At
UN, Questions of Moreno Ocampo's Competence and Silence on Congo's
Bosco
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, June 3 -- As International Criminal Court prosecutor Jose
Moreno Ocampo prepares to denounce Sudan for not turning its
president over for what would be a lengthy trial, questions arose
Thursday at the UN about Ocampo's competence and double standard in
not devoting comparable energy to calling for the arrest of
previously ICC indicted war criminal Jean-Bosco Ntaganda, with whom
the UN Mission in the Congo collaborates, according to Congolese Army
documents and the UN's own experts' report.
On
the issue of competence, Inner City Press asked Human Rights Watch's
Richard Dicker about a leaked HRW
letter to those who ostensibly
oversee Ocampo, raising concerns about the International Labor
Organization's award of over 200,000 Euros in damages after finding
that Ocampo denied a whistleblower due process. Video here,
from
Minute 45:40.
Dicker
acknowledged that the letter was sent, claiming that HRW has publicly
criticized Ocampo, but did not explain why the letter was marked
confidential and only became public when leaked. "We don't kiss
and tell," he finally said -- ironic, in that the underlying
claims against Ocampo, raised by the whistleblower before Ocampo
fired him, were of sexual harassment by Ocampo. But HRW does not kiss
and tell.
UN's Ban and ICC's Moreno Ocampo, whistleblowers not shown
On
Ocampo's relatively silence about Bosco, HRW's Dicker was noticeably
more forthright, saying that "the Prosecutor need to make
affirmative" statements "on this issue," but also only
so far responded to queries. But why then doesn't HRW, and groups
like it, affirmatively critique Ocampo for his silence, rather than
waiting for Press questions in order to do so?
Dicker
said the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda has a blindspot
or weakness in that it has not prosecuted any RFP or Tutsi
worngdoers. Afterwards, Inner City Press asked the ICTR's Prossecutor
Jallow to response. He said the HRW is misinformed, that it is that
he relies on the Rwanda justice system to go after such suspects. But
when Inner City Press asked Mr. Jallow about one of the highest
profile suspects, Rwanda General Karake Karenzi, Jallow said he
hadn't heard the name, it didn't ring a bell. Blindspot indeed.....
On
Sri Lanka, No Answer on Nambiar's Role in Deadly Surrender, IDP
Counting Questioned
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, June 3 -- As doubts grow about what the UN did and didn't do
in Sri Lanka's killing fields, the UN left a simple factual question
unanswered on
June 3. Inner City Press asked, at the day's UN media
briefing in New York
Inner
City Press: There are media reports quoting Vijay Nambiar on 17 May
as having said that he spoke with these two LTTE leaders, not the
founder, but the two that tried to surrender, that he spoke to them
through this one person called KP and conveyed it to the Government
and conveyed back through KP that they should come out with a white
flag. By all accounts, they were then shot. And what I am wondering
is whether… In this media account it says that Vijay Nambiar was
invited to go and witness this surrender, somehow to go to northern
Sri Lanka and become more involved. Can you confirm that these
communications, you know, there are quotes that are out there, so the
UN can either deny or confirm them? But did it take place and what’s
its role?
Spokesperson
Michele Montas: Let me… I’ll ask Mr. Nambiar.
Nine
hours later, no response has been provided. The UN's Vijay Nambiar
has been quoted that "as for the insinuations in a section of
the Press about me and my brother, I do not deem it warrants even a
response." While Vijay's brother Satish has written an op-ed
praising the Sri Lankan general who conducted the controversial
offensive in northern Sri Lanka, the more fundamental question is
whether given Sri Lankan history Ban Ki-moon should have sent a
former Indian diplomat as his envoy. Even some of Ban's closest
advisers think not.
UN's Kofi Annan in 2004 with Vijay Nambiar,
then India's Ambassador
And
now, no answer in nine hours about possible involvement in a
violation of the Geneva Conventions, to whit, the shooting of people
surrendering waving white flags. Some UN sources describe the
additional involvement of presidential brother Basil Rajapaksa, who
met with Ban Ki-moon in January in New York and on May 23 in Kandy,
the Buddhist shrine town where Ban consented to meet President
Mahinda Rajapaksa.
On
June 3, Inner
City Press also asked
Inner
City Press: on Sri Lanka, there are these OCHA reports they put out,
you know, situation reports. And the one
of 30 May says that, you
know, in essence it says that, it decreases the number of IDPs in the
camps by 13,000 and it says, in a single line it says this decrease
is associated with double-counting. In the previous
report [27 May], which
had 13,000 more IDPs, it said that the system was improved systematic
registration. So what is the UN doing to make sure that people
aren’t actually disappearing from the camps when its own numbers
reflect 13,000 people missing?
Spokesperson
Montas: Well, I have to say that it is a rather an unusual
situation. There is such a massive influx of people, which can
explain that the registration process -- which is still ongoing, by
the way -- there was some double counting that was involved. And, as
soon as they found out they rectified the numbers to reflect that. So,
the UN can, you know, we’re there… They’re not our camps,
you know. We’re there to assist for better treatment of the IDPs.
Inner
City Press: Since the numbers were so specific, can the… is the UN
then by saying that the entire 13,130 that are missing are just
double counting, is it saying that no one has been taken out of the
camps?
Spokesperson
Montas: That is what OCHA is saying. It is double counting, they
went through it several times, and it is double counting. It is not
about people missing.
We'll
see -- watch this site.
On
Sri Lanka, Ban Will Brief in UN Basement June 5, Of "Missing"
IDPs and Ms. Butenis
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS, June 2, 11
am --
Two weeks after his fly-over the shattered "No Fire" Zone
in Sri Lanka, on June 5 Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will finally
brief the UN Security Council, albeit in the basement, on par with
Sri Lanka's ambassador. The format will be an "informal
interactive dialogue" of the Council, of the type held before
Mr. Ban's one-day trip.
Now,
with public reports of the number of civilian dead climbing past
20,000 and Mr. Ban fending off allegations in mainstream newspapers
that he and his envoy Vijay Nambiar downplayed the carnage in Sri
Lanka, Ban will descend to the basement and give a closed-door
briefing, as Mr. Nambiar previously resisted.
In Sri Lanka, UN's Ban's banner, some IDPs not shown
The
UN seems to hope that this will be the final briefing, at least at
the Security Council. But with the UN now on the hook to fund what
some call ethnic cleansing camps, and a new controversy about over
13,000 camp detainees suddenly gone "missing" in the UN's
own reports -- click here
for Inner City Press' exclusive story --
the UN will be under pressure to do something, anything. If the
recent past is any guide, it will try to resist this pressure, and
even to attack the messenger.
In Washington,
President Obama has put forward a nomination for the next US Ambassador
to Sri Lanka, Patricia A. Butenis of Virginia. More on to follow --
watch this site.
, 
