United Nations (U.N.) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced in a press release that outgoing Colombian President Alvaro Uribe will be vice chairman of an international inquiry into the May Israeli attack on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.
The inquiry panel, which Ban announced would be led by “eminent personalities,” will be chaired by former New Zealand Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer. The panel will have one Israeli and one Turkish member, who have not been identified.
Ban said that the four-person panel will start work on August 10 – three days after Uribe leaves office – and submit its first progress report by mid-September.
The panel will investigate Israel’s May 31 storming of the Turkish-owned flotilla, after the boat tried to break Israel’s blockade of the Gaza strip. Eight Turks and one Turkish-American were killed by Israeli soldiers in the incident, which brought international outrage and a flurry of media attention.
Uribe will hand over to President-elect Juan Manuel Santos after eight years in power, in the latter’s inauguration ceremony on August 7.