So under the
new chief of
OLA, the UN is
saying it does
NOT have to
check with the
ICC. Is this
backsliding?
What will
those ICC proponents
do? Seems like
it's time for
a briefing by
OLA, or by DSG
Eliasson,
since Ladsous
has been
allowed to
refuse to
answer
questions.
We'll have
more on this.
December background:
When on Sudan
the
International
Criminal Court
prosecutor
Fatou Bensouda
briefed the UN
Security
Council on
Wednesday,
about the need
to arrest
Sudanese
president Omar
al Bashir,
there was an
elephant in
the room: UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous, who met with
Bashir in
July.
Actually,
Ladsous
had been in
the Security
Council in the
morning, but
unlike the
other two
briefers did
not speak to
or take any
questions from
the press when
he left.
Bensouda
said
that either
Sudan could
come contest
the indictment
of Bashir (and
others
including
Ahmad Haroon,
to whom
Ladsous' UN
Peacekeeping
has given free
flights to and
from Abyei)
-- or, arrests
should be
made. Ladsous
made no
arrests in
July.
After
Wednesday's
meeting, Inner
City Press
waited and
asked Bensouda
what she as
prosecutor
thought of UN
official
Ladsous having
met with
Bashir.
Bensouda
said,
"we are
consistently
saying that
these non
essential
meetings
should be
avoided.... I
do not know
what was the
purpose of
that meeting."
She
cited a UN
policy -- put
out by the
Office of
Legal Affairs
but apparently
not respected
by Ladsous'
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations --
of only
essential
meetings being
held with
indictees.
Inner
City Press
asked her if,
as a major /
vocal state
party to the
Rome Statute
told it, the
UN is now
going to give
the Court or
Association of
State Parties
prior notice
before
contacts like
Ladsous' with
Bashir.
Bensouda
replied
that she
wouldn't call
it notice, but
"we have
discussed some
visits before,
why it was
essential."
So,
Inner City
Press asked,
what about
Ladsous' July
2013 meeting
with Bashir?
Bensouda
said, "the one
in July, we
have not had
any
information
about it."
Ladsous
has a history,
of not
answering
Press
questions. Video here, UK
coverage here.
But this is
one he should
answer. Will
he?
Sudanese
Permanent
Representative
Daffa-Alla
Elhag
Ali Osman,
after harshly
criticizing
Bensouda in
his speech in
the Council,
agreed to
answer a few
Inner City
Press
questions
afterward in
the so called
Turkish Lounge
next to the
Security
Council.
While
this used to
be the media's
space, during
the UN
renovation the
UN took money
from Turkey
for the space.
Now, it is
said,
reporters can
only go there
if invited by
a diplomat.
This is
challenged by
the new Free
UN Coalition
for Access
as a decline
in working
conditions and
access under
this UN.
Wednesday
as
noted Inner
City Press was
invited into
the Turkish
Lounge area,
but
nevertheless
was told to
get back in
the penned
stakeout. (In
noting this,
the focus is
not on the one
endeavoring to
implement the
vague policy,
but on the
policy and
vagueness
themselves,
which are an
invitation,
too often
accepted, for
more UN double
standards.)
Meanwhile
scribes
favored by --
and spying
for -- the UN
and its
Censorship
Alliance
(click here)
plop down in
the Turkish
Lounge to make
cell phone
calls.
Likewise
while
disfavored
NGOs are told
they cannot be
at the
stakeout, last
week Human
Rights Watch's
UN lobbyist, a
former France
24 and Le
Monde
journalist,
was at the
stakeout
spinning Central
African
Republic,
with no
mention of its
problems'
French
colonial
roots. As
Sudan says:
double
standards. As
Inner City
Press says:
Ladsous is the
elephant in
the room.
Watch this
site.
, 
