By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
April 26 --
With news
that the UN
Development
Program in Sri
Lanka has
found and
confirmed via
a leaked
e-mail cluster
sub-munitions,
General
Shavendra
Silva as a UN
Senior Adviser
on
Peacekeeping
takes on an
even
more
sinister hue.
As
reported,
Allan
Poston, the
technical
adviser for
UNDP's mine
action group
in Sri
Lanka, wrote
that "after
reviewing
additional
photographs
from
the
investigation
teams, I have
determined
that there are
cluster
sub-munitions
in the area
where the
children were
collecting
scrap
metal and in
the house
where the
accident [the
death of a
child]
occurred. This
is the first
time that
there has been
confirmed
unexploded
sub-munitions
found in Sri
Lanka."
Sri
Lanka's
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
to the UN,
Shavendra
Silva, during
this conflict
commanded the
58th Division,
depicted in
Ban Ki-moon's
report as
engaged in war
crimes. Now,
cluster
munition.
Still, Ban
Ki-moon's
position
remains that
Silva being
Ban's adviser
is "up
to member
states."
The
Sri
Lankan
Ministry of
Defense -- and
Urban
Development --
on the same
day as the
cluster bomb
revelation
breathlessly
reported
that all 54
nations in the
Asia
and Pacific
Group
support
Silva's
continued
service. To
Inner City
Press'
knowledge this
was
not true even
prior to the
cluster bomb
confirmation,
and should be
even less true
now.
Earlier
this
month, the
Permanent
Representative
of an Asia
Group member
told
Inner City
Press, of
Silva,
"the
gentleman's
appearance is
not welcome.
They have
chosen to
escalate,
sending public
letters,
casting doubt
on Frechette's
integrity. It
becomes a big
story, and
member states
in the end
will say it's
unacceptable...
No one knew
who Shavendra
Silva was.
Once you began
to publish the
stories, we
came to know.
If we had
known from the
beginning of
course it
would never
have happened.
If they
continue to
push it, there
would be
enough
delegates in
the Asia group
to say
'enough.'"
Ban
Ki-moon's
acquiescence
in accepting
an alleged war
criminal as
his adviser
becomes ever
more
troubling. Now
Ban is on his
way to
Myanmar, where
he and his
adviser Vijay
Nambiar have
already given
their full
blessing to
the still
military
dominated
government,
even as Kachin
people weren't
allowed to
vote and face
repression.
What will Ban
do?
Watch this
site.
