After
Syrians
Gathered for
UN in Homs Are
Killed by
Assad Forces,
UN Says It
Wasn't
"Directly"
Involved,
Didn't See
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 23 --
The day after
Syrian
assembled in
Homs to
petition a UN
mission as it
passed
through, only
to face deadly
fire
afterward from
Assad security
force, the UN
went out of
its way to
say it wasn't
witnessed by
and didn't
"involve the
mission
directly."
After
Monday's
murders in
Homs, Inner
City Press on
Tuesday after
the UN's
acting
deputy
spokesman
Farhan Haq
about the
sequence of
events. Haq
replied:
"We
do
understand...
that people
killed and
injured in the
protest in
Homs
yesterday. It
is not
something that
involved the
mission
directly. A
protest
situation had
developed in
Homs, the
mission was
advised to
leave for
security
reasons. Then
afterward we
learned of
the
information of
people being
killed."
Given
the
distancing and
use of the
phrase
"protest
situation,"
Inner
City Press
asked Haq if
it wasn't
actually a
situation of
Syria
civilians
trying to get
information to
the UN,
including
holding
S.O.S. signs
asking for
help. Haq
replied, There
was a protest
situation that
had
developed....
People were
concerned
about their
lives and
their safety..
The violence
was not
witnessed
directly by
UN."
Ban &
Assad,
previously,
who called who
on Aug 17 not
shown
While
the duty of
a UN
assessment
mission
passing
through is
certainly
different than
of UN
peacekeepers,
say, in Rwanda
or Srebrenica,
or more
recently
Abyei and
Southern
Kordofan in
Sudan, it
seems strange
-- or
"troubling,"
the word
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon used
Monday to
answer
Inner City
Press'
question about
Ban's quoting
of
Assad that
military
operations had
stopped --
that the UN
would
emphasize it
didn't witness
the deaths and
wasn't
"directly"
involved.
We
will pursue
this -- watch
this site.
* * *
On
Syria,
Ban Ki-moon
Belatedly
Tells Press
Assad "Has Not
Kept His
Word," Harder
Crackdown
Predicted
After Libya
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 22 --
"It is
troubling that
[Assad] has
not kept his
word" about
stopping
military
operations, UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon told
Inner City
Press on
Monday, five
days after Ban quoted
Assad on
August 17 that
"military
operations had
stopped."
Inner
City Press
twice
last week
asked Ban's
acting deputy
spokesman
Farhan Haq if
Ban believed
Assad's
statement,
despite what
was seen even
on television.
Haq said Ban
thought an
investigation
should take
place.
On
August 22,
even High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights Navi
Pillay said
that at least
39 people have
been killed by
Assad's forces
since Ban's
quote of him.
And so at the
end of a Ban
Ki-moon media
stakeout
Monday morning
about
Lybia,
with Haq
trying to end
the session
without the
question being
posed, Inner
City Press asked:
Inner
City
Press: On
Syria, you had
said that
President
Assad said
that military
and police
operations,
when you spoke
with him.
Since then,
according to
Navi Pillay,
39 more people
have been
killed. Did
you ever
believe that
statement? Do
you believe it
now and what
should be
done?
SG
Ban:
This is what
he clearly
told me when I
had the
telephone talk
with him and
he assured me
that the
humanitarian
assistance
assessment
team will be
able to visit
different
places. And,
as you know,
our team is
already in
Syria - they
are now
assessing the
situation. It
is troubling
that he has
not kept his
word. Many
world leaders
have been
speaking to
him to halt
immediately
military
operations
that are
killing his
own people,
and he assured
me [he would]
do that and
military
operations
have already
stopped. Now
he has seen
and he has
heard all
these serious
and urgent
calls to him,
and I
sincerely hope
that he heeds
the
international
community’s
appeal and
call. (Video here,
from Minute
9:25).
Meanwhile
the UN
humanitarian
assessment
team fled Hom
under fire.
A
Ban Ki-moon
administration
official on
Monday
predicted to
Inner City
Press that
events in
Tripoli would
make Assad
"crack down
harder" to
avoid
Gaddafi's
fate. Another
told Inner
City Press
that it was
Assad who
called Ban,
and not the
other way
around --
Assad called
Ban looking
for ground
cover.
Given
the
invisibility
at the crucial
moment of
Ban's two
Libya envoys /
advisers Ian
Martin and Al
Khatib,
the question
of whether Ban
will try to
appoint an
envoy to Syria
"is moot," one
said -- it
wouldn't make
any
difference.
Watch this
site.
, 
in