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On ICC, Letter Targets UN's d'Escoto, No
Bashir Interpol Request, Obasanjo Critiques ICC
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
March 23 -- As Sudan's President
Omar al Bashir defies the arrest warrant issued by the International
Criminal
Court for war crimes by flying to Eritrea, one of many African
countries angered
by the ICC's indictment, the President of the
ICC's State Parties Christian
Wenaweser has written a scathing letter to Miguel d'Escoto Brockman,
the
President of UN General Assembly, for his comment that the ICC is
"racist."
Wenaweser,
the Ambassador to the UN of tiny Liechtenstein,
tells d'Escoto that his comments are "factually wrong and detrimental
to a
constructive discussion," in a letter Inner City Press
has obtained and
now puts online, here [Page 1 Page 2]
In a press
conference last week, d'Escoto noted that all of the cases brought
by ICC
prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo have been in Africa. Inner
City Press on March 20 asked Ocampo if
he intends to bring any non-Africa cases, for example in Sri Lanka
where UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has said war crimes are being
committed by both the Tamil Tigers and the government. Ocampo
replied that Sri
Lanka is not a party to the ICC -- neither is Sudan -- and went on to
say he is
"guilty" of "caring about Africans."
The
African Union, it seems, would prefer Ocampo take his caring elsewhere.
While
Ocampo bragged of Bashir to the media on March 20 that "I will get
him," sources tell Inner City Press that it has been conveyed to the
ICC
that if an attempt is made to apprehend Bashir at this time, the
African Union
members which are state parties to the ICC will drop out en masse, and
deal the
ICC a serious if not fatal blow. If Bashir travels to an upcoming
conference in
Doha and no attempt at apprehension is made -- Ocampo on March 20 told
reporters that Bashir would be grabbed in international airspace --
some will
see the AU threat having effect.
UN's Ban and PGA d'Escoto, ICC and Obansanjo not shown
As UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and senior officials attended a meeting
with
Interpol on March 23, Inner City Press asked top UN Peacekeeper Alain
Le Roy
about Bashir - Interpol connections. No, he said, we just asked them
and they
[Interpol] said the ICC has not yet made any request" about President
Bashir.
Whether this has anything to do an African Union threat is not known.
Footnote: Inner
City Press at the UN's noon
briefing on March 23 asked for any response by Ban Ki-moon or the
Secretariat
to comments by Ban's envoy, and former Nigerian president, Olusegun
Obansanjo to BBC
that he does not take at face value the ICC's indictment of Bashir, and
would
have to see more proof.
Ban's Associate
Spokesman Farhan Haq emphasized that while Obasanjo will be
representing Ban in
upcoming meetings, he does not speak for the UN regarding Sudan. Inner
City
Press also asked in the briefing how and how much Obasanjo is paid by
the UN,
just as Inner City Press and an Italian media outlet asked last week
how much
Romano Prodi is paid. Neither question has been answered.
Click here for Inner City
Press March 12 UN (and AIG
bailout) debate
Click here for Inner City
Press' Feb 26 UN debate
Click
here
for Feb.
12 debate on Sri Lanka http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/17772?in=11:33&out=32:56
Click here for Inner City Press' Jan.
16, 2009 debate about Gaza
Click here for Inner City Press'
review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate
Click here for Inner
City Press' December 24 debate on UN budget, Niger
Click here from Inner City Press'
December 12 debate on UN double standards
Click here for Inner
City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics
and this October 17 debate, on
Security Council and Obama and the UN.
* * *
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
Feedback: Editorial
[at] innercitypress.com
UN
Office: S-453A, UN, NY 10017
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Tel: 212-963-1439
Reporter's
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weekends):
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Other,
earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available
in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
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2006-08 Inner City Press, Inc. To request
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