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UN Dodges Myanmar Questions as Losses and Arrests Mount,
in Zimbabwe Too
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
August 17 -- As the UN in Myanmar
moved to cover-up its foreign exchange losses to the Than Shwe
military
government, in New York its Associate Spokesperson spend last week
evading
questions about the country, neglecting to follow-up on some and
deferring
others to the upcoming trip by UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari.
On Monday
August 11, Inner
City Press asked Spokesperson Farhan Haq, according to the
transcript:
Inner City Press: It is reported
that the Government of Myanmar has extended the house arrest of Aung
San Suu
Kyi for another year, which is, some people say it violates... You can only be five years unless charges are
being filed. Does the UN have any
response to this?
Associate Spokesperson Haq: I
believe that that decision was taken about
a month or so ago... this is a topic that Mr. [Ibrahim] Gambari has
brought up
in previous meetings, and when he visits Myanmar again, which he is
expected to
do some time over the coming weeks, he does expect to bring up the
issue.
But "a
month or so ago" -- actually,
May 28 -- the extended sentence was said to be six months, which
would keep the confinement under the five year limit. CNN
of August 11 quoted
sources that the extension was for one year. But the UN relied on
past
statements and Gambari's upcoming trip.
Also on
August 11, Haq dodged the question of UN Envoy
Haile Menkerios having been
barred from Zimbabwe, and why he spends so much time in South
Africa, on which
we'll have more.
On Tuesday
August
12, Inner City Press asked Haq
Inner City Press: in Myanmar two
opposition leaders have been now locked up by the Government. Two that actually wrote to Ban Ki-moon in
mid-July, asking him to take a second look at expanding the scope of
[Ibrahim]
Gambari’s mandate. Does the
Secretary-General have any comments on these interlocutors or these
opposition
leaders that wrote to him being arrested?
Associate Spokesperson Haq: We
don't have a specific reaction to
that. In general, we have wanted to see
an end to the arrests of figures in the opposition, of members of civil
society. Mr. Gambari has brought up the
concerns about the need for all political detainees to be released in
his past
visits and we do expect that he will bring up those concerns again when
he
visits Myanmar in the coming weeks.
But it is alleged that these two were arrested
because they wrote to
Ban.
Monks in Myanmar, UN responses not shown
Also on
Tuesday, while belatedly denying that Ban has received any
negative comments on reducing the UN Mission in Kosovo's staffing by
70%, Haq
dodged
the question of whether the 70% will be implemented in Serbian-majority
areas in North Kosovo. "Ask UNMIK," Inner
City Press was told by email. But UNMIK had, at that time, said it
didn't know
if it would do the same in North Kosovo. Later in the week they said
they will,
but not update was provided by the UN Spokesperson's Office in New
York.
Wishing there'd be no coverage of Kosovo won't make it so.
On Wednesday, August
13, Inner City Press shifted questioning to Timor
Leste, the report that Reinado was
shot point blank, and the lack of UN follow-up on its commitment to
investigate
the actions of UN security for Jose Ramos-Horta.
Inner City
Press: In East
Timor,
there was reported today that Reinado -- the one who attacked
[Jose]
Ramos-Horta -- may have been executed.
That was found in an autopsy, based on the
ballistics. So number one, given the UN's
role in
protecting Ramos-Horta at the time, was there ever an outcome to the
UN's
investigation into what went wrong in the protection of Ramos-Horta? And do you have any response to this new
autopsy done in East Timor?
Associate
Spokesperson Haq: I don't have a response,
we'd have to check
up. As you know, Reinado died during an
exchange of gunfire. Apparently, the
information we had at the time, which we had said, was that he died in
an
exchange of gunfire during the assassination attempt against Mr.
Ramos-Horta. I am not aware of this
latest report and will check with the Mission whether they have any
response to
that.
But four days later, there has been no response. The
August
13
transcript, purportedly verbatim, does not include statements by
Haq that no
more questions would be allowed.
On Thursday August
14, Haq not only read out the UN's whitewash of its
currency exchange losses in Myanmar, he also said he would "ask Bangkok"
why the UN Human Rights
Council's rapporteur had cancelled his scheduled press conference about
human rights
in Myanmar. Later Haq said this was just a scheduling conflict. But it
has not
been rescheduled. From
the transcript:
Inner
City Press: Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Mr. [Tomas Ojea]
Quintana was
supposed to hold a press conference in Bangkok after his visit to
Myanmar. This was cancelled and nobody was
given any reason
why it was cancelled. Given the
importance of the issue, why was it cancelled?
Associate
Spokesperson Haq: I am not one of the
people in Bangkok. You could consult
with my colleague there and he might be able to help you with that.
[The
Associate Spokesperson later added that scheduling conflicts were given
as the
reason for the cancellation.]
On Friday August
15, among the topics dodged was Zimbabwe:
Inner
City Press: There are reports that the
UN had asked to send a team to assess
the political violence in Zimbabwe between 29 May and the run-off, but
that the
Government had refused entry to the UN team. Can you confirm first that the UN has tried
to send such a team, and second that it has been denied access?
Associate
Spokesperson: I will check.
I am not aware of that one, but I'll check if
we received such a request.
There has been no update; there was another mystery
left unanswered on
Friday on which we wll have more. For now we note that the dodging of
Myanmar questions may not be entirely the fault of the Spokesperson's
Office, but rather reflect instructions from higher in the UN building
to avoid the issue. Why would the UN, faced with a
scandal of loss of aid funds, issue a joint press release with the Than
Shwe government? To be continued.
Watch
this
site. And this (on
South Ossetia), and
this --
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