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Sudan: UN 'Satisfied' With General Karake
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Rwanda News Agency/Agence Rwandaise d'Information (Kigali)
25 July 2008
Posted to the web 25 July 2008
Kigali
The U.N said Friday that Rwandan General Karenzi Karake whose tenure as deputy force commander in Darfur is under fire - should stay still on his job because it was satisfied with his professional service, RNA reports.
Deputy Spokesman of the UN Secretary General Mr. Yves Sorokobi told the BBC that General Karake has performed with 'excellence' as second in command of the 10,000 plus joint UN-African Union force. Rwanda has threatened to withdraw its 3000 soldiers if he is thrown out.
The need for the UN to increase formal vetting is shown by the growing controversy about possibly reappointing General Karenzi as his contract runs out. The General has been indicted for war crimes linked to the war in DR Congo by a judge in Spain.
However, according to Mr. Sorokobi, his vetting was done to the effect but the allegations were found to be "unfounded". He said at a time when the forces are having great challenges on the ground in Darfur, General Karake, the Rwandan contingent and all the other forces need support to serve.
The U.S. and Sudan are at least on the same side that General Karenzi should remain on the force. The U.S. State Department has already demanded that the U.N. keeps him.
It is not the first time that the UN finds itself in a situation where its choice of employees is questioned. Rwandan Genocide suspect detained in France Calixte Mburushimana worked with the world body in Kosovo.
Mr. Mbarushimana was first arrested in Kosovo in April 2001 and turned over to the Tanzania-based UN court for Rwanda. The charges against him were dropped in September 2002 due to lack of evidence. A year's pay was awarded to him because he had wrongfully dismissed.
The UN court has also been in trouble with government over several of its Rwandan staff - most of whom working as defense investigators.
Last year, the UN was rubbing shoulders with the Bosnian government over the fate of 800 federal and local police officers that the United Nations barred from working in 2002.
The officers were dismissed in 2002 as the United Nations mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina was ending. The United Nations had a mandate to overhaul the country's police forces after the war, but only five months to check the backgrounds of the officers.
In a challenge to the United Nations, Bosnian officials said a commission was examining whether the police officers were unfairly barred from employment, either on the grounds that they might have committed crimes during the 1992-1995 civil war, or on the grounds that they were not properly qualified, according to media reports at that time.
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The Bosnian government argued that the review performed by the United Nations was flawed and rushed, and that many officers could not appeal the dismissals.
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