UNDPKO briefing: “We are in many ways no closer to a solution . . .”

On Friday morning, the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Alain Le Roy, briefed the UN Security Council in New York during their 6170^th meeting. His briefing covered the progress of UNAMID deployment (five battalion and five infantry companies arriving in the coming months; nine of the proposed eleven formed police units to be deployed by the end of the year), ongoing tensions between Chad and Sudan, the impact of delayed enforcement of CPA deadlines on the situation throughout the country, as well as the current situation on the ground in Darfur. The official transcript should be available on the UNSC website in the coming 24 hours, but his remarks are perhaps best summarized by his realistic, albeit depressing, conclusion while the situation on the ground may have changed, “we are in many ways no closer to a solution now than when the issue was first taken up by this august body.”

Many Council members made statements after Le Roy’s presentation. Several were notable for what they did  – and did not – say about the ICC.

Consistent with the recent decision by the AU,  the representatives of AU members Burkina Faso (also an ICC signatory) and Libya (a non-signatory), both requested that the Council consider an Article 16 suspension. Interestingly however, the Ugandan representative’s statement did not include such a request – continuing the Ugandan government’s ambiguous approach to the Bashir arrest issue. (Yesterday Bashir was not in attendance at the Global Smart Leadership Conference in Uganda, despite having been invited, with commentators speculating his absence was due to fear that the Ugandan government would arrest him if he set foot in their territory).

On the European side, the intervention by the UK representative was not quite aligned with the statement of the Swedish representative on behalf of the EU. The EU statement was that it fully supported the International Criminal Court’s “key role” in promoting international justice. The UK representative, John Sawers, did call on the GOS to cooperate with the ICC, but he also said that the Council would consider invoking Article 16, but only if it saw concrete action for peace reflected in changes on the ground and genuine cooperation with the Court. Although cautiously worded, this may suggest a relative ‘opening of the door’ by the UK towards those who favor action under Article 16.

At the end of the meeting Mr. Le Roy took pains to point out that despite the progress on troop deployment, there were challenges “over and above” troop numbers – namely lack of proper equipment. He gave the example of a shipment of APCs currently held up in Sudanese customs. On the continuing problems faced by UNAMID with respect to being granted visas, he reported that while 120 outstanding visas had been issued on Wednesday, there was still a backlog of 327.