UNITED NATIONS, May 2 (Xinhua) -- There had been no progress towards establishing a tribunal to try those responsible for assassinating former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, UN senior official said Wednesday.

    Nicolas Michel, UN Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, told reporters that "I can simply say that, for now, from all the discussions that I had and from all the efforts that I attempted, I see no progress."

    He made the remarks shortly after briefing the members of the UN Security Council in closed consultations on his recent trip to Lebanon where he had met leading government officials, leading opposition representatives, and a number of parliamentarians.

    Both leading government and opposition figures had voiced support, in principle, for the tribunal, but there had been no progress towards establishing it, Michel noted.

    "A number of my interlocutors, especially from the opposition, clearly said, in different terms, different tones, that for them the main issue was not the tribunal, but the government's composition," he added.

    Michel had been in Beirut from to April 17 to 21 with a mandate from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to assist the authorities and parties on their way towards the ratification of the bilateral agreement between Lebanon and the United Nations on the establishment of the tribunal, in accordance with the Lebanese Constitution.

    He did not confirm reports that the Security Council would pass a resolution to establish the tribunal under Chapter VII of the UN Charter.

    However, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad, who is taking the presidency of the Council for May, looked to the future with optimism, saying "the Council needs to look at options to assist the Lebanese because it's very important that the tribunal be established as soon as possible."

    But his Russian counterpart Vitaly Churkin voiced a different opinion, stressing "the people of Lebanon cannot be looking to the Security Council to solve all their problems."

    "We feel there's still time for the parties in Lebanon to come to agreement on the special tribunal," he argued.

    The United Nations and the Lebanese government have signed an agreement on the creation of the special tribunal which still needs approval from the country's parliament. Hariri was killed with 22 others in a suicide truck bombing in Beirut in February 2005.