In
Nepal, Over 100 Armed Group in Terai, Indian Arms Would Violate
Agreement, UN Says
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, July 23 -- There are 107 armed groups in the Terai region of
Nepal, and human rights defenders there feel more at risk now than at
the height of the civil war, Karin Landgren, Special Representative
of the UN Secretary-General for Nepal told the Press on Thursday. Inner
City Press asked for the position of the UN Mission in Nepal on
possible arms sales by India to Nepal. Ms. Landgren said that the
Nepali defense minister is in India, but that UNMIN's view is that
arms sales at this time would violate Article 5.3 of the agreement on
monitoring arms and armies signed in Nepal. Video here, from Minute
32:38.
While
UNMIN has
been viewed as one of the UN's most (or few) successful missions, of
late it has been unraveling. Maoists were caught on video bragging
that they had or have far fewer fighters than counted and "verified"
by UNMIN and the UN Development Program. Inner City Press asked Ms.
Landgren if the UN's credibility is not in doubt. See our May press
release, Ms. Landgren answered.
UN's Ms. Landgrin briefs a seemingly empty Council
Another
attendee of
Thursday noon briefing mocked the proceedings, which began with the
read-out of a statement by Ban Ki-moon from China about the benefits
of long lasting light bulbs. "It's like she's talking about the
Dear Leader," he snarked, referring to North Korea. Ms.
Landgren, at least, acknowledged there were problems. It's more than
most UN envoys do.
Ms.
Landgren's
predecessor Ian Martin has been seen around the UN recently, on
Thursday on his way into the panel discussion on the Responsibility
to Protect, looking for Noam Chomsky. More and more it seems that
Martin's on the hunt for
another UN post. There've been worse envoys..... Watch this site.
* * *
In
Cote d'Ivoire, UN Calls Registration "Credible," Disagrees
that Troops Aren't Needed
By
Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, July 23 -- The UN's envoy to Cote d'Ivoire Choi Young-jin
told the Press on Thursday that the contester voter registration
process in the run up to long promised Presidential elections was
"credible," and that there is no need to draw down UN
peacekeeping troops in the country at this time. Local sources say
that up to 20% of those who should have been registered to vote,
weren't.
Meanwhile
when
Inner City Press asked Cote d'Ivoire's representative at the UN on
Thursday if his country needs troops or peacekeepers, he said "no."
An advisor to President Gbagbo told Inner City Press that the UN is
spending over $400 million a year for reporting on crime, but will
remain in the country "going to the beach" because that's
how the UN works.
Another
way the UN
works in Cote d'Ivoire is to stay quiet. Inner City Press asked Mr.
Choi if his office had any involvement in inquiring into the
disappearance
of journalist Guy Andre Kieffer, which an Army major
recently blamed on those around the President's wife Simone Gbagbo.
That is a bilateral matter, Mr. Choi twice said, declining to answer
further. Video here,
from Minute 9:29.
UN's Choi on July 23, response on missing journalist not shown
Later
Mr. Choi
made a sales pitch for his mission, saying it could become the most
successful of all of the UN's 18 mission because Cote d'Ivoire has a
budget of $5 billion a year, and 40,000 soldiers and police, all paid
by the government. Inner City Press asked him, in light of the litany
of negative reviews this month of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's
first two and a half years, if he had any defense to offer, or if he
thought his Mission was not praised enough by the press.
Choi
largely
avoided the questions, other than saying he is loyal to the
Secretariat. That may have done without saying -- or, compared with
the behavior and refusal to file financial disclosure and otherwise
obey of certain other UN envoys, perhaps not. Watch this site.
Footnote: while Inner City Press didn't ask it this
time, there has still been no reporting by Choi or the UN on what
discipline, if any, was meted out to the Moroccan peacekeepers
repatriated from Cote d'Ivoire in the face of accusation of sexual
exploitation and abuse. A report should be given.
* * *
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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