Sri
Lanka Meets
Ban Ki-moon,
No Prageeth or
Petrie
Report, No
Accountability?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 1 --
It was on the
final day of
the week-long
UN
General Debate
that Sri
Lanka's G.L.
Peiris spoke,
along with
North
Korea, Belarus
and Syria.
Like
these other
three, Sri
Lanka spoke
out against
any outside
interference
in its
internal
affairs.
Unlike Syria,
however, Sri
Lanka has
largely
prevailed in
this request.
No one has
been held
accountable
for the
killing of
civilians in
2009. Peiris
bragged
about
redeveloping
northern Sri
Lanka, without
saying who is
benefiting.
In
the afternoon,
before North
Korea spoke,
Inner City
Press waited
and
attended the
photo op
between UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon and
Peiris. Beyond
UN Photo, the
only other
photographers
present were
both
affiliated
with the Sri
Lankan
government.
Visible was
Permanent
Representative
Palitha Kohona
and other
Mission staff,
but not his
Deputy,
general
Shavendra
Silva of whose
presence on
the UN Senior
Advisory Group
on
Peacekeeping
Operations Ban
on February 8,
2012 told
Inner City
Press, "it
was the member
states that
decided."
G.L.
Peiris signed,
Ban Ki-moon
shakes, (c) MR
Lee
After the
October 1
meeting Ban
issued a bland
read-out:
"The
Secretary-General
met with H.E.
Mr. G. L.
Peiris,
Minister for
External
Affairs of the
Democratic
Socialist
Republic of
Sri Lanka.
They exchanged
views on the
post-conflict
situation in
Sri Lanka and
cooperation
with the
United
Nations.
"The
Secretary-General
noted the
Government’s
latest efforts
to
implement the
recommendations
of its Lessons
Learnt and
Reconciliation
Commission as
well as the
steady
progress and
remaining
tasks on
resettlement
efforts in the
North. He also
emphasized the
need to find a
political
solution
without
further
delay to the
underlying
factors of the
past
conflict."
So
when is the
report by
Charles
Petrie, about
the UN's own
inaction in
2008 and 2009,
going to be
finished --
that is,
released to
the
public? Was
the crackdown
on
journalists,
including the
disappearing
of
Prageeth
Ehaliyagoda,
raised by Ban
Ki-moon?
Is
it difficult
to know: Ban
held a
so-called
"press
encounter"
on Monday, but
no questions
were allowed.
On Tuesday,
the UN
Secretariat's
description of
the week will
be given by
Ban's new
Deputy Jan
Eliasson at
11:15 am.
And late on
Monday in what
some
called garbage
time it was
announced that
"Due to the
press
conference
tomorrow by
the UN Deputy
Secretary-General,
there will be
no noon
briefing by
the
Spokesperson."
Will
Eliasson take
more than 45
minutes? In
the past, a
noon briefing
might be
canceled if
Ban spoke at
the same time.
Now, it will
be
cancel for the
Deputy,
apparently in
an attempt to
get
correspondents
to focus on
the UN's own
messaging
rather than
ask questions,
for
example about
Sri Lanka.
This is Ban's
UN.
, 
