UN
Spins
Gambari
Greeting ICC
Indictee
Bashir at
Reception As
"African
Tradition"
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 27 --
After publishing
photographs of
UN - African
Union envoy to
Darfur Ibrahim
Gambari with
Omar al-Bashir,
indicted
by the
International
Criminal Court
for genocide
and war
crimes,
Inner City
Press three
times this
week asked UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman to
state UN
policy for
dealing with
ICC
indictees, and
if Gambari's
actions
complied with
UN policy.
The
UN has said
it only deals
with ICC
indictees when
"necessary,"
for example
when Inner
City Press
asked the UN
about having
twice provided
air
transportation
to Ahmed
Harun, also
indicted by
the ICC for
war crimes.
But was
attending a
reception for
the wedding of
the daughter
of Darfur
janjaweed
militia leader
Musa Hilal and
Idriss Deby
"necessary"?
After
twice saying
he
hadn't seen
the photos,
on
January 26
Nesirky said
that "the
ICC is an
independent
judicial
institution.
And it needs
to be able
to carry out
its work in an
independent
fashion. And
so I don’t
think that it
is appropriate
to comment
further on
cases that are
being looked
at and in the
judicial
process
already."
Inner
City Press
asked,
"can you see
why the
Gambari photo
creates some
confusion?
Attending a
wedding
ceremony is
hard to
describe as a
humanitarian
gesture."
Later,
Nesirky's
office sent
Inner City
Press the
following:
Subject:
Your
question on
JSR Gambari
From: UN
Spokesperson -
Do Not Reply
[at] un.org
Date: Thu, Jan
26, 2012 at
1:02 PM
To: Matthew
Russell Lee
[at]
innercitypress.com
The
Departement
for
Peacekeeping
Operations
(DPKO) advises
the following:
JSR Gambari
attended the
wedding at the
invitation of
President Deby
of Chad, who
is an
important
regional
partner in the
peace process.
JSR Gambari
had no control
over the guest
list and it is
contrary to
basic
diplomatic
courtesy and
African
traditions to
ignore
greeting
other invited
guests.
So
apparently the
UN system's
policy on
engagement
with
individuals
indicted by
the ICC
for genocide
has a "wedding
reception" or
even "African
traditions"
exception.
Gambari
greets Bashir,
UN policy on
ICC not shown:
non-existent?
It's worth
noting, as the
Sudanese
Mission to the
UN confirmed
to Inner City
Press
apparently
proudly,
that Idriss
Deby wasn't
even AT the
reception. But
Gambari went
anyway, and
greeted
Bashir.
The
UN's policy on
dealing with
ICC indicted
individuals is
in the purview
of Ban's head
of Legal
Affairs
Patricia
O'Brien, who
has repeatedly
refused to
answer press
questions.
This is Ban's
UN - watch
this site.
, 
