Mr. mandela, did you block Olara Otunnu’s nomination?

May 23, 2006

PERSPECTIVE OF A UGANDAN IN CANADA<br><br>Last Thursday, while touring the mass graves of people killed in Kalasa, Makulubita and Nakaseke district during Uganda’s turbulent mid-1980s, President Yoweri Museveni told assembled world diplomats that one of the alleged Luwero killers was former UN S

PERSPECTIVE OF A UGANDAN IN CANADA

Opiyo Oloya

Last Thursday, while touring the mass graves of people killed in Kalasa, Makulubita and Nakaseke district during Uganda’s turbulent mid-1980s, President Yoweri Museveni told assembled world diplomats that one of the alleged Luwero killers was former UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Mr. Olara Otunnu.

Mr. Museveni was quoted as saying, “In fact one of the people who participated in these killings was almost made the Secretary-General of the UN. I talked to Nelson Mandela and we blocked him. however he was made under- Secretary.” Reached in New York, Mr. Otunnu said Mr. Museveni’s declaration was absolutely news to him.

“I have never in fact set foot in Luwero and, furthermore, during the entire period of the war in Luwero between UNLA and NRA in the period in question (February 1981-August 1985) I was not in Uganda. I was representing the country at the UN in New York,” he added.

He went on to repeat his call first made in January this year for an independent truth-seeking commission to be set up to investigate what he has termed genocide in northern Uganda, and all the other traumatic episodes in post-independent Uganda, including the 1966 crisis, the Idi Amin era and Luwero atrocities.

Mr. President, the allegation of crime against humanity against Otunnu has instant ring of truth because it came from the mouth of a sitting head of state.

The credibility of the charge is further enhanced by the mention of your name — a name that is admired and respected throughout the world, and associated with judiciousness, balance and fairness. The thinking being that if the evidence linking Otunnu to the Luwero killings were strong enough to influence Nelson Mandela’s decisions, then there must be substance to it. As you will recall, with Boutros-Ghali out of the running for re-election in 1996 as Secretary-General of the UN, the immediate names of the top contenders for the job included Kofi Annan (Ghana), Olara Otunnu (Uganda), and Amara Essy (Côte d'Ivoire).

Otunnu was an early front-runner for the job having played a very active role in the UN, including serving as President of the UN Security Council, Chairman of the Commission on Human Rights, Vice-President of the General Assembly and Chairman of the African Group.

What’s more, the unofficial polling of members of the Security Council indicated that Otunnu would garner 13 votes with no veto against his candidature. Yet, when nominations were made on December 6, 1996, his name was conspicuously absent from the shortlist of nominees that included Amara Essy, Kofi Annan, Hamid Algabid (Niger) and Ahmedou Ould Abdallah (Mauritania). In all likelihood, the Security Council had expected Otunnu’s name to come forward, and strategically decided to postpone polling until the following week with the hope that more names would come to floor.

When Monday came and no new names were put forward, it was decided that straw polling should begin the following day to see which of the four candidates had the most support. On December 11, 1996, the straw polling indicated that Kofi Annan was the front-runner with 12 members “encouraging” and two members “discouraging” him. One of the members opposed to Annan was France, a permanent member of the Security Council which was determined to block the election of any non-French speaking candidate. Annan’s French was passable but not fluent. Moreover, in subsequent polling, Annan’s support appeared to slip somewhat and France was still determined to block his nomination. With a stalemate looming, Olara Otunnu was again mentioned as the compromise candidate — the US and France would not veto him.

Again, interestingly, Otunnu’s name never formally made it to the floor. Finally, on the afternoon of Friday, December 13, 1996, France relented and allowed Kofi Annan to be unanimously elected as Secretary-General to the UN. Mr. President, this raises three very crucial questions that this column kindly requests that you comment on. Foremost, did you in fact participate in blocking Otunnu’s nomination as candidate for UN Secretary-General?

Secondly, if you did help kill Otunnu’s candidature, was it based on the allegation that Otunnu was a mass murderer? And thirdly, given the substantial resources of the South African Intelligence Services (SAIS) you would have presumably verified the veracity of the information linking Otunnu to the gruesome killings in Luwero before agreeing to stop his nomination from moving forward at the UN, why did you not push further to have Otunnu investigated for crimes against humanity?

Mr. President, this last question is especially poignant because it touches on your very credibility as a trusted world leader. Partly because the records will clearly show that you know Otunnu and have met him many times before and after the 1996 election of the Secretary-General. But mainly because, being instrumental to the implementation of the Graca Machel’s recommendations on the plight of children in war, Otunnu kept in very close contact with you and your wife, Graca Machel.

As Otunnu himself said this past Monday, “I have had the privilege of having excellent relations over the years with President Mandela and his wife Graca Machel.”

Mr. President, as an elder statesman who has always been transparent, it is important that you clarify what you knew about the allegation against Otunnu and when you knew it.

Opiyo.oloya@sympatico.ca

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