After
UN Reports
NATO Killed 18
Rescuers, Ban
Says Complied
With SC
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
March 13 --
Amid
conflicting
reports that
NATO killed
civilians in
Libya, the UN
Independent
Commission of
Inquiry report
came out on
March 2. It
said, among
other things,
that in a
single
incident "in
the town of
Majer on 8
August 2011...
the
Commission
found NATO
bombs killed
34 civilians
and injured
38. After
the initial
airstrike
killed 16, a
group of
rescuers
arrived and
were
hit by a
subsequent
attack,
killing 18."
The
report was put
online on the
website of the
UN Human
Rights
Commission,
and NATO
chief
Rasmussen was
asked and
answered about
it on March 5.
Later
that day,
Inner City
Pres asked
Ban's deputy
spokesman
Eduardo del
Buey about the
report, how it
related to
Ban's earlier
statements on
NATO and
international
humanitarian
law.
"It
only came
on out
Friday," del
Buey replied,
"give us
time." A
week later on
March 12, when
foreign
ministers came
to the UN to
debate the
Arab Spring,
still nothing
had been said
(although
Inner
City Press asked
minister
Juppe, Hague
and Lavrov
about it).
From the
March 12 noon
briefing:
Inner
City
Press: Sergey
Lavrov said
that he would
like to see
the
Secretary-General
working on
that issue of
the… of NATO
casualties
in Libya under
some UN-NATO
memorandum of
understanding
of 2008. I
wanted to
know, one, if
the
Secretary-General
yet, or your
office
yet, has a
comment on the
Independent
Commission of
Inquiry’s
report on
Libya and
those
casualties,
and two, what
the response
is
to Minister
Lavrov’s
request that
the
Secretary-General
somehow
work with NATO
to review
those?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
I don’t have
anything on
that just at
the moment,
but I
would point
out that the
Secretary-General
is meeting
Minister
Lavrov
right now. And
so it may be
that this is
addressed when
we get to a
readout a
little bit
later.
But
the readout
only mentioned
"the situation
in Libya." And
the next day
March
13 Ban's
Spokesperson
Martin Nesirky
sent a
statement
first to Inner
City Press,
then soon
thereafter to
all
correspondents,
which did not
address
civilians
casualties,
much less the
18 killed
rescuers in
Majer:
Subject:
Response
to question on
Libya
To:
Matthew.Lee
[at]
innercitypress.com
From: UN
Spokesperson -
Do Not Reply
[at]
un.org
Date: Tue, Mar
13, 2012 at
3:46 PM
The
Secretary-General
believes the
report and
recommendations
of the
International
Commission of
Inquiry on
Libya provide
a strong basis
for the Libyan
authorities to
address human
rights issues
in Libya.
The
Secretary-General
called
consistently
during the
fighting for
every effort
to be made to
minimize harm
to civilians.
He notes the
report’s
overall
finding that
NATO did not
deliberately
target
civilians in
Libya.
The
Secretary-General
is aware of
the positions
members of the
Security
Council have
expressed on
this issue.
The
Secretary-General
has made
clear his view
that the
actions taken
by the
international
community
were
consistent
with the
relevant
Security
Council
resolutions.
But
what about the
18 rescuers
killed? On
March 12,
Inner City
Press asked
ministers
Alain Juppe of
France and
William Hague
of the UK
about the
critique
of
implementation
of the
Council's
Libya
resolution.
Juppe said he
was proud. A
Russian
diplomat told
Inner City
Press on March
13, we
will not let
this rest.
One problem
here is that
with, on
Syria, a focus
on an
"impartial
monitoring
mechanism,"
Ban and his
Secretariat
are said to
disqualify
themselves
from such a
role with
statements
like this
which ignore
the UNICI's
own findings
that 60
civilians,
including 18
rescuers, were
killed.
We'll
see.
, 
