Daily Multilateralism
Saturday, December 26, 2020
On the eve of a disputed election, an attack in the Central African Republic has left three United Nations peacekeepers dead. The troops were reportedly from Burundi. In a statement, UN Secretary General condemned the attacks, which he said may constitute war crimes. A post in Just Security provides context for the violence:
[C]onducting a credible election and maintaining peace amidst this new upsurge in conflict is the most serious test that the CAR government has faced since a December 2013 crisis, in which thousands of persons were killed in just a few weeks. The current CAR President has developed close ties with Russia, and receives significant military assistance directly from the Kremlin, as well as reportedly from mercenaries, such as the Wagner Group. It is also a challenge to the ability of the large UN Peacekeeping Mission in CAR, MINUSCA, to protect civilians, support the elections, continue to deliver humanitarian assistance, and navigate the demands of the armed groups.
MINUSCA was launched in 2014 and comprises more than 14,000 military, police, and civilian personnel. Around the world, more than 120 UN personnel have lost their lives in 2020, which will be the bloodiest year for the world organization since 2017.
The European Union has created a useful Q&A on the painfully negotiated trade deal with the United Kingdom, which was agreed on December 24. It provides summaries of what was decided regarding several key friction points, including maintaining a regulatory “level playing field” and managing fisheries. On that latter point, the EU offers this summary:
By leaving the Common Fisheries Policy, the UK becomes an independent coastal state. This changes the setting for fisheries management in the North-East Atlantic Ocean and in the North Sea. The EU and UK will become responsible, under international law, for jointly managing approximately 100 shared fish stocks. This is an unprecedented challenge in terms of international cooperation in fisheries management.
UK waters (i.e. the territorial sea up to 12 nautical miles and adjacent exclusive economic zone up to 200 nautical miles) will no longer be part of EU waters. In the absence of any provisions to the contrary, access to each other’s waters would no longer be guaranteed.
A no-fault pandemic? Reuters provides more details on the World Health Organization’s investigation into the pandemic’s origins:
A year after the first cluster was detected in Wuhan, [the investigators] will travel to China for the first time on a mission expected to last between five and six weeks – the first two spent in quarantine.
The 10 scientists will also be accompanied by Peter Ben Embarek, a WHO expert on food safety and zoonoses.
“This is not about finding a guilty country or a guilty authority,” said Leendertz. “This is about understanding what happened to avoid that in the future, to reduce the risk.”
The chair of the African Union’s commission has opined that Ethiopia’s recent security actions in Tigray province were “legitimate.”
Moussa Faki Mahamat, speaking after the conclusion of a meeting of regional leaders on Sunday evening, said Ethiopias military campaign in its Tigray province was “legitimate for all states.”
The humanitarian suffering of the conflict is cause for concern, he said.
“It cannot be denied, however, that the crisis in Tigray has provoked large scale displacement ... Particular attention should be paid to refugees and displaced people,” he said in a tweet.
Faki is a former prime minister and foreign minister of Chad and assumed the chair of the AU commission in 2017.
Uganda’s Daily Monitor provides an update on the process of selecting the next International Criminal Court chief prosecutor. The paper’s reporting suggests that Irish lawyer Fergal Gaynor and Britain’s Karim Khan may be the leading candidates for the position. Gaynor has served as an international prosecutor investigating Cambodia and as a judge on a specialized panel considering crimes committed in Kosovo. Karim Khan worked at the international tribunal for Rwanda and has been counsel in a number of prominent international criminal cases. He serves as a special adviser to the United Nations regarding crimes committed by ISIL in Iraq.
Briefly noted:
Georgia celebrates the election of its candidate for an ICC judgeship.