As
Sri
Lanka Told No
Deputies Like
Silva on
Adviser Group,
Ban No Part of
Fix
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 21 --
Twenty
five days
ago Inner City
Press began
asking the UN
and then
various
countries'
missions to
the UN how
they
could accept
as a UN
"Senior
Adviser 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.
Now,
with
no credit to
the UN
Secretariat of
Ban Ki-moon,
multiple
Ambassadors
have told
Inner City
Press that
there is a
"fix."
"It's
very
simple," a
well placed
Permanent
Representative
told Inner
City Press on
Tuesday
morning in
front of the
Security
Council. "We
can do one
thing. When we
created this
[Senior
Advisory
Group], we
insisted the
membership
must be a PR
[Permanent
Representative]
level.
Wherever it
isn't will not
be welcome
this time.
Palitha
[Kohona] will
have to come
himself, he
cannot
nominate
anyone. That's
their choice."
Inner
City
Press had
predicted this
semi-solution
weeks ago but
Sri Lanka
Permanent
Representative
Palitha
Kohona, who
also appears
by name in
the Panel of
Experts report
in connection
surrenderees
who were
killed, said
that he would
not switch
with Silva.
The
outrage
of Silva's
nomination,
which Sri
Lanka got
through the
Asia
Group not by
election but
by getting
Nepal and
Saudi Arabia
to
withdraw, has
spread to
other regional
groups and
major member
states.
Also
on
Tuesday
morning, Inner
City Press
asked UK
Permanent
Representative
Mark Lyall
Grant about
l'affaire
Silva. He said
"there has
been a lot of
discussion"
between the UN
Secretariat
and others --
he mentioned
"the
Americans,"
whose
Ambassador
Rice told
Inner City
Press of US
concern back
on
February 17
-- but added
that "the
Secretariat
says they
can't
do anything."
This
position,
with which
even UN High
Commissioner
on Human
Rights Navi
Pillay
disagrees, as
she told Inner
City Press in
response to a
question after
she briefed
the General
Assembly about
Syria on
February 13,
was reiterated
by Ban's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
at
Tuesday's noon
briefing.
Inner
City
Press noted
that Ban was
in effect
disagreeing
with Pillay,
who
wrote to him
to say that
the same
vetting
applied to UN
peacekeepers
should apply
to a Senior
Adviser on
Peacekeeping
Operations.
Nesirky
said it's up
to member
states, you
are putting
words in my
mouth and
I think I'll
leave it at
that."
Ban shakes
with Silva,
Kohona back to
camera, (c)
MRLee
Inner
City
Press had
asked if the
Secretariat
had any role
in the "fix;"
Nesikry said
"that's a very
very long
question," the
"answer is
very short:
this is a
decision that
was taken by
the
Asia Group
member states,
it is for the
member states
to decide."
This
stands
in contrast to
instances when
Ban Ki-moon
urges the
member
states on the
Security
Council to
reach
consensus and
take action,
and expresses
regret when
they do not.
Is having an
alleged war
criminal from
Sri Lanka as a
UN adviser
just not of as
much concern
to Ban
Ki-moon?
Prior
to these
developments,
the Sri Lankan
Mission's
action was to
send a letter
of complaint
to Inner City
Press, sending
a copy to
Ban's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
as well as to
some in the UN
press corps.
Inner City
Press in less
than 24 hours
published
and responded
to the letter,
citing only
some of the
many
references to
Silva's
Division 58 in
the report.
Now that's
updated, and Silva
is blaming his
problems on
the Press.
How about the
deeds, of May
2009 and
before? Watch
this site.
, 
