Kenya Asks UNSC for ICC Cases To Be Dropped, South Sudan's Kiir Slams Court, Sri Lanka Compared

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 23 -- It took Kenya two letters to get the meeting, but on a rainy Thursday afternoon in New York Kenyan Permanent Representative Kamau Macharia address the 15 members of the UN Security Council.

  He told them the International Criminal Court cases against Kenyan leaders including president Uhuru Kenyatta should be dropped, in their entirety. As several sources told Inner City Press during the closed door meeting, he did NOT ask for the one year Article 16 deferral.

  Afterward by the North Lawn building stairs, Kamau Macharia told Inner City Press he asked for "the whole thing" -- the dropping of the cases. Inner City Press asked him about moves to ask African Union members to tell the ICC to drop the cases, and South Sudan president Salva Kiir's statement condemning the cases and the ICC.

  Kamau Macharia said if a "beacon of democracy" like Kenya is being prosecuted, countries with graver problems would not want to join the ICC.

  Rwanda asked why, with all the bloody conflicts on the agenda of the Security Council, they spent Thursday afternoon speaking about Kenya. (One might compare, as Inner City Press does, the 40,000 civilians killed in Sri Lanka in 2009 with what happened in Kenya). 

  The recent Kenyan elections were called a referendum on the ICC. The "usual suspects" were said to have argued that the ICC is not political. More and more people don't believe that. But how will the ICC respond? Watch this site.

Footnote: just before the 3 pm start-time for the Security Council informal interactive meeting, Inner City Press was working at the table in front of the current Security Council chamber. (It is just such a table that the UN and its partners are trying to ban from the front of the renovated Security Council after May 31.)

  Kamau Macharia arrived and asked Inner City Press if the meeting wasn't in the chamber, or in the room next door. No, Inner City Press replied, like other unpublicized such meetings, it would be in the North Lawn building, Conference Room 7. 

  There, also, Inner City Press set up a table and spoke with attendees. No one was bothered. It works, but some in the UN and their partners want to ban it. The Free UN Coalition for Access is opposing it. Watch this site.

On ICC, Now UNSC Will Meet Kenya Ambassador for Interactive, May 23 for Now; France Tried to Pre-empt

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, May 16 -- After Kenya wrote a second time to the UN Security Council about the International Criminal Court cases against President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto, another lengthy Council closed-door consultation took place on Thursday, May 16.

  Inner City Press has learned from sources inside the meeting that this time, Kenya's request to address the Council in an "informal interactive" dialogue is being granted. For now, it's scheduling will happen next Thursday, May 23.

  The initial hurdle was whether Kenya's ambassador could meet and make his case only to a working group. Rwanda, whose Ambassador Eugene Richard Gasana led or initiative the push on this, said it would be insulting to refer a member state to a working group. A number of Council members supported this position, and now Kenya will be heard by the full Council.

Inner City Press' detailed reporting on the processing of Kenya's request and letters has led to some expressed discomfort in the Council; other reporting on the request relied on a single delegation or side making conclusory dismissals after the meeting was over: an unnamed "senior council diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity" that the granting of even a deferral of prosecution for a year would be "unlikely."

  This is how the UN and Security Council are being reported on. We aim to do it differently, and will continue to follow this story. Watch this site.

ICC hardliners France and Luxembourg, Inner City Press is informed, have tried to pre-empt the debate by saying that Kenya's request should be rejected. But now Kenya's Permanent Representative Kamau Macharia will be heard by the full Council.

  

On ICC, Kenya's 2d Letter To UNSC Now On Agenda May 16, ICP Learns, Amid Comoros Request for ICC Probe of Mavi Marmara

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, May 14 -- After Kenya first wrote to the UN Security Council about the International Criminal Court cases against President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto, a length Council consultation took place on Thursday, May 9.

  Inner City Press covered it in detail, including the outcome: that Kenya would write a second letter to the Council to request to meet with the full Council.

  Mid-day on May 10, Inner City Press asked the Security Council president for May, Kodjo Menan of Togo, for an update. He said that Kenya's Permanent Representative to the UN Kamau Macharia had indicate he would submit the second letter very shortly, even that day, Friday.

There was some delay, with some in the government including Attorney General Githu Muigai and even Ruto "disassociating" themselves from the letter. But on Tuesday, May 14 Kodjo Menan of Togo exclusively told Inner City Press that Kenya's second letter, after "checking with the capital," HAS come in, and will be discussed on Thursday.

  That will be a full week after the first discussion, in which a main issue was whether Kenya's Permanent Representative can meet and make his case to the full Council, or only to a working group. 

 Rwanda, whose Ambassador Eugene Richard Gasana led or initiative the push on this, said it would be insulting to refer a member state to a working group. A number of Council members supported and support this position. For more, see this previous Inner City Press analysis.

  Meanwhile the ICC prosecutor has just announced that the Union of Comoros has requested an ICC probe of the May 31, 2010 raid by Israel on the Mavi Marmara ship. Watch this site.