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At UN, Changes to Council's Sudan Statement, French Words for Chad But Not Lubanga

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, June 16 -- On Darfur, the Security Council on Monday unanimously passed a Presidential Statement urging "the Government of Sudan and all other parties to the conflict in Darfur to cooperate fully with the [International Criminal] Court, consistent with Resolution 1593 (2005), in order to put an end to impunity for the crimes committed in Darfur." An earlier version had concluded, "as required by Resolution 1593 (2005), including in respect of the arrest warrants."

   The deletion of the reference to the arrest warrants for Ahmad Harun and Ali Kushayb, according to Inner City Press' sources in the Council, came at the demand of Libya. These sources say that Libya was opposing the whole Presidential Statement, until sponsor Costa Rica threatened to turn it into a formal resolution, which does not require unanimity and would, in this view, have isolated Libya as not even calling for compliance with previous Council resolutions.

  Costa Rican Ambassador Jorge Urbina was asked to respond to the characterization of his country, by Sudan's Ambassador to the UN, as a "banana republic." Amb. Urbina said that while he had not come to criticize any other member state, in the Human Development Index Costa Rica is 48th, while Sudan is 147th, reflecting each country's respect for international law. But that's not what the Index measures...

Oxfam 4 by 4 in Goz Beida, Eastern Chad, June 2008, (c) Matthew Russell Lee

  Meanwhile on neighboring Chad, where rebels took over the eastern town visited by Council Ambassadors and Inner City Press last week, Goz Beida, France rushed through a Presidential Statement calling on soldiers, peacekeepers and police to "put an end to the activities of armed groups in the region." Afterwards, Inner City Press asked French Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert to respond to reports that the Justice and Equality Movement, described as a Darfur rebel group, has been called into service of defending Chadian president Idriss Deby Itno. Amb. Ripert did not respond to that.

   When Inner City Press asked if France believes that Sudan is behind this most recent rebel move in Chad, Ripert said you have only to look where they came from, that is, from Sudan. While it seemed he was saying that the rebels had turned back, upon follow-up questioning he said that the rebels have turned north and east. We'll see.

Footnote: The International Criminal Court, which received support from the Council's Presidential Statement on Monday, is also in disarray, as the case against Congolese rebel Thomas Lubanga for, among other things, recruiting child soldiers has fallen apart. Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo failure to turn over discovery and potentially exculpatory material to Lubanga and his lawyers; the case has been suspended and on June 24 Lubanga may be released. Inner City Press asked Costa Rica Ambassador Jorge Urbina, given his country's interest in the ICC, to comment, but he said he had only come to the stakeout to speak about the Presidential Statement.

   Inner City Press asked Ambassador Ripert of France to comment on the freezing and prospective dropping of the child soldier recruitment charges against Lubanga.  Ripert said he would not comment on "judicial subjects." He looked, several reporters noted, sick or tired or both. Here's hoping for a new era of openness.

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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

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