Bashir
in DRC for
COMEX, Ban
Speech &
Affleck Do Not
Mention
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 26 --
Sudan's Omar
al Bashir,
indicted by
the
International
Criminal
Court, is
still in the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo for
the summit of
the Common
Market for
Eastern and
Southern
Africa.
In a long US Senate
hearing on
February 26
about the DRC,
featuring Ben
Affleck and
Russ Feingold,
Bashir did not
come up.
At the UN's
February 26
noon briefing,
Inner City
Press asked, video here, embedded below:
Inner
City Press: I
saw the
statement by
the
Secretary-General,
delivered by
the
Secretary-General
of UNCTAD
(United
Nations
Conference on
Trade and
Development)
to the Common
Market of
Eastern and
Southern
Africa
(COMESA)
meeting in the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo. And
there has
been,
President Omar
al Bashir of
Sudan is there
and he is
obviously
indicted by
the
International
Criminal Court
(ICC) and the
DRC is a
signatory and
is, availed
itself of the
Court. So, I
am wondering
whether the
Secretary-General
or MONUSCO or
anyone in the
UN system has
any, has any
view of the,
the presence
of an ICC
indictee and
an ICC member
State where
there is a
large UN
presence.
Spokesperson
Martin
Nesirky: Well,
simply put,
there is a
Security
Council
resolution
covering this
matter, and
countries are
obliged to
adhere to
Security
Council
resolutions.
And that’s all
I have to say
on the matter.
Inner
City Press:
And is there
any contact by
either the
Secretary-General
of UNCTAD or
any other UN
individual
with Mr.
[al-]Bashir
during the
time of the
COMESA
meeting?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
I am not aware
of any such
contact.
When Bashir
went to
Nigeria, Human
Rights Watch
and others
which had said
nothing when UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous
met with
Bashir in July
2013 suddenly
leaped into
action, saying
Nigeria should
arrest Bashir.
When Bashir
left, they
said they'd
chased him
out.
But other
than, so far,
a single
non-specific
reference in
an AP story,
there's less
outcry about
Bashir's visit
to DRC --
whose Joseph
Kabila
government has
used the ICC
to go after
its
challengers,
for example
Bemba. Unlike
Nigeria, there
is a large,
longstanding
UN
Peacekeeping
(DPKO) mission
in the DRC. So
why the
relative
silence?
When HRW
chief Ken Roth
met with Ban
Ki-moon, Inner
City Press
repeatedly
asked HRW for
a read-out of
what topics
Roth raised.
Eventually HRW
responded that
"to preserve
our ability to
have frank
discussions
with UN
officials and
advance our
advocacy
goals, we
don't
typically
communicate on
the content of
discussions we
have with
them."
Where
is the
transparency?
And why the
relative lack
of noise when
Bashir visits
a UN-top heavy
country like
the DRC?
Why the lack
of
explanations,
for example
from the UN
about its
rules for
meeting ICC
indictees, and
why Ladsous'
meeting with
Bashir was
considered
essential or
necessary. On
February 20
Inner City
Press after
for a briefing
by the UN's
head lawyer
Manuel de
Serpa; on
February 25,
Ban Ki-moon's
spokesperson
Martin Nesirky
said there
will be no
such briefing.
After
publication of
Inner City
Press'
February 25
article, and
after Bashir
was already in
the DRC, a press
release
went out
calling on DRC
to arrest him.
This should be
compared to
the advocacy
around
Bashir's visit
to Nigeria.
Inner City
Press asked
HRW about the
comparison,
and for any
comment on
Ladsous
meeting Bashir
- none has
been received.
After DPKO's
Ladsous met
with Bashir
last year and
Inner City
Press
repeatedly
asked about
it, a diplomat
supportive of
ICC told Inner
City Press the
new standard
was or would
be for the UN
to check with
the ICC before
such contacts.
On December
11, ICC
Prosecutor
Fatou Bensouda
told Inner
City Press
that the ICC
had not been
told before
Ladsous'
meeting with
Bashir.
After the Financial Times reported on February 2 from
the African
Union summit
in Addis Ababa
that Bashir
"met UN deputy
secretary-general
Jan Eliasson
for an hour or
so in private,"
UN deputy
spokesperson
Farhan Haq was
breathlessly
asked and said,
" I was
informed that
he followed
all the
appropriate
procedures in
terms of
having the
meeting."
But what did
that mean?
There was at
first no
follow up. So
Inner City
Press, after asking
about US
official
Victoria
Nuland's
leaked audio
about UN
political
chief Jeffrey
Feltman, asked:
Inner
City Press: I
wanted to ask
on this
question on
the
International
Criminal Court
and the
procedures for
UN contacts
with
indictees.
Back in July
there was a
meeting
between Under
Secretary-General
[Hervé]
Ladsous and
Omer
al-Bashir. And
I’ve spoken to
Fatou
Bensouda, and
she said that
they were not
contacted in
that case. I
wanted to
know, just
sort of yes or
no, is that…
In the answer
you gave on
the Deputy
Secretary-General,
are you saying
that before
meeting
someone
indicted, like
Omar
al-Bashir, the
UN is supposed
to check with
the ICC or
inform them in
advance?
Acting
Deputy
Spokesperson
Haq: No, what
I said is that
any such
meetings have
to be on the
basis of
operational
necessity. And
that was the
case for both
the meeting
that was held
by the Deputy
Secretary-General
and also with
regard to the
meeting by
Under-Secretary-General
Ladsous.
Inner
City Press:
Who makes that
determination?
They ask OLA?
Or each
individual
makes his own-
Acting
Deputy
Spokesperson:
The Office for
Legal Affairs
is routinely
consulted on
any of these
particular
meetings, yes.
So under the
new chief of
OLA, the UN is
saying it does
NOT have to
check with the
ICC. Is this
backsliding?
What will
those ICC
proponents do?
Seems like
it's time for
a briefing by
OLA, or by DSG
Eliasson,
since Ladsous
has been
allowed to
refuse to
answer
questions.
We'll have
more on this.
December
background:
When on Sudan
the
International
Criminal Court
prosecutor
Fatou Bensouda
briefed the UN
Security
Council on
Wednesday,
about the need
to arrest
Sudanese
president Omar
al Bashir,
there was an
elephant in
the room: UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous, who met with
Bashir in
July.
Actually,
Ladsous
had been in
the Security
Council in the
morning, but
unlike the
other two
briefers did
not speak to
or take any
questions from
the press when
he left.
Bensouda
said
that either
Sudan could
come contest
the indictment
of Bashir (and
others
including
Ahmad Haroon,
to whom
Ladsous' UN
Peacekeeping
has given free
flights to and
from Abyei)
-- or, arrests
should be
made. Ladsous
made no
arrests in
July.
After
Wednesday's
meeting, Inner
City Press
waited and
asked Bensouda
what she as
prosecutor
thought of UN
official
Ladsous having
met with
Bashir.
Bensouda
said,
"we are
consistently
saying that
these non
essential
meetings
should be
avoided.... I
do not know
what was the
purpose of
that meeting."
She
cited a UN
policy -- put
out by the
Office of
Legal Affairs
but apparently
not respected
by Ladsous'
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations --
of only
essential
meetings being
held with
indictees.
Inner
City Press
asked her if,
as a major /
vocal state
party to the
Rome Statute
told it, the
UN is now
going to give
the Court or
Association of
State Parties
prior notice
before
contacts like
Ladsous' with
Bashir.
Bensouda
replied
that she
wouldn't call
it notice, but
"we have
discussed some
visits before,
why it was
essential."
So,
Inner City
Press asked,
what about
Ladsous' July
2013 meeting
with Bashir?
Bensouda
said, "the one
in July, we
have not had
any
information
about it."
Ladsous
has a history,
of not
answering
Press
questions. Video here, UK
coverage here.
But this is
one he should
still answer.
But will he?
Sudanese
previous
Permanent
Representative
Daffa-Alla
Elhag
Ali Osman,
after harshly
criticizing
Bensouda in
his speech in
the Council,
agreed to
answer a few
Inner City
Press
questions
afterward in
the so called
Turkish Lounge
next to the
Security
Council.
While
this used to
be the media's
space, during
the UN
renovation the
UN took money
from Turkey
for the space.
Now, it is
said,
reporters can
only go there
if invited by
a diplomat.
This is
challenged by
the new Free
UN Coalition
for Access
as a decline
in working
conditions and
access under
this UN.
While
disfavored
NGOs are told
they cannot be
at the
stakeout,
Human Rights
Watch's UN
lobbyist, a
former France
24 and Le
Monde
journalist,
was then at
the stakeout
spinning Central
African
Republic,
with no
mention of its
problems'
French
colonial
roots.
Is this part
of the access?
As Inner City
Press says:
Ladsous is the
elephant in
the room.
Watch this
site.
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