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At UN on Myanmar, 2 Meetings, No Action, Less Candor on 2 Day Visa

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 6, updated -- After the UN Security Council took Myanmar off the written Program of Work for December, where it was only a footnote, on Monday two separate closed door briefings were scheduled.

At 11 am Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and his envoy Vijay Nambiar briefed the Group of Friends of the S-G on Myanmar.

Then at 3 am a separate but presumably similar briefing by Nambair became for the Security Council in its consultation room. No outcome was expected.

As Inner City Press reported last week, Nambiar's internal reporting to UN officials was critical of Aung San Suu Kyi, characterizing her as out of touch and somehow too hard line, UN sources say. Nambiar prefers those more amenable to authoritarian government.

  The rationale for having the repetitive briefings is that the memberships of the Group of Friends and the Security Council are different.

  On December 3, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky to confirm or deny that Myanmar had given Nambiar a visa for a mere two days.


Nambiar leads Ban into darkness, transparency not shown

  On camera, Nesirky said he'd look into it, but that the Secretariat might to decide not to say one way or the other. That now appears to be the case -- from a UN Administration which says it is transparent.

Inner City Press asked if Nambiar would talk to the media. Nesirky said that Nambiar would be asked. We are waiting. Watch this site.

* * *

After 2 Day Myanmar Trip, Nambiar “Trashed” Aung San Suu Kyi to UN Officials

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 3 -- When UN envoy Vijay Nambiar went to Myanmar over the US Thanksgiving weekend, he was given only a two day visa, sources tell Inner City Press, to meet with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Upon his return he has told UN officials that Aung San Suu Kyi is out of touch, too hardline, a relic.

  Nambiar is seen as accommodative to the military government of Than Shwe, and favors Burmese counter parties of a similar bent. Than Shwe, on the other hand, likes to have a mere part time and interim UN envoy, in this case mostly occupied as Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's chief of staff.

  On December 2, Inner City Press asked Ban's acting Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq to confirm that Nambiar will briefing the Security Council on December 6, and to respond to criticism of Nambiar's whirlwind visit to Myanmar, including by some of those he met with.

  Haq refused to confirm the briefing -- it was later nevertheless confirmed -- and said that some liked Nambiar's visit. Certainly, Myanmar's military government.

One question is why Aung San Suu Kyi offer such public praise of Nambiar's visit, while Nambiar “trashed her,” as one official put it to Inner City Press, immediately upon his return. Watch this site.


ASSK & UN's Nambiar, subsequent "trashing" no shown

From the UN's December 2 transcript:

Inner City Press: Just factually, can you confirm that the Chef de Cabinet, Vijay Nambiar, will be briefing the [Security] Council on 6 December on his visit to Myanmar? And also, if he’s seen the criticisms made by a number of the people that he met with, saying that this was essentially just a kind of a note-taking visit. What’s his response to those now public criticisms in Irrawaddy and elsewhere of the visit by people that he engaged with? What’s his take on the visit?

Acting Deputy Spokesperson Haq: Well, first of all, I don’t share your assessment of the trip. There were a number of viewpoints, including people who were quite pleased with that visit. Secondly, as for the schedule of the Security Council, I will leave it to the President of the Security Council, Ambassador Rice, to brief you at 1 p.m. about what their schedule will be, and she can announce for you what their upcoming programme is.

Inner City Press: Will Mr. Nambiar, either here or at the stakeout or in some other forum, speak to the press about his publicized and long-awaited visit to Myanmar?

Acting Deputy Spokesperson: Well, if he does brief the Security Council, we will see at that point whether he intends to brief the press at that point.

Watch 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

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