Bashir
to Nigeria,
Ladsous of UN
Met Him, Takes
Ban to
Bastille with
Chad
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, July
12 -- Nigeria
is set to host
Sudanese
president Omar
al
Bashir for a
conference on
HIV / AIDS;
groups
including the
Coalition for
the
International
Criminal Court
are saying
Bashir
should be
arrested on
the ICC
warrant for
war crimes and
genocide.
Earlier
this
month the head
of UN
Peacekeeping
Herve Ladsous
met
with Bashir
in Khartoum.
At the UN in
New York on July
5, Inner
City Press asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
associate
spokesperson
Farhan Haq,
who said "the
meeting with
President
Bashir was
necessary."
This
“strictly
necessary”
policy was
repeated later
in the week by
Ban's
outgoing
lawyer
Patricia
O'Brien in a
meeting
exclusively
reported
by Inner City
Press, in
which
O'Brien
claimed that
Ban is so
concerned
about this
that he calls
her to ask
advice.
What happened
on Ladsous'
meeting with
Bashir?
It
is not clear
if the CICC --
we've
asked --
commented
about UN
official
Ladsous
meeting with
Bashir, or if
Human Rights
Watch did.
HRW's Ken
Roth refused
to disclose
even the
topics of his
meeting
with Ban at
the UN; his
spokesman said
secrecy is
kept in order
to
maintain
access.
Ban
left the UN on
Friday
afternoon to
rush to France
to attend,
with
Ladsous, the
Bastille Day
military
parade,
featuring
soldiers of
former French
colonies
Burkina Faso,
Cote d'Ivoire
and Chad,
which
itself has
four times
hosted Bashir
since his
indictment.
Chad
is on
the UN's list
of child
soldier
recruiters,
but Ladsous
has agreed to
pay them as
part of the UN
mission in
Mali, MINUSMA.
A question
Inner
City Press
asked the UN
this week
about that has
gone
unanswered.
What
had Ladsous
done to the
UN? And more
generally,
what messages
is the
UN sending?
Watch this
site.
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