UN tells ICP that Ban Ki-moon Is OT Blocking Alleged War Criminal Silva As His Adviser on Peacekeeping

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 28 -- Alleged war criminal Shavendra Silva will in fact serve on UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's Senior Advisory Group on Peacekeeping Operation, as Ban disclaims any responsibility and will do nothing to stop it, Ban spokesperson informed Inner City Press on January 28.

Acts of Shavendra Silva's battalion in 2009 are described in the UN's own Panel of Experts report on Sri Lanka, and lawsuits have been filed against Silva for war crimes.

On January 27, Inner City Press asked and wrote that in other circumstances, such as Syria's bid to be its regional group's representative on the UN Human Rights Council, efforts have been made at the UN including by the Secretariat to avoid or reverse nominations like this one which would be an embarrassment and make a mockery of the UN's stated principles.

After Inner City Press asked at the UN noon briefing on January 27 if Ban would say or do anything, spokesman Martin Nesirky said "Matthew, don't press your luck" and that he "might have something a little later."

When nothing came by close of business that day, Inner City Press put the question directly to UN Peacekeeping, including chief Herve Ladsous of France and Susana Malcorra, reportedly slated to be promote by Ban to his Deputy Secretary General,

So far neither UN Peacekeeping official has responded with any comment on how appointing an alleged war criminal to the Senior Adviser Group would impact the credibility of DPKO or DFS.

Back on October 24, Malcorra told the General Assembly's committee on peacekeeping that Ban

"had taken steps to fulfil his mandate to create a Senior Advisory Group comprising five eminent persons of relevant experience; five representatives from major troop countries; five representatives from major financial contributors; and one member from each regional group... If the Group was to be appointed, it would be important for Member States to complete their responses to the Secretary-General’s request for nominations."

Malcorra asked member states to send Ban "nominations," which to some implies that Ban did not have to accept any and all names submitted, for example that of an alleged war criminal. Would Ban similar put on his Senior Advisory Group the chief of Sudan's military, who has been indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court?

In fact, Ban's and Ladsous' envoy to Darfur Ibrahim Gambari recently greeted ICC indictee Omar al Bashir at a wedding reception in Sudan. When Inner City Press asked Nesirky if this complied with Ban's UN policy, the belated response was that Gambari greeted the ICC indictee based on "African traditions."

This is Ban's UN.

On January 28, a Saturday, 24 hours after Inner City Press posed the question, the following was received:

Subject: Your question
From: UN Spokesperson - Do Not Reply [at] un.org
Date: Sat, Jan 28, 2012 at 12:43 PM
To: Matthew Russell Lee [at] innercitypress.com

The General Assembly instructed the Secretary-General to establish the senior advisory group, stipulating that its membership should comprise five representatives nominated by the troop-contributing countries, five representatives nominated by the financial contributors, and one representative named by each of the five regional groups. The General Assembly specified that five eminent persons of relevant experience should be independently appointed by the Secretary-General himself. The Secretary-General's responsibility under GA resolution 65/289 related only to the nomination of the five eminent persons that he was asked to selected himself; the 15 other members of the SAG were selected by the TCCs, FCCs and Regional Groups, as prescribed by the General Assembly.

The response seeks to absolve all responsibility, including for the UN's credibility, from Ban Ki-moon, who already stood smiling as Tamil children at gunpoint sung his name in the internment camps in Northern Sri Lanka in May 2009, and since then yelled at his own staff in front of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Ban shakes with Silva as Kohona looks on, Feb 23 2011 (c) MRLee

In other cases, Ban has tried to exercise leadership with member states, including to impact his UN's credibility. But not here, it seems; while his two top peacekeeping officials remain silent.

An alleged war criminal appointed without any push back by Ban Ki-moon to Ban's Senior Advisory Group on Peacekeeping Operations: this is Ban's UN. Watch this site.

From the UN's transcript of its January 27 noon briefing:

Question: The Sri Lankan Government is, I call it bragging, is announcing that Shavendra Silva, their deputy PR whose battalion is listed in the Panel of Experts report about crimes in Sri Lanka, has been, quote, “selected” to be on this Senior Advisory Group on Peacekeeping Operations. I wanted to know, one, if that is true of the status, if it has actually been confirmed? And two, if the Secretary-General has any ability to block or speak about such a selection, given that some people say to put a person accused of war crimes on an advisory group about peacekeeping would send the wrong messages?

Spokesperson Martin Nesirky: Well, as I understand it, Major General Shavendra Silva was selected by the Group of Asian States as their representative. He was not selected by the Secretary-General. As to your other question, I may have something further on that a little later.

Inner City Press: You would, I am sure, know this, there was a big fight here for example of keeping Syria off the Human Rights Council and there was, it was initially a nominee of a regional group, I mean there seems to be some ability certainly of Member States, but I believe at times the Secretary-General to…

Spokesperson Martin Nesirky: Matthew…

Inner City Press: …not accept…

Spokesperson: Matthew, sometimes it seems you don’t listen to what I am saying. I just said I may have something further for you later, okay?

Inner City Press: I know, I did hear you say that, I just want to make sure. I am writing about it today, so ... is it going to be before 5 p.m., what you have say? That’s why I am asking a follow-up

Spokesperson Martin Nesirky: Don’t push your luck, Matthew.

Was that a threat? "Rajapaksa style," as one wag afterward put it? We'll see.

Arab League Report Blames Opposition for French Reporter's Death, Decries Media Hype

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 28 -- Outside the UN Security Council Friday afternoon, Syrian Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari repeatedly told the press to find and read the Arab League monitors' report, which was supposed to have been annexed to the League's letter to the Council but was not. (Click here for Inner City Press' first coverage of this "Annex amateur hour".)

Attached for any reader who might not otherwise have access to it is the "Report of the Head of the League of Arab States Observer Mission to Syria for the period from 24 December 2011 to 18 January 2012," as Inner City Press obtained it.

As Ja'afari said, in the main example he gave, this Report says in Paragraph 44 that "Mission reports from Homs indicate French journalist was killed by opposition mortar shells."

Of that, Ja'afari pointedly said, "you'll never hear the French Ambassador [Gerard Araud] or BanKiMoon say that."

The Report, signed by Sudanese General Al Dabi who was active in Darfur, the locus of International Criminal Court indicted war crimes, also says at Paragraph 29 that "the media exaggerated... the number of persons killed." Is Dabi or the Arab League also saying that of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, and UNICEF?

On the other hand Al Dabi's report recites for example down in Paragraph 74 that "The Mission was informed by the opposition, particularly in Dar‘a, Homs, Hama and Idlib, that some of its members had taken up arms in response to the suffering of the Syrian people as a result of the regime’s oppression and tyranny; corruption, which affects all sectors of society; the use of torture by the security agencies; and human rights violations."

Ja'afari's argument on Friday was that the Arab League is split, but Qatar and some others came to the UN before or without regard for the Arab League Report.

Tuesday, the Security Council will hear from the Qatari minister and the Secretary General of the Arab League -- and not from Al Dabi. Still, will this split be brought up?

We will have more about the Report, but for now we are putting it online, here.

In the list of media reportedly granted accreditation to enter Syria (but not yet entering) are two reporters "from the agency Roberts." Oh, Dabi!

As France Slips or Spins on "Temporary" Step Down by Assad, Russia Says No, Syria Blames Qatar, US Bases

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, January 27 -- After a new draft resolution "tracking the Arab League" was introduced Friday in the UN Security Council, a Monday meeting at the experts level was scheduled.

The Council's president for January, Baso Sangqu of South Africa, told Inner City Press that these "expert consultations" will concern both Russia's draft from December and the one introduced on Friday.

Inner City Press asked UK Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, who said the Russian draft "has been overtaken," but said that portions of Russia's draft were in the new one. Told their draft was "overtaken," two Russian diplomats on the margins of the stakeout laughed.

More formally, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said that Russia will not accept any resolution calling for regime change in Syria. French Ambassador Gerard Araud told the press on Friday that only a "temporary" step down by Bashar al Assad is being asked for.

Pressed, he said to go and read the underlying Arab League documents, maybe he misread them, being tired.

South Africa's Sangqu told Inner City Press, the Security Council didn't agree to follow the African Union position on Libya -- so, by implication, there's no pressure or precedent to strictly follow the Arab League on Syria.

Inner City Press asked Araud and German Ambassador Peter Wittig to respond to this critique. Both said that each case is separate. From the German Mission's transcript:

Inner City Press: [Does Germany agree] with French Ambassador Araud that what this draft is calling for is just a temporary step down by Assad and what do you make of South Africa’s argument – you were just saying that we have to follow what the Arab League said – they said that the Council did not follow what the African Union said on Libya and that is one of the reasons they don’t accept [inaudible]"

Wittig: "Every case is specific. Now we are dealing with Syria. We are dealing with the plan of the Arab League. We want to be reflecting what the Arab League wants. As I said, we want to support it; we don’t want to put ourselves in the driver’s seat, that is the role of the Arab League. So we want to reflect as meticulously as possible on the decisions of the Arab League."

Of course, the Security Council did not find that it was in the African Union's role to be "in the driver's seat" on Libya. Araud in his answer appeared to have forgotten that a draft Presidential Statement supporting the African Union plan on Libya was opposed and never adopted.

After Araud left, Syrian Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari said the French journalists in Homs was killed by "the armed groups," citing the Arab League monitoring report, but said "you won't hear that from the French ambassador."

Earlier before the Council meeting broke up, Inner City Press asked around about support for the Arab League's proposals. One well placed diplomat told Inner City Press, "Of course the Arab League is split. Algeria doesn't support it, nor Iraq or of course Sudan."

Inner City Press pointed out that Sudan did support the ouster of Gaddafi from Libya, although only because he supported Darfur's rebels, particularly the Justice and Equality Movement.

The diplomat went on, "Egypt doesn't support. But if Tunisia joins, it would be hard for Egypt not to, given 'The Street.' Really what these Arab states want is for Russia to engage. Russia's been told by the opposition they could still play a post-Assad role, it's not too late."

Another opined that with Putin's (re) election coming up, backing down is unlikely. Russia's Churkin has several times contrasted the push on Syria with the US' approach to Bahrain: telling the opposition they cannot use force.

The first diplomat replied, "they could have done that in April, there were press elements out there to send that message, but the BRICS blocked it all." But did the Western powers show flexibility, as they did, shamefully to some, in essence embracing impunity for Yemen's Ali Saleh?

"Saleh was smart," a political coordinator opined. "He said yes, they played for time. And now he's at a luxury hospital in New York." If so, which one? Or as another source tells Inner City Press, could Saleh be heading to Morocco, like Dadis Camera did? Watch this site.

Footnote: as the last stakeout of the day, Syrian Ambassador Ja'afari took to the microphone to say, We will not be Libya or Iraq, we will not be Somalia, we will not be a failed state. He described Qatar jumping the gun on the Arab League monitoring report, and regime change "by January 22" having been predicted on "Doha-based Al Jazeera."

Inner City Press asked him to say more about Qatar, given similar comments previously by Libyan diplomat Shalgam. Ja'afari didn't shy away, saying that Qatar is "tiny... half occupied by American military bases" and uses "petrodollars" to increase its influence. One wag whispered: it's natural gas.

Of his statement that the Arab League report blames the "armed groups" for the killing of the French journalist in Homs, Ja'afari said "you won't hear that" not only from French Ambassador Araud but also not from "Ban Ki-moon," the UN Secretary General on Friday in Davos.

One wanted to ask Ja'afari for his view of Ban Ki-moon accepting free private jet travel from Qatar, but then again, to mix a UN reform and transparency issue with such a stakeout might not be the right way to proceed.

Inner City Press asked Ja'afari if he will speak at the Security Council's Tuesday afternoon meeting with Qatar's minister called HBJ and the Arab League's El-Arabi. "Yes I will speak," Ja'afari said. Watch this site.