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UN Peacekeeping Chief Guehenno Dodges On ICC and
Lockheed to the End, Still a Fond Farewell
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
July 29, updated July 30 --
As Jean-Marie Guehenno
said farewell to the UN on Tuesday after eight years heading UN
Peacekeeping,
he declined to comment on the UN's ill-fated $250
million no-bid contract with
Lockheed Martin in Darfur, saying it had been a "tough call" which
he
"wouldn't like to second guess." Video here,
from Minute 1:00:37. Inner City Press, which
asked him the question on Tuesday, had previously
asked him and been
referred to then-logistics chief Jane Holl Lute, who did not answer.
The
contract's
lack of competition led to extensive criticism of
UN Peacekeeping in the UN's
budget committee, and ultimately the UN's own
reports found that Lockheed
Martin performed poorly under the contract, although it is not
clear that any
money will be returned. Some were disappointed that even in this light,
Guehenno could or would not acknowledge that the no-bid contract with
Lockheed
was a mistake. While Guehenno to his credit spoke of UN Peacekeeping
learning
as it goes along, its recent failure to protect civilians in Abyei in
The Sudan
is reminiscent, structurally if not in numbers, to inaction in Rwanda.
As
exposed and asked about on Tuesday, the UN's initial report on Abyei
was a
whitewash contradicted by eyewitness reporting.
Guehenno under a blue helmet in Haiti, which
he claimed as a success
Guehenno
was similarly evasive on the question, raised in
another farewell press
conference on July 25 by outgoing UN legal chief Nicolas Michel,
about the
extent of the provision of information by UN Peacekeeping to the
International
Criminal Court and its Prosecutor. Michel said that the UN Secretariat,
including its peacekeeping operations, "have been in very close
contact,
repeatedly, with the Office of the Prosecutor" of the ICC. This
undermined
another argument the UN has been making, that the government of Sudan
would be
wrong to link the ICC Prosecutor's request earlier this month for an
arrest
warrant against President Omar Al-Bashir with the two UN peacekeeping
operations in the country.
Inner City
Press twice asked Guehenno this question on Tuesday. Guehenno's
first answer was that "our
human rights officers report to the [Security] Council" so it is all
"on the table and transparent."
But the cooperation, for example in the case of
Congolese militia leader
Thomas Lubanga which Inner City Press asked about, was by all accounts
more
extensive the the public reports to the Security Council. Inner City
Press
followed up, but Guehenno again dodged, saying that "when there's a
pending case... if advised by the legal office, we share" information
with
the ICC. Video here,
from Minute 1:00:37.
Again
we
ask, if UN operations on the ground provide information to the ICC, and
will
increasingly do so in the future, why would it be surprising if
potential or
actual targets of the ICC barred access to or expelled UN operations?
The
question remains for Guehenno's successor Alain Le Roy.
Guehenno
did venture some thoughts on peacekeeping in such places as Somalia,
saying
cryptically that sometimes even a doctor must say no. Less equivocally, and leading to a
seemingly unanimous interpretation by the UN press corps that Guehenno
does not favor deployment to Somalia, at least at this time, he listed
among factors weighing against insertion of peacekeepers the lack of a
peace agreement that includes those who actually control the guns on
the ground. This is one description of Somalia, wher the Shabab
continue fighting even after the Djibouti talks (which Inner City Press
attended and reported
on), and in which threats to shoot at UN peacekeepers have been
made. To some, it appears Guehenno meant, even
when there is no other alternative, the Security Council should not
send
peacekeepers to places like Somalia. It may even appear that, in
retrospect, he meant
or would have meant to Darfur as well. It
could be worse, muttered one wag. One hears
that more and more at the UN these days.
Footnote:
Inner City Press ran into Guehenno later on Thursday, said a proper
farewell
and noted that Guehenno had not been asked about the UN's need to
decide
whether to retain as deputy force commander in Darfur the Rwandan
general
Karake Karenzi, who has been indicted for war crimes by a Spanish
court.
Guehenno said he was surprised and glad that the question had not come
up.
Consider it a farewell gift -- the question who not have been answered
anyway. Guehenno has told Inner City Press
he is
weighing proposals and offers from think tanks in New York; he
confirmed on
Tuesday that he will be writing a book. Perhaps answers to the
questions of the
no-bid Lockheed Martin contract, and the implications of peacekeepers
sharing
information with the ICC's Luis Moreno-Ocampo, will finally be answered
in that
format.
Watch this site.
And
this --
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