On Sri Lanka, UN's Holmes Tells Council to Speak with One Voice, Envoy Request

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/sc8srilanka043009.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 30 -- As the UN's top humanitarian John Holmes began a closed-door briefing of the Security Council in the UN's basement late Thursday, a copy of his presentation leaked to Inner City Press called on the members of the Council to speak with one voice and look for ways to end the fighting. Meanwhile, outside the room the Council met in there was not a single television camera. Even if outgoing Council president Claude Heller of Mexico became authorized to “speak with one voice” for the Council, it would not be recorded.

Inner City Press asked Heller if he and Mexico favor the appointment of a UN envoy to Sri Lanka. Two attendees of the Council's closed-door lunch with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said they remembered Heller making such a request. But a senior Ban advisor told Inner City Press the message was not received by Ban. This advisor said that the UN Secretariat's hope is to arrange some form of amnesty for most of the remaining Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam left in the conflict zone, but not the leader and founder. Inner City Press asked, just as an example, what about his son? That's what negotiations are for, was the answer. But the three brothers who run Sri Lanka, he said, have shown little interests. They feel they are about to win, he said.

The leverage points, then, are the pending IMF loan and the European Union's GSP Plus no tariff treatment of Sri Lankan textiles.

The senior UN advisor noted that while previously Sri Lankan presidents have been popular with Sinhalese nationalism, “when the economy tanks,” they lose elections and power. So the economic leverage, he said, is real. But will the EU even try to use it?

Holmes briefing also says that 13 UN staff, detained by the government and not commented on by the UN until the question was asked by Inner City Press, have been raised and fourteen, somehow, have been released. There is more to analyze about Holmes' statement, but for now Inner City Press as a public service puts it online, here. Live blogging will follow. Watch this site.

Update of 6:20 p.m. -- as US Ambassador Susan Rice left the still-ongoing meeting, one of her spokespeople said that should would not speak to the media -- well, there was no UN TV camera there -- but that her statement would be emailed to the press. Very strong, he called it. France's Jean-Maurice Ripert stopped and spoke, saying that Holmes said the government is still using heavy artillery, but that the LTTE must release the hostages.

Inner City Press asked if France supports the idea of a dedicated UN envoy. Ripert said that Nambiar has been there, Holmes has been there, Miliband and Kouchner have been there, there is no need for an envoy. He said that hopefully the Mexican presidency will come out with a statement for the Council at the end, but that since he had been in the building since 10 a.m., one of his colleagues would stay behind to work out that language. A direct request to the UN to send a UN TV camera down to make Heller's statement more official was rejected.

Update of 6:50 p.m. -- UK Ambassador John Sawers came out and took questions from three reporters. He was asked why the UK is not pushing for a "real" Council meeting, upstairs, and a real outcome. He answered that it is important that the Council speak with one voice. Inner City Press asked why the UK viewed Zimbabwe different, and pushed for a resolution even though it was vetoed. Sawers said that was different: Sri Lanka is a democratically elected government fighting a terrorist organization.

Then, when Inner City Press asked if the UK would use the EU GSP Plus tariff as leverage to make Sri Lanka hear the message, Sawers responded in a quote that will resonate:

"We're not in the job of penalizing the government of Sri Lanka."

Update of 7:15 p.m. -- In the closed-door meeting, they are negotiating the elements of remarks to the press. But now the two other reporters have left -- one, to be fair, promising to return. It's a progression downward: no UN TV camera, fewer reporters, less importance to what is said. Who decided not to send a camera this time? It's said it is a UN Secretariat decision.

Update of 7:24 p.m. -- Japan's Ambassador Takasu left the meeting, heads upstairs to the street. Inner City Press asks him, “Any elements to the press?” He answers, “They're still working.” And then he's gone.

Update of 8:02 p.m. -- Amb. Heller of Mexico, in his last act as Security Council president, emerged to find only one reporter waiting. A call went to summon a second, and after some time a third arrived. You can't have remarks to the press without the Press, he said. Heller made a statement nearly identical to what he said last time in the basement, and last week in the UN briefing room.. He was asked, is it true the Security Council is not prepared to penalize the Sri Lankan government in any way? Apparently not. Heller said these informal meetings have helped the situation.

Inner City Press asked, during the Mexican presidency the number of civilians killed in North East Sri Lanka rose, by the UN's count, from 3000 to over 6,500 -- so what did the meetings prevent. It could have been worse, Heller said.

John Holmes took questions.Inner City Press asked about reports of the use of an abandoned hospital in Kilinochchi as an interrogation center for young men selected from the IDP camps. Holmes said that interrogation and incarceration for up to a year is okay. Who is monitoring this process? No one, he said.

Inner City Press asked Holmes, are you in essence the UN's envoy to Sri Lanka? He said he doesn't want that post, that another one is not needed. You're the man, then....

Inner City Press asked Holmes about his comment, in his statement leaked to Inner City Press, about a new memorandum of understanding the government will require NGOs to sign. Inner City Press asked, what are your and the UN's concerns? The sharing of information, Holmes answered, in ways the NGOs can't live with.

Sri Lanka's Ambassador Palihakkara came last to take questions. Inner City Press asked him about the allegations about interrogations in the abandoned hospital in Kilinochchi. He said he was not aware of it. Nor, he said, has he read the proposed MOU that Holmes complained off, he said we could look into it. We'll be waiting. Inner City Press asked about something raised earlier in the day by a senior Ban adviser: amnesty for LTTE fighters before the rank of founder. That is being considered, Palihakkara said, but it is very sensitive, the LTTE killed the leader of a neighboring state. As the last reporter left, Inner City Press asked Palihakkara what the plan would be for the founder of the LTTE: transfer to India? Trial in Sri Lanka? Palihakkara wouldn't answer.

As Palihakkara walked away through a near empty UN basement, Inner City Press asked for Sri Lanka's position on a possible UN envoy to Sri Lanka, which it is said Mexico -- and the US -- have proposed. Palihakkara said, it depends for what. And then he was gone.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/sc8srilanka043009.html

At UN, France Opposes Human Rights in W. Sahara, Sudan Grandstanding

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/sudan1sahara043009.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 30 -- As a Security Council meeting on both South Sudan and Western Sahara droned on an hour past noon, US Ambassador Susan Rice emerged, looking around at the stakeout for her French counterpart Jean-Maurice Ripert. The issue was France's insistence that the Council's resolution on South Sudan should call on President al-Bashir to reverse his decision to expel international NGOs from Darfur.

China had countered that the resolution should then also note the African Union and Arab League position that the indictment of al-Bashir should be suspended. China proposed a compromise, sources tell Inner City Press, in which the resolution would refer only to two events in March, leaving unstated the indictment and expulsion. France said no, they would abstain and make a statement to explain why.

Simultaneously, France was opposing a Ugandan proposal to include human rights language in the Western Sahara resolution. Cynics guessed that the two disputes might become linked, with France getting its way on one and not the other. (As usually in such a trade off, Polisario of Western Sahara could be expected to get the short end of the stick). Polisario's own unpaid lobbyists from Independent Diplomat were on the scene, speaking also about the illegal exploitation of natural resources in Wester Sahara, including Europe's yen for fish, slaked also illegally off Somalia.

The UN's new envoy to Western Sahara, Christopher Ross, sat taking it all in. Inner City Press asked him about resources and human rights, questions he genially deflected. You look like Lynn Pascoe, Inner City Press finally said. I've heard that, he responded. And then went back into the meeting.

At 1:05 p.m., Ambassadors Rice and Ripert went back into the meeting, and the bell rang to convene the other members. Moments later, it was announced that consultations on both items is postponed to 4 p.m., with an emphasis the Western Sahara MINURSO human rights language. A Western P-5 Perm Rep said the Sudan resolution is agreed to. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/sudan1sahara043009.html

As Sri Lanka Descends to UN Basement, Underground Envoy Talk

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/sc7srilanka043009.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 30 -- In the run up to the Security Council's third “informal interactive dialogue” on Sri Lanka, slated for 5 p.m. Thursday in the UN basement, sources tell Inner City Press that a move is afoot to try to formally appoint a Special Envoy to Sri Lanka. Mexico, which passes the body's Presidency to Russia on Friday, is said to be looking to cap its schizophrenic month atop the Council by finally having an outcome, or output: an envoy.

Vijay Nambiar's trip on behalf of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is now widely viewed as a failure, even as buying more time for Colombo to continue its assault and siege on the conflict zone. Nambair, according to Ban, won a commitment by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to allow a UN humanitarian assessment team into the No Fire Zone. This commitment, if it was ever sincere, was immediately rescinded. Nambiar, a otherwise affable and approachable UN official, has yet to take a single Press question on what was in fact committed in Colombo.

U.S. Ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo did stop and speak with Inner City Press about the anticipated outcome of the upcoming basement meeting. “We would hope that the President would speak to the press again, but we'll see.” In fact, sources say that the idea of a UN envoy to Sri Lanka was - is? - an American idea, to raise the profile of the issue, opposed by the Sri Lankan government.

Wednesday, Inner City Press asked the UN's top humanitarian John Holmes, who is in charge of the UN's political strategy on Sri Lanka. Certainly not me, Holmes said. Okay then: who would make a good envoy? Realistically, who wouldn't be blocked by China or Russia? And will Mexico, mired in the Swine Flu problem, including its diplomatic aspect, be able to pull a rabbit out of its hat or sombrero on the last day of its presidency or is this just an illusion. La vida es un sueno, as the poem goes. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/sc7srilanka043009.html

Sri Lanka Disputes UN's Lack of Access, EU's Tariff Investigation as "Hype"

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/ocha8srilanka042909.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 29 -- The capture of the UN by Sri Lanka became clear Wednesday in back to back interviews with the UN's top humanitarian John Holmes, followed by Sri Lanka's Ambassador Palihakkara. Inner City Press asked John Holmes about Sri Lanka's arrest of UN staff, and cut off of pay to doctors in the conflict zone. Holmes said he wasn't aware of the arrests, and that the doctors, according to the government, might be "under pressure from the LTTE." Video here, from Minute 27:28. Holmes nevertheless complained for the record about Sri Lanka reneging on its promise to UN envoy Vijay Nambiar to allow a humanitarian assessment team into the conflict zone.

Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative to the UN Palihakkara, on the other hand, told Inner City Press that lack of access to the zone was the UN's fault. "They have to go on the ship" of the ICRC, he said, "security experts first." Palihakkara also dismissed the European Union's complaints about the exclusion of the foreign minister of Sweden, the next EU president. It is "a bit over-exaggerated," Palihakkara said, stating that the minister of Sweden has been "invited in May. "Everything about Sri Lanka is a bit hype now," he said.

The European Union, after the tsunami, granted Sri Lanka favorable tariff status under the GSP Plus program. When it expired in December, the EU said that a human rights investigation would be necessary to continue the favorable treatment. Sri Lanka refused the investigation team, but the status by some EU incompetence or loophole continues.

Palihakkara disagreed, saying that "it doesn't expire... there are technical criteria, twenty one core conventions. "All IMF loan questions, he referred to Washington, expressing surprise at French Ambassador Ripert's comments to Inner City Press that "the Americans are playing with the IMF loan," republished with attribution in the Times of London, click here for that.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/ocha8srilanka042909.html

Sri Lanka Damage Satellite Photos Withheld by UNITAR, IOM Staff Detained

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/iom1unitar042909.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 29 -- A UN agency produced satellite photographs of damage to the conflict zone in Sri Lanka, but unlike in the Gaza conflict did not release them to the public. The UN Institute for Training and Research has a program known as UNOSAT which produced the attached April 19 photographic report on "Satellite Detected Damages and IDP Shelter Movement in CSZ, Mulattivu District, Sri Lanka." Unlike UNITAR's January 10, 2009 report on Gaza, however, the Sri Lanka report was not released by the UN, but rather was leaked. Click here for a copy.

Inner City Press asked UNITAR director Carlos Lopez on April 29 to explain why his agency did not release the Sri Lanka photos. Mr. Lopez launched into an overview of UNOSAT, and then argued that the Gaza photos were produced for a donors' group, and hence were released. But for whom where the Sri Lanka satellite photos produced, and why weren't they released?

Lopes went on to say that once the Sri Lanka photos were leaked, the agency responded by putting them briefly online. But why weren't the photos released in the first place? As with UN OCHA's casualty counts, why were they withheld and so had to be leaked? We aim to have more on this.

At the same event with Mr. Lopez, the International Organization on Migration's director William Lacy Swing spoke about involving diasporas in post-conflict peace building. Inner City Press asked him how this process works in Sri Lanka, and to confirm or deny that there are IOM staff detained in government IDP camps. Swing said he wasn't sure, he thought there might have been one or two staff members "briefly" detained.

One of Swing's colleagues seated in the audience stated that there are IOM staff members in detention, and clarified that they are still in detention. Why didn't IOM say anything? Perhaps more tellingly, why didn't IOM's director even know he had staff members still detained by a government? Swing noted that he has been on the job only six months -- before that, he was the UN's envoy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo -- but since these detentions took place this year, one would expect him to have been told about them, and to speak publicly about them. Video here.

Footnote: Inner City Press also asked Swing about the IOM passing out pamphlets in the Czech Republic of the government's offer of one-way tickets to repatriate immigrants and even refugees. Swing said IOM is not involved in forced or even "stimulated" repatriations. But if the payment of money to leave and promise to not come back is not "stimulated," what is it? Spain and Japan, among others, run similar programs.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/iom1unitar042909.html

At UN, Sri Lanka Briefing Chased Into Basement by China, Swede's Exclusion Raised

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/sc6srilanka042909.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 29 -- With the UN's top humanitarian John Holmes just returned from a trip to Sri Lanka that even he has called “disappointing,” many Security Council members thought it obvious that he would provide a briefing, if only in the “informal interactive dialogue” format under which the two previous Council sessions have been held.

Inner City Press was told by Council sources that the Holmes briefing, to include the government's reneging on a pledge to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's envoy Vijay Nambiar to allow a UN humanitarian assessment team into the conflict zone, was slated to occur on Thursday, April 30 after a Cyprus agenda item, under the rubric “Other Matters.” To some, that seemed the least the Council could do, although one wondered if the Council would adjourn and move down to the basement, to drive home the point that Sri Lanka is not on its formal agenda.

On Wednesday morning, however, well placed sources told Inner City Press that opposition, led by China, has put even this stealth briefing into question. “It's not that China is not as humanitarian” as the others, Beijing's Ambassador argued. But they insist that no matter how many people are killed, the conflict in Sri Lanka is an internal matter.

With Russia slated to take over the Council presidency on Friday, May 1, it will become less likely that the Council will receive any briefings about Sri Lanka.

As of 11:42 a.m. on April 29, at least two Western countries, a Permanent and a non-Permanent member, believe that the Holmes briefing on Sri Lanka is on tap for Thursday, under other business. A better placed source said this is not agreed. At deadline it appears that following China's objection about location, Holmes may brief in the basement. Location, location, location. Watch this site.

Footnote: while Sri Lanka's refusal to grant a visa to the foreign minister of Sweden, the incoming president of the European Union, has apparently not been raised in the Council as such, one European Permanent Representative raised it to Ban Ki-moon. Inner City Press asked Mr. Ban about Sri Lanka outside the Security Council Wednesday morning. He responded, you have a briefing from John Holmes this afternoon. And about the Council, tomorrow afternoon? Watch this space.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/sc6srilanka042909.html

In Cote d'Ivoire, Elections Distant, Choi Upbeat on Sex Abuse but No Specifics, Trip

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un2cote042809.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 28 -- The UN's Ban Ki-moon's envoy to Ivory Coast, Choi Young-jin, gave a decidedly upbeat report Tuesday even as the Forces Nouvelles rebels threaten to pull out of the peace process if President Laurent Gbagbo doesn't finally hold the country's promised election before the end of 2009.

Stopping outside the Security Council where Inner City Press waited to ask questions, Choi acknowledged disappointment caused by the switch in temporal order under the “Ouaga IV” agreement, now putting unification before the holding of the election. But he pointed out that Cote d'Ivoire has a security force of 40,000, backed by an annual $200 million of a budget of $5 billion.

If the governments of Liberia or the Democratic Republic of the Congo had similar security forces, he said, the UN could be preparing to leave those countries. But it cannot leave Cote d'Ivoire until unification has happened, he added.

Choi's counterparts in Liberia and DRC, Ms. Loj and Alan Doss, might find this analysis surprising. In Congo, for example, the FDLR rebels are back on the rampages, as is the Congolese Army. Choi of course is better plugged in, on the UN's 38th floor at least.

Inner City Press asked Choi about what a Security Council Ambassador who was on the June 2008 Council Africa trip to Abijan said, that Gbagbo told him that France said that as long a French company was chosen and paid for the technical work of the election, the timing of voting didn't matter so much. Choi protested, but the fact remains that a Security Council Ambassador said it.

Inner City Press asked for an update on the Moroccan UN peacekeepers sent home for investigation and discipline after being charged with sexual abuse and exploitation in Ivory Coast. Choi said that all had gone well, Morocco is getting training. But what about discipline and accountability? Inner City Press e-mailed a request early Tuesday after noon to the Department of Peacekeeping Operations for simply information on the outcome of the repatriations to Morocco from Cote d'Ivoire, and to Sri Lanka from Haiti. But despite confirmation of receipt, 12 hours later no information had been provided. When it is, it will be reported here.

Footnote: the Security Council's upcoming Africa trip, presided over by Russia because it is its month with the Council's presidency, will now bypass not only Sudan but also Dungu in the Congo. Inner City Press joked with a Russian diplomat that perhaps the Lord's Resistance Army would arrange to meet and brief the Council elsewhere at the Council members' convenience.

Russia is much more focused on its May 11 meeting about the Middle East, to which neither the U.S. nor China have yet said who they'll send. If it's not Hillary, the Quartet cannot meet. And since Russia does not want to invite the new Israeli foreign minister, Arab ministers won't be able to come. What kind of meeting will it be? Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un2cote042809.html

On Sri Lanka, France Pitches Hospital Not IMF or Genocide, Ban Vs. Adada

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/sc5srilanka042809.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 28, updated -- As French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner was en route to Sri Lanka, his ambassador at the UN Jean-Maurice Ripert explained to Inner City Press Kouchner's reasoning for going, and for not cancelling his trip after Sri Lanka denied Sweden's foreign minister a visa, saying that France and the UK were only allowed in as two of the five Permanent Members of the UN Security Council.

"They have already left," Ripert said, referring to Kouchner and UK foreign minister David Miliband. "We have deployed a very important hospital structure, more than 1 [m]illion Euro for humanitarian help... the British have given 2 million something, so they want to go there and put some pressure."

Of Kouchner, Ripert said "he wants to install the hospital as close as possible to the conflict zone and he thinks he has to be there to be sure it goes there." Of the barring of Sweden's minister, Ripert said "it has been condemned by the presidency of the EU... We don't go there as Europeans, we go there are French and British. We have been the ones, I was the one last week starting the whole process. They will meet with the president and his brother the minister of defense."

Inner City Press asked about the EU's leverage over Sri Lanka on tariff issues, and the pending request for a $1.9 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund. "The Americans want to play with the question of the IMF loan," Ripert said, "what is important is to get the commitment to stop."

Supplemental analysis: the Ripert quote "The Americans want to play with the question of the IMF loan" is verbatim. However a desires has been expressed to add that the question of the IMF loan is being discussed, is in the air, by the American and others, but that France believes the priority should be on getting a commitment to stop, presumably the bombing and offensive military action in the "No Fire" zone.

Ripert was asked if what is happening in Sri Lanka might be genocide. He answered, "When you start a discussion of words, then one doesn't talk about the subject, you talk about the words."

Inner City Press asked if Vijay Nambiar told the Council that Sri Lanka had agreed to a UN humanitarian assessment mission to the conflict zone. "I'm not sure," Ripert answered.

At the UN's noon briefing on Tuesday, Inner City Press asked

Inner City Press: First, I wanted to know if the UN has any response to the Government’s barring and denial of a visa to the Swedish Foreign Minister. There was a three-country team there. Does the UN think that was a useful move?

Spokesperson: We don’t have any reaction at this point on this.

Inner City Press: And Mr. Holmes had announced a $10 million CERF grant to Sri Lanka. Given the issues that have arisen about the camps and detention and lack of freedom of movement, [are] there any kind of conditions on that money? And was there any development on the 13 UN staff members still held in the camps?

Spokesperson: We have no new development on the 13 staff members. They are still there. I can also add that Mr. Holmes stressed yesterday -- when he spoke publicly -– he stressed with Government officials the need for a humanitarian pause to conduct an assessment of the conflict and to bring in emergency supplies, including food and medical supplies. And he also asked for access to the screening points and the need for the release of those 13 UN staff members, and approximately 207 members of non-governmental organizations who are also trapped in the area. But you can ask further questions. In terms of the Fund itself, you can ask Mr. Holmes tomorrow, since you’ll get a chance to talk to him tomorrow afternoon.

Inner City Press: Maybe I didn’t understand correctly, but when Mr. [Vijay] Nambiar [the Secretary-General’s envoy to Sri Lanka] returned, it seemed like the Secretary-General put out a statement that there had been a commitment by the Government to allow a humanitarian team into the conflict zone. Since it hasn’t happened yet -– and there’s some confusion about what was actually committed to -– I just want to ask again if it’s at all possible to have some opportunity with Mr. Nambiar that he speak to the press and say what took place over there. Since he was the envoy.

Spokesperson: I think what Mr. Nambiar has said was reflected in the statements we put out. He had received the agreement of the Government. So I don’t have any further comments on that. In terms of what had actually happened since Mr. Holmes met with the President, you can ask your question to Mr. Holmes.

Inner City Press: But Mr. Nambiar -– since Mr. [Ibrahim] Gambari [and other] various envoys that the Secretary-General sends, they almost always brief the press. And you always say, “We’ll make the request”, and then they’re possible. Is there some reason -– can Mr. Nambiar brief or can he give some statement of why he’s not doing it?

Spokesperson Montas: He doesn’t have to do it, you know.

And coming out of the Secretary General's monthly lunch with the Security Council, Nambiar did not say anything.

Footnote: The politics of Darfur, or how the issue is concerned at the UN and in the West, were on display Tuesday at the Security Council's monthly lunch with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. While this event is decidedly closed to the press, well placed sources at the lunch immediately afterwards told Inner City Press that Mr. Ban assured "the Western powers" -- the US, France and UK -- that he had already spoken to his envoy to Darfur, Rodolphe Adada, about their concerns Adada has gone soft on Khartoum and President al-Bashir. This showed, the sources said, Ban's approach to Western powers, and these powers lack of seriousness, then, on the question of Sri Lanka.

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 13 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/sc5srilanka042809.html

In Sri Lanka, Access UN Claimed Nambiar Won Is Denied, Arrested Staff UNspoken For, IMF Loan and UK

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/sc4srilanka042709.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 27 -- While Sri Lanka's government's claim it had not been using heavily artillery is called into question by its own subsequent admission, the United Nations' statements are also questionable. On April 22, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that his envoy Vijay Nambiar had gotten a commitment from President Mahinda Rajapaksa to allow a humanitarian assessment team into the conflict zone. Five days later, Ban's Spokesperson acknowledged that what was presented as a commitment has not been implemented:

Inner City Press: On Sri Lanka, I wanted to know in light of the Secretary-General’s announcement last week that there will be a mission into the conflict zone by a humanitarian assessment, is that going forward or has it, as some of the reports have it, been blocked by the Government?

Spokesperson Montas: This is what John Holmes is trying to arrange.

Inner City Press: Currently, it was announced that it had been agreed to. Was it then un-agreed to?

Spokesperson Montas: It was agreed to. We don’t know where things are at this point. Mr. Holmes is there and he is the only one who has the answer to your question.

Inner City Press: And just also on Sri Lanka, I learned, and maybe you won’t know this off hand, but that in late 2008 two UN staff members were arrested by the Government. It now seems or I have been told and the UN didn’t say anything publicly, but some think they’re still being held. One is a UNHCR protection officer in Vavuniya; and the other one is a UNOPS driver; both arrested by the...[inaudible].

Spokesperson Montas: I don’t have that information. We can certainly have it for you. All I can say is that right now we have 13 staff members who are in the zone of conflict; and that is really all I have. [Video here]

This last is another indication of why the UN is not to be believed, particularly when it comes to Sri Lanka. When the government detained 13 UN system staff members and their families in "IDP" camps, the UN said nothing publicly until after Inner City Press asked about it at a UN noon briefing. Of the two arrests alluded to, Inner City Press has been told that the mother of a UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) staff member, the protection officer for Vavuniya, was charged with renting a room, unknowingly, to someone allegedly connected with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Both she and her son were arrested, and the mother reportedly died in prison.

The UN, local staff say, never spoke out on this, nor on a UN system driver from Kilinochchi who was arrested "for not speaking Sinhala." UN local staff have been arrested and detained on an ethnic basis, and the UN for all of its "never again" bluster said nothing.

With the foreign minister of the UK, France and Sweden slated for a whirlwind tour to Vavuniya on Wednesday, we question again the UK's Ambassador to the UN's statement that there is no connection between the $1.9 billion loan Sri Lanka is seeking from the IMF and the government's behavior. Perhaps there's no connection in the UK's approach...

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 12 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/sc4srilanka042709.html

On Darfur, UN's Three Voices Leave JEM and NGO Questions Unanswered

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un2darfur042709.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 27 -- In Darfur, the joint African Union - UN mission has three main officials, only one of whom, Rodolphe Adada, speaks with the press in New York. A fourth, General Karake Karenzi who was charged with war crimes, is now leaving the mission.

Mediator Bassole came to New York, but had no media availabilities. General Martin Luther Agwai, the force commander, also comes to New York, but as Inner City Press reported last week, his wife got a job with the UN Medical Service while moonlighting for a Nigerian NGO. This leaves Mr. Adada in his bow tie, speaking to the Security Council and reporters on April 27.

Adada dodged a number of questions, and gave rosy answers to others. Inner City Press asked him about confirmed reports that the Nepali UN police in Nyala are grounded, their armored personnel carriers stuck in Port Sudan. Adada said that is up to the troop contributing country. Inner City Press said, as DPKO told it, that the Nepalis are being required to go to the Czech Republic for training.

Subj: Question on Nepal FPU
From: DPKO
To: Inner City Press
CC: Office of the Spokesperson
Sent: 3/31/2009 7:09:37 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time

Hi Matthew, regarding your question at the Noon Briefing , here's what we have for you:

"There is a Nepalese formed police unit (140 strong), which has deployed to Nyala with all of its own equipment, except for eight armored personnel carriers (APCs) of Czech origin. The APCs have not been deployed from Port Sudan yet as the training package for these vehicles was not able to deploy in country due to visa restrictions on the technicians. To fix this, there's now an agreement now in place to send a Nepalese police personnel to the Czech Republic for training with these APCs."

Adada said he wasn't sure about that, that any "blockade" could be addressed with the Sudanese government. But what about the UN's or Nepali Army's incompetence?

Adada was glowing in his review of both the Justice and Equality Movement rebels, and Minni Minawi. Of the former, Adada did not answer Inner City Press' question about the impact of the death sentences handed down this month in Khartoum to 11 members of JEM for their role in the 2008 assault stopped across the Nile in Omdurman. Of the latter, Adada said he wanted to not be a part of the government, but is. Video here, from Minute 23:45.

He said he has information from the mediator -- Mr. Bassole -- that JEM will in fact rejoin the Doha talks. But when Inner City Press asked about charges by NGOs on a UN-affiliated web site that the government is shaking them down, Adada said he doesn't cover humanitarian issues, the UN's OCHA would know. Video here, from Minute 34:58. We're still waiting. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un2darfur042709.html

In Swine Flu's Shadow, Mexican Ministers Head to UN, Urgency Questioned, Football

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press atUN
www.innercitypress.com/un1swineflu042709.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 27 -- As the United Nations, U.S. and World Health Organization raised threat levels about swine flu, particularly in Mexico, a delegation from that country is scheduled to arrive at the UN in New York on April 29 for a session of the Security Council. Mexico holds the Council's presidency this month, and its Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa is slated to preside over an "open debate" about Children and Armed Conflict. Undersecretary for Human Rights and Multilateral Affairs Juan Manuel Gomez Robledo, reported on most recently by Inner City Press in connection with Sri Lanka, will also attend, along with other Mexican officials and staff.

The question is, how will the screening of those coming from Mexico impact the delegation and meeting? Another question, raised in light of the UN Medical Service scandals exposed here last week, is whether the UN would feel any duty to report to outside authorities if it discovered swine flu on its premises, technically international territory.

WHO's Deputy Director General Keiji Fukuda was asked why WHO is not recommending any travel ban. Meanwhile, European Union Health Commissioner Andorra Vassiliou urged Europeans to postpone non-essential travel to the United States and Mexico “unless it is very urgent for them.” While the issue of "Children and Armed Conflict" is pressing, is Wednesday's Security Council session urgent? It is noted that the Council, among its other urgent work, considers and imposes its own travel Bans.

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Monday made a rare appearance at the UN noon briefing, to read out a statement about swine flu. Then he said he could not take any questions, because he had an appointment at 12:10 with Norway's Minister of Environment and International development Eric Solheim. The time for that appointment had been changed. Perhaps Ban would ask Solheim about his Somalia envoy Ahmedou Ould Abdallah's acceptance of Norwegian support to prepare Somalia's Law of the Sea filing about its underwater drilling rights, a question the spokespeople for Ban and Ould Abdallah have so far refused to answer.

Footnote: just as Mexico stadia saw football games played without any crowds due to quarantine, Ban Ki-moon was a veritable picture of good health on April 25 playing football or soccer with UN diplomats at Chelsea Piers. It was for the cause of children's right to play, and presided over by Children and Armed Conflict envoy Radhika Coomaraswamy. The Ambassador of Paraguay was most forceful, spectators say, while his counterpart from Liechtenstein tangled with Ban's senior advisor Kim Won-soo. How this play will play out is not yet known.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1swineflu042709.html

At UN, Press Table Relocated by Implicated Security Official, Under Picasso Pretext, of Porno and Preferential Treatment

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/undss6chaos042709.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 27, updated -- A senior UN security officer, part of promotion irregularities exposed by a memo leaked to this publication by Department of Safety and Security whistle blowers, on Monday morning ordered the relocation of the press table that for three years has been to the side of Security Council entrance.

Captain Mark Hoffman, named for one of the now-questioned promotions in the leaked memo, pointed at the table and Inner City Press and told an officer under his command, that has to move. Asked for an explanation, he said, it is “blocking the Picasso.” There is a tapestry replica of “Femme Sur l”Echelle,” Woman on the Ladder, along the wall.

Inner City Press moved the table away from the front of the replica. Captain Hoffman persisted, no I am going to move it away from the Security Council. Inner City Press suggested that he ask the UN's Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit, which is charged with ensuring the media access to newsmakers at the Security Council and elsewhere. Hoffman announced his intent to MALU's chief, and had the officer under his command move the table to a back area where diplomats and others are allowed to smoke.

While Inner City Press assisted the officer in moving the table, it appears that Captain Hoffman's reasoning to order the relocation of a table that has been in the same spot for at least three years was retaliatory.

Beyond the promotion irregularity leak, which has given rise to a formal demand by the UN Staff Union for an independent outside investigation including of Captain Hoffman's superior Bruno Henn, last week following the arrest of UN employee for child pornography, Inner City Press asked the Office of the Spokesperson to confirm or deny that several senior DSS officers have been informed that they are under investigation for similar -- but non-child -- issues.

Inner City Press asked the Office of the Spokesperson

(5a) The child porn guilty plea, on which I am asking for updates on what the UN does, was by "Jose Antonio Ortega Osona, 40, a Spanish citizen who lives in New York, pleaded guilty Friday in Dartmouth provincial court to a Criminal Code charge of possessing child pornography and a Customs Act charge of smuggling prohibited goods."

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/9011475.html

(5b) Finally, for now, a simple factual question best answered in this format / medium:

please confirm or deny that there are several senior DSS / SSS officers at UNHQ in NY who have received letters of reprimand for pornography, and explain any difference of treatment from that accorded on the same charges to a lower level staff member. To ensure your answer, I suggest you ask OHRM, OIOS and DSS.

While the Spokesperson's Office has yet to answer the question, DSS sources tell Inner City Press that Hoffman is among the officials now belatedly being considered not for promotion but demotion. We continue to await the Spokesperson's Office's answers to the questions asked last week.

A lower level UN official lost his job for viewing and forwarding pornography, as Inner City Press reported. Many now complain that higher ups engaged in the same behavior are being given preferential treatment. To cover the Security Council from a table that has for at least three years been open to all reporters is not preferential treatment. But its arbitrary removal is viewed as retaliation, as yet another sign of lawlessness in the UN, in this case by a purported representative of the law. We will have more on this.

Update of 11:30 a.m. -- after the above report, the table's relocation was partial revoked, and the table moved back to the side of the Security Council entrance. "I got calls from the highest levels," Captain Hoffman came to Inner City Press to say, quite affably. Let's hope it stays that way.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/undss6chaos042709.html

At UN, Dodging Questions on End-Game Sri Lanka, Somalia's Pirates of the Pen, Fowler and Nairobi UN Intrigue

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un4269muse042609.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 26 -- As in Sri Lanka's “No Fire Zone” the dangers for civilians grew throughout the week up to the government's rejection of calls and offers for cease-fire [Inner City Press debate video here], in New York the UN's Spokesperson's Office tried to answer even fewer and fewer questions. For the first time, the Office repeatedly implied that was or is some limit on the questions that can be asked.

It began on Monday, when the Office canceled its normal question and answer session to put all focus on Ban Ki-moon denouncing Iranian President Ahmadinejad. Tuesday Inner City Press asked Deputy Spokesperson Marie Okabe:

Question: I have several questions, in part because the noon briefing was canceled yesterday. First, on Sri Lanka -- on the Secretary-General’s statement yesterday, where he says he deplores the continued use of heavy weapons in the vicinity of civilians and the use of force by the LTTE -– who, is he saying, is using the heavy weapons? And if he is saying it is the Government, why doesn’t he put it in the statement?

Deputy Spokesperson: I think the Secretary-General’s statement was very clear and very strong yesterday. And as I mentioned to you in a note that I was reading to you while you came in and were setting up shop, the highest priority for the United Nations right now is access to the victims, which is precisely why the Secretary-General has done what he can and is doing what he can in order to get the assistance and access to the people who are in desperate need of urgent humanitarian assistance.

And to your comment on the cancellation of the noon briefing yesterday; the reason for that was that, at precisely the same time that the noon briefing was scheduled, the Secretary-General was having an important press conference together with the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, on a subject that was at the top of the news. Even though we could not get yesterday a two-way Q and A session -– which we hope to do in the future –- because of the importance that item took yesterday morning, we decided to try to get it to reporters here in real time. So that is the explanation for that.

Question: Just on that, it would have been helpful to take questions after his press conference.

Deputy Spokesperson: We took your questions. I took your questions in our Office and we responded to your questions like we normally do, okay?

Question: Fine. On this access in Sri Lanka, can you explain how... It has been said from this podium that the UN staff members who have been detained in the IDP camps, that the UN – although they had not announced it publicly – had repeatedly complained and tried to get them released. The Sri Lanka Government had said the first they heard from the UN had been 15 April, two days after it was raised here. Can you explain the discrepancy, or does the UN say Sri Lanka is mis-speaking as the UN’s complains?

Deputy Spokesperson: I don’t know exactly about the timeline that you are speaking of, so I am going to have to refer to OCHA to provide answers to that. All I can tell you right now is that today our imperative is for UN staff to be allowed to have access to these victims....

Question: There is one question I asked yesterday, so I will ask it again, and there is something new today. What I asked yesterday was what is the UN’s response to more than 100 Sudanese killed in South Sudan and a report that UNMIS had been recommended to do further patrols in Jonglei State and did not done so.

Deputy Spokesperson: My understanding was that Yves had gotten back to you on that, but if he has not, I will ask him to send you the answer on that.

[The correspondent was told that the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) is currently assessing security and humanitarian needs in the wake of last weekend's violence. In the five weeks since the violence of 5-13 March, which rocked Pibor County in Jonglei State, UNMIS has conducted enhanced patrolling activities in various locations in the State, engaged in pre-emptive deployment of UNMIS troops in order to better protect civilians in Bor County, and worked closely with the Jonglei State Government to support its efforts to stabilize the security situation on the ground.]

Question: There is a UN staff member, José Antonio Ortega of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), who has been arrested in Halifax, Canada, for procuring child pornography. Does the UN have knowledge of this, and what will the UN do about this?

Deputy Spokesperson: The only thing I have on that story that you refer to is that Mr. Ortega is a staff member of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Mr. Ortega was on a personal trip and left on Thursday, 9 April, for Canada. He was expected to be back in the office on 13 April but did not show up. His office could not get in touch with him. We were still trying to find out about his status until late last week, when news of the court case was announced in the Canadian press. The matter is taken very seriously by the United Nations and it has already been referred to UN Security and the Office of Human Resources Management for action. That is all I have for today.

Question: In terms of seriousness, there is a report that the Head of Operations of the UN Centre in Nairobi, Alexander Barabanov, who was found by Kenya to have an illegal weapon, is still serving the UN. A series of letters has been sent to Angela Kane and OLA trying to get authority to discontinue his service to the UN, due to the illegal gun. Is he still in service, and if so, why?

Deputy Spokesperson: I don’t have any information on that. I have to look into that for you.

On that note, have a good afternoon and see you tomorrow.

But no further information was provided. Ban Ki-moon, meanwhile, was in Malta.

On Wednesday things grew even worse:

Inner City Press: Two things: There is a report of the FDLR killing 14 civilians in Kivu Province. Is that something that MONUC can confirm, and what steps are they taking? Also, I have been wanting to ask you about this thing of Ahmedou Ould Abdallah in Somalia, where it has emerged that he raised funds from Norway and, I believe, Kenya, to submit a report to Somalia under the Law of the Sea about drilling rights off shore. Did he check with the Secretary-General before he did that? How does he decide to use a drilling or oil-producing country’s funds to do a filing for Somalia?

Deputy Spokesperson: I am not aware of the report on Mr. Ould Abdallah, so I have to look into that for you. The other one on MONUC, we have not seen anything from MONUC today, but we can follow up.

Question: The UN radio, Radio Okapi, reported the number of 14, so it seems strange... Can we say that it is a UN report that the FDLR is back in action?

Deputy Spokesperson: I am not aware of the report, so we will have to check that, or you will have to check with MONUC.

Have a good afternoon.

Again, there was no follow up, including after a Wednesday email to Ould Abdallah's spokeswoman. Thursday it continued:

Inner City Press: Yesterday, Mr. Nambiar did brief the Council, but he did not speak to the press. Is there some reason... Even Mr. Gambari, when he goes on similar ventures, speaks to the press and answers questions. First, can you say why he did not? Also, some parts of his meetings were described as involving this humanitarian team. But did he have political discussions, and if so, what was the message he carried to the President of Sri Lanka?

Deputy Spokesperson: The message he carried was the message that the Secretary-General has stated publicly many times over. We have been reporting to you about that. The Secretary-General himself has commented now on the situation a short while ago. Those remarks are available to you. News stories have already been picked up on what the Secretary-General said, which is why we asked Catherine Bragg to come here today to brief you on the humanitarian situation, which is the most acute problem that we are trying to address at the moment.

Question: Is it possible to get either a stakeout or a press conference by Mr. Nambiar, because he was the main envoy that went there?

Deputy Spokesperson: I think the Security Council heard his briefing, has commented on that, and has issued a press statement by the Security Council President on which the Secretary-General himself already commented and I would like to draw your attention to that. So the answer: I don’t think so, okay?

Question: Did he stop in India on his way back from Sri Lanka, and if so, did he have any meetings?

Deputy Spokesperson: I am not aware of any meetings that he had in India.

Question: A question about Mr. Fowler. Repeatedly, questions arose while he was detained, and you said that not to jeopardize his safety you would not answer. Now that he has been released, I want to know several things. First of all, is it the case, as reported that he that day visited a Canadian-owned goldmine in Niger? If so, is that a trip he had informed the Government of and was it related to his UN mandate? Why was there no security along? Did he have UN issued travel orders? Was the DSS told of his trip in advance?

Deputy Spokesperson: Security issues are not something that we discuss in public. At the moment, the Secretary-General just recently released the statement welcoming his release. He has just been released. I am sure that after he receives immediate attention, medical attention, other attention that he needs, he will have a debriefing. But, at the moment, I have nothing beyond the fact that we are very relieved that he has been released. The Secretary-General’s statement, I think, reflects that.

Question: Is the UN going to conduct any kind of inquiry into the seeming irregularities...

Deputy Spokesperson: Nothing beyond that. Thank you very much.

Given the UN's silence, we are preparing a follow-up report on the case of Mr. Fowler and his colleagues. On Friday, Sri Lanka was again the initial focus:

Inner City Press; In Sri Lanka, there is an Excel document that was distributed by the UN in Colombo, called “verified data” 6,432 killed. So it is now on the UN relief website. Many people are curious why the UN is distributing what it calls “verified casualties figures” to diplomats. Can we say this is the UN number?

Deputy Spokesperson: I asked the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs that question. You asked the senior official of that Department yesterday. They tell us that the numbers are unverified, but while unverified, this might be a reasonable estimate. That is what I have for you.

Question: Okay. I guess we will hear from UNHCR about the humanitarian assessment mission to the north. My questions is: the diplomats of Sri Lanka have been quoted as saying, there is no longer a need for this trip, both the Foreign Secretary and others. Is the trip to Jaffna by Mr. Buhne, that is what Ban Ki-moon was talking about as the “emergency mission”?

Deputy Spokesperson: That is correct. I refer you to what I read at the beginning of the briefing.

Question: My other question has to do with the Medical Service. I just wanted to know a simple thing: the doctors and nurses in the UN Medical Service on the fifth floor -- is it the UN’s position that they have to have licenses, and do they distribute controlled substances like Valium and others. And have recently prescription pads of a number of them been taken away and the DEA...

Deputy Spokesperson: I have no information on what you are referring to.

[The correspondent was later given the following answer:

The Medical Services Division (MSD) provides a comprehensive occupational health service to UN staff system-wide, including health promotion, clinical care, and travel health services, as well as advice to the administration of the UN, its funds and programmes, and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the Department of Field Support on clinical and medico-administrative issues. In addition, MSD provides medical advice to UN medical facilities across the globe, coordinating implementation of UN policies on medical and health care. The overall goal is to improve staff health, lower risk, and ensure that job demands are met.

The Medical Services Division in New York does not provide a primary care service to staff, referring staff instead to the local health system for definitive management of any medical conditions detected. A requirement for recruitment of doctors and nurses employed by the United Nations is that they are registered to practice their professions in their country of origin. A limited quantity of medications is maintained on site, and stock control is rigorously performed, and is verifiable, according to standard pharmaceutical control norms.

The recent allegations regarding pharmaceutical control measures at the United Nations are not new and are in fact being investigated by the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS). The Medical Services Division has provided its full cooperation to OIOS in that regard.]

Click here for Inner City Press' exclusive story. We will have more on all this.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un4269muse042609.html

At UN, Few Press for Sri Lanka, Squeeze on N. Korea, Qazi Won't Talk

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un4249muse042409.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 24 -- The UN on Friday was a study in priorities, or said otherwise, hierarchy. With 6432 killed in Sri Lanka since January 20, when Security Council president Claude Heller of Mexico came out of the Chamber to make belated "remarks to the press," he found no reporters there.

Most were down in the basement, waiting for news from the North Korea sanctions committee. So Heller and his UK counterparty John Sawers strode into the UN's briefing room, and in less than a minute the refugee agency expert who was speaking was taken off the podium. Heller spoke and then was asked, by Inner City Press, are you asking for a ceasefire? No, the answer came.

Even if Heller had spoken at the stakeout, there might have been problems with the sound. The outside contractor which runs UN Television, the Venue Services Group, has fallen so far that it did not meet payroll this week. The technicians were working without getting paid. When Inner City Press first asked about and reported on the firesale of VSG's assets, the UN said it was being taken care of. Now what?

Earlier, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin stopped to ask the Press, where is the Ecosoc chamber? Some say this organ, as they call it, was supposed to be as strong or stronger than the Security Council. But when a major power's ambassador doesn't even know what it is, it says a lot. Then again, a Security officer asked to see Churkin's i.d. card to let him into the Council.

On the Council's agenda Friday morning was the routine three month update on UN Mission to Chad and the Central African Republic, with the feline name MINURCAT. A major development during the reporting report was the killing of a Togolese UN peacekeeper by a French legionnaire serving under the European Union's EUFOR mission' flag. Inner City Press is told that Ban Ki-moon's office on the 38th floor had prepared a statement on the killing, until it was pulled back at the past minute. It was the first time, some said, that the killing of a UN peacekeeper went unremarked by the Secretary General.

The previous afternoon, the Press had been promised a stakeout Q&A with the head of the UN Mission in Sudan, Ashraf Qazi. Fighting in South Suden recently killed 200 people; Qazi was quoted -- misquoted he said -- that the UN Mission provided evidence to the International Criminal Court leading to President Bashir's indictment. One expected, then, Qazi to want to talk. But he took a look outside the Council, and then took off down the hall. Billion dollar mission and no time to talk to the press.

Uganda's diplomat, on the other hand, at least stopped to laugh at his own delegation's draft Presidential Statement. It expresses concern about coups d'etat in Africa, without naming any of them. Madagascar? Mauritania? Why not Fiji, further afield? Inner City Press asked about the status. "We're very close," was the answer, accompanied with laughter, so fit for the UN.

The UN day ended, where else, in the basement, where right at the deadline the North Korea sanctions committee named three entities for an asset freeze. North Korea's deputy permanent representative Pak Tok Hun took to the microphone and spoke of the right to explore outer space. If the Security Council is not reformed and democratized, he said, we expect nothing from it. The same was expressed earlier by a Western Sahara diplomat, who said they wouldn't join the Council even if, through a series of long shots, it were offered.

Because they were first to release an e-mail statement, we'll give the last work to the UK's John Sawers, followed by a still unanswered question.

John Sawers, UK Permanent Representative to the UN, said: "The UN Sanctions Committee on the DPRK has today adopted, as agreed in the Security Council's Presidential Statement of 13 April [PRST/2009/7], a list of goods and entities to be designated under Security Council resolution 1718.

"The Sanctions Committee agreed that UN Member States shall freeze the assets of Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation (KOMID), Korea Ryonbong General Corporation and Tanchon Commercial Bank. KOMID is the DPRK's primary arms dealer and main exporter of equipment related to ballistic missiles, with offices in a number of foreign countries. Korea Ryonbong General Corporation plays an integral role in the DPRK's import and export of military goods and equipment. And Tanchon Commercial Bank is the DPRK's main financial agent for the sale of conventional arms and ballistic missiles.

"The Committee has also agreed to update the list of goods whose import to and export from the DPRK are banned, to bring it in line with current international best practice.

"Unanimous agreement among all Security Council members to these measures, which are legally binding on all UN Member States, represents a major step forward in terms of international action to disrupt and deter the DPRK's WMD and ballistic missile programmes. The UK will continue to urge DPRK to re-engage with the Six Party Talks."

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/un4249muse042409.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