By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 28 --
The UN
Security
Council will
meet October
31 on the
African Union
and Kenya
letters to
Council asking
for deferral
of the
International
Criminal Court
cases on Kenya,
Inner City
Press can
report.
Inner City
Press, having
obtained the
letters,
exclusively a
week ago
published the
full letters here (AU)
and here
(Kenya).
Now it can
report that
Kenya's
minister, in
town, will be
speaking
before the
Council
considers the
request on
Thursday.
This session
wasn't, for
example, on UK
Ambassador
Mark Lyall
Grant's
summary of the
week to come
(then again,
neither was
the UN's role
in renewed
fighting in
Eastern Congo,
put on the
agenda.) Would
the UK support
the AU Kenya
request?
Back on
October 18
amid
conflicting
reports about
a forthcoming
request to the
UN Security
Council to
defer the
International
Criminal
Court's Kenya
case or cases,
Inner City
Press asked
French
Permanent
Representative
Gerard Araud
what France's
response would
be to such a
request.
Earlier
that day Kenya's
Permanent
Representative
Macharia Kamau
told Inner
City Press that it was
not a move by
Kenya, but by
the African
Union, not yet
formally filed
by the AU.
Also
earlier on
October 18 in
The Hague, ICC
judges excused
Kenyan
President
Uhuru Kenyatta
from
"continuous
presence" at
his trial, to
begin November
12 (presiding
Judge Kuniko
Ozaki
dissented).
When
Inner City
Press asked
Araud for
France's
position on a
request to
defer ICC
prosecution of
Kenyatta, he
stopped and
exclusively
told Inner
City Press,
"Frankly
that's not the
question. The
ICC granted
the request.
In a sense, we
won't get to
the step you
describe."
Inner
City Press
reported: "the
answer is
appreciated.
But is it
certain that
the request
for full
deferral won't
be made?"
Now Araud's
prediction has
been
disproved.
What will the
UN Security
Council do
next? Watch
this site.
On
October 14,
Inner City
Press asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesperson
Martin
Nesikry:
Inner
City Press:
there's a
report that
says that the
Secretary-General
called
a number of
the Presidents
in attendance
[at the AU]
and told them
that he would
use his
position to
amend the Rome
Statute... it
also includes
the response
of one of the
Presidents,
Robert Mugabe
of Zimbabwe,
saying that
the
Secretary-General
has no ability
to amend the
Rome Statute.
Is it? Could
we get just a
factual
readout of who
he called in
connection
with that AU
summit?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
I will check.
What we will
be able to
say: the
Secretary-General
certainly did
make a number
of telephone
calls, but I
don’t think
that we will
be going into
the details of
those calls.
Inner
City Press:
What about
just WHO he
called?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
I can tell you
that a number
of telephone
calls were
made, and not
just by the
Secretary-General.
The Free UN Coalition for Access @FUNCA_info
believes that
as a matter of
transparency,
such calls by
the UN
Secretary
General should
be disclosed.
Selectively
disclosing
some but not
all calls to
heads of state
turns the UN
(further) into
a House of
Spin. Watch
this site.
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