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Burmese
Days of UN's Ban Are a Failure, By Ban's Own Measure, N. Korea Fires
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, July 4 -- As UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon leaves
Myanmar, not only is Aung San Suu Kyi still on trial, Mr. Ban was not
allowed to visit her. On the other hand, Ban offered ham handed
praise of Than Shwe's moving his country forward. Ban claimed that
perhaps other political prisoners would be released, if not now then
before the election.
Why
did Ban
Ki-moon go to Myanmar? In the run-up to the trip, before it was
announced that he would go, Ban sent his envoy Ibrahim Gambari to
test the waters. Whatever test was applied, upon Gambari's return to
New York, Ban's office confirmed to the eight journalists hand picked
to be allowed to cover Ban's trip that it would in fact occur.
Several had been told in advance and had booked tickets, canceled
them then re booked at additional cost.
With
Ban already in
Japan with an entourage of 22 UN personnel -- but few of the selected
UN correspondents cover this first leg of the trip -- Inner City
Press asked Ban's spokesperson Michele Montas what would be in the
indicia of if Ban's Myanmar venture was a success or a failure.
The
question was asked against the background of negative reviews of
Ban's performance and predictions that Myanmar's Than Shwe regime
would use Ban's trip to legitimize their trial of opposition leader
Aung San Suu Kyi and their highly controlled, pro-military mock
election planned for 2010.
Ms.
Montas reacted
with exasperation, saying that Ban had clearly enunciated his goals
for the trip. But that was not the question: how would the public
know if it was a success or failure? Montas appeared to acknowledge
that if the goals Team Ban had set out were not moved forward during
the trip, it would be a failure.
Now,
not only is
Aung San Suu Kyi still on trial, Ban was not allowed to visit her.
UN's Ban waves -- and waffles? -- in Myanmar
On
the other hand, Ban offered ham handed praise of Than Shwe's moving
his country forward. Ban claimed to his hand-picked scribes that
perhaps other political prisoners would be released, if not now then
before the election.
Meanwhile
North
Korea, fresh from throwing Korean-speaking international UN staff out
of the country, fired seven missiles in contempt for the US, the UN
and, some said, Mr. Ban Ki-moon. The UN Spokesperson never provided
basic information that had been promised in the pre-holiday press
briefings. None of the promised pool reports were ever provided. And
the circus like trip continued. Watch this site.
Footnote:
as Inner City Press reported June 28 and was confirmed by Ban's
Spokesperson Michele Montas on June 29, Ban's office hand-picked
which journalists would be told of the opportunity to cover his trip
to Burma. Ms. Montas first said that the UN "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 argued
that "I said some of them were
willing to pool, some of them... There is no print pooling, no."
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 Hak-Fan Lau, to whom reporters on Ban's previous UN
mission to Burma gave at least some pooled material. "I
can
check for you," Ms. Montas answered. By noon on July 4 in New
York, no information was provided. Watch this site.
UN's
Ban Says "Assured" of Fair Burmese Elections, Despite
Junta's Constitution
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, July 3-4 -- After the first of what may be two meetings with
Burmese strongman Than Shwe, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told
the reporters he picked to travel with him, "I was assured that
the Myanmar authorities will make sure that this election will be
held in a fair and free and transparent manner."
As simply one
example, since the constitution the junta pushed through in the wake
of Cycle Nargis in May 2008 provides that fully one-quarter of seats
must go to military members, it is difficult to see how an election
under it could be described as fair.
Unnamed
UN
officials -- in New York the UN has still refused to confirm even
which officials are traveling with Ban -- are quoted
that the general
are considering endorsing "allowing the National League for
Democracy to open offices across the country and to permit her to
campaign," referring to the imprisoned and on trial Aung San
Suu Kyi. There is only one problem: the junta's constitution
prohibits anyone who ever married a foreigner, as Mrs. Suu Kyi did,
from running for office.
UN's Ban and Than Shwe: assurance of fair
election, under sham Constitution
Myanmar
is not,
however, isolated from the whole world. It is reportedly
seeking to
import more weapons from North Korea, and it on the record gave
$50,000 to President Mahinda Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka, perhaps in
tribute to him having done to the Tamil Tigers and civilians what
Than Shwe would like to do with Karen rebels and civilians.
The UN,
of course, continued unabated seeking to raise donor funds for
Myanmar, with the attendant run off through current exchange to Than
Shwe's regime, without any question about Myanmar turning around and
giving post bloodbath aid to Sri Lanka. Nor has the UN tried to track
the use of Nigeria's
$500,000 grant to Myanmar, on which Inner City Press exclusively
reported.
Ban's
deputy
spokeswoman Marie Okabe, who is along on the trip, is quoted telling
the reporters whom she identified for the trip that Ban will have a
second meeting with Than Shwe. (It is not clear why Ms. Okabe or her
Office could not have conveyed this announcement to other UN
reporters).
In the
air is that Ban might then pull
a rabbit out of the hat. But what if the rabbit is dead? Watch this
site.
* * *
UN's
Ban "Appreciates" Than Shwe's Actions in Burma, Scam
Election on Horizon
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, July 3 --UN's Ban Ki-moon told Burmese military leader Than
Shwe on July 3, "I'd like to appreciate your commitment to move
your country forward." Since Cyclone Nargis hit the Irradwaddy
Delta in May 2008, Shwe has used the displacement it occasioned to
give land under what used to be fishing villages to his regime's
cronies.
While to some that is "moving [the] country forward,"
to others it is the antithesis of the type of development the UN
should be praising. While unlikely, perhaps Ban meant that while he
would like to appreciate Shwe's actions, in good faith he cannot.
Inner
City Press
is told by well placed UN sources that, even beyond the currency
exchange scams through which the UN allowed up to one quarter of post
cyclone donor funds to be taken outright by Burma's junta, the UN
Country Team continues to subsidize the dictatorship by, for example,
accepting requirements to buy certain equipment in-country at
inflated prices.
While
some argue
that the UN stays silent out of commitment to remain serving Burma's
poor, the staged theatrics of Ban's current trip lead others to see a
darker, more mixed motive.
"Ban
desperately needs the appears of
a win at this time," Inner City Press was told July 2 by a UN
official who requested anonymity from fear of retaliation. "The
generals in Naypyitaw know that, and they are using Ban's desperation
to legitimatize the fixed election they plan for 2010."
The
official
characterized the detention of Aung San Suu Kyi as a less fundamental
issue, one on which Ban might be allowed to claim some victory such
as her transfer from Insein Prison back to house arrest, or a commit
to later full release. Such a commitment, if the past is any guide,
could later be rescinded, as could the release of lower profile
political prisoners during Ban's current two day trip. Who
knows -- maybe Ban will claim credit for the
adjournment today of Suu Kyi's trial for a week.
UN's Ban in Singapore July 2, preparing smile for
Myanmar
The
stated
rationale was the failure of a Burmese (kangaroo) appeals court to
return to court the file along with its decision barring two of Suu
Kyi four proposed witnesses from testifying. Perhaps as his entourage
claims, Ban's quiet diplomacy and soft power work in mysterious ways.
Watch this site.
* * *
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.
Inner
City Press' June 18 debate on Sri Lanka, click here
Channel
4 in the UK with allegations of rape and
disappearance
Click here
for an Inner City Press YouTube channel video, mostly UN Headquarters
footage, about civilian
deaths
in Sri Lanka.
Click here for Inner City
Press' March 27 UN debate
Click here for Inner City
Press March 12 UN (and AIG
bailout) debate
Click here for Inner City
Press' Feb 26 UN debate
Click
here
for Feb.
12 debate on Sri Lanka http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/17772?in=11:33&out=32:56
Click here for Inner City Press' Jan.
16, 2009 debate about Gaza
Click here for Inner City Press'
review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate
Click here for Inner
City Press' December 24 debate on UN budget, Niger
Click here from Inner City Press'
December 12 debate on UN double standards
Click here for Inner
City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics
and this October 17 debate, on
Security Council and Obama and the UN.
* * *
These
reports are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click here
for a Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click
here
for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali
National
Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an
undefined trust fund. Video
Analysis here
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