As
Silva
Barred from
Advising UN,
Kohona Says
Frechette Had
"No
Authority"
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 23 --
Twenty seven
days ago Inner
City Press
began
asking the UN
and then
various
countries'
missions to
the UN how
they
could accept
as a member of
the UN "Senior
Advisory Group
on
Peacekeeping
Operations"
General
Shavendra
Silva, whose
Division
58 is
repeatedly
named in
connection
with war
crimes in
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
Panel of
Experts report
on Sri Lanka.
Then,
on
the afternoon
of February 22
Silva was told
by the Group's
chair
Louise
Frechette that
his
participation
is "not
appropriate."
While much
reported, few
noted the
inaction and
refusal to
speak of UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon and
his head of
Peacekeeping,
Herve
Ladsous, which
continued even
after Silva
was barred.
At
the UN's noon
briefing on
February 23,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's deputy
spokesman
Eduardo Del
Buey if at
least Ban had
any comment on
Silva
and his
barring, and
whether Ban
supports the
decision of
Louise
Frechette.
Del
Buey
said, "the
advice
continues to
be it is a
member state
decision." He
said that Ban
has "taken
note" of the
development,
but it's a
member state
decision. Video
here, from
Minute 5:09.
Now
as
Inner City
Press
predicted, Sri
Lanka is using
Ban's
passivity,
which stands
in contrast
to, for
example, his
comments on
the
decisions of
the "member
states" on the
Security
Council.
Several
Permanent
Representatives
of members of
the Asia
Group, where
Sri Lanka got
the
SAG post after
encouraging
Saudi Arabia,
Nepal and Fiji
to drop out,
told Inner
City Press
that Sri Lanka
had written to
them about
Frechette's
decision.
"It's their
side of the
story," one of
the
representatives
said.
Late
in
the afternoon
of February
23, Sri
Lanka's
Permanent
Representative
Palitha Kohona
told Inner
City Press, on
the record,
that
"Frechette
is outside
mandate and
has no
authority" to
bar Silva.
Inner City
Press asked
why, then,
Silva had said
not a word
during the
more than two
hour
meeting.
He was under
instructions,
Kohona said.
Another Asia
Group Deputy
Permanent
Representative
told Inner
City Press the
Group will be
ill-represented
on the Senior
Advisory Group
on
Peacekeeping
Operations, to
which Asia
countries are
major troop
contributors,
if its
representative
can't speak,
or "is a
distraction."
Kohona
maintains that
Silva will
represent the
Asia Group,
despite what
other Asia
Group
representatives
have said,
some on the
record and
some on
background.
The
representative
of a major
Western member
of the
Security
Council
marveled to
Inner City
Press about
the
tenaciousness
of Sri Lankan
diplomacy,
saying it
sprung from
"rear guard
lobbying for
more
than twenty
years."
Another told
Inner City
Press that Sri
Lanka
had been
trying to
"make a trade"
of pulling
Silva back in
exchange for
changed
positions at
the upcoming
Human Rights
Council
session in
Geneva.
"That's
unacceptable,"
the
representative
said. We'll
see.
Kohona spoke
Thursday
afternoon on
Sexual
Violence in
Conflict,
praising the
UN envoy on
the topic,
Margot
Wallstrom.
Only five
hours earlier,
when
Wallstrom came
to the
stakeout,
Inner City
Press
asked
what she
thought of
Silva as an
adviser, and
what had to
date happened.
Video
here, from
Minute 6:19.
Wallstrom said
there
"should be
consequences"
for
"atrocities,"
and
that "I
understand
that this is
what has
happened, that
he has
now been
banned from
this group.
Exactly how
that has
happened, I do
not have all
the detailed
information....
I think that
was probably
the right
thing to do...
I think it is
important to
make
statements
and clearly
position
yourself on
these issues."
Kohona
back to
camera, Silva
shakes Ban,
"member states
made me do it"
(c) MRLee
Watch this
site.
Already, a Sri
Lankan
diplomat has
complained to
Inner City
Press, by what
right does
Fechette point
the finger
given her role
in the UN Oil
for Food
scandal?
Forthe record,
Frechette
intervened
directly by
phone to bar
UN auditors
from
forwarding
their
investigations
to the
Security
Council, as
detailed on
page 186 of
the 219-page
interim report
Paul Volcker’s
Independent
Inquiry
Committee
released
February 3,
2005....
Footnote:
Earlier in the
Silva process,
Inner City
Press asked
High
Commissioner
for Human
Rights Navi
Pillay about
Silva, and get
her on camera
to say she was
concerned, and
had written to
Ban Ki-moon.
Quickly, some
who had done
no work on the
issues tried
to grab it, to
save face.
But even then
Human Rights
Watch argued
that it was
not Ban
Ki-moon's
fault.
We
disagree:
Sri Lanka only
had the hutzpa
to submit
Silva because
Ban had shown
himself so
weak, had in a
closed door
meet with
Mahinda
Rajapaksa
berated his
own staff, as
exclusively
reported by
Inner City
Press.
But
Human Rights
Watch some
time ago
decided to go
soft of Ban,
refusing even
to summarize
the topics of
director's Ken
Roth's meeting
with Ban. On
February 23,
HRW's Roth
offered praise
to Ban
offering the
Syria envoy
post to Kofi
Annan,
meetings with
whom WERE
summarized (to
say nothing of
the Sri Lankan
diplomats
resurrection
of the UN Oil
for Food
scandal,
above). There
is decay all
over - watch
this site.
, 
