Security Council set to meet on UN tribunals for Rwanda and former Yugoslavia

The Security Council is scheduled to hold a private meeting tomorrow on the United Nations war crimes tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia amid discussions that the prosecutor’s post would be more effective if there was one for each court.

Expected to be present for the Council meeting is Carla Del Ponte, who currently serves as Prosecutor for both the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which was set up by the Council in 1993 and is based in The Hague, as well as the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), which was established the following year and is headquartered in Arusha, Tanzania.

Asked by reporters as he entered UN Headquarters in New York this morning to comment on Ms. Del Ponte’s presence at the meeting Friday, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said: “I understand she’s coming to meet some of the members of the [Security] Council. As you know, I have a recommendation before the Council regarding an extension for one term and a designation of a separate Prosecutor eventually for the Rwanda Tribunal.”

Mr. Annan added that he stood by the proposal he made to the Council. In the past, the Secretary-General has reiterated that separating the two posts would accelerate the work of both courts.