By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/ukun1mybiar031610.html
UNITED NATIONS, March 16, updated -- Responding to the election laws proclaimed by Myanmar's military government, excluding Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisons from running for office, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he has requested an emergency meeting at the UN in New York. But what kind of meeting?
As the UK's Permanent Representative to the UN Mark Lyall Grant walked into the Security Council on Tuesday morning, he was asked about his prime minister's statement: would the UK be asking for a Security Council meeting? He paused, then replied, "Uh, no comment on that, I'll get back to you."
While one might expect the UK Mission to the UN to be able to, and to be eager to, explain a letter to the UN from Prime Minister Gordon Brown, further inquiry by Inner City Press indicates that Brown's request is for a meeting of the Group of Friends of the Secretary General on Myanmar, which includes among others former Council member Indonesia.
A former UN correspondent now in Washington reports that "the Burmese military junta is understood to have 'vetoed' the name of Noer Hassan Wirajuda, the former Indonesian foreign minister, as the new UN Envoy for Burma." The UN has denied another portion of this report.
Update: at the conclusion of his March 16 press conference, Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon if he had received a letter from Gordon Brown requesting a meeting of his Group of Friends on Myanmar. There may soon be a meeting of the Group of Friends, Mr. Ban answered, but said twice that he has not received a letter from Gordon Brown.
The UK-MFA press release quotes Gordon Brown that "I have today written to the UN Secretary General to call for an urgent meeting in New York to discuss these developments." So can the UK not deliver a letter?
Some said that Brown, if and when his letter is delivered, has only requested a meeting with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, whose chief of staff Vijay Nambiar has replaced previous UN envoy on Myanmar Ibrahim Gambari, at least on an interim basis. On March 15, Inner City Press asked Mr. Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky:
Inner City Press: did Vijay Nambiar travel to Myanmar? There are some reports that the letter described by the Secretary-General some time ago at his stakeout was in fact delivered by Mr. Nambiar. Can you confirm or deny that?
Spokesperson Nesirky: Well, I have seen one report, not some reports. I’ve seen one report, and I have been in touch with Mr. Nambiar, and he says it’s not true.
At a reception for the press corp in Nesirky's office Monday evening, Mr. Ban and his deputy chief of staff Kim Won-soo appeared, but not Mr. Nambiar.
Footnotes: Talk at the reception turned to the Non Aligned Movement's letter to Ban chastising him for announcing he will appoint a panel to advise himself about accountability for possible war crimes in Sri Lanka, a topic on which we hope to have more later today. [Update: Inner City Press asked Ban, click here.]
And perhaps on the UK request, too. Just after 11 a.m., with the Security Council still meeting about the stage leaks Somalia Sanctions report, the UK's Lyall Grant left the Council, deep in conversation with an aide about "the letter." Did the UK Mission to the UN not get the memo?
Finally, some note long standing reports that the UK is either dissatisfied with Mr. Nambiar's performance or wants the chief of staff post it previously occupied via Mark Malloch Brown, or both. But, the reasoning goes, to move Nambiar out of the chef de cabinet post but keep him as (India's) Under Secretary General, he would need the Myanmar envoy post. If it is being filled by another, how might this game of musical chairs end? Watch this site.
