|
As Sri Lanka
Descends to UN Basement, Underground Envoy Talk
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS,
April 30 -- In the run up to the Security Council's third “informal
interactive dialogue” on Sri Lanka, slated for 5 p.m. Thursday in
the UN basement, sources tell Inner City Press that a move is afoot
to try to formally appoint a Special Envoy to Sri Lanka. Mexico,
which passes the body's Presidency to Russia on Friday, is said to be
looking to cap its schizophrenic month atop the Council by finally
having an outcome, or output: an envoy.
Vijay Nambiar's trip on
behalf of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is now widely viewed as a
failure, even as buying more time for Colombo to continue its assault
and siege on the conflict zone. Nambair, according to Ban, won a
commitment by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to allow a UN humanitarian
assessment team into the No Fire Zone. This commitment, if it was
ever sincere, was immediately rescinded. Nambiar, a otherwise affable
and approachable UN official, has yet to take a single Press question
on what was in fact committed in Colombo.
Mexico's Heller and UN's Pascoe, Sri Lanka
envoy not shown
U.S.
Ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo did stop and speak with Inner City Press
about the anticipated outcome of the upcoming basement meeting. “We
would hope that the President would speak to the press again, but
we'll see.” In fact, sources say that the idea of a UN envoy to Sri
Lanka was - is? - an American idea, to raise the profile of the
issue, opposed by the Sri Lankan government.
Wednesday,
Inner City Press asked the UN's top humanitarian John Holmes, who is
in charge of the UN's political strategy on Sri Lanka. Certainly not
me, Holmes said. Okay then: who would make a good envoy?
Realistically, who wouldn't be blocked by China or Russia? And will
Mexico, mired in the Swine Flu problem, including its diplomatic
aspect, be able to pull a rabbit out of its hat or sombrero on the
last day of its presidency or is this just an illusion. La vida es un
sueno, as the poem goes. Watch this site.
Footnote:
We continue to wait for the
UK's formal answer to the first of the two
questions which Inner
City
Press asked the UK Mission to
the UN two questions on Sri Lanka early on April 15:
Does the UK
believe that international law and the
rights of UN humanitarian staff are being violated by the
now-acknowledged
detention of UN staff in the Sri Lankan government's “IDP” camps?
It has been reported
this morning that Sri Lanka's “minister also told the
British
Foreign Secretary that there was concern that the LTTE would
continue to
consolidate its fortification of the No-Fire Zone.” Please confirm the
accuracy
of that, and of this
and if so, does the UK interpret it as saying that
an offensive on the No-Fire Zone and the civilians in it will begin?
What did
the UK Foreign Secretary say?
As
of
this press time two weeks later, the formal answer has been
referral to Minister
Miliband's April 12
statement, and this.
On April 21, Inner City Press put the question to U.S. Ambassador Susan
Rice, whose spokesman the following day cleared this response:
"UN personnel should have freedom of movement and be treated with
respect." But they are still detained as of this writing. As more
answers arrive or are released we will report them on this site.
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
UN
Office: S-453A, UN, NY 10017
USA
Tel: 212-963-1439
Reporter's
mobile (and
weekends):
718-716-3540
Other,
earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available
in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright
2006-08 Inner City Press, Inc. To request
reprint or other permission, e-contact Editorial [at]
innercitypress.com -
|
, 
