As
Ocampo Seeks
to Arrest
Sudan
Minister,
Won't Say UN
Shouldn't
Work With Him
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 15 --
As
International
Criminal Court
prosecutor
Luis Moreno
Ocampo began a
press
conference
Thursday at
the UN,
Sudan's
Permanent
Representative
Daffa-Alla
Elhag Ali
Osman spoke to
the Press,
criticizing
Ocampo as
"nonprofessional"
while
praising new
UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous for
the picture he
painted of an
"enhanced
situation in
Darfur."
Inner
City Press
asked
Daffa-Alla
Elhag Ali
Osman if his
country's
Defense
Minister,
whom Ocampo
has asked the
ICC judges for
a warrant to
arrest for war
crimes, still
engaged with
the UN
peacekeeping
mission under
Ladsous'
control.
Yes,
Daffa-Alla
Elhag Ali
Osman said,
the minister
"closely
works" with
UNAMID in
Darfur and
UNISFA in
Abyei.
Inner
City Press
jogged to
Ocampo's press
conference and
asked what he
thought of
this. Ocampo
distinguished
between him
seeking an
arrest
warrant, and
the judges
indicting the
minister. So
Inner City
Press asked,
if and
when the
minister is
indicted, did
Ocampo think
the UN should
engage
with him?
Ocampo
responded
that there is
a UN policy of
dealing with
ICC indictees
only as a
matter of
"necessity."
But since
presumably
under this
policy the UN
at least twice
flew ICC
indictee Ahmed
Haroun in a UN
helicopter
between
Southern
Kordofan and
Abyei, Inner
City Press
asked Ocampo
if day to day
peacekeeping
mission
business could
be
called a
"necessity" by
the UN.
You
have to ask
them, Ocampo
said. Some
call this
punting, or
refusing to be
critical of
the UN
Secretariat.
Inner
City Press
asked Ocampo
about the
process by
which six new
ICC judges are
being
elected, which
has included
France
offering to
support a
candidate
ruled
"unqualified"
in exchange
for a vote for
the French
candidate
Bruno Cathala,
formerly the
registrar of
the ICC.
Ocampo
declined to
comment on
that, or on
the
advisability
of putting
unqualified
judges
on the ICC.
At
an event near
the UN on
Wednesday
evening Ocampo
was called the
"former
prosecutor of
the ICC." One
would think
that on his
way out, he
could offer
candid
recommendations
of what could
be done
better. But
so far, not.
Watch this
site.
Fires in Abyei
in Sudan,
Ladsous and
SOFA not shown
Footnote:
Ocampo
met with Cote
d'Ivoire's
Prime Minister
Soro, who is
accused
of involvement
in reprisal
killings. Was
this meeting
to clean up
Soro's
reputation, or
did Ocampo
view him as a
possible
defendant?
When Inner
City Press
asked him
Thursday
morning,
Ocampo
wouldn't
say. We'll
see.
Inner
City Press
asked Soro
about reprisal
killings in
Abobo, and the
killing of IB,
reported
leader of the
"Invisible
Commandos."
Soro
responded
grandly that
he is here as
Prime
Minister, to
speak to the
Assembly of
State Parties
of the Rome
Statute. Only
at the UN.
, 
