As
UN's Ban Lands in Burma, Kibuki Theater Omits Rohinya and Karen Peoples
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, July 3 -- With news
of his airplane's touch-down in Yangon,
the carefully stage managed visit to Myanmar of UN Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon began on July 3. To a group of accompanying reporters
whom he had hand-picked, Ban called his task difficult but
necessary.
The media dutifully performed their electronic drum roll, as for a
magician before he performs a sleight of hand.
Clearly, Ban's current
envoy Ibrahim Gambari got some commitments for photo-ops for Ban
during his preparatory trip to Myanmar. These predetermined win-wins
were withheld from, and apparently not obtained by, the accompanying
media. Thus fresh from Ban's stop in Japan the kibuki theater began:
a widely reported challenge with a preplanned denouement. But could
he flub up even this?
Of
the
accompanying wire services, two of the three -- or with Yonhap was it
four? -- quoted Ken Roth of Human Rights Watch on what would
constitute success, or failure, on this trip. Might Ban meet with
Aung San Suu Kyi? Might she nonetheless be sentenced to further house
arrest? Why is she being barred from the 2010 election?
Beyond
the Aung San
Suu Kyi show, about about the Karen people? Even more oppressed, what
about the Rohinya?
UN's Ban, pre-Myanmar, in Japan: let the kibuki
theater begin
The UN's
Ibrahim Gambari told Inner City Press
that the Rohinya, Muslims long in Burma but denied citizens' rights,
are beyond the scope of this "good offices" mandate.
Ironically,
an Afro-Arab
UN Ambassador to the UN told Inner City
Press that Gambari wanted but was passed over for the job of UN envoy
to Darfur because as a Muslim he was viewed by Western power as too
pro Sudan. That his name was put forward for the Sudan job shows what
an afterthought Myanmar is -- until Ban Ki-moon is desperate for the
appearance of a win. He has chosen the reporters, and has hidden the
Gambari-won hole card. But might the game still not work out? Watch
this site.
* * *
With
Only Ban-Picked Press Allowed on UN's Burma Trip, Promised Pooling
Denied, Theater with Than Shwe
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, July 2 -- As UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon approaches
Myanmar to meet with its military leader Than Shwe, information about
his performance on the trip became even harder to come by. On June
29, Ban's spokesperson Ms. Montas told Inner City Press that the UN
in hand selected the reporters who could accompany Ban "picked
people who were willing to pool for others."
On July 2, when
Inner City Press asked Ms. Montas when these pool reports would
begin, she reversed course and said that only TV images would be
pooled, no print. Video here,
from Minute 19:07.
Even
on Ban's
first trip to Myanmar, when he says he saved 500,000 people, wire
service reporters gave information from their notes to a UN staffer
named Hak-Fan Lau, who is also on this trip, for dissemination to
other reporters who cover the UN. Faced with a spate of negative
publicity, Team Ban is providing even less information now than then.
Some surmise this is an attempt to control coverage.
Ms.
Montas told
Inner City Press to wait to see what the reporters with Ban
published. "We gave priority to wires... three or four, sorry,
three are traveling with the Secretary General."
UN's Ban in Singapore July 2 with 2 of the 3
- or 4? - wires, pool not shown
The
confusion
between three or four wires appears to depend on whether South
Korea-based Yonhap, which was selected to go, is considered a global
wire service. AP, Reuters and AFP are all on the trip, as is a
correspondent from the New York Times. Another major U.S.-based
daily, which along with two other media organizations the UN met
about on May 8 with an eye toward suing, was not allowed to go.
Inner
City Press
asked Ms. Montas to confirm the information in a list it has seen,
that there are at least 22 UN personnel in Ban's traveling party,
ranging from political chief Lynn Pascoe and deputy chief of staff
Kim Won-soo to the aforesaid Hak-Fan Lau. "I can check for
you," Ms. Montas answered. By 6 p.m. on July 2 in New York, no
information was provided. The UN in New York is closed for holidays
both July 3 and 4 when Ban is in Myanmar. Still, watch this site.
* * *
On
Myanmar, UN's Ban "Not Talking About the Trial," Hand Picks
Press Coverage
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, June 29 -- Myanmar's courts have barred two
of Aung San Suu
Kyi's four witnesses, just as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
announced he will travel to the country on July 3-4. In New York,
Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesperson Michele Montas if Ban has
any comment on the barring of these two witnesses, Win Tin and Tin Oo
of the National League for Democracy.
Ms. Montas said of Ban, "He's
not talking about the trial right now." Video here,
from Minute
17:23.
Inner
City Press
asked, since in previous trip Ms. Montas' office had informed all UN
resident correspondence of such trips and allow them to ask to
accompany the Secretary General, if that was done in the case of
Myanmar and if not, why not. Montas admitted that it was not done.
She said that from among "people who had expressed interest"
they "picked people willing to pool for others."
Since
Inner City
Press has asked numerous questions about the UN and Myanmar of Ms.
Montas and others in the UN briefing room, one wonders what
"expressing interest" means.
UN's Ban on way to Myanmar, May 2008, this
time fewer, hand picked microphones
Asking
publicly in the
briefing room does not count, Ms. Montas said. "You have to come
to my office and register on a list."
In
fact, Ms.
Montas' Office reached out to media organizations which indicated
they would have staffers from Bangkok and elsewhere in the Far East
accompany Ban and told them that Ban wants only particular reporters
who cover him at the UN.
It
would appear that, faced with negative
press coverage of the first half of his term, particularly of his
pro-government victory tour in Sri Lanka, Team Ban has sought to
control how the Myanmar trip is covered by hand selecting who gets to
cover it. Watch this space.
* * *
UN's
Ban Tells Only Some Media of Myanmar Chance, Bad Press Left Behind?
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, June 28 -- With UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon reportedly
still undecided if he will stop in Myanmar on his upcoming trip to
Japan, Ban's press office has nevertheless quietly selected the
journalists who would be allowed to cover his visit with the
country's military rulers.
Until now, the Office of the Spokesperson
for the Secretary General has informed at least all resident
correspondents at the UN of the possibility of a trip, and to apply
if they are interested in going.
This time, Ban's office refused to
confirm when asked by the Press that he would go to Myanmar, while
behind the scenes pre-selecting which journalists would be allowed to
accompany him.
Some
see this is a
reaction to the increasingly negative media coverage Ban has been
receiving. As
Inner City Press asked Ban during his last press
conference, the Economist rated him three out of ten on speaking
truth to power.
Specifically
raised was his performance in Sri
Lanka
where, as covered by Inner City Press, Ban smiled as Tamil children
detained by the government were made to sing his name. The goal,
some
surmise, is to try to avoid that kind of coverage in the future.
Even
Charlie Rose,
television's friendliest interviewer, last week asked Ban about his
failing grades. Ban responded by saying that he had saved 500,000
people in Myanmar. Inner
City Press asked Ban's Spokesperson Michele
Montas where this figure came from. The number of people in need,
she
said, when Ban last visited Myanmar.
There
was another side to Ban's
agreement, of course: that Than Shwe's regime took 25% of all aid
money by requiring conversion through Foreign Exchange Certificates
whose value the government controlled, as exposed by
Inner City Press and then others.
UN's Ban and Myanmar's Than Shwe, critical press
coverage not welcome
With
Aung San Suu
Kyi being tried for the non-consensual visit of a groupie, facing
extended detention, and amid reports that Myanmar is seeking to
illegally import weapons from North Korea, Ban's current Myanmar
envoy Ibrahim Gambari visited Myanmar in order to provide a briefing
to Ban.
African
Ambassadors to the UN have told Inner City Press that
Ban recent offered by Gambari to replace Rodolphe Adada as envoy in
Sudan, calling into question either Ban's or Gambari's commitment
to
Myanmar.
But the
"insides' game" to pre-select the
journalists who would be allowed to cover Ban in Myanmar may further
call into question this UN's commitment to free press.
Those
not
informed of the change included not only Inner City Press, but
another of the three media organizations which Ban's management
chief, spokesperson, speechwriter and Under Secretaries General for
public information and legal affairs met about on May 8, with an eye
toward legal action and constructive censorship, click here
for that story. And watch this site.
Footnote: Some claim that the
UN made the list based off those who asked about Myanmar. During Ban's last
visit to Myanmar, his Office allowed the Than Shwe regime to blacklist
media which the UN had already invited to come. This may be a new
stage, in which the UN asks the regime who they would like to come,
rather than making all UN correspondents aware of the opportunity.
On
June
25, Inner City Press asked Ban's Spokesperson Montas
Inner
City Press:On Myanmar, the Government has said that Mr. [Ibrahim]
Gambari is in the air and will be there. Can you confirm that? And
what is the process, if he is going there... to brief the
Secretary-General? Is it determined that the Secretary-General will
go?
Spokesperson:
The Secretary-General is going to meet with Mr. Gambari, as soon as
Mr. Gambari comes to New York, and this is before the
Secretary-General takes off for Japan next Monday. So he will be
reporting this weekend to the Secretary-General.
Inner
City Press: He was on Charlie Rose last night. Is that correct?
Spokesperson:
Yes.
Inner
City Press: Among other things, I heard him to say in Myanmar, he
saved 500,000 people. What’s the basis for that number?
Spokesperson:
The basis is the number of people that were in need at the time when
he obtained the access for humanitarian workers into Myanmar.
, 
