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Khalilzad of US Defends Sima Samar, Sudan Has Denounced
After Signing ICC's Rome Statute
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
September 18 -- On Sudan, as the
French and American Ambassadors to the UN emphasized on Thursday that
there is
no proposal before them to freeze the indictment of Omar Al Bashir,
Inner City
Press was told that Sudan wrote to the UN to confirm that, while it was
a
signatory to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court on
September
8, 2000, it now has no intention of ratifying. The purpose, according
to the
chief of the UN's Treaty Section Annebeth Rosenboom, was to remove any
confusion about Sudan complying with anything in the Rome Statute.
Inner City
Press asked American Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad if the U.S. would be
willing
to freeze Bashir's indictment if he met some conditions. French
Ambassador Jean
Maurice Ripert listed five conditions on September 17, and sought to
further
clarify on September 18. Amb Khalilzad answered that there is no
proposal at
present.
In light of
charges by Sudan that the UN system's investigator for Sudan Sima Samar
is
"an agent of the European Union," Inner City Press asked Amb.
Khalilzad, who knows Ms. Samar, to respond.
Inner City Press: On Sudan, we
were told yesterday that there's some moves afoot by either France or
France
and the U.K. to put -- to lay out conditions to Sudan that if they met
them,
perhaps al-Bashir's indictment and prosecution wouldn't go forward. What's the U.S.'s position on Article 16 or
if conditions are met, changing it, and also on Sima Samar, this human
rights
investigator for Sudan that Sudan is now saying is an EU agent,
essentially, in
the Geneva Human Rights Council?
Ambassador Khalilzad: Uh-huh.
First of all, I have to say that I know Sima Samar. She was the head of the Afghan Human Rights
Commission, and she was a deputy prime minister and was -- had other
senior
posts in the aftermath of the overthrow of the Taliban.
She was a great human rights advocate against
the Taliban abuses in Afghanistan. So I have full confidence in her and
her
abilities and her commitment to human rights.
Frankly, she used to give me a hard time when I was
in Afghanistan, when
she was the head of the human rights commissions, on many issues. So she's no one's -- shall we say, puppet or
agent here. She's a very strong lady
that speaks her mind and is not intimidated.
Video here.
In fact, Ms. Samar didn't want Khalilzad as U.S. Ambassador to
Afghanistan, click here from
that.
Sima Samar and Hamid Kharzai, ICC intrigues
not shown
The back
and forth with France's Jean-Maurice Ripert about freezing the Bashir
indictment was more illuminating:
Inner City Press: Yesterday you
listed those things and said that if Sudan did them, 'why not' ?
Ambassador Ripert: Why not review
the situation. Of course, by definition, if they cooperate with the
ICC, the
situation regarding the ICC and Sudan will be changed. But we have
constantly
said they have to initiate some cooperation with the ICC, precisely for
the
indictment of the two indictees that we have, who are Mr Haroun et Ali
Kushayb
they have to cooperate with the ICC for that matter.
Inner City Press: And if they try
in Sudan, in a way that the ICC could--
Ambassador Ripert: Exactly,
that’s the point. I mean, if they want to try them, there is some
subsidiarity
in the Rome Statute and if they do that in agreement or in cooperation
with the
ICC, then the ICC will decide what to do, of course. But for the
moment,
regarding Mr Bechir as you know very well, anyway, we are waiting for
the
preliminary chamber to decide upon the request of the prosecutors. So
the
question is not raised in our view, this is very clear.
Inner City Press: Mr. Ocampo said
the proceedings in Sudan are not credible. He said that as soon as they
announced they were setting up a new investigation.
Ambassador Ripert: I think they
have to talk, both the ICC and the Sudanese government, and we will see
what M.
Ocampo says.
Q: Yesterday you said – you said
it before but
maybe you could clarify – that it is not too late for Sudan to
cooperate with
the ICC.
Ambassador Ripert: That is
precisely what I am saying.
Q: This implies, somewhere, that
if they did do
that, it could change the situation ?
Ambassador Ripert: If they do
that, the ICC will decide how they want to act. But for the moment we
also have
always said that the ICC is an independent body. We believe in the
freedom of
justice and we believe in the rule of law and the due process of law.
The ICC
has to decide what they want to do vis-a-vis Sudan. It is not up to us
to
decide, this is very clear.
But it's
not clear. It is up the Security Council, which referred Sudan to the
ICC, to
decided whether or not to ask for a freezing of the proceedings. Advocates, sponsored by Mission of
Liechtenstein, are coming to the UN on September 19 to argue against
just this.
Watch this site, and this (UN) debate.
* * *
These
reports are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click
here
for a Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click
here
for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali
National
Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an
undefined trust fund. Video
Analysis here
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