Uganda
Won't Implement ICC Warrant on Bashir Until "Verified" by
AU, Can Kony Copy?
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, July 22 -- Uganda's foreign minister Sam Kutesa told the
Press on Wednesday that his country is "obligated to implement
International Criminal Court warrants" such as the one against
Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, but that as a member of the
African Union, Uganda is not implementing the al Bashir warrant until
the AU "verifies" it. Video here, from Minute 1:24.
While
some might welcome a process for regional appeals of ICC indictments,
it raises the question: why for example can't Lord's Resistance Army
leader Joseph Kony, who Uganda referred to the ICC, forestall
execution of the ICC warrant against him by commissioning a study
such as the one of Bashir? That is, how prominent does the study
group have to be, to justify an ICC member not acting on an ICC
indictment?
On
July 17, Inner
City Press asked the President of the ICC's Assembly of State
Parties, Liechtenstein's Ambassador Christian Weneweser, about
Uganda's positions on al-Bashir. Some in the administration of
President Yoweri Museveni had said Bashir would be arrested if he
came to Uganda, then Museveni said no and reportedly apologized.
Wenewaeer said that on July
16, he had a long conversation with Uganda's Ambassador who gave
assurances was committed "to its obligations under the Rome
Statute" -- that is, to arrest al Bashir. Since Museveni had
invited al Bashir to Uganda, Inner City Press asked Wenaweser if
this might be a set up. "Ask him the question," Wenaweser
said, referring to Uganda's Ambassador Ruhakana Rugunda. Video here,
from Minute 6:42.
While
Inner City Press later that day did ask Uganda's Ambassador the
question -- click here
for the answer -- on July 22 his boss, foreign
minister Kutesa, was at the UN to debate post-conflict peacebuilding.
Afterwards Inner City Press asked him to clarify Uganda's position.
"Uganda's position is very clear," he said, adding it is
obligated to implement ICC warrants but as a member of the AU it will
await the findings of the AU group headed by South African's former
president Thabo Mbeki.
Ugandan minister Kutesa, AU study trumps ICC warrant, for now
Then you will
implement the warrant? Absolutely, Kutesa said, once the AU has
verified the indictment.
And
if it is not
verified, Inner City Press asked, then what?
"Then
the AU
will take a position," Kutesa said. So apparently, the African
Union trumps the ICC, at least for Uganda. Watch this space.
Footnote: Minister
Kutesa held a lunch for ambassador at which, one attendee told Inner
City Press, he spoke in more detail about Somalia that at the Council
stakeout. There, when Inner City Press asked about peacebuilding and
the DRC and Somalia, he answered vaguely that both are ready for
peacebuilding. Since al Shabaab is throwing at least parts of the UN
out of Somalia, its readiness for the PBC is in question.
Kutesa
appeared with the suddenly omnipresent Chilean Ambassador Geraldo
Munoz, chairman of the Peacebuilding Commission, head of the
investigation of the murder of Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan, and speaker
for pro Responsibiliy to Protect NGOs now at the UN. Some say Munoz is
looking for a UN job. Watch this space.
* * *
At
UN, Liechtenstein Says Uganda Would Arrest Sudan's Bashir, Kampala
Says Not So
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, July 16 -- Uganda is a state party to the International
Criminal Court, and a member of the African Union. These two roles
came into conflict this week, when Uganda officials were quoted that
if he visited Uganda for a summit, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir
would be arrested on the ICC warrant against him. Then it was
reported that Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who referred Ugandan
rebel Joseph Kony of the Lord's Resistance Army to the ICC, called
al-Bashir to assure him that Uganda would not enforce the ICC
warrant.
On
July 17, Inner
City Press asked the President of the Assembly of State Parties of
the ICC and its Rome Statute, Liechtenstein Ambassador Christian
Wenaweser about Uganda's double message. Wenaweser said that on July
16, he had a long conversation with Uganda's Ambassador who gave
assurances was committed "to its obligations under the Rome
Statute" -- that is, to arrest al Bashir. Since Museveni had
invited al Bashir to Uganda, Inner City Press asked Wenaweser if
this might be a set up. "Ask him the question," Wenaweser
said, referring to Uganda's Ambassador Ruhakana Rugunda. Video here,
from Minute 6:42.
As
luck would have
it, Ambassador Rugunda, July's president of the Security Council,
came to the stakeout an hour after the ICC Justice Day briefing.
Inner City Press asked Ambassador Rugunda to respond to Wenaweser's
characterization of their conversation and his alleged commitment to
live up to Uganda's Rome Statute obligations to arrest. Ruganda noted
that the African Union has set up a committee of former heads of
state, led by South African Thabo Mbeki, and said that Uganda is
waiting for a report from Mr. Mbeki. Ruganda said this should make
his country's position clear.
Inner
City Press
asked, so if al Bashir visits, he will not be arrested? Ruganda said
his country has invited al Bashir and is a "respectable state"
-- they did not invited al-Bashir to Uganda in order to arrest him.
Video here,
from Minute 1:26.
So
Wenaweser
claims Uganda's Ambassador committed to live up to its Rome Statute
obligations to arrest al Bashir, while Uganda's Ambassador himself
said that his country will not arrest al-Bashir. And this on Justice
Day.....
Yoweri Museveni at UN, Kagame shown, al Bashir not shown
Wenaweser
also
bragged that al-Bashir, since he was indicted by the ICC, has not
visited any state party, leading some to believe that there is a
method to the confusion in the run-up to al-Bashir's scheduled trip
to Uganda, which got canceled. Also, a day after Ban Ki-moon's
spokesperson was asked but did not answer if chief UN peacekeeper
Alain Le Roy met with al-Bashir during his recent trip to Sudan,
Inner City Press asked Le Roy if he had met with al Bashir. He was
out of the country, Le Roy answered, "in Egypt" at the
meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement. But would Le Roy have met with
al-Bashir? He shrugged at the hypothetical question.
Wenaweser
said
that the UN's policy is to meet with ICC indictees only if it is
essential. Inner City Press, beyond asking if dinner with indictee
Jean-Bosco Ntanga in Goma is essential, later asked UN spokesperson
Michele Montas if the UN World Food Program met with Al Shabab in
Somalia. Ms. Montas replied that UN agencies meet with whom they have
to, "on the ground," but said to ask WFP about Al Shabab.
The staff of the UN's 1267 Sanctions Committee this week told Inner
City Press there is good reason to believe that Al Shabab is
affiliated with Al Qaeda. And so it goes...
* * *
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