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On
Sri Lanka, UN Split on Visit by
Ban, Russia Lends an Ear, Monday Not Council
Byline: Matthew
Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS, May 8 --
On whether UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon should go
to visit Sri Lanka, "the House is quite divided," a senior Ban
advisor told Inner City Press late on May 8. He said many think that a
Ban
visit would be "most useful after the dust has settled," apparently
referring to a final assault by the Sri Lanka military. Ban's office
has spoken
with, among others, British Tamils and urged them to call for the
Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam to let out all civilians who want to leave. "They
just can't do it," the Ban advisor said.
Inner City Press pointed out that if Ban waits to go
until after the
final assault, it might become a tour of a dead zone. The advisor
agreed,
saying, "people will be locked in concentration camps for five
years." Some say that if the UN knows that the camps they are funding
are
concentration camps, perhaps a change is needed. They say Ban should go
now, taking the Press, and demand entry into the conflict zone.
The UN adviser mused that the LTTE leader may
already have escaped. It
would be good if he died, the adviser said, "there's a list of leaders
who
could emerge." He said the British Tamils were pushing for an airdrop
of
food and supplies into the conflict zone; the UN, he said, cannot act
like a
cowboy.
UN's Ban with pilots, Sri Lanka visit not yet shown
Human rights groups, meanwhile, briefed the Russian
mission on Friday.
Russia's deputy permanent representative, they said, was surprisingly
interested in hearing arguments about why the carnage in northern Sri
Lanka is
a threat to international peace and security, the technical standard
for UN Security
Council involvement. Just because it's an island, the human rights
groups
argued, and people die trying to leave on ships, doesn't mean it's not
a
threat. The groups have yet to meet with
China. And so it goes at the UN.
Footnote: there was a
Tamil
protest Friday before Japan's mission to the UN. "Shame on Japan,"
people chanted. Envoy Yosushi Akashi assured the Sri Lankan government
of
continued support. Monday's session on Sri Lanka at the UN is "not even
a
Council meeting," Russia's Vitaly Churkin told the Press. It will
probably
be in the basement. New lows are hit every day.
On May 6, Inner City
Press asked Ban's spokesperson about a widely seen piece on Britain's
Channel
4, filmed in an IDP camp with allegations, on camera, of the
disappearance and
rape of young women. Video here,
from Minute 17:42. "You know I do not comment on press reports,"
the spokesperson said. "I haven't seen it, and I don't think the S-G
has
seen it either." Well maybe he should:
Channel
4 in the UK with allegations of rape and
disappearance
Footnote:
We continue to wait for the
UK's formal answer to the first of the two
questions which Inner
City
Press asked the UK Mission to
the UN two questions on Sri Lanka early on April 15:
Does the UK
believe that international law and the
rights of UN humanitarian staff are being violated by the
now-acknowledged
detention of UN staff in the Sri Lankan government's “IDP” camps?
It has been reported
this morning that Sri Lanka's “minister also told the
British
Foreign Secretary that there was concern that the LTTE would
continue to
consolidate its fortification of the No-Fire Zone.” Please confirm the
accuracy
of that, and of this
and if so, does the UK interpret it as saying that
an offensive on the No-Fire Zone and the civilians in it will begin?
What did
the UK Foreign Secretary say?
As
of
this press time weeks later, the formal answer has been
referral to Minister
Miliband's April 12
statement, and this.
On April 21, Inner City Press put the question to U.S. Ambassador Susan
Rice, whose spokesman the following day cleared this response:
"UN personnel should have freedom of movement and be treated with
respect." But they are still detained as of this writing. As more
answers arrive or are released we will report them on this site.
Click here
for an Inner City Press YouTube channel video, mostly UN Headquarters
footage, about civilian
deaths
in Sri Lanka.
Click here for Inner City
Press' March 27 UN debate
Click here for Inner City
Press March 12 UN (and AIG
bailout) debate
Click here for Inner City
Press' Feb 26 UN debate
Click
here
for Feb.
12 debate on Sri Lanka http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/17772?in=11:33&out=32:56
Click here for Inner City Press' Jan.
16, 2009 debate about Gaza
Click here for Inner City Press'
review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate
Click here for Inner
City Press' December 24 debate on UN budget, Niger
Click here from Inner City Press'
December 12 debate on UN double standards
Click here for Inner
City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics
and this October 17 debate, on
Security Council and Obama and the UN.
* * *
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
Feedback: Editorial
[at] innercitypress.com
UN
Office: S-453A, UN, NY 10017
USA
Tel: 212-963-1439
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mobile (and
weekends):
718-716-3540
Other,
earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available
in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
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2006-08 Inner City Press, Inc. To request
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