AU/ARAB LEAGUE LOBBY UNSC FOR ICC DEFERRAL FOR

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000141

C O R R E C T E D COPY (SLUG LINE ADDED)

DEPT PASS ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM SU
SUBJECT: AU/ARAB LEAGUE LOBBY UNSC FOR ICC DEFERRAL FOR
BASHIR


1. (SBU) SUMMARY. African Union and Arab League leaders met
informally with Security Council members on February 12 to
press their case for deferral of the ICC case against Sudan
President Bashir. AU Commissioner Lamamra told Council
members that the AU is making progress with the Government of
Sudan on seven separate engagement tracks all of which would
be jeopardized were the case against Bashir to go forward.
Arab League representative Hosni assured the Council that a
suspension would not end the ICC process and that the league
and AU would continue complementary efforts during the
suspension. Five members spoke in favor of a deferral and
Russia leaned in that direction. Five members spoke against
deferral and Costa Rica leaned in that direction. END SUMMARY.


2. (SBU) Japan, holder of the Security Council presidency for
February, hosted an "informal interative discussion" on
February 12 between Council members and a joint delegation of
the African Union and the Arab League. The session was held
in a UN basement conference room and no official record was
kept. Participants included Council members, AU Commissioner
Ramdane Lamamra, Arab League representative Samir Hosni, and
Qatar Deputy PermRep Salem Al-Shafi.


3. (SBU) AU Commissioner Lamamra essentially delivered a
demarche from the AU Peace and Security Council "to our
partners in security in Africa in as official a manner as
possible." He explained that the AU and its partners were
engaging the Government of Sudan along seven substantive
tracks and suggested that progress on each track would be
derailed if the International Criminal Court case against
Sudan President Bashir were to proceed uninterrupted. He
outlined the seven tracks as (1) promotion of the North-South
Comprehensive Peace Agreement; (2) UNAMID deployment; (3) the
Darfur peace process; (4) humanitarian assistance; (5)
Sudan-Chad relations; (6) Nonimpunity; and (7) democracy.


4. (SBU) Lamamra focused his presentation on the
"nonimpunity" track. He said a recently announced AU panel
to be headed by former South African President Thambo Mbeki
will be truly independent and charged with working out a
balance in Sudan between competing concerns about nonimpunity
and security. He said the AU and Arab League were ready to
help the Parliament of Sudan amend Sudan's penal code to
allow domestic prosecution of human rights cases in line with
ICC standards. Arab League representative Samir Hosni
assured the Council that these efforts to invigorate Sudan's
criminal judice system would continue during any suspension
of the ICC case the Council were to order under Article 16 of
the Rome Statute and that the efforts would not replace but
complement an ICC prosecution.


5. (SBU) Libya, Uganda, Burkina Faso, Uganda, and Vietnam
joined Lamamra in expressly supporting an Article 16 deferral
of the case against Bashir. Russia said "the time has come
to seriously consider a deferral." U.S., UK, France,
Croatia, and Austria said there was no evidence of Khartoum
cooperation with the ICC or UN warranting a deferral of the
case the Security Council itself had asked the ICC to
undertake. Costa Rica was open to considering the question
of a deferral further but said "nothing should undermine the
ICC or allow any individual to escape justice." Mexico gave
equivocal and brief comments. The Japanese presidency told
the press after the session that it had been a useful
exchange of view views and that several memebers had
expressed support for the peace talks underway in Doha.
Rice