On
Sri Lanka, Ban
Didn't Support
Frechette on
Silva to Not
"Antagonize"
the Asia
Group, France
Says; Africa
Dissed
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
March 12 --
Discussions in
Geneva about
the draft
Human
Rights Council
resolution on
Sri Lanka have
included many
views, and
some new
stories, about
Brigadier
General
Shavendra
Silva.
Since
Silva's 58th
Division is in
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's own
Panel
of
Experts report,
depicted
engaged in war
crimes, his
participation
in
Ban's Senior
Advisory Group
on
Peacekeeping
Operations was
ruled
inappropriate
by the
chairperson
Ban named for
the SAG,
Louise
Frechette.
But
while Ban has
routinely said
he supports
those he
appoints,
whether it's
Ibrahim
Gambari in
Sudan under
fire for
taking photos
with indictees
of the
International
Criminal Court
or Alexander
Downer erring
in how to
refer to
Greek-Cypriots
and the
European
Union, Ban has
not stood
behind
Frechette's
decision.
When
Inner City
Press asked,
the response
from Ban's
office had
been that
while Ban
"takes note of
the decision"
of Ms.
Frechette,
whether an
alleged war
criminal
should advise
the UN is "up
to member
states."
French
Permanent
Representative
to the UN
Gerard Araud,
when asked by
Inner City
Press,
defended Ban's
hands-off
approach,
saying that
for Ban, "it
was quite
difficult to
antagonize a
regional
group." He did
not
say, but could
have:
particularly
the Asian
Group.
By
contrast,
while
the African
Group
repeatedly
asked Ban to
appoint a
separate
Special
Adviser on
Africa, Ban
resisted, and
finally to the
consternation
of
many in the
African Group
appointed to
the Africa
post Maged
Abdelaziz of
Egypt.
On March 12
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
about a
relatedly
position some
in the Group
are saying
could or
should go a
sub-Saharan
African,
without
answer.
So
Ban is willing
to
"antagonize,"
in Araud's
word, the
African Group,
but
not the Asian
Group. Ban
previously was
the foreign
minister of
South
Korea, a
member of the
Asian Group.
Araud
called
Frechette's
decision
"effective."
But in fact, filling the
vacuum left by
Ban Ki-moon's
silence, Sri
Lanka is
arguing that
Frechette
acted without
support and
outside her
mandate, and
should
herself be
removed.
(Inner
City
Press has
repeatedly
been urged to
report on Sri
Lanka's
argument, and
told that then
Silva will
take
questions.
We'll see.)
Ban
shakes with
Silva, Kohona
back to
camera, HRC
not shown (c)
MRLee
The
last
person Ban
removed after
governmental
complaint was
his envoy
Schulenberg
from
Sierra Leone,
after
President
Koroma
complained.
That will be
discussed
in the
Security
Council, this
month's
Council
president
Mark Lyall
Grant told
Inner City
Press, on March 22.
But
Sri Lanka
never was
discussed in a
formal
Security
Council
meeting. From
the
Human Rights
Council in
Geneva, even
with the Sri
Lanka
resolution
pending, US
Ambassador to
the UN in
Geneva Eileen
C. Donahoe is
leaving to
come
back to
Washington,
for a Hillary
Clinton
"meet-up" of
Ambassadors.
As one wag, this
one, tweeted,
you have to
choose your
HRC based on
priorities.
[But see this
subsequent
tweet.]
Watch this
site.
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