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	UN Secretary-General hails progress made by International Criminal Court by UN News / The Washington Post   25 November 2006   The International Criminal Court (ICC) has established itself at the heart of “a truly international system of criminal justice” within just a few years of coming into existence, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today.   In a message to participants gathered in The Hague for the fifth session of the Assembly of State Parties to the Rome Statute of the ICC, Mr. Annan the Court “has come far in a short time” since the Statute was adopted at a major diplomatic conference in the Italian capital in 1998.   “Few could have expected that by 2006, a fully operational entity would have initiated its first trials, an Office of the Prosecutor would be prosecuting or investigating multiple situations, there would be a Security Council referral, and the Court would have issued its first warrants of arrest,” he said.   The Security Council last year referred the situation in Sudan’s conflict-torn Darfur region to the Court, which is also pursuing cases in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the Central African Republic.   “The Court has established itself as the centrepiece of a truly international system of criminal justice. And it has become both the embodiment of, and the driving force behind, a profound evolution of international norms and law,” said the Secretary-General.   This year Chad, the Comoros, Montenegro and Saint Kitts and Nevis have ratified the Rome Statute, taking the total number of ratifications now to 104 – a sign, Mr. Annan said, that “the Court is moving closer to its ultimate goal of universal jurisdiction.”   The statute became a binding treaty in April 2002 when the number of countries which had ratified it reached 60.   In his message Mr. Annan also hailed the increased cooperation between the United Nations and the ICC, citing the way in which their Relationship Agreement is being implemented through many supplementary arrangements.   “The fact that the first ever witness before the Chambers of the Court in pre-trial proceedings is a UN official again reflects our strong commitment to ending impunity and aiding the ICC’s work,” he added.   The Assembly of States Parties is the ICC’s management oversight and legislative body, comprised of representatives of nations which have ratified or acceded to the Rome Statute. Its fifth session, which began yesterday, runs until next Friday. The crime of aggression and the court’s budget for next year are among the topics on the agenda.   25 November 2006   World Court hears evidence of crimes against humanity in Darfur, by Nora Boustany. (The Washington Post)   The International Criminal Court has found sufficient evidence to identify the perpetrators of some of the worst atrocities in Sudan''s Darfur region, and the probe offers "reasonable grounds to believe" that crimes against humanity were committed, chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told the annual meeting of the court''s member states in The Hague.   "We selected incidents during the period in which the gravest crimes occurred," he said Thursday in a report on his activities over the past year. "Based on the evidence collected, we identified those most responsible for the crimes." Moreno-Ocampo did not name the targets of the investigation, which he said is nearly complete.   In a telephone interview before he addressed representatives of the 103 nations that have ratified the 1998 agreement creating the court, he said the atrocities included "rape, torture, willful murder, sexual and inhuman violent acts, extra-judicial killings and the forcible transfer and persecution of civilians."   Moreno-Ocampo''s investigators have collected thousands of documents and conducted 70 visits in 17 countries, including Sudan, since June 2005. His teams have interviewed judges, prosecutors and Sudanese investigators, as well as a top Sudanese military official and a senior political official. Sudanese officials shared the outcome of a government inquiry, and the Sudanese army provided its analysis of what had happened, he said.   "To define the truth is important, and to define the responsibility is important, to prevent it from recurring," he said in the interview. He added that court procedures required him to investigate "incriminating and also exonerating circumstances."   Moreno-Ocampo said a priority was reaching victims, although he chose not to go to the Darfur region itself, so as not to endanger victims or witnesses. However, he was able to find them elsewhere, he said, including in neighboring Chad and in Sudan outside Darfur. Investigators screened 600 potential witnesses and conducted in-depth interviews with more than 100 people. The prosecutor must determine whether the Sudan government is carrying out an inquiry into the same incidents and individuals. If there are not "genuine national proceedings," he said, he will present his evidence to the judges."We are almost ready," he said.   Moreno-Ocampo added that other challenges involving health, development and security needed to be confronted simultaneously by other world institutions and states.   As many as 450,000 people have died from disease and violence, and 2.5 million have been displaced in the three-year-old conflict, which began when rebels from African tribes rose up against the Arab-led central government in a huge area of western Sudan. The government has been accused of supporting militias of Arab nomads known as Janjaweed in retaliation against civilians in Darfur. Government officials deny arming the militias, which the United Nations and others have accused of carrying out the worst atrocities.   Moreno-Ocampo''s comments in The Hague coincided with charges by the top U.N. humanitarian official that Sudan is deliberately hindering relief efforts in Darfur and is arming militias.   The emergency relief coordinator, Jan Egeland, told the Security Council that the coming weeks might "be make or break for our lifeline to more than 3 million people. The situation in Darfur is closer to the abyss than I have witnessed since my first visit in 2004."   "Time is against us," Secretary General Kofi Annan said.   Officials from the United Nations, Europe and the United States have expressed concern about what they describe as a recent shift in Janjaweed tactics, from attacking rebels to targeting people in refugee and displacement camps. Egeland, who recently visited Sudan, said the burning of villages and attacks on women and children reminded him of 2004, when the push to drive Darfur civilians from their homes was at its most violent.   A tentative agreement to boost the 7,000-member African Union force with 10,000 more U.N. troops was reached last week in Ethiopia. Sudan, which has opposed deployment of U.N. troops, has asked for a delay until Wednesday.   A senior US official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the Sudanese government fears that U.N. troops "will discover more evidence. What they don''t realize is that there is more than enough evidence now."   Andrew Natsios, the US presidential special envoy to Sudan, said the United States suspects that some Sudanese officials are bent on "a military solution," given three major defeats since August in their push against the rebels. He told a forum at the Brookings Institution this week that the Sudanese military has "now mobilized the Arab militias to attack soft targets, which is to say villages and the displaced camps." If this continues, he warned, no one in the United States would have faith in a negotiating process.   "There is no doubt that the Janjaweed and those who are committing atrocities are an extension of the Sudanese military," Natsios said.   In the interview, Moreno-Ocampo said he was struck that Sudanese witnesses said they were pleased and "honored" to provide testimony. "The hope for justice is one of the few things that the victims of Darfur still have," he said. "It is very important for us to keep this hope alive and show there will be justice for them. We care about that."
	UN Security Council condemns assassination of Lebanese Government minister by UN News Lebanon   21 November 2006   UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the Security Council expressed shock and condemnation today at the assassination of Lebanon’s Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel, calling for restraint from all sides and urging national unity.   In a statement issued by his spokesman, Mr. Annan decried the murder of Mr. Gemayel, “who believed strongly in an independent, democratic and united Lebanon,” and offered his deepest sympathies to the late minister’s family and to the Lebanese Government.   Mr. Gemayel died after being shot in his car while travelling through the capital, Beirut.   Mr. Annan said in his statement that “such acts of terrorism undermine Lebanon’s stability, are unacceptable and have no place in a democratic and open society,” adding that “the perpetrators and instigators of today’s attack must be brought to justice to ensure an end to impunity.”   In a presidential statement read out by Ambassador Jorge Voto-Bernales of Peru, which holds the rotating presidency for November, Council members urged all parties in Lebanon and the wider region to “show restraint and a sense of responsibility” to avoid further destabilizing the country.   The Council also voiced grave concern about the efforts of the Lebanese Government and people to solidify democracy in the wake of the assassination, the latest in a series of high-profile killings in the country over the past two years.   The murder of Mr. Gemayel took place on the same day that the Council sent a letter to Mr. Annan offering its backing to the establishment of a special tribunal to deal with those alleged responsible for the assassination of then prime minister Rafik Hariri in February last year.   The Council set up the International Independent Investigation Commission (IIIC) in April 2005 after an earlier UN mission found that Lebanon’s own investigation into the Hariri assassination was seriously flawed and that Syria was primarily responsible for the political tensions that preceded the killing. Its mandate runs until next June.   Serge Brammertz, the head of the IIIC, told the Council in September that evidence obtained so far suggests that a young, male suicide bomber, probably non-Lebanese, detonated up to 1,800 kilograms of explosives inside a van to assassinate Mr. Hariri. The bombing in Beirut also killed 22 others.   The IIIC has been tasked with probing 14 other bombings that have occurred in Lebanon since October 2004, and Mr. Brammertz said evidence points towards his earlier conclusion that many of them were connected. Visit the related web page
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