At UN, Rice Defends Libya Resolution's ICC Carve Out, Calls Mercenaries Small

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 1, updated -- The Obama administration's demand to exempt from the UN Security Council's referral of the situation in Libya to the International Criminal Court citizens of nations which are not members of the ICC was criticized Tuesday by Brazil and even Liechtenstein's Ambassador, then strangely defended by US Ambassador Susan Rice.

While publicly calling for an end to impunity, the US at a Council experts' meeting on the morning of February 26 demanded the following paragraph:

6. Decides that nationals, current or former officials or personnel from a State outside the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya which is not a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of that State for all alleged acts or omissions arising out of or related to operations in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya established or authorized by the Council, unless such exclusive jurisdiction has been expressly waived by the State.

When the resolution was adopted later that day -- after Security Council ambassadors quietly attended a Chinese circus before the 8 pm vote -- Inner City Press asked French Ambassador Gerard Araud about the paragraph.

Araud said, “that was for one country, it was absolutely necessary for one country to have that considering its parliamentary constraints, and this country we are in. It was a red line for the United States. It was a deal-breaker, and that's the reason we accepted this text to have the unanimity of the Council.”

That day, Inner City Press was not called on to ask Ambassador Rice about the paragraph, and so wrote a story with Araud's quote and the paragraph.

On March 1 outside the UN General Assembly, Inner City Press managed to ask Rice:

Inner City Press: Can I ask you a question about the Security Council resolution? (inaudible) On the Security Council resolution that passed Saturday, some have now raised a question about the US asking for that paragraph six, which exempts Americans, and, I guess, others, anyone that's not an ICC member, from referral and prosecution by the ICC. They say it undercuts international law-Brazil said it, now the head of the Rome Statute grouping of member states said it. Why did the US ask for that? And don't you see a downside to saying there's no impunity if you are excluding people from referral?

Ambassador Rice: No, I don't see a downside. As you well know, the United States is not a party and we have thought it important, if we were going to, for the first time, affirmatively support such a resolution, to make sure that is was clear the limitations as to who jurisdiction applied to. That's why we supported that phrase. Your assertion and that of others that somehow this provides a pass for mercenaries, I think, is completely misplaced. I don't think that the International Criminal Court is going to spend its time and effort on foot soldiers that have been paid small amounts of money by Qadhafi. They're going to focus on the big fish, so I think your interest was misplaced.

Counting on the ICC not to prosecute a certain size of killer seems a bit strange.

There may have been a better, albeit not to Inner City Press persuasive, defense. At a UN press conference earlier on Tuesday, Inner City Press asked Liechtenstein's Ambassador about the paragraph, and he pointed out the exemption is limited to “alleged acts or omissions arising out of or related to operations in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya established or authorized by the Council.”

While in one reading mercenaries are “RELATED to operations in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya established or authorized by the Council,” another reading would limit it to peacekeepers. That Susan Rice didn't advance this argument, but rather argued that mercenaries are small, is telling.

Inner City Press has asked Brazil about its opposition, and if the US ever sought a bilateral immunity agreement from Brazil. No, Brazil's Permanent Reprentative replied, smiling.

Inner City Press also asked Liechtenstein's Ambassador about a Wikileaked meeting between ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo and then US Deputy Permanent Representative Alejandro Wolff and Rice, at which Ocampo alleged that Sudan's Omar al Bashir has stolen and exported $9 billion from Sudan. (Rice has insisted she does not remember the meeting, but said she would look back into it).

Liechtenstein's Ambassador declined to comment beyond saying that the ICC Prosecutor has to meet states, even non ICC members. He also called “necessary” the UN's flying of ICC indictee Ahmed Haroun in Sudan, a matter on which France but not the US has complained. Watch this site.

Update of March 2, 2011, 11:52 am -- we have received the following, which we publish in full (and reply to)

From: Stefan Barriga [at] nyc.llv.li
Date: Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 11:42 AM
Subject: yesterday's press conference with Amb. Wenaweser
To: "Matthew.Lee [at] innercitypress.com"
Cc: Christian Wenaweser [at] nyc.llv.li

Dear Matthew, regarding your reflection of yesterday’s press conference with Amb. Wenaweser under http://www.innercitypress.com/usun2merc030111.html, we would like to point out that the sentence “He also called “necessary” the UN's flying of ICC indictee Ahmed Haroun in Sudan, a matter on which France but not the US has complained.”

is not accurate. He only commented on the UN’s policy in general, as you can see on the webcast archive at 47.10. We would be grateful if you could make that correction.

Duly noted. Since Inner City Press asked Amb. Wenaweser as head of the Rome Statute State Parties to comment on the UN flying ICC indictee Haroun and all he recited was the UN's rule for dealing with indictees, it seemed fair to assume from his lack of criticism for the flight that he thought the flight met the UN's stated rule.

We were also surprised by his lack of comment on Prosecutor Moreno Ocampo's Wikileaked meeting with the US Mission to the UN, and the lack of response what on mechanisms to control the ICC Prosecutor's behavior exist and are used. It would be helpful to know what Amb. Wenaweser actually thinks of the UN flying Ahmed Haroun around.

Update of 4:28 pm -- Amb. Wenaweser's office has replied on this that "Ambassador Wenaweser is not in a position to comment on the specifics of the question regarding Ahmed Haroun, mainly for two reasons: First it is primarily up to the UN to interpret and apply its policy; second it is difficult for him to judge from afar whether this was, under these concrete circumstances, indeed an essential contact or not." Nor has the UN been will to state who decided it was essential to provide a UN flight to an ICC indictee from a country with an air force which has bombed both Darfur and Southern Sudan...

Note that member states own and are free to assess what the UN does, and to ask for information from the UN in order to do that.

At UN, Liechtenstein Says Uganda Would Arrest Sudan's Bashir, Kampala Says Not So

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/iccau1bashir071709.html

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.....

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...

And see, www.innercitypress.com/iccau1bashir071709.html

On ICC, Letter Targets UN's d'Escoto, No Bashir Interpol Request, Obasanjo Critiques ICC

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

ICC's Moreno Ocampo Learned Nothing from Lubanga Case, Laughs at Retaliation Finding

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/icc5ocampo120308.html

UNITED NATIONS, December 3 -- The day before he indicted Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, Luis Moreno Ocampo of the International Criminal Court was found by the International Labor Organization to have retaliated against a whistleblower, who was awarded 200,000 Euros including 25,000 Euros in "moral damages." On Wednesday at the UN, Inner City Press asked Moreno Ocampo, "Did you learn anything" from the ILO's criticism, and from the suspension of the cases against Thomas Lubanga of the Congo, for failure to turn over exculpatory evidence?

Moreno Ocampo would not admit any error in either case; in fact, he laughed at the finding of retaliation. Video here, from Minute 21:11. When asked if the finding against him impairs his or the ICC's work, or is brought up as he travels the world explaining his questionable legal strategies for example in the Lubanga case, Moreno Ocampo said, "When I come here, you ask me questions about it." Perhaps most amazingly, after saying that the state parties of the ICC paid the 200,000 Euros judgment to the whistleblower he fired, Moreno Ocampo said on camera that the charges against him had been "manifestly unfounded." Video here, from Minute 37:33.

Such a dismissive attitude to judicial findings, and such misleading statements about a ruling, Moreno Ocampo would be sure to criticize in any of his indictees. How then does he engage in them? And how could this behavior by the ICC's chief prosecutor be curtailed? Or is he above the law?

Earlier this year, Inner City Press published verbatim quotes by the head of the Coalition for the ICC, comments made after a press conference at the UN. This Coalition's spokeswoman then called Inner City Press asking that the quotes be stricken. This reflects the unwillingness of those who are supposed to directly and indirectly oversee Moreno Ocampo to be seen as criticizing him, for fear of being misunderstood to be criticizing international justice, or as supporting al-Bashir.

But Moreno Ocampo's behavior, including that underlying the ILO's 200,000 Euro judgment, injure the reputation and integrity of the international criminal justice system. Substantively, a prosecutor who jeopardized the case against an alleged child soldier recruiter like Lubanga, and then says he had nothing to learn from the delay and criticism by judges, should not continue as prosecutor. But who will tell him?

Sitting next to Moreno Ocampo at Wednesday's news conference was the State Parties' Christian Wenaweser, of Liechtenstein. Even as Moreno Ocampo made light of the 200,000 Euro judgment, paid not by him but by the State Parties, Wenaweser said nothing.

In September, the former foreign minister of a Pacific country which supports the ICC told Inner City Press that Moreno Ocampo had been telling diplomats that he had offered to Bashir not to indict him, if he turned over the two previously indictees Kushayb and Harun. Inner City Press asked Moreno Ocampo, and he denied it, saying, "I never did it, I cannot offer." Those who make decisions about the ICC and its prosecutor will have to assess Moreno Ocampo's credibility.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/icc5ocampo120308.html