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At
UN, Few Press for Sri Lanka,
Squeeze on N. Korea, Qazi Won't Talk
Byline: Matthew
Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Muse
UNITED NATIONS, April 24
-- The UN on Friday was a study in priorities, or said
otherwise, hierarchy. With 6432 killed in Sri Lanka since January 20,
when
Security Council president Claude Heller of Mexico came out of the
Chamber to
make belated "remarks to
the press," he found no reporters there.
Most were
down in the basement, waiting for news from the North Korea sanctions
committee. So Heller and his UK counterparty John Sawers strode into
the UN's
briefing room, and in less than a minute the refugee agency expert who
was
speaking was taken off the podium. Heller spoke and then was asked, by
Inner
City Press, are you asking for a ceasefire? No, the answer came.
Even if Heller
had spoken at the stakeout, there might have been problems with the
sound. The outside contractor which runs UN Television, the Venue
Services Group, has fallen so far that it did not meet payroll this
week. The technicians were working without getting paid. When Inner
City Press first asked about and reported
on the firesale of VSG's assets, the UN said it was being taken
care of. Now what?
Earlier, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin stopped
to ask the Press,
where is the Ecosoc chamber? Some say this organ, as they call it, was
supposed
to be as strong or stronger than the Security Council. But when a major
power's
ambassador doesn't even know what it is, it says a lot. Then again, a
Security
officer asked to see Churkin's i.d. card to let him into the Council.
On the Council's agenda Friday morning was the
routine three month
update on UN Mission to Chad and the Central African Republic, with the
feline
name MINURCAT. A major development during the reporting report was the
killing
of a Togolese UN peacekeeper by a French legionnaire serving under the
European
Union's EUFOR mission' flag. Inner City Press is told that Ban
Ki-moon's office
on the 38th floor had prepared a statement on the killing, until it was
pulled
back at the past minute. It was the first time, some said, that the
killing of
a UN peacekeeper went unremarked by the Secretary General.
Japan's Takasu at stakeout, Sri Lanka and VSG
meltdown not shown
The previous afternoon, the Press had been promised
a stakeout Q&A
with the head of the UN Mission in Sudan, Ashraf Qazi. Fighting in
South Suden
recently killed 200 people; Qazi was quoted -- misquoted he said --
that the UN
Mission provided evidence to the International Criminal Court leading
to
President Bashir's indictment. One expected, then, Qazi to want to
talk. But he
took a look outside the Council, and then took off down the hall.
Billion
dollar mission and no time to talk to the press.
Uganda's diplomat, on the other hand, at least
stopped to laugh at his
own delegation's draft Presidential Statement. It expresses concern
about coups
d'etat in Africa, without naming any of them. Madagascar? Mauritania?
Why not
Fiji, further afield? Inner City Press asked about the status. "We're
very
close," was the answer, accompanied with laughter, so fit for the UN.
The UN day ended, where else, in the basement, where
right at the deadline
the North Korea sanctions committee named three entities for an asset
freeze.
North Korea's deputy permanent representative Pak Tok Hun took to the
microphone and spoke of the right to explore outer space. If the
Security
Council is not reformed and democratized, he said, we expect nothing
from it.
The same was expressed earlier by a Western Sahara diplomat, who said
they
wouldn't join the Council even if, through a series of long shots, it
were
offered.
Because they were first to release an e-mail
statement, we'll give the
last work to the UK's John Sawers, followed by a still unanswered
question.
John
Sawers, UK
Permanent Representative to the UN, said: "The UN Sanctions Committee
on
the DPRK has today adopted, as agreed in the Security Council's
Presidential
Statement of 13 April [PRST/2009/7], a list of goods and entities to be
designated under Security Council resolution 1718.
"The
Sanctions Committee agreed that UN Member States shall freeze the
assets of
Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation (KOMID), Korea Ryonbong
General
Corporation and Tanchon Commercial Bank. KOMID is the DPRK's primary
arms
dealer and main exporter of equipment related to ballistic missiles,
with
offices in a number of foreign countries. Korea Ryonbong General
Corporation
plays an integral role in the DPRK's import and export of military
goods and
equipment. And Tanchon Commercial Bank is the DPRK's main financial
agent for
the sale of conventional arms and ballistic missiles.
"The
Committee has also agreed to update the list of goods whose import to
and
export from the DPRK are banned, to bring it in line with current
international
best practice.
"Unanimous
agreement among all Security Council members to these measures, which
are
legally binding on all UN Member States, represents a major step
forward in
terms of international action to disrupt and deter the DPRK's WMD and
ballistic
missile programmes. The UK will continue to urge DPRK to re-engage with
the Six
Party Talks."
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 nine days 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
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weekends):
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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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