Due to US Libya ICC Loophole, Qatar, Ukraine & UAE Could Also Be Immune

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 23 -- When the UN Security Council referred the case of Libya to the International Criminal Court in its Resolution 1973, the United States demanded and got an exemption for citizens of countries which are not members of the ICC's Assembly of State Parties to the Rome Statute.

Inner City Press first reported on this loophole, then asked US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice if it might allow certain possible war crimes to be exempt from the ICC referral. Rice responded that she doubted the ICC would go after “small” mercenaries.

But now, even of the first twelve countries which have provided notice to the UN under Security Council Resolution 1973, several beyond the United States are not ICC members. That is, if they dropped bombs on civilians -- even intentionally -- they would be exempt from any referral to or prosecution by the ICC, thanks to the loophole the US demanded for itself.

Both Arab countries which have provided notice, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, are not members of the ICC, and therefore exempt from referral to the ICC. So too with Ukraine, which has provided notice (but see this other story).

The UK has claimed that Kuwait will soon be joining -- but it has not joined the ICC.

And while Turkey has said it will offer humanitarian help without providing UN notice, it is not a member of the ICC either.

What hath the US wrought? Watch this site.

In Khartoum, As Demonstration Opposes Secession and ICC, UN Council Avoids It

By Matthew Russell Lee

KHARTOUM, October 9 -- In downtown Khartoum on Saturday morning, a raucous crowd of several thousand demonstrated against the separation of Sudan. Their signs said it was colonialists drawing lines again on Africa, asked International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo why the US is not a member of the ICC, which has indicted President Omar al Bashir.

Groups of men in white turbans shook green treelike plants and women in bright orange robes stopped for Inner City Press to photograph their banners, many with English subtitles thanking Bashir for “stopping the long war in the South.”

Sudanese jazz played from a bandstand, toward which people continued to stream, past Omdurman National Bank under reconstruction.

The background, Inner City Press is told, is that Southerners rally on the 9th, in the run up to the secession referendum scheduled for January 9, 2010. Unity supporters also now gather on the 9th, though most of them won't be eligible to vote. There were reports of a pro separation rally at the University of Juba campus in Khartoum.

Khartoum demo Oct 9, UN Security Council not shown, (c) MRLee

Inner City Press visited the headquarters of UNMIS, near the airport. UNMIS has taken over a police hospital, across a dirt street from “Judges' Home.” Inside, some of the offices had no electricity on Monday. The walls have photographs from Juba and Abyei. If there is a war, Inner City Press was told, it will probably start in Abyei.

The UN Security Council, meanwhile, met in the basement of the luxury hotel the delegation stayed in with the members of the South Sudan Referendum Commission. There was a photo “spray” at the beginning, then the Press was ordered out. There came word of the demonstration, first a false rumor of one in front of UNMIS, which happens not infrequently, then the transfer to downtown.

The crowd was still gathering when Inner City Press rushed to catch up with the Security Council which had moved to a meeting with Sudan's Foreign Minister Ali Karti. We will report on Karti's speech, and UK Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant's response, in a separate piece.

After the two speeches, the UN rushed the press corps back to the hotel, taking care to entirely avoid the growing area taken up by the demonstration. Would the Security Council likewise avoid the demonstration? Watch this site.

UN Hides As War Criminal Bosco Surfaces in April 4 Congolese Army Minutes

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un1bosco050809.html

UNITED NATIONS, May 7, updated -- When it comes to working with war criminals, the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is willing and even wants to be deceived. Bosco Ntaganda, indicted by the International Criminal Court, appears in minutes of an April 4 meeting of the Congolese Army, known by its French acronym FARDC.

Four days later, the head of the MONUC mission, Alan Doss, received a Daily Report of “unconfirmed rumours of Bosco Ntaganda's designation as Deputy Commander of Operation Kimia II,” to which MONUC provided assistance. Click here to view the April 8, 2009 Daily Report.

What the UN did next is to ask the FARDC to tell them that Bosco was not a deputy commander. The UN has spend billions of dollars in the Congo, largely to the benefit of current president Joseph Kabila. His FARDC told the UN want they wanted to hear. But no explanation of the April 4 FARDC minutes, reproduced below, has been provided.

A UN official involved in preparing MONUC's response, below, told Inner City Press that as long as Doss received assurances from FARDC, it doesn't matter what the leaked minutes show, or even if they are true: the UN”s hands are clean. These dubious assertions should be a topic of the UN Security Council's African trip later this month, along with proposals to send Bosco Ntanganda's previous boss, Laurent Nkunda, from Rwanda into exile in a country other than the DRC.

On April 9, the day after Doss had gotten the Daily Report about Bosco's involvement in the FARDC's Operation Kimia II, Inner City Press asked Doss to confirm that MONUC had earlier received a request to help arrest Bosco. Doss confirmed that, among other things (click here for that story, and here for the request to MONUC about Bosco, and Doss' predessessor William Lacy Swing's response.) Doss said the request "has not been renewed," adding that MONUC will not work with Bosco. But see below.

On April 29, Inner City Press asked UN Associate Spokesman Farhan Haq

Inner City Press: do you have a response to these reports that Bosco, the ICC indictee for war crimes, was described as a deputy coordinator in the Congolese Army action against the FDLR, and also, therefore, calling into question the UN statement that it doesn’t work with indicted war criminals.

Associate Spokesperson: Yes, we’re aware of those reports. At the same time, the UN Mission in the DRC, MONUC, has not seen the documents that were referred to in the media reports that allegedly showed that Jean Bosco Ntaganda was part of the joint operation. Actually, on the contrary, the DRC authorities have shown MONUC relevant documents defining the operation’s command structure, which does not make any mention of Mr. Ntaganda. MONUC has clearly stated that it will not conduct or support joint operations in which Jean Bosco Ntaganda plays a part. This has been communicated directly to the DRC Minister of Defence and the Chief of the Defence Staff, who in turn have assured MONUC that Mr. Ntanganda is not a part of any joint operation’s command structure. MONUC leadership continues to engage with our Congolese interlocutors on this matter.

Inner City Press: Even when you actually see this document, what will the UN do if it turns out he was the deputy commander of that operation?

Associate Spokesperson: Well, as I just said, we continue to engage with our Congolese interlocutors. But I’ve told you exactly the precise assurances that we’ve been given by the Government of the DRC on this. And as for the hypothetical question, we’ll cross that bridge if that is a reality.

Well, now it is a reality. The April 4 FARDC minutes, obtained by Inner City Press, show in paragraph (d) Bosco Ntaganda taking the floor, and described him as deputy commander:

REPUBLIQUE DEMOCRATIQUE DU CONGO

FORCES ARMEES

OPERATION KIMIA II

COORDINATION

RAPPORT DE LA REUNION TENUE PAR LE COORD DE L’ OPS KIMIA II

EN DATE DU 04/04/2009

1. Ordre du jour :

a) Remerciements

b) Message du Comd Suprême

c) Directives du Coord des Ops

d) Divers.

2. Développement

a. Le Coord a remercié le Pers de l’EM de l’accueil lui réservé lors de

son arrivée et de l’enthousiasme manifesté à son endroit lors de la remise

et reprise avec le ChefEM FT ce 03 Avril 2009.

b. Message du Comd Suprême

Le Coord a transmis à l’assistance les directives du Comd Suprême sur le profil que doivent afficher les Mil des FARDC notamment ceux œuvrant dans les provinces du NORD et du SUD KIVU.

- Eviter tout esprit rétrograde ; NE PAS revenir aux mêmes méfaits qui

provoquent souvent les rebellions.

- Travailler plus pour l’intérêt de la population et ce défi doit à tout

prix être relevé ; Ainsi nous devons nous atteler à gagner la confiance de

la Pop à laquelle nous devons beaucoup de respect. A ce sujet, le Comd

Suprême est strict. Les viols, pillages, tortures et autres traitements

dégradants infligés à la Pop doivent cesser a renchéri le Coord.

- Enfin, indigné par les jugements portés contre les FARDC dans les médias face au phénomène FDLR, le Comd Suprême nous lance un défi. NE doutant nullement des capacités des FARDC à combattre efficacement les FDLR, il attend les résultats probants et fera régulièrement lui-même l’évaluation de la Sit.

- Les Comd d’unités doivent privilégier l’intérêt des Tp et éviter le détournement des moyens mis à leur disposition

c). Instructions du Coord des Ops

(1) Continuité dans le travail entamé par le Comd des Ops conjointes et

le Chef EM FT.

- Traquer et détruire les FDLR dans tous leurs retranchements dans le

NORD KIVU

- Attaquer et détruire toutes les Positions FDLR dans le SUD KIVU.

(2) La chaîne Log est à revoir en vue de s’assurer que les moyens

arrivent au soldat.

(3) Eviter la bureaucratie et se trouver plus sur terrain pour mieux

Suivre l’évolution des Ops.

(4) Respecter la voie hiérarchique, tous les rapports doivent passer à

priori par le Coord des Ops.

(5) NE PAS garder des tourments dans les cœurs mais se confier

toujours à l’autorité

(6) Les planifications des Ops devront se faire en Coord avec la MONUC

sans toutefois retarder leur exécution.

(7) Respecter la Pop Civil.

(8) Mener des actions qui nous permettront de gagner la confiance de la

Pop, celle-ci pourra ainsi se dissocier des FDLR.

d) Prenant la parole à son tour, le GenBde BOSCO NTAGANDA, Coord Adjt, a soulevé les problèmes Log qui ont été à la base du retard qu’ont connu les Ops après celles menées conjointement par les FARDC et RDF. Ce qui a permis aux FDLR de se réorganiser et mener quelques Acn contre nos Tp.

e) Pour terminer le Coord a exhorté les Offr à travailler avec assudité

afin que la Nation Congolaise en général, le Gov et le Comd Suprême

en particulier NE soit PAS déçus et que la paix soient totalement

rétablie.

These minutes, and MONUC's response to them, should be a topic of the UN Security Council's African trip later this month, along with proposals to send Bosco Ntanganda's previous boss, Laurent Nkunda, from Rwanda into exile in a country other than the DRC. Watch this site.

Update of 12:55 p.m. -- at Friday's UN noon briefing, after publication of the article above, Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's Deputy Spokesperson Marie Okabe to respond to the April 4 FARDC minutes listing Bosco Ntaganda as Deputy Coordinator, including whether the UN disputes the authenticity of the minutes. Ms. Okabe said she had nothing to say on the topic. Minutes later, her Office sent Inner City Press the following statement:

From: unspokesperson-donotreply@un.org
To: matthew.lee@innercitypress.com
Sent: 5/8/2009 12:39:54 P.M. Eastern Standard Time
Subj: Your question on Ntaganda

In reference to your question about Jean-Bosco Ntaganda, we have the following:

MONUC has not seen the documents referenced in the media report allegedly showing that Mr. Ntanganda is a part of the joint operation. On the contrary, the DRC authorities have shown MONUC relevant documents defining the operation's command structure, which does not make any mention of Mr. Ntanganda. MONUC has clearly stated that it will not conduct or support joint operations in which Jean Bosco Ntaganda plays a part. This has been communicated directly to the DRC Minister of Defence and the Chief of the Defence Staff, who in turn have assured MONUC that Mr. Ntanganda is not a part of any joint operation’s command structure. MONUC leadership continues to engage with our Congolese interlocutors on this matter.

Better talk fast, with these Congolese interlocutors... Inner City Press is e-mailing the FARDC minutes to MONUC, which claims not to have seen them. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1bosco050809.html

As UN Council Meets, NGOs' Eviction from Darfur Called "Only the First Step," Bashir Indictment Freeze Requests

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un4bashir030609.html

UNITED NATIONS, March 6 -- With African Union and Arab League diplomats headed to New York to lobby the Security Council for a suspension of the indictment against Sudan's Omar al-Bashir, the Council met Friday about Bashir's expulsion of NGOs which serve Darfur. The percentage of the humanitarian work in Darfur impacted by the expulsion order varied by source. The UN's Catherine Bragg, who cancelled her noon press availability and postponed it until after the Council's Friday afternoon session, put the figure at 50%. Costa Rica's Ambassador Jorge Urbina, on the other hand, said he'd head the figure was closer to 70%. Inner City Press asked Ambassador Urbina, on camera, to comment on the NGOs departure from Sudan. He declined, but off camera said "something must be done." Asked if the harm to civilians would make Costa Rica re-think its opposition to suspending the indictment of Bashir, he said no.

Footage from Khartoum showed al-Bashir dancing with a crowd and apparently little security. We will not back down, he told the crowd. This is the new Sudan.

At a diplomatic luncheon Friday for Ghana, Inner City Press asked a range of Ambassadors about the situation in Sudan. While most spoke off the record, the representative of the Holy See said he disagreed that the indictment would make peace talks less likely. Look at South Sudan, he said. Even after the death of John Garang, the talks continued. Bashir has been in power for nearly 20 years.

But now the Justice and Equality Movement says it will not negotiate with a war criminal. Were these foreseeable impacts thought out? Will Ocampo be the one serving breakfast in Nyala?

On the way into the Council, a senior Sudanese diplomat stopped and told Inner City Press that "our people" say the meeting is about the requests for suspension from the AU and Arab League. They are member states, he said, they should come before the NGOs. All of this could have been avoided, he said. This is only the first step. We have nothing to lose.

Beginning with this quote, we will endeavor to live-blog outside the Council's closed door session. Watch this space.

On his way into the meeting, Austria's Ambassador stopped to say that the UN taking over the humanitarian programs in Darfur is "unrealistic," and that Austria would not support any suspension of the indictment, as they believe in the rule of law, the fight against impunity and the independence of the court. He was asked, since Sudan could only be prosecuted due to the Council's 2005 vote to refer the case, if the Council couldn't not ask for deferral. That would be even more problematic, he answered, saying that the court proceeding must proceed.

Update of 4:09 p.m. -- in a rambling stakeout interview, Sudan's Ambassador said he has a "dossier" of proof against each of the 13 expelled NGOs. He said that the International Rescue Committee, for example, "has an MOU with the ICC," and that other NGOs "use their planes to fly supposed victims to Paris." One reporter suggested that he return to the stakeout Monday at 10 a.m. with the dossier. You can come to my office, the Sudanese Ambassador said, adding to the crowd, but he better be careful, he might have a heart attack, the evidence is so strong.

Reporters laughed, some cringed. Inner City Press asked if these 13 NGOs are being allowed to continue operations in South Sudan. I don't know if they have operations in the South, the Ambassador said. Inner City Press asked what Sudan would think of Bill Frist as the US Special Envoy for Darfur. That is a US decision, he said, adding that Sudan would prefer an "upgraded" US Ambassador in Khartoum, and might not allow in a new US Special Envoy. What will happen Monday at 10 a.m. is not known. Even Friday afternoon, the Council meeting continues.

Update of 4:35 p.m. -- France's Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert came to the stakeout, saying among other things that if Sudan does not reverse its position, Kalma camp and another may run out of water in 48 hours. Inner City Press asked him if France thinks the expulsion is a violation of international humanitarian law or implicates the Responsibilility to Protect (which France's Bernard Kouchner has said he invented). Yes, Ripert said, we think this violates the law, and we've said that in the Council, asking members to act on their commitments made in January to support international humanitarian law.

Will there be a written statement, then? A draft is being circulated. But it seems clear that several members will not sign onto anything that does not raise the suspension of the indictment of Bashir.

Update of 4:54 p.m. -- UK Ambassador John Sawers came to the stakeout out and, long story short, said there would be no Council statement. A British reporter said NGOs called this "grotesque." Sawers explained that one of the Permanent members insisted on references to the ICC. He said that Russia would have been willing to sign on to some reasonable statement. So call it China -- which, like the US, hasn't spoken at the stakeout.

Inner City Press asked Sawers if the expulsion was entirely unexpected, if any contingency planning had been done. You can't plan for everything, he said, adding that no one saw the NGOs as connected to the ICC. No one?

Update of 5:35 p.m. -- the UN's Catherine Bragg emerged, and her spokeswoman Stephanie Bunker said she's had a long day and has other engagements, so will take only three questions. She was asked about the capacity of national NGOs, and spoke of trying to replace six thousand some humanitarian workers. She dropped the estimate of impacted humanitarian services to 40%.

Inner City Press asked if it's true that Kalma camp and one other will run out of water in 48 hours. Ms. Bragg said the situation is serious, as the NGO providing water and sanitation in Kalma camp is being expelled. She said "we" are trying to pick up the slack. Inner City Press asked, does that mean the UNAMID peacekeepers? I don't have the details, she said. For the second day in a row, she did not answer if the NGOs being expelled have operations, and if they will continue, in South Sudan.

Update of 6:05 p.m. -- the Libyan president of the Council for March came out, speaking of a "high level" delegation from the African Union and League of Arab States which will come to the Council to argue for a suspension of the indictment under Article 16 of what he called the "Roma Statute." Inner City Press asked if the threat of African Union members which have joined the OCC un-joining came up in the Council. No, but there is a meeting of such members to reconsider their membership, he said.

Since the AU / Arab League delegation would come until March 16 or so, in part due to the Council being in Haiti next week, Inner City Press asked about the report that the Kalma camp will run out of water in 48 hours. The Libyan Ambassador said this was a "detail," that it might be true if the water came in bottles, but if the water is in wells, it will not run out. We'll see if it's a detail...

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un4bashir030609.html

As Charles Taylor Case Winds Down, Africa-Only Focus Clouds ICC's Future

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un1justrapp020209.html

UNITED NATIONS, February 2 -- The prosecutor of Charles Taylor came Monday to New York to brag about this case, a full year before he expects a verdict. Charles Rapp, previously with the International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda, said he expects a motion to dismiss but predicted it will be rejected by the judges of the Special Court for Sierra Leone.

Inner City Press asked about defense arguments that prospective defense witnesses are afraid of being put on the UN's travel ban and asset freeze lists. Rapp was dismissive of this as well, saying that those already on the lists can, upon notice, travel to testify. But what about those not on the list, who think that any open testimony in support of Taylor's defense would land them on the list? Rapp did not answer this. Video here, from Minute 10:57.

Inner City Press asked about the impact of the conviction, in Federal court in Miami, of Taylor's son for torture. Rapp said this helps give assurance that Liberia will remain "Taylor-free," as he put it. He noted that there were two witnesses in the U.S. torture trial who brought "Sierra Leone" facts to the case otherwise about torture in Liberia itself, including a Sierra Leonean rebel who had fled to Liberia.

Broader, Inner City Press asked Rapp to respond to the criticism, most recently by the African Union's Jean Ping, that international criminal justice is disproportionately targeted at Africa, and excludes, in the four examples Ping gave, Gaza, Georgia, Colombia and Iraq. Rapp first defended his court, pointing out that other than Taylor, the other defendants were tried in Africa. Then he went broader, arguing both that since more African nations than others joined the International Criminal Court, the result was to be expected, and that the ICC's first three cases were "on invitation" by the Congo, Uganda and the Central African Republic. Video here, from Minute 20:25.

But ICC prosecutor Jose Moreno Ocampo has bragged that he invited the African leaders to refer these cases to him. To respond to an African critique by saying, African nations joined, brings up the possibility of countries deciding to unjoin. Moreno Ocampo has said he is looking at Colombia, but he's also said he's impressed with Colombian justice. Now ICC indictee Bosco Ntaganda has appeared at a press confernce with Congolese officials, and appears on the verge of being integrated into the Congolese Army. Where is Moreno Ocampo? As he reportedly bungles the Congo's Lubanga case, his eyes are on Sudan.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1justrapp020209.html

As Indictment of Bashir Arises at UN, Moreno-Ocampo Accused of Ego and Errors, Even by Supporters of ICC

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/icc4ocampo092208.html

UNITED NATIONS, September 22 -- As a range of countries come to the UN General Debate in New York to ask for a suspension of the request by the Prosecutor of International Criminal Court for an arrest warrant against Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir, questions are mounting about ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo. On September 17, a recent Foreign Minister of country that is a major support of the ICC told Inner City Press that Moreno-Ocampo had told countries that he had offered to not indict Al-Bashir if he would turn over two previous indictees, Ali Kushayb and Ahmad Harun. At a September 19 press conference, Richard Dicker of Human Rights Watch answered Inner City Press that such an offer by Moreno-Ocampo, if made, would be "wrong and unprincipled." Video here, from Minute 31:44. "If you have more information, I'm interested," he said. But if as the ex-Foreign Minister said, Moreno-Ocampo bragged out his offer to more than one country, the information will come out, perhaps at an even more inopportune time.

The Convenor of the Coalition for the International Criminal Court, William Pace, after the briefing told Inner City Press that Moreno-Ocampo could be an "egomaniac," specifically in claiming that he had asked African heads of state to refer cases to him. Pace said that not true, the Ugandan's Yoweri Museveni, for example, had decided on his own to refer the Lord's Resistance Army. His own army's crimes, he thought, were largely before the ICC's jurisdiction began in early 2002. Likewise, Democratic Republic of the Congo president Joseph Kabila somehow felt confident that Moreno-Ocampo would never indict him.

Both during and after the briefing, Richard Dicker of Human Rights Watch, a doctrinal supporter of the ICC, acknowledged that Moreno-Ocampo has made errors. On camera, Dicker called Moreno-Ocampo's failure to turn over potentially exculpatory information to lawyers for DRC militia leader -- and Kabila opponent -- Thomas Lubanga a mistake, that he hopes Moreno-Ocampo has learned from. Video here, from Minute 41:31. Dicker also said that Al-Bashir must have known that UN peacekeeping missions to which he consented would sent information against him to the ICC. As Dicker advised on a related matter, whether South Sudan leaders despite what they say are in favor of the indictment of Al-Bashir, Inner City Press will ask the Sudanese delegation if they know UN Peacekeeping would share information, that in turn would be withhold. Somehow we doubt it.

Watch this site, and this Sept. 18 (UN) debate.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/icc4ocampo092208.html

ICC's Ocampo Dismisses Sudan's Process, Sudan Dismisses Ocampo, of Moral Damages

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
www.innercitypress.com/icc2ocampo081108.html

UNITED NATIONS, August 11 -- Less than a week after Sudan belatedly named a special prosecutor for Darfur, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court called this no more than a cover-up. While that may be true, Luis Moreno-Ocampo's fast dismissal raises the question of who decides when a nation's justice system is credible.

When Inner City Press asked Moreno-Ocampo why all his cases have been in Africa, he said he had considered Colombia, but found their justice system credible. Now there are calls, how ever cynical one may view them, to refer the president of Georgia to the ICC in The Hague, for what Russia alleges is genocide in South Ossetia. One imagines that Moreno-Ocampo would deemed Georgia's legal system credible. But again, who decides?

On Monday at UN headquarters, Inner City Press asked Sudan's Ambassador Abdalmahmoud Abdalhaleem Mohamed about Moreno-Ocampo's comments. "We have been saying, that man is not credible," he answered. "He wants to beforehand judge. Every day he is putting oil on fire. We will hold him responsible for the very irresponsible statements he makes. You can quote me."

Moreno-Ocampo on Monday was in Senegal, apparently trying to lobby President Wade to back off his public position that the legal process against Al Bashir should be frozen. In 2005 as Darfur was referred to the ICC by the UN Security Council, Moreno-Ocampo was in Cape Town, taking a female journalist's car keys and saying, to get them you must sleep with me, as found by an International Labor Organization panel which found Moreno-Ocampo engaged in retaliation and ordered the payment of moral damages.

Even some who generally support holding leaders personally accountable for deaths now are pointed not only to Article 16 of the ICC's Rome Statute, which provides for freezing of indictments, but also to Article 42.3, which requires that "the Prosecutor and the Deputy Prosecutors shall be persons of high moral character." Moreno-Ocampo may be lobbying on this front as well, in Senegal and elsewhere.

The situation is that those who support the ICC feel compelled to support or cover up for Moreno-Ocampo, feeling that he is weakened, the Court is weakened. But impunity at the ICC undermines it. It is possible, perhaps even necessary, for those who support international criminal law to not make excuses for Moreno-Ocampo.

Moreno-Ocampo's fast dismissal stands in contrast to the response gleened from Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson on August 6, 2008 --

Inner City Press: the Government in Khartoum has now appointed, as had been requested as part of this AU plan, has appointed a Special Prosecutor for the situation in Darfur. Does the UN think that’s a positive step?

Spokesperson: Well, let's see what's happening. Every move made by a national Government, we cannot give an opinion on every single move made by that. Of course it is a positive step.

Inner City Press: The reason I ask is because it's also reported that Al-Arabiya is reporting that, quoting UN sources, that Ban Ki-moon prefers freezing any arrest warrant against President [Omar] al-Bashir. So, I'm wondering, is that not true?

Spokesperson: Well, Al-Arabiya, I guess, has its sources. I cannot comment on that.

Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/icc2ocampo081108.html

As UN Lawyer Says Peacekeepers Work with ICC in Congo, Sudan Aftermath Approaches

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/icc1michel072808.html

UNITED NATIONS, July 28 -- Outgoing UN legal chief Nicolas Michel on July 25 said the the UN Secretariat, including its peacekeeping operations, "have been in very close contact, repeatedly, with the Office of the Prosecutor" of the International Criminal Court. This undermines another argument the UN has been making, that the government of Sudan would be wrong to link the ICC Prosecutor's request earlier this month for an arrest warrant against President Omar Al-Bashir with the two UN peacekeeping operations in the country. If, as Michel said Friday, UN operations on the ground provide information to the ICC, and will increasingly do so in the future, why would it be surprising if potential or actual targets of the ICC barred access to or expelled UN operations?

Inner City Press asked Michel about the Thomas Lubanga case, in which the UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, known by its French acronym MONUC, provided information to prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo about, among other things, the defendants' alleged recruitment of child soldiers. Moreno-Ocampo used this information, more than MONUC had anticipated, as the basis of his indictment of Lubanga.

Messrs. Michel and Ban, undisclosed housing subsidy and ICC contacts not shown

But Moreno-Ocampo did not share the information with the defense lawyers. For that reason, the proceedings against Lubanga have been put on hold, in what many see as a sign that Moreno-Ocampo is not up to the job of ICC Prosecutor, particularly his attempted prosecution of a sitting head of state before he has convicted even a mid-level militia leader.

Michel wrote a letter, which was read to the ICC judges, in which he offered to show the judges the documents but without them taking notes or making copies. The judges refused this, and suspended the case against Lubanga. Michel on July 25 said that now, after the above-referenced "close work" with the ICC Office of the Prosecutor, Moreno-Ocampo is "confident that the judges will be satisfied." But that's what he said last time.

The implications of the collaboration by UN peacekeeping and legal operations with the ICC which Michel disclosed on July 25 have yet to be felt. They may come after the ICC judges rule on Moreno-Ocampo's request for an arrest warrant against Al-Bashir. If one or both UN peacekeeping missions in Sudan are then ordered out of the country, beyond Al-Bashir blame may be cast on not only Moreno-Ocampo but also Nicolas Michel, wherever he may be at that time. Michel's answers on ICC on July 25 are in video here, from Minute 58. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/icc1michel072808.html

ICC's Ocampo's Cape Town Times As Darfur Was Sent His Way Is Shown by Rejected Complaint

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/icc1ocampo071808.html

UNITED NATIONS, July 18, updated July 21 -- As the UN Security Council voted in the Spring of 2005 to refer the situation in Darfur to International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, he was in Cape Town, South Africa telling a female journalist she had to come to his hotel room and have sex with him in order to get her car keys back, according to a rejected complaint filed by then-close Ocampo aide Christian Palme. Mr. Palme attached to his complaint transcripts of recordings surreptitiously made by him and, he claims, Ocampo's then-spokesman Yves Sorokobi, who is now with the Office of the Spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in New York.

At a July 17 press conference at UN Headquarters, Ocampo was asked about the complaint, and a July 9 International Labor Organization ruling award back pay and "moral damages" to Palme, for the way he was fired. Ocampo called it a "human resources" matter and Sorokobi, who was moderating the press conference, told the questioner to desist and called on the next media organization in line, Inner City Press.

Normally, a rejected complaint would not appear on this site. But Palme's complaint, and its twelve annexes, paint a picture of Ocampo and his tenure at the ICC that is at odds with the public picture, including in films Ocampo devotes time to appearing in. Inner City Press exclusively obtained the complaint on July 18, and asked Sorokobi to respond to it. Sorokobi emphasizes that he did not collaborate with Palme. That is borne out by the complaint, which states in Paragraph 6 and 9 that

"neither Yves Sorokobi nor [NAME] have assisted me in writing this complaint... Yves Sorokobi, now an associate spokesman of the UN Secretariat in New York, fears that his personal career would be damaged by a complaint against Moreno-Ocampo... it was only with the two meetings with Yves Sorokobi on 30 November 2005 and on hearing the recording of Sorokobi's conversation with [NAME] on 30 March 2005 that I became aware of the full extent of the incident on 28 March 2005."

On that day, while the Security Council debated a resolution to refer to Ocampo the situation in Darfur for investigation, Ocampo himself was in Cape Town, South Africa.

In summary as the complaint relates events, Ocampo following an interview with a female reporter from a South African newspaper took the woman's

"car keys and proceed[ed] to go to his hotel suite... He refuses to return the keys unless she consents to have sexual intercourse with him. In order to have her car keys returned to her, [NAME] consents to have sexual intercourse with Moreno-Ocampo... [NAME] leave the hotel suite and immediately calls Sorokobi.. She says 'something horrible happened.'"

Attached to the complaint as Annex 3 is an email Sorokobi purportedly sent to Palme on March 29, 2005, that recounts "some disturbing (LMO behavior) stuff from [redacted] the [redacted] reporter who interviewed him yesterday. Darryl has been quite busy with lines on the possible Darfur referral."

Contemporaneous notes taken and submitted by Palme recounts "working on the press release and the Q&A, as usual without any support from Luis. We are almost done with the Q&A, but Luis refuses to approve it even for circulation within the OTP. It seems he is trying to pretend as if nothing is going on and he doesn't understand that when the decision comes we will have numerous calls with questions from media and NGOs."

While readers will make their own assessment of the credibility of different parts of the complaint, which Inner City Press is putting online here, let us assume that Palme was "gunning for" Ocampo well before the Cape Town incident. Let us assume resentment; let us assume, as Palme's detractors assert, mental issues. Let us note that Palme used Yves Sorokobi in the complaint without Sorokobi's consent, and that as Ocampo's then-spokesman, looking into claims against Ocampo would have been one of Sorokobi's jobs. It seems incontroverted that he took the woman's car keys and thus made her come to his hotel room, and that his then-spokesman tape recorded the woman, at best with an eye toward defending his boss from possible rape charges. Is this the behavior people expect and that State Parties think they are getting from the ICC prosecutor? To be continued.

For now, click here to view the "whistleblower" decision, which Inner City Press obtained and is putting online.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/icc1ocampo071808.html

ICC's Ocampo Defends His Africa-Only Focus, His Strategy In Question

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/icc1africa071708.html

UNITED NATIONS, July 17 -- International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told the Press on Thursday, "Because I respect African leaders, I invite them to refer to me the case, and they did it." While dodging questions about his request for an arrest warrant against Sudan's president Omar Al-Bashir, Ocampo responded to Inner City Press' question about why all of his prosecutions so far have been in Africa, and not for example in Colombia, Myanmar or North Korea. He responded that he visited Colombia last November, and will again "next month," to monitor national proceedings. Those proceedings have offered a form of immunity to government-backed paramilitary forces, but apparently Ocampo is satisfied with that. Perhaps, then, Sudan should have put its two indictees Ahmad Harun and Ali Kushayb on trial, then offered then a slap on the wrist. Behind the scenes, Ocampo has been telling Ambassadors of Permanent Five members of the Security Council, and some of these have off the record been telling the press, that if Al-Bashir now turns over the two indictees, the prosecution against him might go away or be put on hold. Ocampo's prosecutorial strategy -- reversing the normal approach of trying to turn underlings against their boss -- and his performance are both subject to question. But on Thursday few answers were provided.

Inner City Press asked Ocampo about both the Thomas Lubanga case, which has been suspended due to his office's failure to show its evidence to the defense lawyers, and about the unacted-on arrest warrant against Joseph Kony of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Video here, from Minute 25:52. On Lubanga, Ocampo said "the problem was how to disclose some documents." First, providing discovery material to the defense is a basic principle of fair prosecution. Second, Inner City Press is told by sources inside the UN Secretariat and its Congo peacekeeping mission, MONUC, that they never expected Ocampo to base his prosecution on the hearsay material they provided him, but he did. Now that material must be disclosed, and they are unhappy. Neither they nor the Western members of the Permanent Five, however, will criticize Ocampo in public. That would be politically incorrect.

Ocampo, however, drapes himself in the role of the last of the just, an objective man, a slave to justice. Asked why all his prosecutions have been in Africa, he said, "I cannot respect geographical balance, I cannot respect gender balance." Video here, from Minute 25:52. But how can it be that a court set up to try genocide and child soldier recruitment, among other high crimes, is focused only on Africa? Ocampo, and later in his defense the foreign minister of Costa Rica Bruno Stagno Ugarte, claim this is because the presidents of Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo have referred cases to Ocampo. First, Ocampo admitted that he invited them to make specific referrals, to make a showing of his respect for African leaders. Second, this has created a conflict of interest or bias, in which he has not for example investigated or at least prosecuted crimes of the Ugandan army, only the LRA. Ocampo never answered the question about Joseph Kony, who meets opening with UN officials like Joachim Chissano. Perhaps there was not enough media interest to keep Ocampo focused on the LRA case, or actually succeeding in the case of Lubanga.

In Kinshasa last month, Security Council Ambassadors emphasized to Inner City Press that Congolese president Joseph Kabila had praised them and the ICC for the prospection of Lubanga and especially Jean-Pierre Bemba. But Bemba was Kabila's main opponent in the last elections. Even in Congo, the ICC is arguably being used politically. These questions should be answered and not dodged.

Footnote: Inner City Press asked Ruth Wijdenbosch, President of the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee of Suriname, which just joined the ICC, about reports that the U.S. in 2007 had sought anti-ICC "non-surrender" agreements from Suriname. Video here, at end. She acknowledged the U.S. attempts and said they have stopped -- not as some argue because the U.S. agrees, or agreed, with Ocampo's Darfur prosecutions, but because by arrogantly demanding the agreements the U.S. was "losing friends" in Latin America, presumably to Hugo Chavez. So Hugo Chavez, under this theory, has helped the ICC.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/icc1africa071708.html

Sudan Trumpets Museum of May 10 Justice and Equality Movement Attack, Omdurman as Evidence for ICC Indictment of Chad

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press in Africa
www.innercitypress.com/unsc1omdurman060408.html

OMDURMAN, June 4 -- There are piles of pickup trucks with rocket launchers on the back heaped burned-out in Khalifa Square in Omdurman, a five minute drive from the Presidential Place in Khartoum. The Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, part of the "state apparatus" which the International Criminal Court says is complicit with war crimes in Darfur, has produced a 60-page picture book entitled "The Aggression of Chad government on Omdurman, 10 May 2008."

Sudanese Major Jamal told Inner City Press that the vehicles and weapons, including equipment for Katyusha rockets and even poison darts, belonged to the Justice and Equality Movement and were purchased for them by Chad. He pointed to a picture of armed fighters on a pickup in front of a mosque, which he identified as the Sheikh Dawoud Adbullah Komba Mosque in Chad. They came from Chad, he said, and they fired on mosques and stores and civilians. As the square is ringed by pictures of President Omar al-Bashir, the intended meaning of the briefing could not have been clearer: Sudan is a victim of aggression, by an outside force which itself recruits child soldiers in violations of the laws of war. Why aren't JEM and the Chadian government being indicted by the ICC?

Khalifa Square, resonating with history for example of Ali Mahdi who fought the British and others, has been turned into a theme part, a sort of Mad Max militia museum. Major Jamal first read a speech standing at a lectern in a tent, and then answered questions while giving a tour of exhibits around the three sides of the square. First there were the vehicles. The leaders of JEM, he said, drove in cars which still have roofs. Lower-level fighters were in vehicles without windows or tops, many with rocket launchers mounted on the back. He said the government captured 90-some such vehicles, out of a total of 300 or more which attacked.

How such a convoy could have driven in from Chad or Darfur without being spotted and confronted, at least with Sudan's attack helicopters, remains unclear. The exhibit makes much of the range of Sudanese forces which stopped the incursion at Omdurman. But sources tell Inner City Press that the Army was slow to react, and most of the fighting was by police and security forces, some in civilian dress but wielding sub-machine guns. Regarding who funded the attack, alongside Chad sources point the finger north, to a member of the Security Council. We will have more on this.

Major Jamal showed sacks of powder he said was sorghum flour brought by the insurgents. He showed what he said were captured identity papers, including a work permit for World Vision. He showed a uniform with a incongruously new-looking "Tchad" patch sewn on the sleeve. He showed a passport that appeared to even have an exit visa in it ("Sortie"). Given that Sudan charges $151 for a visa to visit the country, at least if one comes from New York, one of Maj. Jamal's interlocutors joked that high visa fees may have been relevant to the attack.

The exhibit includes gruesome photographs of charred bodies, blood-splattered houses, and at least 18 vacant-eyed child soldiers.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was eager to present these children to the press, but they are one hour from Khartoum, and the time proposed conflicted with a press conference by members of the UN Security Council. These members, who traveled on June 3 to Juba in South Sudan and each signed the book of condolences and tribute to fallen leader John Garang, might want to make it their business to check out Omdurman. It is not everyday that dozens of burned out war trucks are piled up in a square under a large photograph of Ban Ki-moon. We will have more on this.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/unsc1omdurman060408.html

In Sudan and in New Film, War Crimes Questions Unanswered, Ahmad Harun's Narrow Escape Recounted

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press in Africa
www.innercitypress.com/unsc2khartoum060408.html

KHARTOUM, June 4 -- As UN Security Council members in Khartoum prepare to visit Darfur tomorrow, in New York International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo finalizes testimony and, it's said, an additional indictment. Already indicted Ahmad Harun has reportedly been involved in Khartoum's battle in the south at Abyei. A 17-minute film just put online by the Aegis Trust shows blurry-faced survivors of attacks on three towns in Darfur naming Harun as providing money and orders to Ali Kushayb, to directed looting and killing. Omda Yahya is named as one direct victim of Kushayb. Click here to view the film.

In one clip, Ali Kushayb is said to claim to have killing orders directly from the president, called on his "thuraya" or satellite phone. Still, when Inner City Press asked UK Ambassador John Sawers, co-leader of the Council's visit to Sudan, if he intended to mention the ICC indictments in meetings with President Omar Al Bashir, or today with his advisor Nafie Al Nafie, Amb. Sawers said the meetings would be confidential. Speaking on June 3 in Juba in South Sudan, Sawers did not not mention the indictments in the list of issues he said he would be raising.

Regarding efforts to execute the arrest warrants, a story has emerged, a close call for Harun. He was to travel to Mecca in December for the Haaj. While his defenders advised him to go primarily by land, with a bit of sea to Yemen, he had decided to save time and fly. Meanwhile the ICC, it brags, had convinced some neighboring countries to divert Harun's flight, force it to land and arrest him. A country that shares the Nile is thought to have been enlisted to help. At the last minute, Harun got off the plane.


Some say Harun was tipped off, some say by Saleh Gosh, described as among other things a U.S. national security asset who's passed on information about Al Qaeda suspects.

While the Aegis Trust online film goes out of its way to redact names of so far unindicted people, the website includes a "Wanted" poster of Musa Hilal, click here for view.

The ICC has been asked, why not also indict the rebels? Wednesday the press traveling with the Security Council is being offered interviews with alleged child soldiers recruited by the Justice and Equality Movement, some from Chad. The response is that no country has presented evidence. Of course this is passing the buck.

Sudan might well have proofs to show, but no interest in buttressing the legitimacy of the ICC. Speaking of which, with the U.S. still not a member, how can the U.S. applaud these indictments?

And how can the UK, which loudly played a role in the Security Council's referral of the situation in Darfur to the International Criminal Court on March 31, 2005, now through Amb. Sawers said that faced with evidence of systemic killing of civilians in Somalia, the Council should not interfere by making any referral to the ICC, despite requests from Somali civil society? And what are Moreno-Ocampo, the Aegis Trust, et al. saying and doing about Somalia? These are questions for which answers will be sought, in Sudan, Chad and elsewhere. Watch this site.

Footnote in fairness on the Aegis Trust: this is the group which at UN headquarters, as reported exclusively by Inner City Press, when their display about Rwanda garnered complaints from Turkey about a reference to genocide against Armenians, consented to the display being taken down, and a line about "Ottamans" being inserted, along with other changes. One is seeking consistency, between regions, conflicts and continents, but finding little.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/unsc2khartoum060408.html

UK Schizophrenic on Human Rights, But Says No Impunity for Lord's Resistance Army's Kony

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/uk1sc050208.html

UNITED NATIONS, May 2 -- The UK, which holds the UN Security Council presidency this month, demonstrated incongruous positions on human rights in recent days. On April 30, along with France and the United States, it opposed requests to include human rights in the Council's resolution on Western Sahara. On the morning May 2, it agreed to a Presidential Statement on Myanmar which dropped any reference to Nobel Prize-winning Burmese dissident Aung San Suu Kyi.

UK Ambassador John Sawers glossed over both issues when asked about them at a press conference later in the day. But when asked by Inner City Press if the UK would agree to suspend the International Criminal Court indictments of Joseph Kony and other leaders of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army, Amb. Sawers said that the UK would oppose the Council doing that. "The indictments of the ICC should stand," he said. "It would be for the ICC to determine if the trial arrangements in a particular country for someone they indicted" are an appropriate substitute for proceeding with the indictment. Video here, from Minute 30:42.

On the issue of accountability within the UN, the UK is not so strong. Inner City Press asked Amb. Sawers about charges, widely publicized including in Britain, that UN peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo engaged in trading of gold and guns, and that the UN's Office of Internal Oversight Services essentially covered-up these crimes. "I have no comment on that," Amb. Sawers said.

One analysis has it that since the UK punches above its weight through the UN, it is hard pressed to criticize the Organization no matter what it does. We'll see.

Footnote: well-placed diplomatic sources told Inner City Press on Friday night that the background to the Myanmar statement was that Ibrahim Gambari had asked the Council to hold off, to allow him to travel to Myanmar and deliver these points in person to the regime. But when he was denied entry, he gave the green light to the Council. China, in this account, demanded that any statement tip its chapeau to Myanmar's sovereignty, the UN's loose "good office" role, and that any solution must come from the Burmese -- well, Myanmarese, or Myanmarian -- people themselves, and that Aung San Suu Kyi's name must come out. And the US and UK agreed, and then agreed to cover it up and dodge questions. And so it goes...

And see, www.innercitypress.com/uk1sc050208.html

UN Ignores ICC Indictments of Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda, Evidence Collection in Congo, Pleas for Pakistan Probe

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un1lradrcpak022008.html

UNITED NATIONS, February 20 -- The UN Secretariat's relations with and commitment to the International Criminal Court are increasingly in question. Wednesday, Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson praised without equivocation an agreement in Uganda which appears to several human rights groups to sidestep the ICC's indictments of the leaders of the Lord's Resistance Army. When Inner City Press asked, twice, whether the Secretariat stood behind the primacy of the ICC's indictments, it was told first that a statement was coming, then that that statement could not be further explained. Video here, from Minute 11:08.

Similarly, while the UN announced findings that Congolese rebel Laurent Nkunda's forces killed dozens of civilians in the run-up to the peace deal recently reached in Goma, it remains unclear if this evidence gets forwarded to the ICC. Inner City Press on Wednesday asked just that, and was told that in the nature of a dodge that the UN mission has expressed concern. But is the evidence given to the ICC for prosecution? Apparently not.

In fact, Nkunda is already speaking dismissively of the ICC. In a recent interview, he outright denies recruiting child soldiers, of which the UN or parts of it maintains there is ample evidence. In this context, the question of whether the UN forwards the evidence it has and says it has to the competent international court is a key question, that which has yet to be answered.

Finally, on Wednesday, Inner City Press asked whether in light of the outcome of Pakistan's elections, a request by the new government for UN involvement in investigating the death of Benazir Bhutto would be favorably viewed. "The government is not constituted yet," the spokesperson said. "Our guidance on that has not changed." Great....

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1lradrcpak022008.html

As One Congo Warlord Is Arrested, Peter Karim and Others Are Off the Hook, in Uganda and Sudan, ICC Silent on Kenya

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/icc1ituri020708.html

UNITED NATIONS, February 7 -- The International Criminal Court's registrar Bruno Catala spoke at the UN on Thursday, bragging about the ICC's arrest of Congolese warlord Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, identified as a former leader of the National Integrationist Front (FNI), for war crimes. Inner City Press asked Catala why it took the ICC eight months from indictment until arrest, if the delay involved any negotiations with the Congolese government. Catala responded that the ICC does not negotiate. He responded similarly when asked about the immunity deal given to rebel general Laurent Nkunda in the Kivus in the DR Congo -- the ICC was not part of the negotiation of that immunity which, Catala claims, did not include war crimes or other ICC-relevant crimes.

Catala quoted the ICC's deputy prosecutor Fatou Bensouda that the ICC's phase of investigation in Ituri is now over, and it will turn its attention to the Kivus. But Ngudjolo's co-warlord Peter Karim is still in the Congolese Army, despite additionally having kidnapped and killed UN peacekeepers. Since Karim ultimately released some of the peacekeepers, it appears that he got some deal, that Ngudjolo has been indicted and arrested, but not Karim.

Another pending deal, pushed by U.S. envoys Tim Shortly and Makita James, would have the LRA indictees turn themselves over to national justice in Uganda, thus sidestepping the ICC. Catala called the continued freedom of the LRA indictees "not a good example."

Catala said the ICC cannot confirm that Lord's Resistance Army indictee Vincent Otti is dead, even though that has been confirmed by South Sudan's Riek Machar. Nor would he confirm that the ICC has received a complaint from Raila Odinga's ODM in Kenya. He said that attempts continue to arrest the two Sudanese indictees. Whether and how the UN Secretariat is actually raising that issue to Sudan is not clear. But the day's arrest are worth noting, for international criminal justice.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/icc1ituri020708.html