At
UN,
Kenya's Request for ICC Deferral Dies a Quiet Death, Would
Sudan's?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
March 18 -- The UN Security Council will not vote for any
deferral
of International Criminal Court proceedings against the
Kenyan indictees, Inner City Press learned Friday outside the
closed
Council meeting on Kenya's request.
French
Ambassador
Gerard Araud told the Press that the conditions for a deferral under
Article 16 of the ICC Rome Statute are not there.
France is a
veto
wielding Permanent Member of the Council, so with Araud statement
alone, the Kenyan request is dead. Araud suggested Kenya try its luck
with the ICC directly, citing complementarity and Article 19.
Another
Western
Permanent Representative also told Inner City Press that the
situation in Kenya does not present a threat to international peace
and security.
Perhaps
for that
reason, while 13 of the 15 member states on the Security Council sent
their top or deputy Ambassador, the US and Russia sent lower level
diplomats. Several delegations commented to Inner City Press on this.
The
meeting on
Kenya's request was otherwise scarcely noticed or notified at the UN.
At UN, sign outside Kenya ICC meeting [closed] (c)MRLee
It had been
scheduled for Wednesday March 16, but as first reported
by Inner City Press it got
canceled on
little notice.
Inner City Press talked to Kenyan diplomats outside
the meeting room on Wednesday, who said it had not been re-scheduled.
“It wasn't even
in the UN Journal,” one diplomat said to Inner City Press.
Ironically, one Western Permanent Representative told Inner City
Press that one good thing about the session is that it was “open.” It
was a closed meeting, with little notice or coverage.
So, the Kenyan
request
died a quiet death on Friday.
Would
the
same happen to a request by Sudan's Omar al-Bashir and Ahmed
Haroun? Watch this site.
* * *
At
UN,
Kenya
ICC Meeting Is Canceled by Security Council, No Ban
Summary
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
March
16 -- A week after a delegation from Kenya delivered a
pitch for deferral of International
Criminal
Court cases to UN
Security Council members and reportedly Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon, the Council was scheduled to meet on the topic on Wednesday
afternoon.
Inner
City Press
was in front of the Council, seeking to cover the Kenya meeting as
well as the Council's ongoing consultations on Libya. The sign in
front of Conference Room 8 next to the Council chamber advertised the
Kenya ICC meeting all morning.
A
group of Kenyan
diplomats came down to the Council area at 3 pm, looking around. The
sign had been changed: “Canceled.” Inside, the conference room
was empty.
“When
it is
rescheduled for?” Inner City Press later asked the Kenyan. It
hasn't been, they answered.
The
trip by
Kenya's vice president to meet Ban Ki-moon and UN mission had been
described as a success -- by the Kenyan delegation. Ban Ki-moon, in
fact, never confirmed the content of his meeting. On March 8, Inner
City Press asked Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky:
Inner
City
Press:
the Secretary-General met at 11:00 a.m. with the Vice
President of Kenya, [Stephen] Kalonzo, and I wanted to know, now that
that meeting has happened, did the matter of deferring the ICC
[International Criminal Court] prosecution of Kenya arise? And
separately, what is the Secretary-General’s view on such a
suspension?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
Well,
I need to await a readout on that meeting; so I don’t
really have any further comment at this time. But we have requested
a readout and I would expect one. Okay?
Inner
City
Press:
Would that say specifically whether ICC arose or not? I
mean, I guess the readout…
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
Well,
as I say, let’s see, let’s see. We have asked
for it and let’s see what happens.
But
no read out
was ever given. And now the Security Council's meeting on Kenya and
the ICC has been canceled.
In
fact, a Council
Permanent Representative earlier in the month pitched the Press on
the argument that the Security Council need not, or even cannot, vote
to suspect ICC action on Kenya, since unlike Darfur in Sudan, the
Council did not refer Kenya to the ICC. Whatever the merits of the
argument, the unceremonious canceling of the Kenya ICC meeting may
speak for itself. Watch this site.
Click
for
Mar 1,
'11
BloggingHeads.tv re Libya, Sri Lanka, UN Corruption
