Sri
Lanka Got
Saudi &
Nepal to Stand
Down, Silva to
Now Cede to
Kohona?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 31 --
Amid growing
outrage at Sri Lankan
General
Shavendra
Silva, accused
of war crimes,
becoming a UN
Senior Adviser
on
Peacekeeping
Operations
and at
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
refusal to do
or say
anything about
it, Inner City
Press has
learned
more details
of how this
"travesty"
came about.
Ban's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
on January 30
told Inner
City Press to
"ask the
member states
in the Asian
Group" -- so
Inner City
Press did.
It
emerges that
there was no
vote in the
Asian Group.
Rather,
Sri Lanka
got candidates
Saudi Arabia
and Nepal to
stand down.
Some
credited
Silva's boss
and former UN
official
Palitha Kohona
with
accomplishing
this troubling
but in
UN-speak
"impressive"
feat.
Nepal
was
previously
bested by
Qatar to
appoint the
current
President of
the
General
Assembly.
While
Ban and his
top two UN
Peacekeeping
official Herve
Ladsous and
Susana
Malcorra
have claimed
that they play
no role at all
in the
selection of
the
Senior
Advisers other
than the five
directly
selected by
Ban,
including
Ladsous'
predecessor
Jean Marie
Guehenno,
Inner City
Press
is informed by
senior
diplomatic
sources that
Malcorra, on
behalf of
Ban, met with
representatives
of member
states and
advised them
how
to make their
nominations.
Now,
with inaction
and buck
passing from
Ban Ki-moon,
certain
belated
attempts to
avoid
this scandal
for the UN and
its
Peacekeeping
Operations
have begun.
Requests
have
been made for
Kohona to
stand in for
Silva, with
the cover
story
that Ban's UN
prefers
Permanent
Representatives
on this group,
rather
than less
senior Deputy
Permanent
Representatives
like Silva.
One
problem is
that Japan
went even
lower than
Deputy, naming
"Number Three"
Jun Yamazaki
as one of the
Advisers
representing
donors.
More
damningly,
while Silva is
named in the
UN Panel of
Experts Report
for shelling
hospitals and
killing people
trying to
surrender, it
must be noted
that Kohona
too reportedly
played a role
in these so
called white
flag killings.
Ban shakes
with Silva,
Kohona's back
to camera, (c)
MRLee
Significantly,
so
did Ban's own
chief of staff
Vijay Nambiar.
Thus, Silva is
not the
only person
being
"bluewashed".
Ban wants to
keep Nambiar
on as an Under
Secretary
General,
covering only
Myanmar.
One
wag wondered,
perhaps Than
Shwe could be
lured out of
"retirement"
to
further advise
Ban Ki-moon?
Watch this
site.
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