By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, November 27 -- Twenty four hours after UN Headquarters in New York refused to confirm that envoy Vijay Nambiar would be visiting Myanmar, Nambiar had already posed for pictures with Aung San Suu Kyi. He had not, however, issued any comment on a new law signed as he arrived by Than Shwe, which criminalizes any speech by new parliamentarians that may “endanger national security, the unity of the country or violate the constitution.”
Nor had Nambiar commented on reports of a Yangon center for patients with HIV/AIDS being harassed by the military government merely because Aung San Suu Kyi had visited it.
On November 26 in lieu of the UN's usually noon briefing, which was canceled, Inner City Press asked among other questions for Haq to “please confirm or deny that Vijay Nambiar is going to Myanmar this weekend, and unless deny, please state his program of work. Separately, please respond to the criticism 'Win Tin expressed extreme disappointment that Ban’s 2010 report to the UN General Assembly on Burma’s human rights situation failed to seriously address violations against ethnic minorities.'”
Haq replied, “I don't have a confirmation concerning Mr Nambiar. I can tell you that we are still working out a program for the Special Adviser. I have no comment on the SG's human rights report, which speaks for itself.”
While never updating this, report indicate that Nambiar would like to visit Than Shwe in his jungle capital. There is no indication that he will meet with the ethnic groups most targeted by the government.
Al Jazeera, to which Nambiar granted his one and so far only interview about his role in the “white flag” killings in Sri Lanka had this to say about Nambiar: “He is a former Indian ambassador to China and is believed to have a good relationship with Beijing, a key ally of the Myanmar government.”
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's “human rights” report also did not even mention the recommendation by the UN's Special Rapporteur that Ban set up an international panel of inquiry into war crimes in Myanmar.
In a November 22 speech at Seton Hall University in New Jersey, Ban bragged that
“Two years ago, when Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar, the government was initially reluctant to open its door to international relief. It was impossible, for me, to stand by and see politics get in the way of saving lives. We pressed the government quite hard. Eventually we got a breakthrough. Aid began to flow. Many thousands of lives were saved. We did the same in Darfur.”
There are skeptics as to both statements, on Myanmar and Darfur. Watch this site.
