As
UN Schedules
FM Karti &
Not Bashir,
Silence on
Ladsous, Sri
Lanka
Rajapaksa
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 23
-- After days
of hype and
hypocrisy
about the
possible visit
to the UN
General
Assembly in
New York of
Sudan's
president Omar
al Bashir,
indicted for
genocide by
the
International
Criminal
Court, the UN
on Monday
night posted
the next day's
schedule.
In
it, as noted
by Inner City
Press,
Sudan's
foreign
minister Ali
Karti will
meet Secretary
General
Ban Ki-moon at
7:05 pm on
September 24.
Since
countries
generally get
only one
sit-down with
the Secretary
General, this
would seem to
confirm that
Bashir is NOT
coming.
Earlier
on
Monday, Inner
City Press
asked Ban's
lead
spokesperson
Martin
Nesirky:
Inner
City
Press: on
President
[Omer Hassan
A. al-] Bashir
of Sudan,
there’s a lot
of reports
back and forth
on whether
he’ll visit.
What I wanted
to ask you in
advance is, I
know the UN
has this
policy
of only having
the most
necessary
contacts with
people that
are
indicted by
the
International
Criminal
Court, so
what’s the
thinking of
either the
current head
of OLA [Office
for Legal
Affairs]
or the past
policy, how it
would it apply
to a visit by
Mr. [al-]
Bashir? The
reason I say
it’s
peacekeeping
related, is
that I know
Hervé Ladsous
of DPKO
[Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations]
did
meet with Mr.
Bashir and I’m
still trying
to figure out
how this
met this
standard of
only limited
and necessary
contacts.
Spokesperson
Nesikry:
Well, on the
last part, I
think that’s
self-evident.
We
have not one
but two
peacekeeping
missions that
directly
relate to
Sudan, and so
I think that
that would
explain that.
With regard to
the first part
of your
question, at
this point,
it’s
hypothetical,
so I’m really
not going to
get into that.
What was your
other
question?
Of
course, there
ARE other
questions. For
example, given
the UN's own
reports on Sri
Lanka, why is
there so
little outrage
expressed by
Human Rights
Watch and
others about
Ban meeting
Mahinda
Rajapaksa, at
6:05 pm on
Tuesday? Why
is Ban
allowed to
withhold until
now the UN
report on the
organization's
inaction in
2009 while
40,000
civilians
were killed?
And
why have HRW
and, for
example, the
US State
Department
been so silent
about the UN's
Herve Ladsous
meeting with
Bashir?
Ladsous'
predecessor
Alain Le Roy
never did, it
was confirmed
to Inner City
Press on
Monday. So why
the silence?
Watch this
site.
, 
