By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 19 --
On Sri Lanka,
this UN
remains
shrouded in
mystery, some
say, worse.
After
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon met
with Sri
Lankan Youth
and Skills
Development
Minister
Dullas
Alahapperuma
and Ambassador
Palitha Kohona
on February
18, Inner City
Press on
February 19
asked Ban's
outgoing
spokesperson
Martin Nesirky
if
Alahapperuma
had invited
Ban to Colombo
in May for a
youth
conference. Video here and embedded below.
Nesirky said among other things
that the UN is
not in the
habit of
disclosing
what its
interlocutors
say. (The UN
refused the
request at the
beginning of
2014 of the
Free UN
Coalition for
Access for a
read out of
even Ban's
side of his
call to the
president of
his native
South Korea,
and its more
recent request
for a tape of
Ban's Q&A
with the board
of the United
Nations
Correspondents
Association.)
Later on
Feburary 19,
Inner City
Press asked
Alahapperuma
himself: did
you invite Ban
to Colombo?
The answer
was, Yes. Some
ask, why
wouldn't the
UN just say
it? To protect
Sri Lanka?
On
February 18
Inner City
Press attended
the photo op,
as sole
independent
media.
Before Inner
City Press was
spirited out
of the meeting
room, Ban
asked the Sri
Lankan
delegation
about
President
Mahinda
Rajapaksa. See
video here
and embedded
below.
Back
on February 6,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's acting
deputy
spokesperson
Farhan Haq
about Sri
Lanka:
(Haq's line "whether
there's any
wrongdoing"
was picked up
in the Sri
Lankan media,
for example here)
Inner
City Press: I
wanted to know
whether the
Secretariat
has seen this
report out of
a human rights
group in
Australia,
essentially
saying that
during the Sri
Lanka event,
in the final
stages of the
conflict, that
there was a
destruction
and
concealment of
mass graves
and also that
its been… on a
list of
countries in
which mass
atrocities are
still quite
possible. I
wanted to
know, given
the
Secretariat’s
interest in
2009 and this
Rights Up
Front project,
what’s the
response to
this new
study?
Acting
Deputy
Spokesperson
Haq: We’ve
made it clear
that there
needs to be
more done to
get at the
heart of what
happened in
Sri Lanka.
You’ve seen
what the
Secretary-General’s
reports on the
situation have
said and it’s
clear that
there
continues to
be a need for
all the facts
to be learned
and for there
to be a study
of whether
there’s any
wrongdoing
that’s
occurred in
the course of
the final
phases of the
Sri Lankan
conflict. The
Secretary-General
has said that
repeatedly and
we continue to
hold by that.
Inner
City Press: An
international
process? Just
one follow-up,
because it’s
been a number
of years now:
Is a national
process still
credible or
should it be
done in
Geneva?
Acting
Deputy
Spokesperson
Haq:
Ultimately,
it’s up to
different
Member States
to determine
whether there
will be an
international
process. We
have presented
information to
them and we’ve
made clear
what we
believe is the
need for
accountability
and we rely on
the Member
States’
judgment to
follow
through.
So the
claim is that
Ban wants
facts and
accountability.
Did either
come up in his
meeting with
the Sri Lankan
minister and
ambassador?
Twelve
days after
Inner City
Press asked
about the
detailed
report on Sri
Lanka, there's
still no UN
Secretariat
comment. But
on February
18, Ban
Ki-moon
through
spokesperson
Martin Nesirky
said he is
"deeply
disturbed"
by... North
Korea.
On
February 12,
Tamils
protested
across from
the UN,
chanting, "Shame on
you, Ban
Ki-moon,"
watched over
by a Sinhalese
UN Security
officer who
asked a
photographer,
member of the
Free
UN Coalition
for Access,
for his
photographs of
the protest.
, 
