As
Myanmar Threaten Aung San Suu Kyi, Weak UN Response Leads to
Escalation
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 19 -- A day after the UN
issued a weak and generic
response to threats in Myanmar's state media that Aung San Suu Kyi
would meet a “tragic end,” the country's military government
escalated its threats, now demanding an affirmative apology from Aung
San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy.
There
is a UN
post for Good Offices to Myanmar, which Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
has for some time left in the part time hands of his chief of staff
Vijay Nambiar, amid calls that he replace Nambiar with a full time
envoy.
The
first
threat, in the New Light of Myanmar, was that "If Daw Suu Kyi
and the NLD keep going to the wrong way ignoring the fact that
today's Myanmar is marching to a new era, new system and new
political platforms paving the way for democracy, they will meet
their tragic end.”
On
February 18,
Inner City Press asked
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman
Martin Nesirky
Inner
City
Press: the New Light of Myanmar, the Government newspaper there,
has, most people say, it has threatened Aung San Suu Kyi, saying that
she will come to a tragic end if she maintains requests for sanctions
or doesn’t take the Government view. Does the Secretary-General or
Mr. [Vijay] Nambiar, or is there some response from the UN to those
threats?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
We are certainly aware of those reports, and the UN has
consistently backed the right of all parties to participate freely in
the political process in Myanmar. And we will continue to do so. And we
would be concerned by any action or statement that runs
counter to that.
But
the threat
went beyond countering the absent “right of all parties to
participate freely in the political process in Myanmar” -- it
threatened Aung San Suu Kyi with a “tragic end.”
On
Saturday
February 19, three state controlled newspaper in Myanmar then went
further, demanding that the NLD and Aung San Suu Kyi "have to
mend their ways, begging public pardon for the acts they have
breached in their interests, at the expense of that of the nation."
One
wonder what if
anything Ban Ki-moon or his part time envoy will have to say about
this.
Ban's P/T envoy Nambiar & ASSK, response to
threats not shown
Sources have
told Inner City Press that a reason Ban has
ignored calls, even from among the Permanent members of the Security
Council, to name a full time envoy is that he expects or hopes for
the Good Offices on Myanmar post to be eliminated by the General
Assembly. We'll see.
Footnote: for days,
Inner City Press has asked if Ban or Nambiar have any knowledge or
statement on the Burmese
Rohingyas expelled by Thailand, without any response except "ask
UNHCR."
* * *
At
UN,
Thai
Minister Kasit Dismissive on Rohingya, As Ban's Envoy Says
Nothing
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February
14 -- After Thai foreign minister Kasit Piromya
declared victory in the UN Security Council Monday over Cambodia's
request for peacekeepers, Inner City Press asked him about Thailand
expelling and denying UN refugee agency access to Rohingya refugees
from Myanmar.
Let
us deal with
Rohingya later, Minister Kasit first said. Then, after accusing
Cambodia of putting its soldiers inside the contested Preah Vihear
temple, he said that Thailand has accepted a range of refugees in the
last 20 to 30 years, naming boat people from Viet Nam.
Why
then is
Thailand refusing UNHCR access to and expelling the Rohingya? One
clue was found in Kasit's praise of Myanmar's recent military
dominated election, which he cited as proof of the effectiveness of
ASEAN's diplomacy.
Inner
City
Press
has repeatedly queried the Spokeperson for UN Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon for the comment of Ban's chief of staff and part time envoy
on Myanmar, Vijay Nambiar, to the plight of the Rohingya, asking
What
is
Ban
Ki-moon's, Vijay Nambiar's (as envoy) and the UN system's
response to http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/104251/20110124/thailand-rohingya-boat-people-unhcr-deport.htm#
“Thai
police said on Monday as many as 91 Rohingya boat people, who ended
up in the country while fleeing from Myanmar, will be deported”?
What
will
the
UN do? What does Mr. Nambiar say?
After
weeks,
the
following arrived from the UN:
“Regarding
the Rohingya boat people, UNHCR is trying to obtain access; please
follow up with UNHCR on that matter.”
On
when Ban would
acting on the request by the UK, Mexico and others that he replace
Nambiar with a full time envoy to Myanmar, the UN has continued to
dodge, as
sources tell Inner City Press the plan is to try to kill
off the UN General Assembly mandate on Myanmar, replacing it with
ASEAN.
UN's Ban & Kasit, protection of ejected Rohingya not shown
Now,
on
the
Rohingya, BBC reports that
Thai
foreign
ministry
spokesperson Thani Thongphakdi said in a statement
that the group of 91 "illegal migrants" were found ashore
in Trang province... "Since they were found to be [from Burma]
they were later deported at a border crossing in Ranong province to
Burma," Mr Thongphakdi said, adding that the move was "in
line with their wish". He said that Thailand's authorities had
"no knowledge how this group could have travelled further".
The
Rohingyas
who
are now in Andamans have told Indian police that they
suffered beatings and torture at the hands of the Thai law enforcing
agencies after their arrest in Trang province. "Later we were
taken to the sea and put on a boat which had no engine and with very
little food and water in it," one of the Rohingyas told the
police in a recorded statement.
Yet
Minister Kasit
told Inner City Press on Monday that there is a dialogue with UNHCR,
and not to worry. This calls even Thailand's claims about its
fighting with Cambodia into questions. Watch this site.
* * *
On
Myanmar,
As
EU
Prepares
Visit,
Ban
Delays Replacing Nambiar,
GA Mandate To Be Cut?
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February
8
--
When
the
European Union's Catherine Ashton
came to the UN on Tuesday, Inner City Press asked for the EU's
position on Myanmar, and to contrast it with Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon's.
Ashton
began,
“With
Myanmar,
Aung
San
Suu
Kyi is somebody we are in contact with,
she and I have just been writing to each other, and I'm hoping that
somebody from the EU will be visiting her shortly.”
By
contrast after
Ban's chief of staff and part time Myanmar envoy Vijay Nambiar
visited Aung San Suu Kyi, when he returned his internal assessment
within the UN as conveyed to Inner City Press by well placed UN
sources was that she is out of touch and too hard line.
Ashton
continued
that
“on
all
of
these
issues, we need to talk with the opposition,
of course with her, she's central, but also with the others around
her and engage with this... The EU will make its position clear when
we've got that type of discussion out of the way and so we're waiting
to be given the chance to talk with her.”
Inner
City
Press
asked
Ashton
if
she
agrees with Ban Ki-moon's recent assessment, if
the EU is on the same page.
Ashton
replied
that
she
doesn't
have
a
“detailed, finger tip knowledge of the last
thing the UN said.”
Ban
Ki-moon put
out a statement about the new parliament, 25% of whose members are
appointed by the military and in which proposals have to be shown to
a screener 10 days before they are introduced, with the possiblity of
prohibition without any chance of appeal.
Catherine Ashton at the UN, previously, ASSK
assessment not seen
After
for
weeks
declining
to
answer
Inner
City Press' questions about the banning of
the National League for Democracy in Myanmar, the plight of the
Rohingya and when Ban would finally move on the request by the UK,
Mexico and others to replace Nambiar with a full time envoy, the UN
sent this:
From:
UN
Spokesperson
-
Do
Not
Reply
[at] un.org
Date: Mon, Feb 7, 2011
at 4:18 PM
Subject: Your questions on Myanmar
To: Matthew
Russell Lee [at] Inner City Press
In
response
to
your
emailed
question
about
the dissolution of the NLD in
Myanmar, we have the following to say: We have taken note of the
decision with concern and continue to follow developments closely. We
believe that in order to succeed any transition must be inclusive and
participatory, including both those who won seats in the recent
elections and those who did not participate.
Regarding
the
Rohingya
boat
people,
UNHCR
is
trying to obtain access; please
follow up with UNHCR on that matter.
On
replacing
Nambiar, the UN has had nothing to say. Now, sources in the UN tell
Inner City Press there is a reason. The goal is to get the entire UN
mandate on Myanmar eliminated in the General Assembly, by pointing to
the new parliament and recycled president. That, the sources say,
explains Ban's statements and delay. Watch this site.
