UNITED NATIONS, April 27 -- While Sri Lanka's government's claim it had not been using heavily artillery is called into question by its own subsequent admission, the United Nations' statements are also questionable. On April 22, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that his envoy Vijay Nambiar had gotten a commitment from President Mahinda Rajapaksa to allow a humanitarian assessment team into the conflict zone. Five days later, Ban's Spokesperson acknowledged that what was presented as a commitment has not been implemented:
Inner City Press: On Sri Lanka, I wanted to know in light of the Secretary-General’s announcement last week that there will be a mission into the conflict zone by a humanitarian assessment, is that going forward or has it, as some of the reports have it, been blocked by the Government?
Spokesperson Montas: This is what John Holmes is trying to arrange.
Inner City Press: Currently, it was announced that it had been agreed to. Was it then un-agreed to?
Spokesperson Montas: It was agreed to. We don’t know where things are at this point. Mr. Holmes is there and he is the only one who has the answer to your question.
Inner City Press: And just also on Sri Lanka, I learned, and maybe you won’t know this off hand, but that in late 2008 two UN staff members were arrested by the Government. It now seems or I have been told and the UN didn’t say anything publicly, but some think they’re still being held. One is a UNHCR protection officer in Vavuniya; and the other one is a UNOPS driver; both arrested by the...[inaudible].
Spokesperson Montas: I don’t have that information. We can certainly have it for you. All I can say is that right now we have 13 staff members who are in the zone of conflict; and that is really all I have. [Video here]
This last is another indication of why the UN is not to be believed, particularly when it comes to Sri Lanka. When the government detained 13 UN system staff members and their families in "IDP" camps, the UN said nothing publicly until after Inner City Press asked about it at a UN noon briefing. Of the two arrests alluded to, Inner City Press has been told that the mother of a UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) staff member, the protection officer for Vavuniya, was charged with renting a room, unknowingly, to someone allegedly connected with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Both she and her son were arrested, and the mother reportedly died in prison.
The UN, local staff say, never spoke out on this, nor on a UN system driver from Kilinochchi who was arrested "for not speaking Sinhala." UN local staff have been arrested and detained on an ethnic basis, and the UN for all of its "never again" bluster said nothing.
With the foreign minister of the UK, France and Sweden slated for a whirlwind tour to Vavuniya on Wednesday, we question again the UK's Ambassador to the UN's statement that there is no connection between the $1.9 billion loan Sri Lanka is seeking from the IMF and the government's behavior. Perhaps there's no connection in the UK's approach...
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
And see, www.innercitypress.com/sc4srilanka042709.html
