On
Myanmar,
As
EU
Prepares
Visit, Ban Delays Replacing Nambiar,
GA Mandate To Be Cut?
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February
8
--
When the European Union's Catherine Ashton
came to the UN on Tuesday, Inner City Press asked for the EU's
position on Myanmar, and to contrast it with Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon's.
Ashton
began,
“With
Myanmar,
Aung
San Suu Kyi is somebody we are in contact with,
she and I have just been writing to each other, and I'm hoping that
somebody from the EU will be visiting her shortly.”
By
contrast after
Ban's chief of staff and part time Myanmar envoy Vijay Nambiar
visited Aung San Suu Kyi, when he returned his internal assessment
within the UN as conveyed to Inner City Press by well placed UN
sources was that she is out of touch and too hard line.
Ashton
continued
that
“on
all
of these issues, we need to talk with the opposition,
of course with her, she's central, but also with the others around
her and engage with this... The EU will make its position clear when
we've got that type of discussion out of the way and so we're waiting
to be given the chance to talk with her.”
Inner
City
Press
asked
Ashton
if she agrees with Ban Ki-moon's recent assessment, if
the EU is on the same page.
Ashton
replied
that
she
doesn't
have a “detailed, finger tip knowledge of the last
thing the UN said.”
Ban
Ki-moon put
out a statement about the new parliament, 25% of whose members are
appointed by the military and in which proposals have to be shown to
a screener 10 days before they are introduced, with the possiblity of
prohibition without any chance of appeal.
Catherine Ashton at the UN, previously, ASSK
assessment not seen
After
for
weeks
declining
to
answer Inner City Press' questions about the banning of
the National League for Democracy in Myanmar, the plight of the
Rohingya and when Ban would finally move on the request by the UK,
Mexico and others to replace Nambiar with a full time envoy, the UN
sent this:
From:
UN
Spokesperson
-
Do
Not Reply [at] un.org
Date: Mon, Feb 7, 2011
at 4:18 PM
Subject: Your questions on Myanmar
To: Matthew
Russell Lee [at] Inner City Press
In
response
to
your
emailed
question about the dissolution of the NLD in
Myanmar, we have the following to say: We have taken note of the
decision with concern and continue to follow developments closely. We
believe that in order to succeed any transition must be inclusive and
participatory, including both those who won seats in the recent
elections and those who did not participate.
Regarding
the
Rohingya
boat
people,
UNHCR is trying to obtain access; please
follow up with UNHCR on that matter.
On
replacing
Nambiar, the UN has had nothing to say. Now, sources in the UN tell
Inner City Press there is a reason. The goal is to get the entire UN
mandate on Myanmar eliminated in the General Assembly, by pointing to
the new parliament and recycled president. That, the sources say,
explains Ban's statements and delay. Watch this site.
* * *
