Security Council Members Support Annan's Proposal on Rwanda and Yugoslav Tribunals

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, August 09, 2003

Security Council Members Support Annan's Proposal on Rwanda and Yugoslav Tribunals

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The United Nations Security Council members supported UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's proposal for separate chief prosecutors for the war crimes tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, the council president said Friday.

"More or less, all of them support the proposal of secretary-general," Council President Mikhail Wehbe, Syrian ambassador to the UN, told reporters after a closed-door council session.

Annan's recommendation is "a way aiming to enhance the work of the two courts," he said, adding that the council is expected to make a decision next week after discussing a draft resolution from the United States.

Wehbe said he believes that Carla Del Ponte, who is currently chief prosecutor for both courts, would not object to a council endorsement of Annan's suggestion.

After briefing the council on her work, Del Ponte told reporters she would be willing to renew her four-year contract to continue prosecutions at the International Criminal Court for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

"I'm very attached to what we have done for ICTY and for ICTR (the initials of the Rwanda court), but if the Security Council decides to split, I hope to stay on in ICTY as prosecutor."

Asked whether her deputy was fit to replace her at the ICTR, Del Ponte said she thought the Security Council would rather choose someone experienced in prosecution than just a good international lawyer.

In a letter to the Security Council last week, Annan recommended appointing a new chief prosecutor for the Rwanda courtafter Del Ponte's contract expires in September.

Emerging from the council consultations, Mexican Ambassador to the UN Adolfo Aguilar Zinser said his country backs the split of the prosecution job. But he also urged the council to consider thelegal and political risks in taking such an action.

He criticized the Rwandan government for allegedly pressuring Del Ponte.

"No government, particularly the Rwanda government, should haveinterference in the work of the tribunal and the independence of the prosecutor," he said, while quoting Del Ponte as saying she "felt she has been subject to pressures."

Rwanda wrote to the Security Council on Tuesday, extending welcome to Annan's proposal.

The letter said Rwanda "has advocated the establishment of separate prosecutors for these two tribunals since the creation ofthe International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in 1994."

It accused the ICTR of failure to indict and apprehend large numbers of prominent genocide suspects, gross mismanagement, nepotism, and mistreatment of witnesses, among other things.

The letter also accused Del Ponte of "general neglect" of the Rwanda cases, which it said "is illustrated by the fact that the prosecutor spends no more than 30 days or so in Kigali and Arusha (two locations of ICTR branches) in any one year and devotes most of her time and attention to the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia."

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