By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, January 18 -- While the trip to Sri Lanka by the UN's panel on accountability is in limbo or, sources tell Inner City Press, about to be canceled, UN humanitarian deputy Catherine Bragg will now travel to Northern Sri Lanka to speak with civil war returnees -- but only about flooding, the UN says.
Inner City Press asked UN spokesman Martin Nesirky for the second day in a row about Catherine Bragg's trip. On January 17 Nesirky told Inner City Press to “ask OCHA,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Inner City Press submitted questions to OCHA, which were acknowledged as received, but by the next day's noon briefing no answers had been given.
So when Nesirky on January 18 said Bragg would “advocate on behalf... of returnees,” Inner City Press asked if she will advocate with respect to the alleged war crimes which made them displaced.
No, Nesirky said, Bragg's trip has nothing to do with the Panel of Experts, which UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced on December 17 would visit Sri Lanka. Video here, from Minute 45:23.
Insiders late on January 17 told Inner City Press that despite Ban's statement, his Panel will now probably NOT visit the Island. Despite Ban's December 17 announcement praising President Mahinda Rajapaksa's “flexibility,” since then Rajapaksa's government has written to the UN to say not only that the Panel should not come, but that neither the government nor its Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Panel will speak with the UN Panel of Experts.
It is expected now that representatives of the Rajapaksa government will, in New York only, speak with Ban Ki-moon's Office, not his Panel.
So did Ban Ki-moon misspeak, some now wonder, on December 17, or in what he told the Press on January 14?
Inner City Press is told that Ban's Panel has written three letters seeking visas. At first the Panel was told that it could make “submissions” to the LLRC. Ban's Panel said that it cannot provide testimony, but rather take it, not only from the LLRC but from any and all who are involved in the accountability process.
Later Ban's Panel made further concessions, saying they wouldn't care what it was called, submission or representation, they'd just like to go. Then the sources say the Rajapaksa government still said no.
The current state of play, the insiders say, is that the Panel will probably NOT go to Sri Lanka.
Ms. Bragg will go, but will not pass along anything that displacees say about WHY and BY WHOM they were displaced and worse. Some Organization.
Questions on Sri Lanka that Inner City Press asked UN OCHA on January 17:
when did Ms. Bragg apply for a visa to Sri Lanka, when was it granted and are there any conditions on the visa, regarding where to travel, whom to speak with, etc?
What does OCHA say to the protests in east Batticaloa about allegedly inequitable distribution of aid?
Also, previously asked to Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary General:
Does the UN have any comment on Sri Lanka's government ordering the International Committee of the Red Cross out of Northern Sri Lanka? http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportID=91160
Or, as previously requested, on the new rules requiring NGOs and INGOs to register with the Department of Defense, etc?
