By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, December 30 -- Responding to the Sri Lanka government's claims to the contrary, the UN insisted on December 30 that “it is NOT the case that the Panel would only talk to the LLRC,” President Mahinda Rajapaka's Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Commission.
Earlier on December 30, Inner City Press asked UN spokesmen Farhan Haq and Martin Nesirky four questions about Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's panel on accountability for presumptive war crimes in Sri Lanka in 2009:
Martin & Farhan -- On Dec 23 and at the beginning of this week I asked you about the Panel's trip to Sri Lanka which Ban Ki-moon announced on December 17. My Sunday question was very specific and easy to answer. But it has not been answered...
Now it is reported that “Cabinet Spokesperson Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said the government would grant visas to the members of the Panel only to go before the government appointed LLRC and not to conduct any investigations on their own. Rambukwella said that the government initially objected to the Panel's visit to Sri Lanka, as it was to conduct an inquiry. However, the government has decided to grant visas to the Panel since it has been stated that the members only wished to meet the LLRC.” http://www.colombopage.com/archive_10C/Dec30_1293719415JR.php
The failure to answer, or to have noon briefing, is now more problematic than ever. Before 12:30 today, please state:
1) did or will the staff of the Panel go to Sri Lanka?
2) what agreements or understanding have been reached about with whom the Panel will speak in Sri Lanka?
3) with whom in the Sri Lanka government did Ban or the UN speak before his Dec 17 announcement, talking into account that the External Affairs Minister Peiris later said he learn of it in the media?
4) why have you refused to answer these questions? On deadline.
While still not answering any of the four questions, Haq responded with the following:
From: Farhan Haq [at] un.org
Date: Thu, Dec 30, 2010 at 12:20 PM
To: Inner City Press, Nesirky [at] un.org, Soung-ah Choi [at] un.org
Subject: Re: Press Qs on deadline re Sri Lanka & OSSG failure to answer, 13 still outstanding
As I made clear to you at the time, the panel has not confirmed travel to Sri Lanka yet. The arrangements would need to be right. It is NOT the case that the panel would only talk to the LLRC. The panel made clear to me that their work is broader than simply dealing with the LLRC. That's all we have to say on it for now.
Comparing this to Cabinet Spokesperson Minister Keheliya Rambukwella's reported statement about the visas and limits on the Panel, it seems that either the UN is belatedly standing up to the Rajapaksa government or that the UN doesn't read cited news reports, or both.
Perhaps Cabinet Spokesperson Minister Keheliya Rambukwella is negotiating through public statements. Perhaps the Panel's staff is in or traveling to Sri Lanka to scope out a possible trip by the Panel -- which Ban Ki-moon announced as a fact on December 17.
Was Ban Ki-moon himself only negotiating publicly with his December 17 statement?
The four questions Inner City Press has asked are simple and should be answered. Watch this site.
