On
Sri
Lanka, UN Denies “Secret” Meeting, Won't Say If
Report Public
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
March 7 -- The UN's evasiveness
on the meetings, travel and
report of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's Panel on Sri Lanka
continued on March 7, with Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky telling
Inner City Press that it is up to the Panel to speak for itself, even
to decide if its report should be public.
Nesirky
called
“shaky” reporting that has suggested a secret February 23
meeting, telling Inner City Press “you know, you were there taking
pictures, that was not the case.”
Inner
City Press
asked, were the members of Ban's panel in town, in New York? Even
this Nesirky would not answer, saying it is up to the Panel to say.
But where is the Panel?
Then
Nesirky said
that deadline is “this month.” Inner City Press asked, will it be
public?
That
will be up to
the panel, Nesirky said, in consultation with the Secretary General.
Inner
City Press
covered a surprise meeting on February 23 between Ban and Sri Lankan
officials including the Attorney General and ex-general Shavendra
Silva, responsible for what UN officials called the “bloodbath on
the beach” in May 2009.
At
the time, Inner
City Press repeatedly asked Nesirky what relation that meeting had
with the work of Ban's panel and Sri Lanka's Lessons Learnt &
Reconciliation Commission. Nesirky would not relate them in any way.
On
March 6, the
Sri Lanka Sunday Times reported that the Sri Lankan delegation on
February 23, after the meeting exclusively reported by Inner City
Press, met with Ban's panel, and that the panel's deadline was
extended two or three weeks. Immediately upon seeing the article,
Inner City Press sent questions by e-mail to Nesirky and his deputy
Farhan Haq on the morning of March 6:
A
UN
source is quoted in the Sri Lanka Sunday Times that after the
meeting between Messrs. Ban, Nambiar, Haysum, et al and Sri Lanka's
Attorney General and External Affairs minister on February 23 which
you have told me was about reconstruction and rehabilitation,
1)
the
two Sri Lanka official met with Mr. Ban's Panel -- true or false?
If true, why kept secret, and does this replace the trip to Sri Lanka
Ban has repeatedly said is allowed by Mahinda Rajapaksa's
flexibility?
2)
the
deadline for the Panel, set for March 1, has been extended “two
to three weeks” - true or false? If true, why was this not
announced, and extended for what purpose?
Yes
or no: will the report be made public?
Please
provide a complete list of attendees of the Ban meeting, and of the
reported meeting afterward with Mr. Ban's Panel.
Nesirky
and his
deputy Farhan Haq never answered or even confirmed receipt of these
questions. More than 24 hours after submitting the questions, at the
March 7 UN noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Nesirky to answer
them, to respond to the Sunday Leader story, and to state if Ban's
Panel will travel to Sri Lanka (as Ban has repeatedly claimed).
Nesirky
called the
Sunday Leader's reporting “shaky” in suggesting a secret meeting,
emphasizing to Inner City Press “you know, you were there taking
pictures, that was not the case.”
Sri Lanka officials, Ban, Nambiar et al - Ban's left not ID-ed (c) MRLee
Inner
City Press
asked, were the members of Ban's panel in New York? Even this Nesirky
would not answer, saying it is up to the Panel to say. But where
is the Panel?
Nesirky
said that
deadline is “this month.” Inner City Press asked, will it be
public?
That
will be up to
the panel, Nesirky said, in consultation with the Secretary General.
We'll see.
Meanwhile,
former
Sri Lanka UN ambassador HMGS Palihakkara, a member of Mahinda
Rajapaksa's LLRC, was in New York at the same time, sources say, as
part of Ban's advisory group on disarmament. So an LLRC member was in
New York at the time -- were the members of Ban's panel? Watch this
site.
And watch the end of this
debate, about Sri Lanka.
* * *
After
Ban
Ki-moon
Meets Sri Lanka AG & General Silva, UN Won't Say If First
Time, No Trip or Panel in UN Read Out
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February
24 -- After months of controversy regarding if Sri
Lanka will allow UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's Panel on
Accountability to visit the country and interview officials like the
Attorney General if not President, Ban
himself met on February 23
with with Attorney General Mohan Peiris and the Deputy Permanent
Representative to the UN, former General Shavendra Silva.
But
when Inner
City Press asked on February 24 for a read out of the meeting -- and
if this was Ban's first meeting with Silva, himself accused of war
crimes -- Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky said the “courtesy call”
was about “reconciliation and reconstruction efforts."
Inner
City Press
asked how it could be that Ban's Panel, President Mahinda Rajapaksa's
Lessons Learnt Commission could not be in the read out -- was this,
Inner City Press asked, a mutually agreed statement with the Sri
Lankan government?
No,
Nesirky
insisted, he was providing a read out for the UN Secretariat.
When
Inner City
Press has asked Ban Ki-moon to explain why his Panel has not gone to
Sri Lanka, despite his claim on December 17 that they could due to
Rajapaksa's “flexibility,” Ban said that they still would go,
adding confusingly that he was “still trying.”
But
his read out
of his meeting with Sri Lanka's Attorney General does not mention any
trip, or even his Panel.
The
Sri
Lankan
government, after denying Inner City Press' report that
this meeting would take place, then called the Daily Mirror on behalf
of External Affairs Ministry Secretary Romesh Jayasinghe to admit
it
took
place -- and said it concerned “legal issues.” This is not a
topic mentioned in the UN's read out.
Inner
City Press
asked Nesirky to confirm that the Panel's already extended deadline
is the end of February, as had been reported. Nesirky replied that
“the Panel will let us know when we can let you know.”
So
when, Inner City
Press repeated, is the deadline? Nesirky wouldn't say.
On
whether
this
was Ban's first meeting with former General Shavendra
Silva, described by widely read New York press as a war criminal,
Nesirky said he has “no idea” - and wouldn't even say he would
ask or find out.
This
is the
transparency and commitment to accountability for war crimes of which
Ban has spoken?
Lanka 4 incl Silva, Ban & Nambiar, Panel
not shown -or even mentioned? (c) MRLee
Also
attending the
February 23 meeting but standing off to the side during the
handshaking was Ban's chief of staff Vijay Nambiar. Inner City Press
nevertheless took a photograph of him standing by the side, and later
sitting at Ban's right hand for the meeting.
In
recent days,
Inner City Press has asked Ban's spokesperson's office for a response
to the inclusion of Nambiar in a filing with the International
Criminal Court, which asserts
“a
basis to question whether Vijay Nambiar was in fact an innocent
neutral intermediary or in fact a co-perpetrator within the
negotiation related community.”
The
filing, which
has been reported in the Australian press, recites that
"NAMBIAR
again
through
the United Nations-24 hour dispatch center in New York.
NAMBIAR replied to COLVIN that MAHINDA RAJAPAKSE, GOTABAYA RAJAPAKSE,
AND PALITHA KOHONA had assured NAMBIAR that the LTTE members would be
safe in surrendering to the SLA and treated like “normal prisoners
of war” if they “hoist[ed] a white flag high.”
Ban's
lead
spokesman Martin Nesirky would not say he would seek a response from
Nambiar or the Executive Office of the Secretary General to these
descriptions.
Nesirky's
deputy
Farhan Haq issued an on the record statement to another journalist
that “the Inner City Press story is inaccurate; there has been no
complaint formally filed at the International Criminal Court.” On
February 23, Inner City Press repeatedly asked Nesirky to explain the
statement; he has thus far declined. Watch this site.
* * *
At
UN,
Ban
&
Nambiar Meet Sri Lanka AG & General Silva, Despite
Denials
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
February
23
-- Amid controversy
about the UN's seeming
failure to follow up on accountability for presumptive war crimes in
the killing of tens of thousands of civilians in Sri Lanka, UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and his chief of staff Vijay Nambiar
met Wednesday with the country's Attorney General Mohan Peiris and
its Deputy
Permanent Representative to the UN, former General
Shavendra Silva.
Silva
has been
the subject of controversy, for his role in the military assault in
northern Sri Lanka in 2009. It has been reported that the government
of Mahinda Rajapaksa converted such as General Shavendra Silva into
an Ambassador to give him diplomatic immunity, and sent him to the UN
to see if the UN would in a sense legitimate him. Inner City Press
observed and took a photo as Ban Ki-moon shook Shavendra Silva's
hand on Wednesday.
UN's Ban and Silva, Kohona looks on, ICC not shown (c)
MLee
Also
attending the
meeting but standing off to the side during the handshaking was Ban's
chief of staff Vijay Nambiar. Inner City Press nevertheless took a
photograph of him standing by the side
Nambiar off to side of Sri Lanka photo op, Feb 23, 2011 (c) MLee
and later
sitting at Ban's
right hand for the meeting.
In
recent days,
Inner City Press has asked Ban's spokesperson's office for a response
to the inclusion of Nambiar in a filing with the International
Criminal Court, which asserts
“a
basis to question whether Vijay Nambiar was in fact an innocent
neutral intermediary or in fact a co-perpetrator within the
negotiation related community.”
The
filing, which
has been reported in the Australian press, recites that
"NAMBIAR
again
through
the
United Nations-24 hour dispatch center in New York.
NAMBIAR replied to COLVIN that MAHINDA RAJAPAKSE, GOTABAYA RAJAPAKSE,
AND PALITHA KOHONA had assured NAMBIAR that the LTTE members would be
safe in surrendering to the SLA and treated like “normal prisoners
of war” if they “hoist[ed] a white flag high.”
Ban's
lead
spokesman Martin Nesirky would not say he would seek a response from
Nambiar or the Executive Office of the Secretary General to these
descriptions.
Nesirky's
deputy
Farhan Haq issued an on the record statement to another journalist that
“the Inner
City Press story is inaccurate; there has been no complaint formally
filed at the International Criminal Court.” Earlier on February 23,
Inner City Press asked Nesirky to explain the statement; he has
declined.
It
was also
unclear if Wednesday's meeting was intended to replace what Ban had
announced as his Panel's ability to travel to Sri Lanka. The trip has
not happened, and Inner City Press has been told by sources on both
sides that Sri Lanka said the Panel could only “make
representations” to Rajapaksa's own Lessons Learnt &
Reconciliation Commission, not interview Peiris, External Affairs
Ministry Secretary Romesh Jayasinghe and other officials.
Inner
City Press
has been told, and has reported, that while Sri Lanka insisted that
its officials would only meet with the Executive Office of the
Secretary General -- run by Nambiar -- and not the UN Panel, the UN
counter offered a video conference call with the Panel, or even
written questions.
Now,
instead,
there has been a meeting with the Executive Office of the Secretary
General, including Nambiar and Silva. The meeting, after Inner City
Press yesterday reported its scheduling, was denied by Sri Lanka's
Deputy Minister of External Affairs Neomal Perera:
The
Government
today
rejected
reports that External Affairs Ministry
Secretary Romesh Jayasinghe and Attorney General Mohan Peiris were in
New York to meet with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Deputy
Minister of External Affairs Neomal Perera told the Daily Mirror that
the External Affairs Ministry Secretary was overseas on a private
visit and that, to his knowledge, there was no meeting scheduled
between the Attorney General and Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
The
Minister
further
rejected
claims that the government had hindered the
UN Secretary Generals’ Expert Panel from contacting the local
Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC).
“We
are in constant contact with the UN Secretary General’s office and
they have not requested to meet with the LLRC. If they so wish they
can contact them through us or even directly”, he said.
A
representative
of
the
LLRC told the Daily Mirror that any contact
between the panel and the LLRC would generally have to be through the
External Affairs Ministry. “The Commission has not been contacted,
normally however it is understood that any contact would have to be
made through the External Affairs Ministry; the Secretary Generals
office or the UN office in Colombo would have to contact them- but no
such contact has been made,” the representative said.
Reports
claimed
today
that
besides disallowing the UN Panel to visit Sri
Lanka the government had rejected the Secretary Generals offers for
those from the Panel to contact members of the LLRC through video
conferencing or written questions.
As
Inner City
Press stood at the UN's stakeout on the second floor of the North
Lawn building, Permanent Representative Palitha Kohona, named in the
ICC filing, walked by with the ministers. Inner City Press asked,
what about the denial? Kohona said that the deputy doesn't know
anything, just ask him. But he has declined to comment on the ICC
filing, not wanting to “dignify” it. Watch this site.
Footnote:
one attendee on the UN side of the table was left unidentified: watch
this site.
Click
for Mar 1, '11
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