As Myanmar Burns Rohingya Villages, Ban Ki-moon's Editor Nambiar Silent

By Matthew Russell Lee, Follow Up on Exclusives

UNITED NATIONS, October 18-- Amid UN scandals, corruption and nepotism by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Inner City Press on October 18 asked his outgoing spokesman Stephane Dujarric about the slaughter in Myanmar's Rakhine State. Beyond the Vine video;  UN transcript: 

Inner City Press:  I wanted to ask you about Myanmar.  I saw… whatever.  It seems like, in Rakhine State, there continue to be burning of villages.  There's an open letter by 16 Rohingya civil society groups naming the villages, naming Battalion 551, and all of this has happened since the last statement by Vijay Nambiar on 11 October.  So, I wanted to know, what exactly is the UN doing?  In what seems to be a planned, comprehensive military crackdown on the region and the burning and… and destruction of whole villages, what has been the actions of Mr. Nambiar since 11 October until today's date?

Spokesman:  Obviously, it's something we continue to follow.  I don't have any other… anything else to add than what we said in Mr. Nambiar's statement, which is his concern at the ongoing military operation, and I think that stands.

 Nambiar has been editing a vanity press book for Ban, here.

  In August, Ban's Myanmar sojourn was ironic, given that Ban assigned to the country Vijay Nambiar, who in Sri Lanka in 2009 lured Tamils to their execution, then downplayed the plight of the Rohingya. There was also Ban's role in the misdeeds of his Resident Coordinator in Myanmar, Renata Lok-Dessalien, click here for that.

From the UN's May 23, 2016 transcript:

 Inner City Press: the proceedings of this senior action group of the Rights Up Front, including Mr. [Jan] Eliasson, and basically they conclude that the UN has learned and improved little since the Sri Lanka incidents that gave rise to that.  They're taking about the SRSG [Special Representative of the Secretary-General] Renata Lok-Dessallien basically having meetings when the human rights staff couldn't attend so she wouldn't have to hear their views. Have you seen all this?  And what's your response to basically...

Spokesman Dujarric:  I think... as you know we don't...

Inner City Press:  ...what's gone wrong?