UN special coordinator for Lebanon Geir Pedersen has called for speedy creation of an international tribunal into the murder of ex-premier Rafik Hariri based on Lebanese consensus, the local Naharnet news website reported on Saturday.

"A national consensus on the tribunal is the best for Lebanon," Pedersen was quoted as saying at a news briefing at the UN headquarters in Beirut on Friday.

"All agreed during the national dialogue on the tribunal in principle," he said, adding that "Let them now sit down together and agree on the details and discuss it."

Pedersen said Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Seniora has told him he was ready to sit down with the Hezbollah-led opposition to discuss the tribunal.

"We are hoping that we will see this happen very soon," he added.

Hariri and more than 20 others were killed in a massive bombing attack in central Beirut on Feb. 14, 2005. A UN team, established in October the same year, has been investigating the incident.

The anti-Syrian government accused the Hezbollah-led opposition of trying to obstruct the creation of an international tribunal, which launched an open-ended sit-in in downtown Beirut on Dec. 1, 2006, calling for resignation of Seniora's government and demanding early parliamentary elections and a new electoral law.

Source: Xinhua