At UN, Only Some War Criminals Can Be Spoken With, Only Some Ambassadors Can Speak; Georgia Meeting, Ethiopians Defer 
By Matthew Russell Lee
July 15, 2008
The Inner City Press 
Original Source: http://www.innercitypress.com/un7158muse071508.html
UNITED NATIONS, July 15 -- France would not meet with Sudanese president Al-Bashir if the International Criminal Court judges affirm prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo's request yesterday to indict him for war crimes, French Ambassador to the UN Jean-Maurice Ripert told the press on Tuesday. He said that to refuse to meet with those under indictment of war crimes is policy. When Inner City Press asked indicted Ugandan war criminal Joseph Kony meeting with UN representatives, from Jan Egeland to Mozambique's former president Chissano, Ripert emphasized he was speaking about European Union policy.  
            On the question of the day, whether the Security Council might vote under Article 16 of the ICC's Rome Statute to suspend any indictment of Bashir for a year, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad declined to comment, as he had after Friday's double-veto of the draft resolution to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe government. Tuesday Khalilzad remained focused on that vote, saying that the onus is on those who voted against the resolution to now show results, and noting that those who opposed sanctions on Mugabe are those most active in pushing to suspend the ICC proceedings on Bashir. Khalilzad's strong words Friday against South African president Mbeki, and in favor of his presumptive successor Jacob Zuma, continued to draw fire, from Pretoria and on the Security Council sidelines.
            Likewise Ban Ki-moon's strange Saturday denunciation of Zimbabwe's ambassador, for having dared question his impartiality. Inner City Press asked Ban's deputy spokesperson Marie Okabe why Ban had criticized the Zimbabwean's statement, while saying when asked about similar criticism about his Kosovo positions from Russia's Vitaly Churkin that the Ambassador is entitled to his opinion.  Are only some countries' ambassadors -- five, to be exact -- entitled to their opinions? Ms. Okabe declined to compare or explain Ban's disparate reactions to similar comments by the Ambassadors of Russia and Zimbabwe. 
  On a question her Office did respond on, the answer wasn't entirely clear. Australia's Defense Minister Joel Fitzgibbon on July 11 told Inner City Press that his country had suspended its deployment of nine military officers to Darfur, consistent with UN policy. That day, Inner City Press asked Ms. Okabe's colleague Farhan Haq to confirm and explain this policy, but got no answer. Tuesday, after Ms. Okabe was asked, Inner City Press received a written response that on other contingents, including the Australians, that have suspended their deployments to UNAMID, just Ethiopia so far and only for a brief period. This appears to deny the statement by Australia's defense minister, but to disclose a suspension of deployment by Ethiopia. We'll see.
Footnotes: ICC prosecutor Ocampo unceremoniously cancelled his Wednesday press conference about his move to indict Bashir, and now replaces it with a Thursday morning presser, purportedly limited to the 10th anniversary of the ICC's Rome Statute. We'll see. 
  
  Two other draft resolutions pending before the Council, on Israeli settlements and on the situation in Georgia, have been slowed down. Diplomats says that on settlements, the debate is whether to have a wider resolution or just stick to the settlements. Georgia has requested a Council meeting; its date and format were under discussion with Russia and the Vietnamese Council presidency. At the end of Tuesday's meeting, a staffer announced that the Georgia meeting will be on Monday, but that it will be private, that is, closed. When Inner City Press asked if South Ossetia might be represented, the staffer just laughed.  Watch this site.