We are treating the Lebanese Prime Minister's killing as a political assassination," he said.

On Sunday, Basescu discussed Syria and the situation in with U.S. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, reports the AP. I.L.