Sri Lanka and the UK: Too Little, Too Late, Between Libya, Somalia Journalists and Selling Weapons in the Gulf?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 17 -- Certainly the authoritarian nature of the Rajapaksa government in Sri Lanka became apparent to more people during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Click here for longer analysis of the CHOGM from this reporter, on Beacon Reader,focused on the UN Secretariat's silence. 

  But can it be said that the UK government, for example, was unaware of that government's slaughtering of civilians in 2009? At the UN in New York, Inner City Press repeatedly asked then Ambassador John Sawers, and when he came to the UN, foreign minister David Miliband. 

  Then as now, the UK controlled the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs; Inner City Press put the question to John Holmes (who, during Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's "victory tour" to the north in May 2009 vowed to never speak to Inner City Press again due to itreporting his on the record comments about deleting emails from Tamils.)

  And so now when David Cameron and William Hague say they are shocked and will belatedly push for an investigation of the 40,000 deaths before March, how should it be interpreted? As a Permanent Five member of the UN Security Council, the UK is in the position to have done something - and didn't -- and to do something now. Will it?

  The UK's use of its P5 seat, even on agenda items on which it "has the pen," seems politicized. It has not drafted or proposed press statements when journalists have been killed in Somalia (compare to the recent rapid statement on journalists killed in Mali). This has yet to be explained.

This weekend, it has apparently not moved for a statement on the killing of civilians in Libya, on which it also has the pen. This also has not been explained; it goes beyond, and is more recent then, the cited Bloody Sunday.

Cameron left Sri Lanka and went directly to try to sell UK attack aircraft to the United Arab Emirates; some in Bahrain find the UK comments for human rights defenders in Sri Lanka belied by the treatment of similar defenders in Bahrain.

Will Sri Lanka, or the UK, act on this before or during March? Watch this site.

   

Fight to Chair UN Budget Panel Has UK Lobbying "For Spy," GRULAC Tricks?

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, November 19, updated -- In the UN's Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, a new chairperson is set to be elected on November 21, to replace Collen Kelapile of Botswana, who ran earlier this month to stay on ACABQ but lost, to the Budget Committee delegate of Eritrea and a candidate from Senegal after Benin dropped out.

  Inner City Press, which covered those elections, has been barraged since with competing theories of why Kelapile lost. 

  The most devious theory is that the Secretariat, represented by chef de cabinet Susana Malcorra of Argentina, reached out to Kelapile to see if he would use his position to support Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's "mobility" proposal.

  Once rebuffed, the theory goes, Malcorra "got GRULAC," the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States, to support Kelapile's ouster, assuming that the vice chair, Carlos Ruiz Massieu of Mexico, an expert on issues ranging from Darfur to the Capital Master Plan, would assume the top stop and be more amenable. (This theory has been denied, we note, but persists.)

  But the United Kingdom is also pushing and lobbying in the ACABQ race, pushing for UK citizen Richard Moon, already a member, to become the chair. 

  Multiple sources have exclusively detailed to Inner City Press how UK Permanent Representative Mark Lyall Grant is calling his counterparts of the native countries of other ACABQ members, lobbying for this Moon, has been on ACABQ since January 2011. 

  Before that, the UK notes, Moon wa  on the "GA's Fifth Committee from 1999 to 2003; and then moved to the ACABQ, leaving at the end of 2004. He has been a member of the Committee on Contributions since 2005."

  Opponents of Richard Moon becoming chair - and they do exist -- have made much of a website listing the UK's overseas spies which lists a "Richard John Moon: dob 1959; 85 Jakarta, 93 Rome, 99 New" York. These do line up with Moon's c.v. on the UK Mission web site.

  In fairness even if true there is a lot of back and forth between diplomatic and intelligence service: witness not only Sir John Sawers but many other switches, in both directions, in the Permanent Five members of the Security Council and beyond.

Update: And we note, in terms of the "spy" list's credibility or lack thereof, the UK Mission spokesperson until November 2010 is listed: "2004 Kabul, 2007 Ankara. 5. Cross, Harriett [sic] Victoria Saltonstall." [It's Harriet with one "t."]

  Regardless, some have told Inner City Press they find the UK's lobbying inappropriate, either because ACABQ members are supposed to serve in their personal capacities only -- yeah, right -- or because a Permanent Five member of the Security Council should also chair the ACABQ.

  Of course, the American Susan McLurg previously chaired the ACABQ. But perhaps pushback at the P5 is only growing, as reflected by the recent passage of the resolution requiring Ban Ki-moon to be more transparent on how the P5's Special Political Missions are decided on and funded.

  There is a question of principle here: if it is argued that ACABQ members and chairpersons do not represent their countries, how much lobbying by their country to get the position is appropriate? Watch this site.

As UK Questioned on Arms Exports to Sri Lanka, No Action at UN on Flooded Camps

By Matthew Russell Lee, News Analysis
www.innercitypress.com/ukarms1srilanka081909.html

UNITED NATIONS, August 19 -- As in London a House of Commons report zeroed in and requested answers on UK licensed arms sales to Sri Lanka in the run-up to this year's bloodbath on the beach, at the UN in New York UK Ambassador John Sawers emphasized that he would only take questions, including on Sri Lanka, in his capacity as the president of the Security Council for this month.

Inner City Press asked Ambassador Sawers, since the Council earlier this year held meetings about Sri Lanka without putting it on the Council's formal agenda, about the flooding on the UN funded internment camps and the call by various human rights groups that those locked up in the camps be allowed to leave. Video here, from Minute 3:29.

"There is no request for a meeting on Sri Lanka in any format," Sawers said adding that Sri Lanka is of concern "to a number of Council member" and will be kept "under review." But how? The lack of action by the UN at any level, even as the government in Colombo blames it for the breakdown in sewage systems in the camps, highlights the effect of the UK not having called a procedural vote to put Sri Lanka on the Council's agenda.

If the situation in Manik Farms camps were to be happening in the camps in Darfur, the Council it seems clear would consider and speak on it. But since the UK, by Sawers' own account, chose Council unanimity over a split but winning vote to put Sri Lanka on the agenda, now ongoing abuses there are not being considered.

It appears that Council members, even those who expressed concern earlier this year, are not even staying informed on the situation. Inner City Press asked Mexico's Ambassador Claude Heller about the flooding and he said he was not aware of it, but would look into it. While that's to be commended, is it any surprise then that Sawers replied that no request for a meeting on Sri Lanka has been made?

After Sawers' answer, Inner City Press asked a spokesperson for the UK Mission to the UN about the House of Commons report, Scrutiny of Arms Export Controls (2009). Sawers had emphasized he would only answer as Council president, and so this troubling but UK specific report could not be asked about.

Later on Wednesday the UK mission responded to Inner City Press that there is a review of the licenses for exports to Sri Lanka ongoing, that some licenses might be revoked. The spokesperson noted that some licenses were rejected, for example for weapons or ammunition, and said that those grants were mostly for "humanitarian or dual" use.

Inner City Press asked how the UK could verify how the items were used, if its personnel along with all independent media were excluded from the northern part of Sri Lanka as now from the camps. The spokesperson said that the UK wouldn't reply on the media for verification anyway. But how then is the verification done?

The spokesperson said that there has not been any discussion within the UK Mission to the UN about the situation in the camps, that such discussion might take place in London, mostly because of the Tamil diaspora there. But given the UK Mission's publicly stated decision not to call what they say would have been a victorious but split vote to put Sri Lanka on the Council's agenda, some expect a more robust response from the UK when the internment camps it is is part funding, including through the UN, become threatened by epidemics and the people not allowed to leave. We'll see.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/ukarms1srilanka081909.html

UK's Sawers Explains Leaving Sri Lanka Off UN Council Agenda, on LRA No Answers

By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/ukun1srilra080409.html

UNITED NATIONS, August 4 -- The UN Security "Council has to take decisions on each country on its merits," outgoing UK Ambassador to the UN John Sawers told the Press on Tuesday. Inner City Press had asked Sawers to explain why, despite saying that he had the votes to put Sri Lanka on the Council's agenda, the choice was made to keep the issues of civilian casualties and now detentions on the margin of the Council, in the UN basement, for the sake of Council unity.

"There is always a judgment to be made," Sawers answered, "was to whether Council unity at a moderate level of agreement is better than division on a more ambition level of agreement." Video here, from Minute 32:08.

The UK Mission under Sawers put sanctions on Zimbabwe to a vote in the Council, foreseeing and obtaining a double veto from China and Russia. On Sri Lanka, it never pushed for vote, even though on procedural matters such as additions to the Council's agenda no country has a veto.

This decision during the tenure of Sawers and France's Jean-Maurice Ripert, who is also leaving this month, will continue to be reviewed as internment continues in Sri Lanka, the press is barred from covering the supposed elections in the North, and investigations into the killing of aid workers are called off, the govern exonerating itself.

Inner City Press also asked Sawers what the Council's plan is, if any, to deal with the Lord's Resistance Army, which in recent days made deadly incursions from the Democratic Republic of the Congo into the Central African Republic and Southern Sudan. Video here, from Minute 31:44.

On the latter, Sawers appeared to conflate the documented LRA attacks with the separate tribal conflicts on which, he said, UN Peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy would brief the Council later Tuesday. Sawers acknowledged of the LRA that the "Council needs to address" to issue, after the "exhaustive efforts of former president Chissano." But what is the plan?

Sawers fielded questions ranging from Iran -- a topic on which he's said less and less to the media after being named the head of the UK's intelligence agency MI6 - to Afghanistan. On the latter, no one asked Sawers to square the statements of his minister David Miliband and the UN's Kai Eide, who critiqued Miliband's call for talks with Taliban "local commanders." Eide said they are not important enough. But who does Eide work for?

Sawers deftly deflected a question about reports that Myanmar may have a nuclear program supported by North Korea, saying he would take the correspondent's scheduling suggestion under advisement. Sawers got his hackles up with a South Asian correspondent wondered why the UK doesn't give helicopters to the UN and African Union Mission in Darfur, UNAMID.

Do you think Sudan would accept them from us, Sawers pointedly asked. The correspondent persisted until Sawers said, we've had enough on that. He noted that the Rwandan contingent in Darfur still has its APCs trapped in Port Sudan. The "heavy lift" air support the U.S. bragged of was not mentioned.

Footnote: The partying for the departure of Jean-Maurice Ripert has already begun. On August 3, La Francophonie threw him a bash. Now Ripert is organizing his own farewell, seeking to invite the UN Security officers who went on the Council's African forays. Will the officer who shot through the UN plane in Goma last year, leading to a bus ride to Kigali, be invited?

And see, www.innercitypress.com/ukun1srilra080409.html

As Group of Friends on Myanmar Meets at the UN, UK Perm Rep Sawers Doesn't Friend Them Despite UK Push for Trip

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/bangam1myanmar070809.html

UNITED NATIONS, July 8 -- In the run up to the trip to Myanmar by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and his envoy Ibrahim Gambari, Prime Minister Gordon Brown told the House of Commons that the UK had urged Ban to go to Burma. The trip took place; General Than Shwe rejected Ban's request to meet with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi; nearly everyone called the endeavor a failure.

With Ban still out of New York, at the G-8 meetings in Italy, Gambari descended to the UN basement on July 8 to brief the 14 countries on Ban's Group of Friends on Myanmar. Notably, UK Permanent Representative John Sawers was not present, unlike his counterparts from Japan, Indonesia and Singapore, among others. Some some suspected Facebook fallout -- and joked of Sawers not "friending" the Group -- others questioned the UK being so loud before the trip, and so quiet afterwards, at least in public.

Gambari, normally affable, rushed into the meeting room. UN staff have confirmed to Inner City Press that Than Shwe in a fit of pique made Gambari travel to the country's jungle capital by road, rather than by air. Reportedly, surrounded by the Ban-selected scribes on this most recent trip, Gambari wished for the presence of other reporters, to witness the indignities and discomforts that he has been going through.

There was also the report -- an exclusive by Inner City Press -- that Gambari's name was offered by Ban as a possible replacement for Rodolphe Adada in Darfur, but that some Western powers rejected it. A subsequent candidate Said Djinnit earlier on June 8 thanked Inner City Press for not asking publicly about the Darfur post, at least not during his press conference on West Africa (Inner City Press' report on West Africa is forthcoming.)

Indonesia's Ambassador strode in jaunty as ever; Japan's Takasu with a staffer. China's also jaunty Deputy had Xinjiang on his mind, saying that despite Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan's statement that Turkey will put Xinjiang on the Security Council's agenda (see Inner City Press story here), the Turkish Mission to the UN has received no instructions to this effect. Other Ambassador's marveled at the recent and dirty campaign to re-nominate Mr. Supachai as secretary general of UNCTAD.

Diplomat's minds seemed everywhere except on Myanmar. But since the UK asked for the trip, some felt Sawers should have been present. He spoke of the issue earlier in the day, but only to select reporters, and only off the record. Whether this approach is the best for Burma is in question. Watch this space.

Update of 4:07 p.m. -- to be fair, Sawers' affable deputy was present. Whether he will speak on the record after the meeting, given the UK's role, remains to be seen.

Update of 4:31 p.m. -- while the Friends on Myanmar continue meeting, the head of a Security Council mission spoke to Inner City Press about the Turkish Prime Minister - China imbloglio: "that's why we have a free Press," he said.... But on Myanmar, there are no other reporters outside the Friends' basement meeting.

Update of 5:15 p.m. -- And when the meeting broke up, like clock work at precisely five o'clock, Gambari declines to speak with the Press, saying to wait for Ban to return to New York. Inner City Press said, or asked, "Ban will speak to the Security Council?" "Or to this group," Gambari answered. That would be to further downgrade the Myanmar issue.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/bangam1myanmar070809.html

As Sir John Sawers Becomes Top UK Spy, New Light on Secrecy, Sri Lanka and Sudan Strategy

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/unmi6sawers061709.html

UNITED NATIONS, June 17 -- After representing the United Kingdom at the UN and its Security Council, John Sawers has been tapped to head the UK's intelligence agency MI6. It triggers a selective review of his time at the UN, perhaps more critical than the BBC's "Sawers Can Dance" piece.

Perhaps to his credit, Sawers was recently called "an amateur diplomat" by his Sudanese counterpart. The charge can after Sawers was quote that the Council bypassed Sudan during its recent trip across Africa, in order to avoid meeting with its indicted war criminal president Omar al-Bashir. "The UK and Sawers have blood on their hands," Sudan's Ambassador replied. Then came the promotion.

Just before the announcement, in an on the record sit-down with the UN press corps, Inner City Press asked him to assess his and the Security Council's performance on Sri Lanka, where tens of thousands have been killed this year. Sawers said that the votes had been there to put Sri Lanka on the Council's formal agenda, but that he'd thought the unity of the Council more important.

Therefore, after a few informal meetings without outcome in the UN basement, Sri Lanka is not on the Council's agenda, as internment camps continue to grow and critical voices are denied visas or deported. Was Sawers' the right judgment? Apparently this UK government thinks yes. And if intelligence and "anti-terrorism" are the priorities, the choice seems predetermined.

Under Sawers, the UK mission to the UN displayed, at least in the view of this reporter, a bent for secrecy. Most Wednesday mornings, Sawers would brief select journalists who cover the UN. It was called a background briefing, but from the stories that would be written, it was obvious who had spoken. Once what Sawers said on background over breakfast differed notably from what he had told Inner City Press on the record at the stakeout.

After reflection, Inner City Press wrote story noting this one incongruous aspect of Sawers' presentations, leaving others out. (Inner City Press attends other countries' briefings, applying this same standard without incident.) But Sawers then-spokesman responded that Inner City Press had no right to even mention the breakfast briefings, and grilled the participants on who had told Inner City Press what had been said. He tried to drive a wedge, and all to protect what: the right of a powerful country to anonymously snark at the smaller and less powerful? Call it intelligence.

That Sawers was aiming for higher postings seemed clear, for example when during the Council's visit to a refugee camp in Darfur, Sawers left the other Ambassadors sweltering off camera in a meeting with camp elders, and set off alone with the press to meet and greet the IDPs. Some other Ambassadors grumbled. But as the early bird gets the worm, the intrepid Ambassador leaves many of his colleagues behind.

Sawers was always attentive during the visits to the UN of Gordon Brown, David Miliband and even Mark Malloch Brown. To his credit, Sawers in less formal settings was usually gracious, and often funny. At the farewell party for his next spokesman, Michael Hoare, Sawers joked about among other things Hoare's fascination with the James Bond films and dressing in tuxedos.

Such events were nearly always held in the Park Avenue digs of the UK's Deputy Permanent Representative, then Karen Pierce. Perhaps Sawers' place was filled with intelligence equipment. Or might it have been a practice dance floor?

And see, www.innercitypress.com/unmi6sawers061709.html

Back from Sri Lanka, UN's Holmes Admits NGO Killings and Restrictions Not Raised

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/untrip2may7srilanka052609.html

UNITED NATIONS, May 26 -- Just back to the United Nations from Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's surreal tour of Sri Lanka, Inner City Press asked UK Ambassador John Sawers if the UN paying for interment camps for Tamils rounded up from throughout northern Sri Lanka compiles with international humanitarian law.

Ambassador Sawers, rather than answer, said that there has been a "high level of attention" to the issue by the UN, by envoy Vijay Nambiar, humanitarian chief John Holmes and the visit of the Secretary General over the weekend. There's been not report to the Security Council yet, Sawers said, we look forward to that and "we'll have to consider steps after that." Video here, from Minute 6:15.

Ban Ki-moon is still out of New York. John Holmes took questions by phone, since he was outside of the UN (some said in Upstate New York). Inner City Press asked Holmes about the people looked up in the camps who were not in the final conflict zone. "I was not aware of that," Holmes said, arguing that "the whole Vanni" or jungle area was under Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam control "so in a sense was the conflict zone." Video here, from Minute 21:15.

Interviews in the camps, even under the watchful eyes of Sri Lankan soldiers and seemingly pro-government UN personnel nevertheless revealed that people were swept into the camps. The goal, if not to move members of the Sinhala majority into the now-vacated areas, is to screen anyone who lived under the LTTE for whether they support Tamil separatism or autonomy. Should the UN be assisting in such ideological if not ethnic cleansing?

Holmes insisted that "there is no question of the UN funding the sweeping up," the UN is "only providing emergency relief in the camps." But if the camps are being used, not as a temporary fix to a natural disaster but to ethnic and ideological screening, providing food and money -- and in the case of UNOPS, planning the camps and helping build them -- makes the UN's role more direct, and problematic.

Inner City Press asked Holmes if Ban Ki-moon, in his meeting with President Mahinda Rajapaka, has raised the issue of press freedom, including of the editor will last year, and other reports who have been harassed, arrested and disappeared, and of the aid workers, including from Action Contre la Faim, who have been killed, allegedly by pro-government militias. No, Holmes said, neither issue was raised by Ban in his meetings. He did not say, why not?

The government's proposed Memorandum of Understanding it wants NGOs to sign would require them to provide information on all their clients, which these NGOs don't do anywhere in the world. Since NGOs have told Inner City Press that they are not in the best position to fight the proposed MOU, as they are working in Sri Lanka; they would to see John Holmes and OCHA take the lead in fighting back the intrusive NGO. Holmes admitted that the "MOU was not raise by the Secretary-General," and said that the issue had been set on the side. He did not say, by whom?

Since some NGOs have expressed concern about the publication statements about what they expect from Holmes' OCHA -- to fight back against the MOU, for example -- and in light of major NGOs' summary from last week that John Holmes "had objected to the trip, as many of you know," Inner City Press asked Holmes about this position, and to explain it. Holmes replied that "I did not say to the NGOs that I was against the visit, I simply said that there were some tricky presentational aspect about which we were very well aware and that we would be dealing with while there, and which I think we did successfully."

Apparently, Holmes was comfortable with the "presentational aspects" of children in the camps being forced to sing "Ban Ki-moon" to the Secretary General, and of Ban acceding to Rajapaksa's demand that they meet not in the capital but in the Buddhist shrine town of Kandy, which many say was a message to Tamils, we win, you lose. In fact, there are reports of Tamil shopkeepers in Colombo being besieged by Sinhala mobs and told to pay money, since "you lost." The UN should be countering such trends, not covering them up or, worse, stoking them.

Lynn Pascoe was also at the briefing, but said less. When Inner City Press asked about reports that Tamil MPs were barred by the government from entering the Colombo airport's VIP lounge for the meeting they had been promised with Bank Ki-moon, Pascoe said he is investigating those reports and will "pass on to Maria" [Okabe, the Deputy Spokesperson] what he learns. Inner City Press asked about the symbolism of the visit to Kandy. Pascoe said it was a misperception and that "when a government says where, it's their decision."

Inner City Press asked both Pascoe and Holmes if they thought the forcing children in the camps to sing to Ban Ki-moon was appropriate. Pascoe said that he's seen children waiting in the sun for longer than he could put up with, and not only in camps. Video here, from Minute 34:34. Holmes did not answer about the appropriateness of the forced signing and flag waving in the UN-funded camps. Watch this site.

Footnote: as the Human Rights Council in Geneva takes up the question of Sri Lanka, not only is there a pro-Rajapaksa resolution, now there is a Swiss proposed compromise, which would ask the Rajapaksa administration to investigate itself...

And see, www.innercitypress.com/untrip2may7srilanka052609.html

Sudan Calls UK Ambassador an Amateur, of War Criminals in Congo Too

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un9sc1africa051809.html

UNITED NATIONS, May 18 – As the UN Security Council traipses across Africa this week, it is notably skirting Sudan. UK Ambassador to the UN John Sawers offered an explanation. "We're not going to meet with someone who is an indicted war criminal," he said, referring to the arrest warrant obtained by International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo against Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir in March on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

When the Press conveyed Sawers views to Sudan's Ambassador at the UN, he replied that Sudan has no desire to be visited by the UK, “a country with blood on its hands,” and called Sawers “an amateur diplomat.” Beyond the overheated rhetoric, a long time Council diplomat consulted by Inner City Press agreed that Sawers had erred in his comment on the Council bypassing Sudan. It appears that the UK Mission to the UN has sought response from Sawers; if and when one is made available, it will be published on this site.

More seriously about Sudan, experts consulted by Inner City Press see the North – South peace deal unraveling, and predict war by mid-2009. “Much of the Darfur conflict grew out of the South,” one of them said. “Now war in the South will throw everything back into chaos.”

Ironically, with the Council in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, it is visit a UN Mission which works with an army that has incorporated at least one indicted war criminal, Jean-Bosco Ntaganda. As Inner City Press showed prior to the Council's trip, an April 4 memo from within the Congolese Army listed Bosco Ntaganda as Deputy Coordinator of Operation Kimia II, to which the UN Mission MONUC provided assistance.

The UN's shifting answers, first that they wouldn't work with an army that included Bosco, then that they wouldn't work with operations in which Bosco has a formal role, finally only that no pictures will be taken with Bosco, cast a different light on the UN and war criminals.

The Council is also skirting another African hot spot, Somalia, where the Secretariat and Council have unwaveringly taken the side of a government or faction which is, it seems, being pushed from power, at least in some Somali cities. Some say the UN has made the mistake of blatantly choosing sides in a civil war. Time, but not this selective Council trip, will tell.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un9sc1africa051809.html

With 6432 Dead in Sri Lanka, UN Council Takes Over Press Room, UNHCR Funds Detention Camps, "Collective Punishment"

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/sc3srilanka042409.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 24 -- The UN descended into chaos on Friday on the topic of Sri Lanka. In Colombo, the UN gave diplomats an updated chart of civilian casualties, with the death count having risen to 6432 since January 20, up from 2683 as of March 7. Inner City Press exclusively published the first report, and now places online this second one, here. In response to Inner City Press' questions on Friday, UN Deputy Spokesperson Marie Okabe said that these UN figures "may be a reasonable estimate." Video here, from Minute 10:29.

While the 3749 minimum additional civilians were being killed, the UN Security Council has held three informal meetings, the last on April 22 with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's envoy, Vijay Nambiar. Ban claimed the Nambiar had won a commitment from the government to a UN humanitarian assessment mission to the conflict zone. But the government of Sri Lanka has now said such a trip is not necessary or feasible.

Friday morning, Inner City Press asked a range of Council diplomats what they would do, given this new development. One senior diplomat from a Permanent Member of the Security Council opposed to adding Sri Lanka to the Council's formal agenda told Inner City Press that Ban had made a mistake by speaking publicly about what Nambiar said he had won. He said that his country, as supporter and funder of the government of Sri Lanka, believes that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam uses UN Council meetings to argue to civilians to stay with them in the conflict zone. Whether UN Webcasts can be seen there is not clear.

Nevertheless, even this Council member later on Friday agreed that Council president Claude Heller of Mexico could read out his second "remarks to the press" about Sri Lanka in three days, this time encouraging the government to cooperate with the UN to visit the conflict zone.

When Ambassador Heller read this out -- more below on how and where he did this -- Inner City Press asked, is the Council calling for a ceasefire? No, Heller said. Video here, from Minute 15:48.

Inner City Press asked if Heller or the Council had seen the UN's count of 6432 dead civilians. Heller replied that the Council on Wednesday had "no opportunity to discuss the casualties." Video here, from Minute 13:31. What then have they been discussing?

The manner of Heller's presentation was without precedent at the UN. In the UN's briefing room, UNHCR's representative in Sri Lanka Amin Awad was answering questions about his agency's work with the government on camps. Of the camps, he said the government was given an "aide memoire" which he would now try to make public, and that the camps "should not be collective punishment."

Midway through, after Inner City Press had asked about charges that the UN is working with and funding detention camps in violation of international humanitarian law, suddenly Ambassador Heller and his spokesman, UK Ambassador John Sawers and other Council staffers, burst into the room. They stood along the wall, as cell phone filmed by Inner City Press.

A note was handed to UN Deputy Spokesperson Marie Okabe, and she asked Amin Awad to leave the rostrum. Heller took his place, and read out his and the Council's "remarks to the press." He tried to immediately leave, but Inner City Press asked a question about the UN's casualty figures, and if the UN's Neil Buhne trip to Jaffna was the mission to the conflict zone that the UN is speaking of. Video here, from Minute 13:31.

Heller replied that now John Holmes of OCHA is going to "the region." Does this mean the conflict zone? Heller didn't answer. He was asked if this was a formal Council statement. He called it "remarks to the press," and said it was the "best way to agree." But agree on what?

Inner City Press is told that Heller and Sawers came out of the Security Council but found few to no journalists waiting to hear the remarks meant for them. Much of the UN press corps elsewhere, covering a committee meeting about listing companies which helped North Korea's recent launch.

Frustrated, Heller headed for the media briefing room, figuring he'd find reporters there to hear the Council's remarks. There were perhaps a half-dozen journalists in the room, listening to Amin Awad. In fact, at the beginning of the briefing Ms. Okabe had indirectly apologized, saying that many reporters would be "watching in their rooms."

Now the under-attended humanitarian briefing about refugees was converted into the forum for the full Council's scripted "remarks to the press." UK Ambassador Sawers showed himself -- he did not go to the rostrum or consent to taking questions -- while France's Ambassadors Ripert or LaCroix were nowhere to be seen. The U.S., it was said, was represented by Ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo, with Susan Rice being in Washington, most surmised.

Once Heller left the stage, Inner City Press asked Amin Awar about a comment Amb. DiCarlo had made, that IDP camps that do not comply with international humanitarian law should only be funded for so long. Amin Awar said that UNHCR has to be there, that there may be bilateral talks he is not privy to. Video here, from Minute 27:25.

On the elevator going down to the UN lobby, he told Inner City Press that in Washington earlier in the week he had met with Inter-Action and testified to Congress along with NGOs. Inner City Press asked him about reports that the government of Sri Lanka is funding DC-based firm Patton Boggs to represent its interests. I didn't know that, Amin Awar said. And so it goes at the UN.

Footnote: We continue to wait for the UK's formal answer to the first of the two questions which Inner City Press asked the UK Mission to the UN two questions on Sri Lanka early on April 15:

Does the UK believe that international law and the rights of UN humanitarian staff are being violated by the now-acknowledged detention of UN staff in the Sri Lankan government's “IDP” camps?

It has been reported this morning that Sri Lanka's “minister also told the British Foreign Secretary that there was concern that the LTTE would continue to consolidate its fortification of the No-Fire Zone.” Please confirm the accuracy of that, and of this and if so, does the UK interpret it as saying that an offensive on the No-Fire Zone and the civilians in it will begin? What did the UK Foreign Secretary say?

As of this press time nine days later, the formal answer has been referral to Minister Miliband's April 12 statement, and this. On April 21, Inner City Press put the question to U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice, whose spokesman the following day cleared this response: "UN personnel should have freedom of movement and be treated with respect." But they are still detained as of this writing. As more answers arrive or are released we will report them on this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/sc3srilanka042409.html

On Sri Lanka at UN, Mere "Remarks to the Press," UK Says IMF Loan Not Relevant

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/sc1srilanka042209.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 22 -- Despite the UN having warned of a "bloodbath on the beach" in northern Sri Lanka, and despite the UK and France having spoken loudly of what they would push for in the Security Council, Wednesday's informal Council session ended with mere "remarks to the press" by this month's president, Claude Heller of Mexico.

As Heller spoke at a microphone in the UN's basement, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's envoy Vijay Nambiar slipped quickly past the press. He left the UN's humanitarian deputy Catherine Bragg, who did not visit Sri Lanka, to speak for the Secretariat. Inner City Press asked Ms. Bragg to provide an update to the UN's figure for civilians killed between January 20 and March 7, 2683, which only became public because leaked to and published Inner City Press. Ms Bragg answered that

"We don't have any official numbers at all of the casualties. Unlike in other conflict situations where the government would have provided us with casualty numbers and that we would verify with other sources, we have not been provided with those numbers by the government so we cannot verify them. We only have estimates."

But she would not give a new estimate. This creates a situation in which it is in a government's interest to not provide information to the UN, because then the UN will be silent.

The Ambassador of the UK, John Sawers, spoke even before Heller. He was asked why the Council could not even come up with a Presidential Statement, as it did on the North Korean launch. He answered that the unanimity of the Council is important. Inner City Press asked Sawers about the UN's access to the screening points for those leaving the conflict zone, and for the UK's position on Sri Lanka's application to the International Monetary Fund for a $1.9 billion loan that would, many say, replenish the war budget and build detention camps in the north.

Sawers said that the UN does not have sufficient access to the "reception" points. He said that "the question of an IMF loan to Sri Lanka is not directly relevant." Earlier on Wednesday, Human Rights Watch had called the delaying of Sri Lanka's IMF loan application the only positive step taken by the countries who say they are concerned.

US Ambassador Susan Rice stopped at the microphone, but said at the outset that she would not take any questions, that she had somewhere to go. One would have liked to know her and the US's position on Sri Lanka's IMF loan application. The previous day, when Inner City Press asked her if the US is concerned about the ethnic aspect of the violence and detentions, she said, "The priority needs to be the physical protection of innocent civilians." Wednesday she specified that both sides are shooting at civilians as they leave the conflict zone, and that the International Committee of the Red Cross does not have adequate access.

Sri Lanka's Ambassador Palihakkara directly disagreed with this point, saying that both the ICRC and Caritas have full access. Palihakkara was seen talking with Ambassador Rice's colleague Rosemary DiCarlo after the Council session, perhaps on this point.

Inner City Press asked Palihakkara a series of questions, quickly transcribed afterwards:

Inner City Press: The UN has said staff is held in these camps without being able to leave. UN says they've been complaining since February. Why aren't these people released?

Amb. Palihakkara: First of all, UN staff are not held anywhere. These are our nationals, Sri Lankan nationals employed by the UN who have come out of the LTTE hold and now, like any other normal civilians, they are in the IDP centers, and they are not held like in a detention camp, but they need to be screened like others, and I agree that it has taken too long to do that screening. ... I have myself strongly recommended that when the UN takes responsibility they be allowed to leave. They are working on that. It's not a policy issue. It's just taking a little too long. But we are working on that.

Inner City Press: Your country has been barring some journalists from going to the conflict zone or even the country at all. Why?

Amb. Palihakkara: I don't think anyone is banned. People going to the conflict area are taken when the conditions are [garbled]. I believe recently some journalists were taken and I think the Reuters correspondent went to the frontline area some weeks ago. ... I believe CNN correspondent filed a report. But perhaps we should broaden that access area.

Inner City Press: What was your view of Desmond Brown being sent by the UK as an envoy? And would IMF funds be used for IDP camp maintaining?

Amb. Palihakkara: Well, about Mr. Des Brown, I think our government has made our position clear that they were concerned about the procedure, not necessarily anything about the credentials of Mr. Des Brown or anything. So I don't want to add to that government's statement. ... [On the] IMF loan, I have to ask my colleague in Washington. ...

Finally, for this report, Inner City Press asked Claude Heller if the Council had gotten a broad enough range of information. He spoke of "appropriate channels" that he would not discuss. His statement, or "comments to the press" --

As you know, the members of the Security Council, we had an informal meeting this afternoon in order to consider the situation in Sri Lanka. The members of the Security Council, we heard a briefing from Mr. Vijay Nambiar on his recent visit to Sri Lanka including his discussions with the government of Sri Lanka. We expressed, all the members of the Security Council, our gratitude to Mr. Nambiar and our strong support to the Secretary-General for his ongoing efforts on Sri Lanka.

The Security Council members, we expressed our deep concern about the humanitarian situation in the Vanni region and the plight of the civilians trapped within the conflict area and we call on all member states to provide urgent humanitarian assistance. The Security Council members, we strongly condemn the LTTE terrorist organization for the use of civilians as human shields and for not allowing them to leave the area of conflict.

In this regard, the Security Council members, we demand that the LTTE immediately lay down arms, renounce terrorism, allow a UN assisted evacuation of the remaining civilians in the conflict area, and join the political process through dialogue in order to put an end to the conflict. The Security Council members, we urge all parties including the government of Sri Lanka to abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law and to allow international and humanitarian agencies access to those affected by the fighting.

The Security Council members, we welcome the news that the tens of thousands of civilians have escaped from the conflict area in the past few days and urge that further steps be taken to allow the safe evacuation of the remaining civilians to provide to them the necessary protection and assistance. We express also the importance of the UN role in assisting the Sri Lankan government in attending the present humanitarian crisis under the present dramatic circumstances, looking forward to the conclusion of the conflict. And we expect also that the Sri Lanka government will support the UN team that is in the field. That's the main elements of the conversation of the informal consultations that the Security Council members had this afternoon.

This will be updated, watch this site. One development was praised at Wednesday's NGO briefing, the delay at the International Monetary Fund of Sri Lanka's request for a $1.9 billion loan. It was supposed to be approved weeks ago, HRW's Anna Neistat said when asked by a correspondent from Xinhua. Video here from Minute 49:09. In mid-March, when Inner City Press asked the IMF's spokesman if any conditions would be attached, he said it was still being negotiated.

While Neistat said that human rights conditions can't be attached to loans, early in the the week at the UN, Jo-Marie Griesgraber from New Rules for Global Finance responded to Inner City Press' question about Sri Lanka's loan request by noting that under Michel Camdessus, military over-expenditure can be to considered a "non productive expenditure." Video here, from Minute 33:14.

And is the building of detention camps, now being funded by the UN, a legitimate "humanitarian" expenditure? To be continued.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/sc1srilanka042209.html