At UN, Draft Resolution on North Korea Leaked to Inner City Press, Paragraph 8 Discussed

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: Exclusive
www.innercitypress.com/unsc1may2dprk052809.html

UNITED NATIONS, May 28 -- Five days after North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test, a draft resolution emerged behind closed doors at the UN Security Council. The three-page draft, a copy of which Inner City Press has exclusively obtained and puts online here, has 14 operative paragraphs, one of which, Paragraph 8, is still subject to discussion.

Paragraph 6, for example, calls on "all Member States immediately to enforce the measures that were put in place by resolution 1718 (2006)" and in the Presidential Statement earlier this year, after North Korea's launch of a rocket that it called a satellite. Paragraph 2 "demands that [North Korea] not conduct any further nuclear test or launch."

While the draft resolution seems unlikely to change North Korea's course, it has been the subject of intense journalistic interest at the UN in New York, particularly by Japanese media, who have remained camped out in front of the Security Council during meetings on Abkhazia, Somalia, and on May 28, Bosnia and the Congo.

The US Mission to the UN on May 27 held a by invitation only briefing of selected journalists, after which stories were published quoting anonymous Western and American diplomats that there was an agreement in principle but that no draft would be circulated until next week.

On the morning of May 28, Inner City Press obtained the draft resolution that, as a must-credit exclusive, it puts online here. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/unsc1may2dprk052809.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

After N. Korean Test, Eyes Turn to Empty UN, Ban At Interment Camp Builder

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/unsc1may1dprk052509.html

COPENHAGEN, May 24, updated NYC 6 pm -- As North Korea bragged about its underground nuclear test, attention shifted to the United Nations in New York, which was closed on Monday for the American Memorial Day holiday but where an emergency session of the Security Council is to expected later Monday.

At 2 a.m. Monday in New York, the Japanese mission sent the following to the Press

"On 24 May at approximately 23:50, H.E. Mr. Yukio TAKASU, Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations requested the President of the Security Council to convene an urgent meeting of the Security Council to consider the nuclear test by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, under the Council’s agenda item entitled 'Non-proliferation / Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.' The time of the urgent meeting is planned tomorrow afternoon, but as soon as it is set it will be communicated."

Just after 2 a.m., the White House issued a statement by President Obama, concluding that "We have been and will continue working with our allies and partners in the Six-Party Talks as well as other members of the U.N. Security Council in the days ahead."

Meanwhile UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, previously South Korea's foreign minister, was not in New York but rather Copenhagen, set to give a speech before a relatively obscure UN agency, the Office of Project Service, and then to fly to Finland.

Ban had arrived in Denmark Sunday morning on a UN plane from Sri Lanka, where he toured interment camps ringed with barbed wire and soldiers, planned and built by UNOPS, and was flown over the shattered "No Fire" zone in a military helicopter. (Click here for Inner City Press' eye-witness account.) Perhaps, said one wag, Ban would soon selectively tour the UN's dubious projects in North Korea, where UN Development Program funds were diverted to dual use technology with no oversight.

When North Korea in 2006 shot off a missile, the Security Council met until it passed a sanctions resolution. Earlier this year, the launching of a rocket that North Korea called a satellite yielded a far weaker statement. Nevertheless, North Korea reacted by scrapping the Six Party Talks and vowing further tests.

Before and after the rocket / missile test, the UN's Ban Ki-moon was strangely silent about North Korea, including its arrest of journalists as alleged spies. In the month of April, he told the Press, he was in New York only three times, for a total of five days. To be fair, perhaps no UN Secretary General, even one from the Peninsula, could have an effect on the situation in North Korea. But, some ask, should one at least pretend to try?

From Hanoi at an ASEM meeting discussing among other topics Myanmar, the Japanese foreign ministry spokesman vowed that his country would request Security Council meeting and actions. Ban, according to his senior official and now reportedly himself, will travel to Myanmar in early July, what ever the outcome of Aung San Suu Kyi's kangaroo trial now underway. No time for North Korea, but time for UNOPS and Finland? We will be covering the response to North Korea from the UN, Security Council and Secretary General, watch this site.

Update on May 25, 6 pm, UN in NYC: After 2p.m., 12 hours after Obama's statement in his own name on the DPRK's test, Ban Ki-moon in a statement attributable to his spokesperson said he "will remain in close consultation with all concerned." Does that include the DPRK? The Security Council met at 4, and barely an hour later broke up, issuing a short press statement that they will work toward a formal resolution. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/unsc1may1dprk052509.html

As Tamil MPs Are Rebuffed in Sri Lanka, UN's Ban in Denmark, No Answers

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/untrip2may6srilanka052509.html

COPENHAGEN, May 25 -- Even after UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon left Sri Lanka after his less then 24 hour tour, controversy continued to dog the trip, seem by many as giving the UN's blessing to war crimes and domination of the Tamil minority. Sources there say that while Ban Ki-moon left the press waiting on the UN plane -- well, Inner City Press was on the tarmac -- the following occurred:

"R. Sampanthan, a parliamentary group leader of Tamil National Alliance (TNA), had made arrangements to meet UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon prior to his departure at the VIP Lounge of the Bandaranaike International Airport. The Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry had made arrangements for this, however the Defense Ministry of Sri Lanka refused the delegation entry into the Airport, denying the Tamil representatives from meeting the UN Secretary General."

No word of this reached those in the bubble of the UN plane ostensibly covering Ban's trip to Sri Lanka. Ban's personal spokesperson first told the Press he would brief on the plane. Then this was canceled, and he spoke with only four reporters, one on one, on topics such as climate change and the demise of former South Korean president Roh.

When the UN plane landed in Copenhagen at 9:50 a.m. Sunday local time, Inner City Press headed for a variety of reasons to the city's Bella Center, where Ban slated to give a speech on climate change and business. From outside Bella Center, Inner City Press called Ban's personal spokesperson, who said there was no way she could allow access to the Center, even to cover and question Ban. Nor would the UN Global Compact, an ostensible co-sponsor of the business-heavy event, provide access when asked. Something is fishy in Denmark.

Meanwhile a UN system staffer in the Bella Center parking lot told Inner City Press his job for the day was to escort the wife of Jan Mattsson, the head of the UN Office of Project Services, to visit with Ban's wife, and to stand off to a side in the hotel while this happened. He said that it would be difficult for Inner City Press to gain access to UNOPS' new Copenhagen headquarters, where Ban was slated to deliver another speech.

There have been protests in Copenhagen by "those people from Sri Lanka," he said, referring to Tamils, who he said wanted to speak with Ban while he was in Copenhagen. Fat change, one wag said. The victory tour in over, and now climate change and even an early July visit to Myanmar are the future. Sri Lanka, even to some NGOs, is the past. This is called victor's justice, in this case obscenely blessed by the UN for its convenience and purported relevance.

Why is the UN paying for militarized IDP camps ringed with barbed wire? This is a question that must and will be raised.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/untrip2may6srilanka052509.html

UN's Holmes Expected His Comments on Tamils Would Not Be Reported, Access Conditioned on Air-Brushed Coverage?

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/sri1holmes052309.html

UN PLANE / COPENHAGEN, May 24, modified May 26 at NGO request -- Nearing the end of UN Secretery General's Ban Ki-moon's 16 hour tour of Sri Lanka, during which twenty reporters were carted in two military helicopters from Colombo to UN-funded interment camps then over the shattered No Fire Zone, a question that arises is why does the UN take the Press with it?

While it should be so that the UN's work and world problems can be covered, some UN officials apparently feel its a quid pro quo for propaganda. Only what they say that casts them in a heroic light should be reported. If they do not like a story, they can shoot the messenger or try.

So it appears to some to be with John Holmes, the UN's erstwhile humanitarian coordinator. On the UN plane from Frankfurt to Sri Lanka, after Ban Ki-moon tpld the Press that Holmes and his Department of Political Affairs chief Lynn Pascoe would brief, clearly on the record, Holmes came back to chat with a photographer. Reporters gathered around and began some Q & A. At no point did Holmes say that it was off the record.

In fact, when Inner City Press asked him about UN envoy Vijay Nambiar's brother having written an op-ed praising Sri Lanka's assault on the Tamil north and the general who led it, Holmes said no comment. This strongly implies that answers that are given are on the record.

Holmes proceeded to make a series of statements that were telling and newsworthy. He expressed his view that Tamils in Sri Lanka long ago became disillusioned with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. He said the LTTE or Tamil Tigers were "only supported by the diaspora," whose members barrage him with "a lot of email, I just delete them anyway."

Imagine for a moment a UN humanitarian coordinator saying, Rwanda's Tutsis besiege me with emails so I just delete them.

Imagine this said in front of at least a half dozen journalists. Several or all of them would report it. But Holmes appeared to count on the reporters on the trip to Sri Lanka all sharing his view, about what a burden it is to receive e-mails from members of a group that feels itself under fire.

Along with four other stories, none of which drew open complaint from any other UN official, Inner City Press ran a short piece about Holmes' comments, uploaded well past midnight from the UN-chosen hotel in Colombo. The comment above seemed newsworthy and reflective of an attitude wider-shared in the Secretariat. Holmes is thought to be among the more articulate officials of this UN, often saying things that others in the Ban administration cannot or will not.

Inner City Press chose to leave unreported Holmes' comments about Mahinda Rajapaksa and his Ambassador to the UN, and other comments about the Tamil diaspora. (Click here for Inner City Press' coverage of Holmes first 2009 visit to Sri Lanka)

The next morning in the hotel lobby, another reporter told Inner City Press that Holmes was angry that what he had said had been published, and was expressing this anger to all and sundry, including other journalists whom he correctly thought would do his bidding. While Holmes never said "on background" -- a term of art in journalist and at the UN which Holmes has used in the past -- Inner City Press nevertheless immediately that morning modified the story, excising the part about Holmes deleting Tamils' emails and other things he said. Click here the modified story; the original was replaced on InnerCityPress.com on Saturday before the UN trip to north Sri Lanka.

Hours later, after a Ban Ki-moon speech in an open air World Food Program warehouse in the Manik Farm interment camp for Tamils which the UN funds, Inner City Press approached Holmes with at least some contrition to tell him that the story had been changed. "I won't talk to you anymore," Holmes said preemtively.

"But you never said 'on background'" --

"It wasn't even on background," Holmes said. "It was a casual conversation. It is not serious, it is not professional." Then Holmes walked away, to be flown over the blasted "No Fire" zone where he had already said that no people remained.

Not only was Holmes speaking to the Press on the UN plane just after Ban said Pascoe and Holmes would brief on the record in his stead, Holmes also was or should have been on notice of the Press' understanding when, for example, Inner City Press asked for comment on a UNHCR staff member still jailed by the Sri Lankan government for his mother have rented a room to an alleged LTTE member. (Click here for the story, which Inner City Press told Holmes had been uploaded from the Frankfurt airport while waiting for the UN plane. A UNHCR official approached Inner City Press in Colombo with an answer, but following Holmes, who knows for now if it is on the record.)

Holmes said he hadn't previously heard of the the humanitarian UN system staffer's case -- typical -- but that "if the facts are as you say." Such legalistic constructions, and Holmes' "no comment" to the question about Satish Nambiar, implied that what Holmes said was on the record.

In any event, different understandings of whether a comment is on the record or not are common, particularly at the UN, where almost always a perfunctory apology resolves the matter, and nearly invariably a modification of the underlying articles does. Why is Holmes or this Tamil topic, or Holmes and this Tamil topic, so different?

Inner City Press came to Sri Lanka to cover the recent slew of deaths and the inhuman UN-funded interment camps, not Holmes. In fact, it was advertised as a trip by Ban Ki-moon, with no mention of Holmes. One can cover humanitarian issues without any discretionary access to the emergency relief coordinator.

In public record press conferences, Inner City Press has in the past asked Holmes about such issues as OCHA losing $10 million to Myanmar's Than Shwe regime (and Zimbabwe) due to currency exchange manipulations and OCHA not advocating, at least publicly, for UN system humanitarian staff detained and arrested by the Sri Lankan government. Perhaps Holmes' advocacy on these issues was... off the record. Watch this site.

Footnote: the symbiosis between media and UN was shown again during the flight from Colombo. At first it was said that Ban would brief the gaggle of reporters during the refueling stop in Bahrain. Holmes came half way back and stood in the aisle. On the record? Off the record?

To ensure that Holmes' sensitivities wouldn't leave other reporters with fewer quotes, which is the coin of this realm, Inner City Press stayed in the back of the plane, awaiting Ban's appearance to ask about the status of the doctors who in the conflict zone had offered treatment and casualty numbers and are now detained, which Holmes said -- on the record? -- would be raised.

But Team Ban, apparently, went another way, summoning a few reporters for one on one interviews for their local markets. Such access can better be linked to positive coverage, they seem to feel.

For Holmes, most symbiotic is the British media, one outlet of which was heard musing earlier this month, Holmes says he'd like to come on at 1:15, but do we have any questions for him? Holmes is known to be closely following the British Parliament scandals.

While some in humanitarian circles say that ever since when at the UK government's nomination Holmes entered the UN's Ban administration he really wanted the Department of Political Affairs job, that might explain not only his comments assessing Tamil support for the LTTE in a way a humanitarian coordinator shouldn't but also his sensitivity to actual reporting of what he said without having uttered the required "off the record" or "background." Or, they wonder, does Holmes still have his eye on a future in the UK?

While he is at the UN, at least in the top humanitarian post, he shouldn't tell different stories to NGOs and the press, or if he does, he shouldn't be surprised it gets reported. The focus here is, after all, the protection of civilians, not politics.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/sri1holmes052309.html

As UN's Ban Leaves Sri Lanka, Questions Unanswered, Complicity in War Crimes?

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/untrip2may5srilanka052409.html

ABOARD UN PLANE, May 24 -- After Sri Lanka tried to compare the blown out "No Fire" zone with its barbed wire ringed interment camps for Tamils, and the UN's Ban Ki-moon offered praise and help, many troubling questions remained as the UN plane left Colombo. Is the UN assisting in war crimes?

At the canned press conference in Kandy, after meeting with Rajapaksa brothers who wear red sashes like blood across their chests, Ban's speech said "the Government is doing its utmost, I commend its tremendous efforts."

In the cut-off Q & A session, Ban took back what little criticism the UN had made of the killing of civilians, calling it a bloodbath. "I myself did not mention that the particular word, I want to make that quite clear," he said.

The Press was whisked by minibus from Kandy to the airport. (Inner City Press had asked for an extension of the two day visa given to cover Ban Ki-moon; it was never granted.) Along the route were hundreds of cult-like posters of Mahinda Rajapaksa. Everywhere there flapped Colombo's sword-wielding lion flag, as Tamil children in the Manik Farm IDP camp had been required to hold, along with UN flags while they sang an eerie song about Ban Ki-moon.

Imagine if Serbia had re-taken Kosovo, and invited the UN Secretary General to the retaken Pristina where it made Kosovar children save the Serbian flag.

At the airport the government had arranged another red carpet flanked by white-clad soldiers with machine guns with bayonets leading to the UN plane. Ban Ki-moon was late, having stopped with his entourage for a final dinner with the Rajapaska's.

Inner City Press paced the tarmac, threw questions at entourage members as they belated ran to the plane. The communications director said it could be a while, he would go to the plane to sleep. Vijay Nambiar's colleague confirmed that, yes, Nambiar would be leaving with the UN plane, his week-long clean up job complete. When finally he boarded, Inner City Press joked, welcome back. I haven't been on the UN plane in a while, Nambiar said with a smile.

Inner City Pres went to the front of the VIP terminal, where Sri Lankan functionaries waited with umbrellas in case the skies opened. A UN staffer said it might be a while, Ban was in the terminal doing interviews. When finally he emerged and saw Inner City Press, camera in hand, he asked, "Are you coming back with us?" Yes was the answer, due to denied visa extension, no help from UN.

Sri Lanka's Ambassador to the UN stopped and asked if Inner City Press had been "able to talk to people." To some degree, yes -- for example, the Sri Lankan civil society member whose application to teach reconciliation in Vavuniya and Mannar has not been acted on. In the camps, the Press could speak to some of those interred, both only under the watchful eye of armed soldiers and other government minders. Some reporters even concluded that it was the UN, more than the Sri Lankan authorities, which tried to dissuade approaches to those behind the barbed wire.

On the plane, just before takeoff from Colombo, Ban stopped and spoke to the assembled Press about the suicide of his former boss in Korea, about the letter and white flowers that he sent. Inner City Press listened -- South Korea in those days was cutting edge in interactive media -- and then asked Mr. Ban, "Did you hear anything about the three doctors?" Ban stopped. Oh yes, I did, he said. I think they will address this issue.

But what about answering the questions: Why doesn't his Joint Statement with the government mention the interred doctors, or press freedom, or even the blocked NGO access to the camps? In an Orwellian construction, it has that "The Government will continue to provide access to humanitarian agencies." Why didn't Ban meet with any in the Tamil opposition or civil society? This UN is prejudiced toward governments, even when some say they turn genocidal. And Ban's UN so desperately wants to be relevant that regimes like Rajapaksa's can call Ban's bluff again and again.

During the flight from Colombo, at first it was said that Ban would brief the gaggle of reporters during the refueling stop in Bahrain. With the lights on and the engines off, a group assembled. But Team Ban, apparently, went another way, summoning a few reporters for one on one interviews for their local markets. Such access can better be linked to positive coverage, they seem to feel. Inner City Press was told that a Ban briefing when the plane lands in Copenhagen is not possible, as Ban has to run straight to a conference, late because of his dinner with the Rajapaksas, on which he took no Press questions. We'll have more on this.

The Rajapaksa regime, fresh from shelling and killed thousands of Tamils, used Ban Ki-moon's visit as propaganda. And Ban did not protest. As was as if, as one observer fearing death told Inner City Press, Ban's UN is so desperate to be able to say that a country wants it, "even a regime with blood on its hands," that it allows the UN "to be turned into a joke."

But perhaps today's UN system is often such a mirthless joke, speeding around what dictatorships still exist in white UNDP four by fours, sucking up to governments and excusing their massacres, even offering to clean up the death sites.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/untrip2may5srilanka052409.html

UN's Ban in Kandy, Never Called It a Bloodbath, No Word on the Doctors

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/untrip2may4srilanka052309.html

KANDY, May 23 -- At dusk after a fly-over the blasted No Fire Zone which many saw as ghoulish, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon went to meet Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa at his palatial home in Kandy. The security was tight -- the cellphones of the Press were confiscated for the duration -- and all three Rajapaksa brothers were there: beyond the President, his senior advisor Basil and the Defense Secretary. Also present were the country's former and current ambassadors to the UN, and the Foreign Secretary, formerly head of the UN Treaty Division. On a side table in the ceremonial front room was a picture including the President with George and Laura Bush.

Ban Ki-moon arrived with the Foreign Minister, and took a seat as the photographers' flashes lit up the room, complete with ivory tusks and a wood carving of Mahinda. As the photograph surged to catch the handshake, Ban's humanitarian chief John Holmes reached across the frame to shake other Sri Lankan hands. "Sit down," more than one photographer hissed.

Ban chatted about his visit to the camps while the President smiled broadly. Then the photographers were hustled out into the front yard, with an enormous tree and a flock of Mercedes Benz. Soldiers with machines guns jaunted around and the cell phones were returned. The reason for Ban's delayed arrival was not explained. Earlier on Saturday, a UN official told Inner City Press that Ban had been pressured to visit Kandy's famous Buddhist relic temple. Had Ban given in, one reporter wondered? Why had Kandy been the venue?

Nearly an hour later, Ban and the Foreign Minister appeared together again, though briefly at a press conference in Kandy's Queen's Hotel. In the sweltering room, Inner City Press commisserated with Elmo Alles of the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka. He explained that his group applied two weeks ago for permission to go to Vavuniya and Mannar to train NGO workers in reconciliation. So far there has been no response. The group has been told that everything must go through the Defense Ministry.

Elmo Alles would have asked, he told Inner City Press, if there is any international monitoring of the conditions of the IDP camps. If the question had been allowed, the answer would surely have been vague. Before the sound system sputtered and brought the proceedings to a close, Ban went out of his way to emphasize that he never called Sri Lanka a blood bath. Inner City Press' questions, including about the detained doctors, were not taken or allowed. And then the visa expired. This is how it is.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/untrip2may4srilanka052309.html

UN Shown Blown Out Land Devoid of People, UN Preaches Partnership Not Prosecution

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/untrip2may3srilanka052309.html

OVER NO FIRE ZONE, SRI LANKA, May 23, updated -- On three Sri Lankan military helicopters, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, his entourage and the Press were flown over the so-called No Fire Zone. Beneath lay shattered buildings and expanses of torn tents and burned out vehicles, even a burned out ship. The approach to the No Fire Zone was eerily quiet, with white birds flying over farmhouses with no roofs and livestock running free and untended. The government of Mahinda Rajapaksa, clearly, is proud of its handiwork. But what to make of it?

Consider, for a moment, if the Sudanese government offered tours of South Darfur, showing where it had routed the Justice and Equality Movement and burned out all the buildings, and then moved all civilians to interment camps surrounded by barbed wire and soldiers. Even more than now, advocates and Western countries would call "genocide."

But Ban Ki-moon on Saturday said, we must help the Sri Lankan government. He pledged aid for the interment camps. He came close to saying the pounding in the north was a cause for joy for many. What is the difference? Was this not a war crimes tour?

Strangely, there were some people down in the shattered Zone. They stared up at the helicopter and waved their arms. The copters did not stop. The excuse given, by or about the UN's Vijay Nambiar, was that the Zone is too dangerous to visit. But there were people walking there, among the tattered tents and running wild dogs.

After the mind numbing helicopter tour, reporter gorged on Sri Lankan Air Force curry and looked at the photos they'd taken. These are war crimes on a platter, said one, as another reporter returned for a second round of cashew curry.

The next stop, before any Internet, would be President Rajapaksa in the historic city of Kandy. It contains a famous Buddhist temple, and one UN official admitted to Inner City Press that Rajapaksa was adament that Ban come to Kandy, and wanted to parade him through the Buddhist temple of the tooth. Rajapaksa's really rubbing our noses in it, the official said.

When the UN is desperate to be relevant, this is what can happen.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/untrip2may3srilanka052309.html

In Manik Farm Camp, Children Forced to Sing to Ban Ki-moon, No Questions

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/untrip2may2srilanka052309.html

MANIK FARM, SRI LANKA, May 23 -- Beside printed banners welcoming the UN's Ban Ki-moon to "the motherland," Tamil children were paraded on Saturday with Sri Lankan flags, singing a high pitched chant, "Ban Ki-moon, Ban Ki-moon." While many found it ghoulish, given that these children are interred in these UN funded camps along with their families, Mr. Ban gamely smiled through it, taking a tour of the militarized camp with Sri Lanka's foreign minister.

Later he was taken to an open-air hospital, where severely ill elderly people lay writhing in pain, flies all over them. Ban bent down and held a woman's hand, while the woman next to her looked, frankly, dead. A cameraman on this gruesome tour stepped on woman lying with an IV on the ground, without noticing. Ban stood and whispered an interview to the BBC. "We need to go for the fly-over," a security officer hissed.

"He's speaking to the Press," a Ban handler replied. This is important. The fly-over was pushed back. The now-empty lands from which these people came could wait.

A husband stopped the Press to show his wife's thigh, cut by a government artillery shell. We need help, he gestured. But to name him might result in even more problems. A woman gave an interview through barbed wire to a gaggle of reporters, translated by a UN staffer from New York who helpfully spoke Tamil.

She gave her first name, and complained that they can't leave the camp. Then the soldiers told her and the crowd around her to back away from the fence and media. A reporter called after her, "what is your last name?" She looked worry before giving it, so Inner City Press does not print it.

What is the UN's role in these camps? Why do they let the Sri Lankan government use UN Photos of Ban and Rajapaksa for propaganda banners? How should Ban react to the forced singing of his name?

Earlier on Saturday, Ban Ki-moon and his officials received a one-way briefing from Sri Lankan interment officials. In a meeting room with two slow turning ceiling fans and a multitude of armed guards, three speakers berated Ban and his top humanitarian and political officials about how much they are doing for the people they displaced, in large part.

The government speakers chided the West for lack of aid, said that India (and in one previously reported Kouchner case, France) were alone with medical help. Later Ban was shown some blue tents and told, these were given by China. Ban nodded and later said, we have to help the Sri Lankan government.

During the one-way briefing, Inner City Press said after one speaker, "Can we ask questions?" Ban's officials turned and looked, but the government continued with its endless Power Point presentation, about bank branches and book sales.

Then a Ban handler told Inner City Press to leave the hall and go to the minibus. Outside, soldiers told photographers to put down their cameras. When one reported approached the barbed wire to speak to those behind it, it was representatives of the UN who said not to do it. Perhaps this was wise and protective. But why then is the UN funding these camps?

And see, www.innercitypress.com/untrip2may2srilanka052309.html

On UN's Sri Lanka Trip, Holmes Did Not Favor It, NGOs Phase Out Work

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/untrip2may1srilanka052309.html

SRI LANKA, May 23, modified May 26 at NGO request -- As UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and his top humanitarian official John Holmes are whisked via military helicopter to government selected camps for Internally Displaced People and a mere fly-over the beach-front Zone of Death, minutes of a meeting earlier in the week in New York between Holmes and non-governmental organizations show that Holmes did not favor the trip.

The minutes also show that some of the NGOs, including convener Crisis Action, plan to "phase out" their work on Sri Lanka. Doubts about the UN's and international community's including civil society's commitment to those who suffer in Sri Lanka, Tamils and others, can only grow.

Before the phase out, and after the Government of Sri Lanka barred NGOs and the UN from using any vehicles to service IDPs in the large camps of Menic (or Manik) Farms in north Sri Lanka, a joint statement calling for access was issued May 21 by a group of NGOs including Oxfam, ASB/Solidar, Acted, Danish Refugee Council, ZOA Refugee Care, Forut, UMCOR, Relief International, Handicap International, Save the Children, Welthungerhilfe, CARE, World Vision Medical Teams International.

Further below the radar, there are Tamil NGOs which face dissolution or not working in Sri Lanka.

Before the 24 hour trip to Sri Lanka, Holmes met with a hand-picked group of NGOs in New York. Afterwards an internal summary was issued, which attendees leaked to Inner City Press, ostensibly disturbed by the approach taken at the meeting and by the UN. The memo began, "please find below notes from yesterday's meeting with John Holmes. Let me now if you have any questions. This is true especially in light of some of us (Crisis Action included) phasing out our Sri Lanka work very soon."

There followed a summary of what John Holmes told NGOs behind closed doors, which even filing from Sri Lanka we'll run in full:

John Holmes

Timing of the trip is "tricky," point is not to "join the celebrations"; will have to be careful. [In-house, JH had objected to the trip, as many of you know];

Trip will be de facto a 12-hr day; he cannot extend;

Plan is to go to camps; overfly conflict zone, depending on weather conditions; meet President and other high-level officials; speak to press; hopefully meet with civil society (not certain that would happen);

It's "pretty clear there's nobody in the conflict zone, other than soldiers." UN has flown over, nothing to be seen from helicopter. Still, possible to have bodies/people in hiding;

On overcrowding in camps: NGOs/UN has to be clear about what we want. Do we want to move them to another camp or not? Clearly we want quick returns but in the meantime...

Have not heard anything about [threat of] suspension of humanitarian activities; just got off the phone with UN in SL; ICRC had raised possibility but backed down;

On disappearances: not clear how many are sinister. Known that hard-line cadres are given over to police and are sent to rehabilitation centres. Reasonably clear that GoSL will try to make sure remaining LTTE top leadership won't make it out alive;

LTTE lower cadres are not really separated from civilians, all enter camps together, which is not necessarily a good thing, because all are then viewed as suspects;

Will be pretty hard to get UN political presence in country; govt very resistant, uses "home-grown solution" language very deliberately;

On the doctors: they are in detention but are 'healthy' and 'ok, as far as one can be ok in detention' ;

On UNSC: we have not focused on that, happy to brief if requested;

The strategy is still to keep on with high-level visits, but will see how this will happen;

On numbers: we have no idea how many have died in the last three days. Generally, hard to verify numbers, so have been using "some

thousands."

[Later on, an OCHA staffer advised NGOs to press the issue of MoUs, also to create more space for the pro-active Holmes.]

...There is no real push-back to the exclusion of vehicles from the IDP camps. The minutes say that ICRC (the Red Cross) "backed down." While some UN sources have told Inner City Press that UN staff are threatening a de facto boycott, Holmes told the Press on the plane ride to Sri Lanka that this is not the case, that access and work continues.

It appears that the Secretariat may not even push to have Ban Ki-moon briefing the Security Council upon his return to New York. Then again, in April Ban Ki-moon was only in New York three times, for a total of five days. A lot is being "phased out."

Inner City Press will be accompanying Ban and Holmes on their whirlwind tour May 23 and will report on it in real time to the degree possible given the host country's control of the tour and the lack of internet access. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/untrip2may1srilanka052309.html