As Myanmar Blasts Away At Kachin Rebels, UN Dodges Issue for 9 Days

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 25 -- Amid an upsurge in fighting and displacement as Myanmar's military-dominated government tries to put down ethnic Kachin rebels, Inner City Press on June 16 asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky if Ban's putative envoy on Myanmar, Vijay Nambiar, had anything to say or would do anything about it:

Inner City Press: in Myanmar, there are these reports of clashes between the Government and the Kachin rebels, they say that dozens have been killed, 10,000 people have been displaced. So, one, I wanted to know whether any part of the UN system is addressing these, especially displacees [sic] in this conflict and also whether Ban Ki-moon’s Chief of Staff, in his good offices role, is he aware of this fighting? Has he communicated with the Government? What does he say about this seeming deterioration in safety within the country?

Spokesperson Nesirky: Let me check. Right, okay, thank you very much. Have a good afternoon.

Nine full days have passed, and the UN has had nothing to say, even as the situation has deteriorated to the point where other governments, even thought trying rapprochement with Myanmar's military dominated government, have spoken out.

Does Vijay Nambiar no longer work on the Myanmar issue?

Inner City Press observed him on June 23, accompanying Ban to greet Saudi Arabia's new Permanent Representative to the UN (who said he'd seen Nambiar the previous night.)

Is a new full time envoy to replace Nambiar, as requested by the UK, Mexico and others, in the offing? With Ban's spokesperson's office either refusing to answer or follow up on Myanmar questions, it is hard to know. Watch this site.

At UN on Myanmar, Critique of Nambiar, Plea for Refugees in Thailand, Council Delay

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, November 9 -- In the months leading to Myanmar's military heavy election on November 7, the UN's supposed envoy to Myanmar Vijay Nambiar was not in the country once. This was noted on November 9 at the UN by Thaung Htun, who called on Nambiar to belatedly “go to the region” and try to gain entrance. “The UN need to reactivate its role,” Htun told Inner City Press.

With Htun was Gum San Nsang, representing the Kachin National Organization, who said darkly that the Kachin Independence Army will “no longer limit the war to the jungle.” A self described Burmese journalist asked him if that means “urban warfare,” but he would not elaborate.

Inner City Press asked about the plight of those who fled into Thailand to escape the fighting between the government and elements of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army under Commander Saw Lah Pwe.

The General Secretary of the Karen National Union Zipporah Sein said they are still in harm's way; the Burmese journalist opined that CNN's reporting that the people had returned to Myawaddy was incorrect. Khin Maung Nyein added that many people were taken back to the Burmese border, then told to turn back, leaving them in “no man's land.”

Earlier on November 9, in front of the Security Council Inner City Press learned that despite the fighting and refugee flow, the Council is unlikely to hold a meeting this week or perhaps even next.

The thinking of the Western countries on the Council is that they want to wait to see if Aung San Suu Kyi is in fact released. But what about the fighting and fleeing? We'll see.

Footnote: Also in front of the Security Council on November 9, Inner City Press learned that Mexico had raised in closed door consultations the escalating violence in Western Sahara. The Council's president for November, the UK's Mark Lyall Grant, has been charged with conferring with UN envoy Christopher Ross and others and coming up with a day for a briefing. Meanwhile there have been deaths. Watch this site.