Amid
Ban's
Duplicity, Sri
Lanka Says S.
Korea Supports
Silva, Who's
Away from UN
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
April 9 -- On
Sri Lanka, UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
has long tried
to have it
both ways.
During the
slaughter in
April
and May 2009
he refused to
call for a
ceasefire
(unlike for
example
Syria now).
But later
after pressure
he appointed a
three person
Panel of
Expert to
advise him
after the fact
on
accountability.
Now
Ban's
duplicity is
ever more in
focus. He refused to
comment on the
Asia
Group
nominating to
his Senior
Advisory Group
on
Peacekeeping
its
member Sri
Lanka, who
sent General
Shavendra
Silva
whose 58th
Division is
depicted in
Ban's own
Panel's report
as engaged in
war
crimes.
Ban's
appointed
expert Louise
Frechette,
after
pressure,
issued a
one-way press
release that
Silva's
participation
was
"inappropriate."
Ban
did not back
this up.
On
April 2,
Inner City
Press went to
see if Silva
was still
attending that
day's
SAG meeting. A
UN Security
officer came
to speak with
Inner City
Press then
went inside
the meeting
room; he
emerged to say
that no
one had asked
that Inner
City Press be
removed (as Sri Lanka had
during the
last meeting),
and so Inner
City Press
could stay.
Later,
Ban's Media
Accreditation
and Liaison
Unit told
Inner City
Press that the
SAG's
"organizers"
-- whoever
they are --
did not invite
media coverage,
and Inner City
Press should
henceforth
only
attend with
MALU (and Ban)
minders. Click
here for that.
On
April 9 at an
event attended
by Ban
Ki-moon, Inner
City Press
sought and
obtained
clarification
from Sri
Lanka's
Permanent
Representative
to the UN.
Before the
conversation
was broken up
-- not by
Kohona -- it
emerged
that the only
reason Silva
did not attend
the April 2
meeting of the
SAG was that
Silva was out
of town.
Tellingly,
it was
said that
South Korea,
which
sponsored the
event that Ban
and Kohona
were at, was
mad at
Frechette for
barring Silva.
So which side
is
Ban on? Watch
this site.
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