By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive
UNITED NATIONS, October 18 -- Amid conflicting reports about a request to the UN Security Council to defer the International Criminal Court's Kenya case or cases, Inner City Press on Friday asked Kenya's Permanent Representative Macharia Kamau if the formal request had been filed.
No, he told exclusively Inner City Press, adding that it not a move by Kenya, but by the African Union.
Inner City Press noted that Ambassador Kamau was scheduled to meet with Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson later in the morning. Yes, Ambassador Kamau replied, but not about the ICC, about the other issues back home.
On October 14, Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson Martin Nesikry:
Inner City Press: there's a report that says that the Secretary-General called a number of the Presidents in attendance [at the AU] and told them that he would use his position to amend the Rome Statute... it also includes the response of one of the Presidents, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, saying that the Secretary-General has no ability to amend the Rome Statute. Is it? Could we get just a factual readout of who he called in connection with that AU summit?
Spokesperson Nesirky: I will check. What we will be able to say: the Secretary-General certainly did make a number of telephone calls, but I don’t think that we will be going into the details of those calls.
Inner City Press: What about just WHO he called?
Spokesperson Nesirky: I can tell you that a number of telephone calls were made, and not just by the Secretary-General.
The Free UN Coalition for Access @FUNCA_info believes that as a matter of transparency, such calls by the UN Secretary General should be disclosed. Selectively disclosing some but not all calls to heads of state turns the UN (further) into a House of Spin. Watch this site.
