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At UN on Sri Lanka, Russia
Blocked Mexican Request for Briefing, Ban's Contradiction
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS, February 5 -- While
in Sri Lanka the army's assault on Tamil Tiger areas continues, in
closed door UN
Security Council meetings this week Mexico asked that the
Council get a briefing about the situation in Sri Lanka. The Permanent
Representative of a Council member favoring Mexico's request tells
Inner City
Press that the request was formally opposed by Russia, which argued
that Sri
Lanka is not on the agenda of the Council. "Russia in January tries to
intimidate the new Council members," this Ambassador told Inner City
Press.
This month's Council president, Yukio Takasu, said he would engage the
two sides -- Mexico and Russia -- in bilateral consultations. Now
Mexico has
said it will raise the issue again next week. But on the ground, how
many more
civilians will be dead?
Russia may not be the only Permanent Five
member of
the Council wanting
to keep Sri Lanka off the Council's agenda. Inner City Press asked
United
Kingdom Ambassador John Sawers, when he spoke about Sudan's assault of
a South
Darfur town held by rebels of the Justice and Equality Movement, to
explain the
difference between Sri Lanka and Sudan. They are not comparable,
Ambassador
Sawers said, adding that the Tigers are on sanctions lists. Video here.
But the
Justice and Equality Movement is known by the UN to have recruited
child
soldiers, including for its offensive that reached Omdurman just
outside Khartoum.
UN's Ban and Sri Lankan President's brother,
Jan. 26, no ceasefire call shown
So to state the obvious, the UK likes the
government of Sri Lanka more than the Sudan's. But a requested Council
briefing
on the situation in Sri Lanka is being blocked, on a technical
assertion it is
not on the agenda. Zimbabwe wasn't on the agenda, until the UK pushed
to have
it included under the name "Peace and Security in Africa." How about
"Peace and Security in Asia"? What's in a
name?
The UN's Ban
Ki-moon
spoke with
Sri Lanka's president, and after Inner City Press requested it, his
Spokeperson's Office provided this meager read-out of what he talked
about:
Subj:
Readout of the SG's phone call with the President of Sri Lanka
From:
unspokesperson-donotreply [at] un.org
To:
Inner City Press
Sent:
2/5/2009 3:52:35 P.M. Eastern Standard Time
The
Secretary-General spoke by phone on Thursday with President Mahinda
Rajapaksa
of Sri Lanka. They discussed the humanitarian situation in the country.
(Further
to that, the Secretary-General's position on Sri Lanka was described
most
recently in a statement issued last week.)
Ban raised only
the "humanitarian
situation in the country,"
the same phrase used by the UK's John Holmes? For
comparison's sake, Ban called
for a ceasefire in Democratic Republic of the Congo on October 10, 2008:
10
October 2008 – Voicing "increasing concern" at developments in the
border areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda,
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on rebels and the Congolese
Government to immediately observe an effective ceasefire and cooperate
with
United Nations peacekeepers to achieve a separation of forces.
Ban called
for a ceasefire in Gaza on January 15, 2009:
15
January 2009 -- My demand is just to stop fighting now - immediately -
cease
fire immediately. You can discuss this matter to make the ceasefire
durable and
sustainable, which can be respected fully by the parties concerned. If
you take
more time then more people will have to be killed. That is an
unacceptable
situation. We are almost 20 days since this fighting began. The number
of
casualties has reached an unbearable point. There is a strong wish and
expectation and call from the international community that this
fighting must
stop and establish a durable, sustainable ceasefire so the Gazan
citizen population
can live in peace and security.
As it turns
out, Ban
back in March 2007 called for a ceasefire in Sri Lanka:
27
March 2007: The Secretary-General is disturbed by the extensive and
escalating
violations of the cease-fire in Sri Lanka, which now includes an air
attack
this week by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
He deeply regrets that air raids, military
confrontations on the ground, and suicide bombings have become a daily
occurrence, prompting massive displacement and suffering for civilians.
The
Secretary-General appeals to the parties to the conflict to break this
vicious
cycle of attack and retaliation, which only leads to more bloodshed and
victims. He urges them to return to the negotiating table as soon as
possible,
without preconditions.
That was then, this is now. On February
4, Ban's Deputy Spokesperson when twice asked by Inner
City Press if Ban is asking for a ceasefire declined to confirm such a
call.
Watch this site.
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
Click here for Inner City
Press Nov. 7 debate on the war in Congo
Watch this site, and this Oct. 2 debate, on
UN, bailout, MDGs
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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