Syria, Lebanon to unify tariffs in three to five years

DAMASCUS, Jan 16 (AFP) - Syria and Lebanon plan to unify customs tariffs in three to five years, thus establishing a free trade zone, said the secretary general of the Syrian-Lebanese high committee, Nasri Khuri, quoted Wednesday by the press.

Bilateral cooperation is focused on "a project overseeing the scrapping of all hindrances and taxes, including a customs tariffs unification programme for goods imported from other countries in three to five years," Khuri told the Tishrin daily.

The aim is to achieve a "Syrian-Lebanese customs wall," he added. Lebanon and Syria lifted the customs barrier on bilateral trade in industrial products, but not on other goods, subjected to different rates, substantially higher for Syria than Lebanon.

Khuri also said that Syrian and Lebanese officials were to meet in Damascus from Thursday with the aim of "integrating police and customs controls" at the crossing points between the two countries. He also said that the agreements under which Syria provides Lebanon with electricity were being extended. "The two agreements for supplying electricity have been extended, allowing Lebanon to overcome the crisis," marked by power outages at the beginning of January, he said.

Those agreements allow for the supply to Lebanon of 200 megawatts per month for nine million dollars through two connections. According to the Lebanese press, the supply was suspended at the start of January as Lebanon failed to meet back payments amounting to 120 million dollars.

Shiite says France never paid him for freeing Lebanon hostages

PARIS, Jan 16 (AFP) - The spiritual head of the Lebanese Shiites in Senegal, who says says he arranged the release of French hostages from Lebanon in 1988, claimed Wednesday he never received compensation promised by France. "Up until now I have received nothing, not even a thank you," Sheikh Abdul Monem al Zein, president of the Dakar Islamic and Social Institute, told Radio France International (RFI).

He described his role in securing the liberation of the hostages at Senegalese President Abdou Diouf's request "very important" and added: "I went to Beirut ... I got them freed." He said he knew Charles Pasqua, who was French interior minister at the time. However he refused to reveal the exact nature of his contact with the French authorities.

"There was an agreement with the French authorities based on three million dollars," which was not intended for "those who had taken the hostages" but for the "intermediaries" who arranged their liberation, he said. But he said the sum had never been paid. He said that the "intermediaries" he had used threatened him before they realised that the fact they had not been paid was not his doing.

He also said he had received verbal promises from the French authorities that a building would be constructed at his Institute or that he would be granted French citizenship. The alleged payment of a ransom to secure the release of French hostages in Lebanon and the possible embezzlement of a part of it has provoked a scandal in France just a few months away from the presidential elections.

Pasqua allies are suspected of stealing part of the alleged secret ransom. Pasqua, a presidential candidate who has been tarnished by the affair, maintains the ransom was never paid and has accused the Left of trying to damage President Jacques Chirac, who was then prime minister.

The hostages, seized during Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war, were released in the run-up to presidential elections in 1988 which Chirac lost to Francois Mitterand.

Hezbollah chief vows to continue struggle despite US threats

BEIRUT, Jan 15 (AFP) - Lebanese Shiite fundamentalist Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Tuesday that his movement did not fear US threats and vowed to continue the struggle against Israeli occupation. "No baby and no woman in Hezbollah will shake in fear if the oppressors of the world (US President George W.) Bush, (US National Security Adviser Condoleezza) Rice, (US Secretary of State Colin) Powell and (US Defence Secretary Donald) Rumsfeld all start shooting at us at the same time," said Sheikh Nasrallah.

Hezbollah will not be "an easy target for Israel, as are the Palestinians," he told a party gathering. He accused the United States of "continually justifying the actions of the Israeli occupation forces with the pretext of self-defence," and stressed the need to continue "the struggle despite US threats".

Visiting US Congressman Dick Gephardt said Monday in Beirut that Washington's demands to crack down on Hezbollah were "serious". The United States wants Lebanon to extradite Imad Mughniyeh and two other suspected Hezbollah members who are believed to have been involved in the 1985 hijacking of a TWA flight to Beirut.

A US navy diver was killed in the attack and 39 other Americans were held hostage for 17 days. The United States has asked that the assets of Hezbollah be frozen as part of its anti-terror war, but Beirut has refused, arguing that the group is a resistance movement and not a terrorist organisation.