Oct 16, 09:19 PM
News Roundup
ICC issues first ever arrest warrants, targeting Ugandan rebels
“Friday’s confirmation by the two-year-old International Criminal Court (ICC) that it has issued its first arrest warrants, for Joseph Kony and four other commanders of the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda, has provoked both praise and concern from western human rights and peace groups.”
- Human Rights Watch praised the ICC’s move as “an important step toward bringing justice for atrocities in Uganda.” However, having recently documented atrocities carried out by the Ugandan military fighting the LRA, HRW called on the ICC to address these injustices as well.
“The ICC must also look into abuses committed by the Ugandan army,” said Richard Dicker, director of the HRW International Justice Program. “If the court finds that these crimes don’t fall within its limited mandate, it should make its findings available to the Ugandan authorities so that they can bring the perpetrators to justice. In doing so, the court must also be mindful of the security and confidentiality of its sources.”
- Amnesty International is the only source I’ve seen that mentions the seemingly crucial point that the warrants were initially issued in secret.
“The five arrest warrants were issued by Pre-Trial Chamber II of the ICC on 8 July 2005 under seal, a technique that has been effective for international courts to improve the chances that the accused persons can be arrested before they flee and which was used in this case to ‘ensure the safety or physical or psychological well-being or’ and to ‘prevent the disclosure of the identity or whereabouts of any victims, potential witnesses and their families’. Unfortunately, certain persons who were informed of the existence of the warrant disclosed this information to the general public, thus increasing the risk that the accused will flee and dangers to victims and witnesses. On the evening of 13 October 2005, Pre-Trial Chamber II decided to unseal the warrants after being assured by the Prosecutor and the Victims and Witnesses Unit that ‘necessary and adequate protective measures for all concerned at this stage’ had been taken.”
AI also concurs with HRW that Ugandan government troops should be included in any ICC warrants:
“The failure of the Prosecutor to seek arrest warrants against Ugandan government forces and their civilian superiors is a matter of deep concern because the Ugandan prosecutors have failed to investigate and prosecute such crimes during the 19-year conflict.”
- A lawyer with the Refugee Law Project argues in the International Herald Tribune that the ICC’s decision to issue warrants was wrong because it will hinder the peace process and ultimately increase the likelihood of more suffering:
“The LRA deserves condemnation, but a closer look at this case reveals how irresponsible the ICC was in issuing arrest warrants at this time…Over the past 18 months, a peace team led by Betty Bigombe, a former Ugandan government minister, made progress that barely seemed conceivable two years ago. For the first time in more than a decade, government and rebel representatives met and negotiated a cease-fire. Though the cease-fire expired earlier this year, communication has continued.”
Mark’s comment:
I’m nervous about this being the first ever ICC arrest warrant. It does not appear to be beyond reproach. If leaders of the Ugandan military that also carried out atrocities in this conflict are allowed to walk away, then the court will have been the stooge of the Ugandan government.
Pakistan Toll, at 38,000, Is Expected to Rise
“In Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani-controlled Kashmir and one of the most damaged towns in the region, doctors warned that many more people were going to die because of the lack of medical facilities in the earthquake zone and the long delays in transporting victims to medical care. ‘There’s nowhere to put the patients,’ said Dr. Dominique Gladin, of the French nongovernmental aid group Service d’Aide Medicale Urgente, which has a team of 47 in Muzaffarabad.”
Iraq awaits constitution result
“Millions of ballots are being counted in Iraq, a day after a historic referendum on whether to accept the country’s new constitution. Overall turnout in the vote, which passed off relatively peacefully, was more than 60% of the 15.5m voters. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, on a visit to London, said the document had ‘probably passed’. Initial forecasts may come by Monday with an unofficial tally on Thursday and a final result on 24 October.”
Weah maintains Liberia poll lead
“Official results are slowly emerging from Liberia’s historic elections on Tuesday following the 14-year civil war which ended in 2003. With votes counted from more than 80% of the 3,000 polling stations, one of the favourites for president, ex-footballer George Weah, is ahead. He has 29.8% of votes counted so far. Another fancied contender, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, has 19.7%. Observers praised the conduct of voting and lack of violence on Tuesday.”
UN staff withdrawn from Darfur
“The UN says it is pulling out all non-essential staff from parts of Sudan’s troubled Darfur region. An increase in violence over the last few weeks has made most of west Darfur off-limits to aid agencies.”
- On Tuesday, The Washington Post reported on UN concerns that militia violence was getting worse, and for the first time every they mounted attacks against civilians already in refugee camps.
The WP: “Juan Mendez, special adviser to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, said Khartoum has not abided by a long-standing Security Council order to establish a ‘plan to disarm’ the Sudanese-backed Arab militiamen, who stand accused of driving more than 2 million tribal Africans from their homes since 2003.”
Mendez was going to brief the Security Council on the matter, but the US, China, Russia, and Algeria blocked that.
“U.S. Ambassador John R. Bolton said the Security Council, which received a briefing about Darfur from a senior U.N. peacekeeping official Monday, has sufficient evidence of abuse to take action. He said another briefing on the matter would distract the 15-nation council from making decisions needed to halt the violence.
”’We should talk about next steps, not about how to arrange the furniture in the Security Council,’ Bolton said.”
- On Thursday, the UN Security Council, going boldly out on a limb, voted to condemn the escalation of violence. That was apparently all they could get the likes of Russian and China to agree on.
In reporting on Thursday’s condemnation, the NY Times provides some good historical background:
“The United States, Britain and others would like to tighten sanctions, such as imposing an arms embargo on the entire country, which is not now the case.
“An effort by both countries to do this last March was unsuccessful. Instead the council in March voted to impose a travel ban and an asset freeze on individuals in Darfur region who commit atrocities or break ceasefire agreements but no one has been fingered.
“In addition the International Criminal Court has been asked to investigate. However, it appears none of these moves have had an impact on violence with Mendez noting that the Khartoum government’s own court trials so far were meaningless.”
Bolton, of course, opposes the existence of the ICC, so he’s not going to support any of its actions in Darfur.
”>Britain’s highest court to consider whether torture evidence obtained from third countries is permitted in domestic British law
An HRW news release: “The House of Lords Judicial Committee (commonly known as “the law lords”) will hear an appeal against an August 2004 majority decision by the Court of Appeal that the U.K. government was entitled to rely on torture evidence in special terrorism cases, provided that the U.K. ‘neither procured nor connived at’ the torture. The use of evidence obtained through torture or other ill-treatment is prohibited by international law.
”’When it comes to torture, the rules of the game must not change.’ said Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch, ‘You can’t accept torture evidence without condoning torture.’
Mark’s comment:
HRW is right on; this is very disturbing.
Malawi issues food crisis appeal
“Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika has declared a national disaster over the food shortages which are threatening almost half the population…UN estimates suggest about five million people will need aid after Malawi’s worst harvest for more than a decade. Mr Mutharika had been criticised for denying reports of deaths from hunger-related illnesses in Malawi.”
commenting closed for this article