Inner City Press -- Investigative Reporting From the Inner City to Wall Street to the United Nations

As Sri Lankan IDPs Shot, UN's Pascoe Says Camps To Be "Thinned Out," Council Should Meet

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 28 -- Just after the Sri Lankan Army shot people leaving the Manik Farms camps in Vavuniya, Sri Lanka's Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and Secretary of Defense met in New York with the UN's highest officials.

 Afterwards, Inner City Press asked the head of the UN's Department of Political Affairs Lynn Pascoe about the shooting incidents, whether the Sri Lankan Army's web site had misquoted him, and why the UN had not convened a meeting about Sri Lankan during the last week's General Debate. Video here, from Minute 55:49.

Of the shooting, Pascoe attributed it to overcrowding in the Manik Farms camps, saying "they need to be thinning it out." He acknowledged that the Sri Lankan Army had put a "different spin" on what he said during his visit this month. Inner City Press asked about the headline "You have better story than is getting out today - Pascoe to President." Inner City Press asked this question ten days ago, without getting any answer.

  Pascoe said he was only been referring to de-mining, that he was "surprised" he was quoted "for saying things quite in the way that [he] had said them." But why didn't the UN seek a correction then, as it has when for example Sudan characterized what the UN told them in a bilateral conversation?

  Pascoe said that the meeting with Defense Secretary (and Presidential brother) Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayaka and Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama was attended not only by Ban Ki-moon, but also by John Holmes and Vijay Nambiar.

  As Pascoe sought to turn to another questioner, Inner City Press reminded him of the unanswered question of why the UN had not set up a meeting during the General Debate, as it did on Myanmar, Somalia and other countries.

UN's Pascoe on Sept. 28, Sri Lanka's "different spin" not shown
 
  Pascoe said there had been some thought "early on" of convening such a meeting about Sri Lanka, but it didn't happen. He added that "it is important for the Security Council to discuss... in their rooms or in the basement." Well, the UN Charter provides for the Secretary General to convene a Security Council meeting, under Article 99. Watch this site.

Footnotes: in continued reporting on the delayed U.S. State Department report on war crimes in Sri Lanka, which was due before Congress on September 21 but was then deferred, Inner City Press has been told that staff for Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont found deficiencies with the report, having nothing to do with the stealth visit of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. Meanwhile, in Europe the possible termination of Sri Lanka's GSP Plus tariff benefit is set to be discussed on October 1, and voted on by October 15. We'll see.

At UN, Sri Lanka's Speech in Near Empty Hall Cheered by Defense Minister, UK Silent

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 26 -- Sri Lanka's prime minister read a long triumphal speech Saturday afternoon before a UN General Assembly Hall that was well less then half full. In the audience, however, were the country's Foreign Affairs and Defense Minister, the latter being Presidential brother Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. They sat with their head in their hands as Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayaka droned on, his image projected in a large TV screen above him.

  Wickramanayaka said, "we have shared our hopes and concerns with the United Nations." He might have added, we use each trip by a UN official as support for interning people in camps. His speech spoke of landmines and "self-confessed ex-LTTE cadres... mix[ed] with the IDPs." There was no mention of freedom of the press, reporters killed and imprisoned, nor of the UN system staff detained and, they say, tortured.

  On September 25, Inner City Press asked three separate UK spokespeople for a read-out of David Miliband's meeting with Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama on September 25. One responded, that she was not in the meeting, only Miliband, Bogollagama and Bernard Kouchner were. Therefore not even a summary was released.

  Norway's foreign minister Jonas Gahr Store, when asked by Inner City Press what if anything Norway is now doing about about the situation in Sri Lanka, stammered that "it is up to them." Norway now seems to be running scared.

Sri Lankan Ministers in UN GA 9/26/09, (c) M.Lee
  On Saturday, less than twenty yards from the Sri Lankan delegation sat that of the United States, showing little interest in or reaction to the Sri Lankan speech. The U.S. State Department was asked about its war crimes report that was due September 21 in Congress. It now appears the report is late -- some allege some Gotabhaya Rajapaksa involvement -- and will be filed in mid October. Watch this site.

* * *

* * *