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On Sudan and ICC, Uganda Likes Deferral, Austria
and Mexico Want Justice, Iceland Denounces UK
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
October 17 -- Five new Security
Council members were elected Friday at the UN, and afterwards these
five, plus
losing Iceland and the three Western Permanent Five members spoke to
the media.
Inner City Press asked questions of all nine speakers, mostly about
Sudan but
also about North Korea, Myanmar and the UK's freezing of Icelandic bank
assets.
On this last -- and also Friday's vote and broken promises of support
--
Iceland is disappointed.
Uganda began,
saying they will focus on the African continent. Inner City Press asked
if
Uganda supports the suspension or deferral of the International
Criminal
Court's prosecution against Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir. The
Ugandan
representative said his country supports -- and thus presumably would
vote for
-- a deferral of prosecution so that "justice can be reconciled with
the
need for stability." Video here,
from Minute 1:23.
Inner City
Press then ask French Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert, who had just
praise the
five new members, what he thought of Uganda's position, and about
suspending
the ICC's proceedings against Al Bashir. "Once again," he said,
"it is a procedure internal to the ICC... no one has raised it in the
Security Council." He added "if it were raised tomorrow, we would not
vote in favor of it." Video here,
from Minute 19:49. U.S. Ambassador
Alejandro Wolff likewise said
the suspending proceedings against Al Bashir is "not an issue to take
up
at this point" in the Council.
Video here,
from Minute 7:12.
Austria's
Foreign Minister, after being asked about "right wing tendencies" in
her country and saying the country's foreign policy will not change,
was asked
for her position on the ICC and Sudan. She said Austria supports the
rule of
law and is against impunity -- how surprising -- and supports the ICC
and its
work. Video here,
from Minute 42:17. When Inner City Press asked then if there
are any circumstances in which Austria would vote to suspend the
process
against Al Bashir, for example if indictee Ahmad Harun is arrested or
even
turned over to The Hague, she said "you will understand that I will not
respond to questions formulated in a way not example the questions
posed"
and will not "speculate on specific voting patterns in the future." So the door is open.
Voting in the General Assembly on
Friday, Turkish Delight and Iceland anger not shown
Inner City
Press asked the Mexican representative for his country's views, since
there are
so few Latin American issues on the Council's agenda, on how the UN
should deal
with the situation in Myanmar, and the ICC and Sudan.
He said there's Haiti and there was Central
America, but that Mexico will look broader. He said Mexico is committed
to
international justice. Video here,
from Minute 45:18.
Footnotes:
An
interesting contrast, sadly out of sequence, can be found in the
answers to
Inner City Press of Iceland's Foreign Minister, who said the UK's
freezing of
Icelandic bank assets "under a terror law" was "not
helpful" (video here,
from Minute 23:48) and UK Ambassador John Sawers,
who claimed that the problem "has been resolved between capitals" in
a way that makes clear "the need to protect... invest[ors] in
Iceland." Video here
from Minute 4:54.
If the UK believes in the rule of law, how can it
freeze an unrelated
Icelandic bank's assets, using an anti-terrorism law?
Inner City
Press asked Japan's Ambassador if he thinks the Council has been doing
enough
on North Korea. He said that while the Six Party Talks are showing some
promise, the Council should cast a "supportive eye." He spoke about
the abduction issue and said while progress has been promised, it has
not been
forthcoming. Video here,
from Minute 12:20. He didn't mention the
fights North Korea and Japan have been having in the UN, during the
General
Debate and this week in the Third Committee. Click here for
Inner City Press'
story about Russia and Georgia and their war of words on October 16 in
the
Third Committee.
At
Friday's noon briefing, Inner City Press asked the spokesman for the
President
of the General Assembly about the stray votes -- were they write-ins?
He said
yes. Video here.
But how then to explain the vote cast for Australia over Austria in the
Western European and Other states Group? Austria, a long-time resident
tells
us, has a complex about being confused with Australia, even selling
t-shirts
that "There are no kangaroos in Austria."
We will inquire further
into this mystery, and that of the Turkish gifts including chocolate
left on
each seat in the General Assembly. According to the spokesman, gifts of
any
kind or value are legal up to the moment when the voting begins.
Iceland's
problem, one wag said, is that they at least temporarily didn't have
the money
to buy their way onto the Council. As their Foreign Minister said, like
the New
York Yankees of late, "maybe next time, maybe soon."
Note: Catch
this reporter on
Icelandic television, www.ruv.is
Watch this site, and this Oct. 2 debate, on
UN, bailout, MDGs.
* * *
These
reports are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click
here
for a Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click
here
for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali
National
Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an
undefined trust fund. Video
Analysis here
Feedback: Editorial
[at] innercitypress.com
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USA
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Other,
earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available
in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
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2006-08 Inner City Press, Inc. To request
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