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| International |
| Chief U.N. Prosecutor Wants Both Cases (Yugoslavia and Rwanda) |
| 2003-08-09 |
| UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The chief U.N. war crimes prosecutor said Friday that she should remain in charge of the two tribunals dealing with Yugoslavia and Rwanda - warning that her removal from the Rwanda court could jeopardize its independence. Not to mention her sinecure. But if the Security Council approves Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s recommendation to appoint a new prosecutor to handle cases stemming from the 1994 Rwanda genocide - as now appears likely - Carla Del Ponte said she would accept a new four-year contract to handle the Balkan wars prosecutions. Half a loaf ... U.S. deputy ambassador James Cunningham told a closed council meeting after Del Ponte’s briefing that the United States will introduce a resolution early next week endorsing Annan’s recommendation to split the top prosecutorial job and renew Del Ponte’s contract for the Yugoslav tribunal, a U.S. official said. The U.S. draft resolution will also focus on the timetable for completing the work of both tribunals by 2010, the U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. 2010??? Something about justice delayed being justice denied comes to mind. Syria’s U.N. Ambassador Mikhail Wehbe, the current council president, said that ``more or less’’ all the council members support Annan’s proposal. He said he expects the council to take action on the U.S. resolution next week. More or less = diplospeak for them being all over the place. While Del Ponte was giving her private briefing to the 15 council members, Rwanda’s Attorney General Gerald Gahima held a news conference to reiterate his government’s demand for a separate prosecutor for the Rwanda tribunal, based in Arusha, Tanzania. Rwanda argues that Del Ponte devotes most of her time and attention to the Yugoslav tribunal, based in The Hague, Netherlands. It also contends that the Rwandan tribunal is too slow, corrupt and mismanaged. What’s different than the usual for the U.N.? Many argue the Rwandan tribunal has not made as much progress as the Yugoslav tribunal. Various reasons have been cited, from bureaucratic inefficiency to friction with the Rwandan government, staff shortages and insufficient attention from Del Ponte’s staff. Del Ponte’s office has clashed with the Rwandan government, notably over the prosecutor’s efforts to investigate abuses by Tutsi-led rebels who stopped the genocide, took power and still control the government. The Rwandan government barred people sought for questioning from traveling to Arusha. "To heck with the killers with the machetes who killed the women and children, you must tell us about the deplorable sporting equipment in the prisons!" In her council briefing, released Friday afternoon, Del Ponte asked whether splitting her job would ``result in undermining’’ the tribunal’s investigations of members of the Rwandan armed forces and people associated with the country’s leadership. Someone needs to remind her what her original mission was. Mexico’s U.N. Ambassador Adolfo Aguilar Zinser, who asked for Del Ponte’s briefing, criticized the Rwandan government, saying ``no government, particularly the Rwanda government, should have any interference in the work of the tribunal and the independence of the prosecutor.’’ Del Ponte told the council ``I strongly believe that the separation of the mandates, at this stage, would seriously undermine that very independence.’’ She said media campaigns regularly tried ``to destroy my credibility and sometimes my reputation’’ and that ``undue pressures took place to push me to abandon certain investigations.’’ Several diplomats who attended the briefing said Del Ponte’s message was that she was irreplaceable, though she didn’t use the word. After the briefing Del Ponte said that she told Annan she was willing to continue as head of the Yugoslav tribunal. Using the initials for the Yugoslav tribunal, she said, ``if the Security Council decides to split, I hope to stay on in ICTY as prosecutor.’’ "Where I can investigate the abuses of the American forces -- that’s what’s really important!" The Rwandan court has completed 15 cases and has 61 in progress; it holds 55 detainees, more than half of whom are awaiting trial. Those on trial in the Yugoslav tribunal include former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic. Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his military chief Gen. Ratko Mladic, who were indicted in 1995 for genocide, remain at large. Attagirl, Del Ponte, go chase Ratko for a while. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #4 OP - like Legionnaire's Disease, only multilaterally infuckting? Sorry - weird mood today! |
| Posted by: ·com 2003-8-9 7:30:01 PM |
| #3 PD - Scott Rirdan, Hans Blix, just to hit a couple of names off the top of my head. It seems to be something with the United Nations. I wonder if there's some kind of fungus in the building's air conditioning system that rots the brains of employees. Only thing I can see that would explain it... |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2003-8-9 6:47:21 PM |
| #2 Charles - Do you (too) get the impression that Ms Del Ponte is so phull of herself that she's about to explode? Man, I've seen some self-aggrandizing / self-promotional BS (Larry Ellison just popped into my head, and now there's Scott Nealy, too - wow! - I wonder why?) before, but she's waay over the top. So, uh, when is she going to apply for |
| Posted by: ·com 2003-8-9 6:09:25 PM |
| #1 And this is why people think we're Imperialistic. They're too stupid to know what Democracy is. |
| Posted by: Charles 2003-8-9 4:22:24 PM |