Lebanon civil War haunt s families of disappeared (Part2)

BEIRUT;
Marie Mansourati ,3,adjusts pictures
of her kidnapped son Dani ,more than
two decade after he was taken by Syrian
troops to Damascus ,at her house in Beirut,

Lebanon 's government in 2000 acknowledged
the existence of  mass graves in the capital
without beginning any  identification efforts

And  last year,the  country 's highest judicial
body ruled   that the families  had the right
to know the fate of their love ones
However little progress has  been made,
Since 2012 the International Commitee
of the Red Cross  has been compilling a database
of information about each disappeared person,

The ICTJ has  drafted a law ,which would have
to be  approved by  parliament ,that would
create a commission of inquiry into the issue,
led by  the police and  aided by specialised
archaeologists and anthropologists,

As  they fight for information ,many relatives
of the disappeared struggle to live normally,
feeling that  time just stopped  when their loved
ones went  missing,

Other mothers sit  by the  window,hoping to
see a returning child;or they have  left their
children 's  rooms untouched since their
disappearance,

Many like Saidi,have experienced dashed hopes
and false promises of a reunion
"When they would tell me Mather was free, I
would start dancing,:she said "The next day
there would be  no news,and I would cry and
scream his name all night,"

Despite  her pain,she harbours no desire for
vengeanece"I support the cause of all the
mothers  of the disappeared ,even those whose
sons were Lebaness Forces "and fought against
Mahter,

Among the disappeared  are dozens  of people
who were taken to Syria during the  war and
in  the early 1990s,
Damascus has always denied holding political
prisoners,despite the presence  of Lebanses detainees
in several releases between 1976 and 2000,

Marie Mansourati 3,is sure that  her son Dani
is still alive ,more than two decades after being
taken to Damascus in 1992.

Her hands trembling ,she smokes cigarette after
cigarette in her Beirut apartment.

"I don't meet people anymore -I have worn black
all these years"I just want him to come back
and call me MUM"
AFP