Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/untrip2may4srilanka052309.html
KANDY, May 23 -- At dusk after a fly-over the blasted No Fire Zone which many saw as ghoulish, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon went to meet Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa at his palatial home in Kandy. The security was tight -- the cellphones of the Press were confiscated for the duration -- and all three Rajapaksa brothers were there: beyond the President, his senior advisor Basil and the Defense Secretary. Also present were the country's former and current ambassadors to the UN, and the Foreign Secretary, formerly head of the UN Treaty Division. On a side table in the ceremonial front room was a picture including the President with George and Laura Bush.
Ban Ki-moon arrived with the Foreign Minister, and took a seat as the photographers' flashes lit up the room, complete with ivory tusks and a wood carving of Mahinda. As the photograph surged to catch the handshake, Ban's humanitarian chief John Holmes reached across the frame to shake other Sri Lankan hands. "Sit down," more than one photographer hissed.
Ban chatted about his visit to the camps while the President smiled broadly. Then the photographers were hustled out into the front yard, with an enormous tree and a flock of Mercedes Benz. Soldiers with machines guns jaunted around and the cell phones were returned. The reason for Ban's delayed arrival was not explained. Earlier on Saturday, a UN official told Inner City Press that Ban had been pressured to visit Kandy's famous Buddhist relic temple. Had Ban given in, one reporter wondered? Why had Kandy been the venue?
Nearly an hour later, Ban and the Foreign Minister appeared together again, though briefly at a press conference in Kandy's Queen's Hotel. In the sweltering room, Inner City Press commisserated with Elmo Alles of the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka. He explained that his group applied two weeks ago for permission to go to Vavuniya and Mannar to train NGO workers in reconciliation. So far there has been no response. The group has been told that everything must go through the Defense Ministry.
Elmo Alles would have asked, he told Inner City Press, if there is any international monitoring of the conditions of the IDP camps. If the question had been allowed, the answer would surely have been vague. Before the sound system sputtered and brought the proceedings to a close, Ban went out of his way to emphasize that he never called Sri Lanka a blood bath. Inner City Press' questions, including about the detained doctors, were not taken or allowed. And then the visa expired. This is how it is.
And see, www.innercitypress.com/untrip2may4srilanka052309.html
