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As Myanmar Arrests Dissidents,
Its Group of Friends Meet at UN
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
September 12 -- As Myanmar's
"Group of Friends," including among others China, Vietnam, Singapore
and Indonesia, met at the UN Friday afternoon, the UN elsewhere
admitted continued
challenges imposed by the military government of Than Shwe to
humanitarian
response to Cyclone Nargis, stating in a report
that blockages "remain the
same as before - the restriction on the importation of
telecommunications equipment
and on the use of telecommunications equipment by NGOs in the Delta."
The last time Inner City Press asked about
this prohibition, the UN assured that such problems were being worked
out
through the so-called Tripartite Core Group, including the Government
of Myanmar
and ASEAN. But this problem has not been solved. The UN is not saying
much
about it -- not unlike its silence about currency exchange losses,
until the full
20% extent of the losses was exposed by Inner City Press using a memo
that was leaked. The
most
recent UN Situation Report strikingly does not include any update on
the issue
of currency exchange.
Inner City
Press on September 12 asked the UN's John Holmes about the blockage of
telecommunications equipment, and about Myanmar's prohibition on the
local
purchase of rice. Holmes said that telecommunications equipment is
needed as a
back-up to cell phone service. He added that the Myanmar government
bars local
rice purchases in order not to disrupt "local markets."
But as noted, Myanmar has been exporting
rice. And the government is still locking up
more dissidents, most recently
Nilar Thein a/k/a Ma Nilar.
ASEAN chief, with UN's Holmes and
Baker, currency exchange losses not shown
In this
context, UN Ambassadors strode jocularly into basement Conference Room
5 on
Friday afternoon. The Permanent Representatives to the UN of, among
others, the
UK, France, Russia, Indonesia and Vietnam went in, along with Deputies
from
Singapore and China. (Ambassador Liu may be the Acting Number One, it
is not
clear). For the record, the other members are India,
Thailand, Australia, Norway, Japan and South Korea.
EU envoy to
Myanmar Piero Fassino also
went in. They were followed by a flotilla from the Office of the
Secretary
General, including not only Ban and Ibrahim Gambari, but also Nicholas
Haysum,
Vijay Nambiar and Kim Won-soo. Stopped to chat with them was the UN's
expert on
avian influenza and now food prices, David Nabarro. He peeled off,
however,
before they entered Conference Room 5, thereby negating any momentary
thought
of connection bird flu and Myanmar. What would be accomplished was not
clear.
It has become like a game of chicken.
Watch this site, and this (UN) debate.
* * *
These
reports are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click
here
for a Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click
here
for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali
National
Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an
undefined trust fund. Video
Analysis here
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