Inner City Press: Investigative Reporting from the United Nations

As Myanmar Blasts Away At Kachin Rebels, UN Dodges Issue for 9 Days

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, June 25 -- Amid an upsurge in fighting and displacement as Myanmar's military-dominated government tries to put down ethnic Kachin rebels, Inner City Press on June 16 asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky if Ban's putative envoy on Myanmar, Vijay Nambiar, had anything to say or would do anything about it:

Inner City Press: in Myanmar, there are these reports of clashes between the Government and the Kachin rebels, they say that dozens have been killed, 10,000 people have been displaced. So, one, I wanted to know whether any part of the UN system is addressing these, especially displacees [sic] in this conflict and also whether Ban Ki-moon’s Chief of Staff, in his good offices role, is he aware of this fighting? Has he communicated with the Government? What does he say about this seeming deterioration in safety within the country?

Spokesperson Nesirky: Let me check. Right, okay, thank you very much. Have a good afternoon.

Nine full days have passed, and the UN has had nothing to say, even as the situation has deteriorated to the point where other governments, even thought trying rapprochement with Myanmar's military dominated government, have spoken out.

Does Vijay Nambiar no longer work on the Myanmar issue?

Ban, Saudis, Nambiar at right, 6/23/11 (c) MRLee

Inner City Press observed him on June 23, accompanying Ban to greet Saudi Arabia's new Permanent Representative to the UN (who said he'd seen Nambiar the previous night.)

Is a new full time envoy to replace Nambiar, as requested by the UK, Mexico and others, in the offing? With Ban's spokesperson's office either refusing to answer or follow up on Myanmar questions, it is hard to know. Watch this site.

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As Myanmar Blocks UN Human Rights Rapporteur, Not Clear If Nambiar Raised It, He Still Won't Take Questions

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 23 -- After part time UN envoy to Myanmar Vijay Nambiar visited the country and gave what was called an upbeat (or Pollyanna) report to the UN Security Council, the UN's human rights rapporteur Tomas Ojea Quintana spoke of "land confiscation, forced labor, internal displacement, extrajudicial killings and sexual violence [as] widespread, they continue today, and they remain essentially unaddressed by the authorities” in Myanmar.

Nambiar has refused request to take questions about his envoy work for the UN. Inner City Press on May 23 asked again, this time to explain the contract between Nambiar's and Quintana's assessments, and if Nambiar even asked the Myanmar authorities to allow Quintana into the country, which they've blocked.

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky told Inner City Press he'd look into it -- presumably, ask Nambiar about it -- and if this issue was raised to the authorities, as not mentioned in last week's readout, would tell Inner City Press about it.

Nambiar last time, Press excluded, new request not shown

Inner City Press asked, Why not just make Nambiar available to take a few questions, like other UN envoys do?

“The read out does the trick in this case,” Nesirky said, after just admitting that the question of Quintana and assess was not addressed in the read out. The UN correspondents' association as a whole has now asked for a briefing by Nambiar, and his refusal to do it because more and more difficult to understand, or justify. Watch this site.

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As UK Calls for Myanmar UN Envoy Replacement for Nambiar, He Brushes Off Press

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 19 -- After the UN Security Council met Thursday about Myanmar, UN envoy Vijay Nambiar explicitly refused to answer even a single question from the Press.

Rushing out of the Council, Nambiar made a brushing-away motion with his hand and disappeared down a corridor. This despite a standing request by the UN Correspondents Association that he hold a press conference and take questions.

The Permanent Representative of the UK Mark Lyall Grant did speak to the Press. He recounted that democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has suggested that need for a full time UN envoy, adding that the UK “has long believed that it would be good to have a permanent, full time envoy to regularly visit” Burma.

Lyall Grant said that while Nambiar “felt the tone of what the government was doing since the election was better, more open than it had been before,” the UK sees “no effective response to key demands of international community.”

The military dominated government has given “amnesty only just over two percent of political prisoners, there are still over two thousand.” Lyall Grant was dismissive of “taking one year off a sixty five years sentence of student leaders, and the ninety three years given to Shan community” leadership.

He added that “there has not yet been any inclusive dialogue with opposition outside Parliament.” In the run up to Nambiar's trip, Inner City Press asked without answer if he would be meeting with ethnic minorities.

Inner City Press has previously reported calls for a full time replacement to Nambiar as envoy, by the UK along with former Security Council member Mexico and others. But Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has made no move to appoint a full time envoy, instead continuing to send his chief of staff Nambiar to Myanmar, then refusing to take questions when he comes back.

Nambiar previously seen from behind, no Qs taken

Ban Ki-moon, too, has become resistant to taking questions from the press, at least in New York. Despite multiple requests that he hold the promised monthly press conference - the last was in January, four months ago -- Ban has not held a press conference.

Since he last held a shorter stakeout, he has for example said he was “relieved that justice was done” in the killing of Osama bin Laden, a position that differs from the UN's own human rights commissioner Navi Pillay's.

Ban on May 18 granted an interview to one wire service, and used it to state that if member states want him for a second term as Secretary General, he is ready to serve.

Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky declined Inner City Press' request for a transcript. He said he would be getting clarifications from Nambiar, but none has been given, including any UN response to the Myanmar government prohibiting reporting of ASSK's comments after meeting Nambiar, and on Myanmar's push to head ASEAN. Watch this site.

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

Other, earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.

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