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At UN on Sri
Lanka, US Call for Pause, UN Bobs and Weaves, Briefing Wednesday
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS,
April 21 -- As in the UN Security Council a series of speeches were
given Tuesday about the UN's mediation work, Inner City Press asked
United States Ambassador Rosemarie DiCarlo for the U.S.'s position on
recent military action in Sri Lanka. “We want a pause,”
Ambassador DiCarlo said. “We need to see more” on the Sri Lanka
government's compliance with their “agreement with Mr. Holmes and
Mr. Kaelin.”
John Holmes,
the UN's top humanitarian, is currently in China, it was announced at
Tuesday noon briefing in New York. Inner City Press asked Ban
Ki-moon's Deputy Spokesperson Marie Okabe to explain Ban's statement
on April 20 that he “deplores the continued use of heavy weapons in
the vicinity of civilians, and the use of force by the LTTE in
preventing the departure of civilians from the conflict zone.” Who
is Ban saying is using heavy weapons?
Ms. Okabe
called Ban's statement “clear and strong,” and chided Inner City
Press for having allegedly missed another statement she read out as
Inner City Press “set up shop there” in the briefing room. Some
note that the UN's “noon” briefing starts 10, 15 or even 20
minutes late. In any event, the statement wasn't missed, just
non-responsive.
US #3 Ambassador DiCarlo at the Council, UN answers not shown
Inner City
Press asked Ms. Okabe to square her Office's statement to Inner City
Press on April 13 that the UN had repeated complained to Sri Lanka
about the detention of UN staff in the government's IDP camps with
Sri Lanka's statement that the first complaint was two days after
Inner City Press raised it, on April 15. Ms. Okabe said she wasn't
certainly of the timeline, and later produced a one-line answer from
Mr. Holmes' spokeswoman Stephanie Bunker, that the UN has complained
“since February.” Inner City Press has asked the UN to Please
comment on / respond to the following public
statements by the GoSL:
"The
Government has received a letter from the United Nations resident and
humanitarian coordinator Neil Buhne requesting movement for UN staff
in refugee camps in Vavuniya, Resettlement Minister Rishad Baduideen
said yesterday. “We received the letter on Wednesday evening and it
was from Neil Buhne,” Minister Baduideen said. .. Minister
Baduideen said he had not received a letter from the UN and unless
they receive a formal complaint that they cannot look into it, and as
and when they do they will discuss it with the military officials.
END
So
are you saying that the UN's raising of the issue since Feb was
informal? To whom was it raised, given the above? And what is the
current status?
The
UN's
response will be reported on this site after it is received. On the
timing of UN envoy Vijay Nambiar's briefing to the Council, Ms. Okabe
says he is “at Headquarters,” and Council sources it will be
Wednesday afternoon, in the basement.
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
Feedback: Editorial
[at] innercitypress.com
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