Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/icc2africa032309.html
UNITED NATIONS, March 23 -- As Sudan's President Omar al Bashir defies the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for war crimes by flying to Eritrea, one of many African countries angered by the ICC's indictment, the President of the ICC's State Parties Christian Wenaweser has written a scathing letter to Miguel d'Escoto Brockman, the President of UN General Assembly, for his comment that the ICC is "racist."
Wenaweser, the Ambassador to the UN of tiny Liechtenstein, tells d'Escoto that his comments are "factually wrong and detrimental to a constructive discussion," in a letter Inner City Press has obtained and now puts online, here [Page 1 Page 2]
In a press conference last week, d'Escoto noted that all of the cases brought by ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo have been in Africa. Inner City Press on March 20 asked Ocampo if he intends to bring any non-Africa cases, for example in Sri Lanka where UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has said war crimes are being committed by both the Tamil Tigers and the government. Ocampo replied that Sri Lanka is not a party to the ICC -- neither is Sudan -- and went on to say he is "guilty" of "caring about Africans."
The African Union, it seems, would prefer Ocampo take his caring elsewhere. While Ocampo bragged of Bashir to the media on March 20 that "I will get him," sources tell Inner City Press that it has been conveyed to the ICC that if an attempt is made to apprehend Bashir at this time, the African Union members which are state parties to the ICC will drop out en masse, and deal the ICC a serious if not fatal blow. If Bashir travels to an upcoming conference in Doha and no attempt at apprehension is made -- Ocampo on March 20 told reporters that Bashir would be grabbed in international airspace -- some will see the AU threat having effect.
As UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and senior officials attended a meeting with Interpol on March 23, Inner City Press asked top UN Peacekeeper Alain Le Roy about Bashir - Interpol connections. No, he said, we just asked them and they [Interpol] said the ICC has not yet made any request" about President Bashir. Whether this has anything to do an African Union threat is not known.
Footnote: Inner City Press at the UN's noon briefing on March 23 asked for any response by Ban Ki-moon or the Secretariat to comments by Ban's envoy, and former Nigerian president, Olusegun Obansanjo to BBC that he does not take at face value the ICC's indictment of Bashir, and would have to see more proof.
Ban's Associate Spokesman Farhan Haq emphasized that while Obasanjo will be representing Ban in upcoming meetings, he does not speak for the UN regarding Sudan. Inner City Press also asked in the briefing how and how much Obasanjo is paid by the UN, just as Inner City Press and an Italian media outlet asked last week how much Romano Prodi is paid. Neither question has been answered.And see, www.innercitypress.com/icc2africa032309.html
