As UN Releases Sri Lanka Report, Ban Says He Can't Investigate w/o Consent or Vote

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 25, updated with link -- After close of business on April 25, the UN belatedly released -- and immediately undermined the recommendations of -- its Panel of Experts report on war crimes in Sri Lanka, eleven days after the UN told Sri Lankan Deputy Permanent Representative Shavendra Silva it would be released in 36 hours.

The Report was released along with a page and a half cover letter by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, which in pertinent part states that

“In regard to the recommendation that he establish an international investigation mechanism, the Secretary-General is advised that this will require host country consent or a decision from Member States through an appropriate intergovernmental forum.”

Ban "is advised" by whom? This is a huge letdown, and some say abdication. We will have more on this.

Click here to view UN-released report.

Inner City Press, which obtained and quickly up online Monday morning a leaked copy of the report, asked Silva about the report and its delayed release late Monday afternoon in front of the UN Security Council, which Silva visited for more than a half hour.

Silva said he'd seen the publication on Inner City Press, as well as the day's UN noon briefing, at which questions about the involvement of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's chief of staff Vijay Nambiar were left unanswered.

Silva is quoted in the Panel's report, as well as his role in the 58th Battalion, which moved in on the so-called No Fire Zones. He was polite but non committal.

Ban's undermining of the Report's recommendation must make him, and the Rajapaksa and certain others, relieved.

Ban's spokesperson's office has refused to answer questions about Nambiar, not only in the briefing but also in writing. On Monday before the release of the Report by the UN, Inner City Press asked some factual questions, militating for a press conference by the Panel members and Mr. Nambiar:

Paragraph 171 states that “Defence Secretary Basil Rajapaksa provided assurances that their surrender would be accepted... following a particular route indicated by Basil Rajapaksa.”

Factual questions: since Gotabaya Rajapaksa was and is the Defense Secretary, is this just a typo?

Who is the Panel saying indicated the route: Basil or Gotabya Rajapaksa?

And when specifically did the OSSG know about the Feb 22 meeting between Mohan Peiris and the Panel, as set forth in Annex 2 of the Report?

Also please state the role of Mr. Nambiar in reviewing the report, please disclose how much was spent by the UN in preparing the report, please state whether the Panel or any member traveled to Sri Lanka and if not, why not, and please deny or confirm and describe any meeting by any Sri Lanka government official since the Panel's work began.

None of these questions have been answered. Watch this site.

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

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

As UN's Ban Meets Sri Lankan Enforcer, His Kim Has Eyes on S. Korea, Nambiar Considers a Reverse Mark Malloch Brown?

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/ban1srilanka012609.html

UNITED NATIONS, January 26 -- With civilians and journalists being killed hourly in Sri Lanka, the UN's Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Monday meant with one of that country's president's brothers, Basil Rajapaksa. While another brother who has American citizenship serves as Defense Secretary during the assault on Tamil Tiger strongholds, Basil who reportedly has a U.S. green card is known in Sri Lanka as "the enforcer."

A source on the UN's 38th floor analogized Basil to Ban's senior advisor Kim Won-soo, but then noted that Ban usually meets with heads of state, foreign ministers or Permanent Representatives, not an "M.P., Senior Presidential Advisor" as Basil is identified on Ban's late-provided daily schedule. Even as a Member of Parliament, Basil was appointed, not elected. Some have sought to have him indicted for war crimes, click here for that.

Inner City Press went up to the 38th floor for the photo opportunity belated provided for the meeting. Ban was accompanied by, among others, his political advisor Nicolas Haysom and his chief of staff Vijay Nambiar (more about whom is below). Basil was accompanied by four members of the Sri Lankan mission to the UN.

After the photos were taken, Inner City Press and a handful of others there to document the meeting were ushered out. So what did they later discuss? Could it be the killing and beating of journalists?

Two weeks ago, Sunday Leader editor Lasantha Wickramatunga was ambushed by killers on motorcycles. Then Upali Thennakoon, editor of the Sinhalese language weekly newspaper Rivira, was beaten and stabbed by a gang of thugs, also on motorcycles, as he drove to work. Previously, gunmen destroyed the studios of MBC, Sri Lanka's largest private broadcaster.

Recently in the U.S. Congress criticism of Sri Lanka on this score was heard. Basil, it seems, is on a tour to Washington and New York to try to explain away these killings.

Footnotes: inside the UN word circulates that Vijay Nambiar may be in consideration to take over for the departing Kemal Dervis atop the UN Development Program. This would be consistent with the United Kingdom's long-rumored desire to gain the chief of staff position. Ironically, it would be a "reverse Mark Malloch Brown," referring to the now UK minister who moved from UNDP to become Kofi Annan's chief of staff.

Of Kim Won-soo, sources tell Inner City Press that during Team Ban's recent jaunt through the Middle East, Mr. Kim was adamant that media priority be given to South Korea's Yonhap News. While interested in Gaza in Seoul is relatively low, interest in Ban Ki-moon, including as a potential presidential candidate, is high. Perhaps there is interest in Mr. Kim as well.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/ban1srilanka012609.html