In
ICJ
Election,
Dirty Tricks
Alleged,
Ugandan Sierra
Leone Contest
Unresolved
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 10 --
The
re-election of
three judges
to the
International
Court of
Justice on
November 10
included a
dirty tricks
campaign,
according to
one of the
winning
judges.
Issue
was taken
with a previously
reported
allegation
that Judge
Peter Tomka of
Slovakia
assured
Security
Council member
Colombia of a
positive
outcome in a
pending case,
by
one judge
prior to
Thursday
voting and one
judge just
after,
pointing
to finger at
Tomka's
opponent, from
Bulgaria.
Judgeships
on the
ICJ are
subject to a
geographic
understanding;
Tomka's
re-election
was challenged
by Tsvetana
Kamenova of
Bulgaria,
which was said
to
still be angry
about
non-compliance
with a deal to
take over part
of
the term of
judge from
Poland who
instead
remained on
the court
until
his passing
with one year
left in his
third
nine-year
term.
As
character
witnesses
Tomka has many
diplomats in
the UN, where
he served from
1991 to 1997,
including as
Permanent
Representative.
The
proposition
that Tomka
always rules
in favor of
Colombia is
countered by
his
ruling against
Colombia's
position that
Costa Rica
should be able
to
intervene in
the case, Territorial
and Maritime
Dispute
(Nicaragua v.
Colombia).
All of this is
duly noted,
for the
record.
(c) UN Photo
ICJ President
Owada with Ban
Ki-moon,
reforms still
not shown
And
for the
remaining ICJ
seat, Thursday
ended with
Sierra Leone's
Abdul Koroma
still one vote
short in the
General
Assembly, but
leading his
Ugandan
opponent 9 to
6 in the
Security
Council. The
fight will be
continued,
but the date
was not on
Thursday set.
Watch this
site.
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