On
UN's
Sri Lanka
Failure,
Petrie Hands
Report to Ban
Ki-moon + 3,
Minus Nambiar,
Kohona Denial
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 14 --
The long
delayed report
on the UN's
actions
and inactions
in Sri Lanka
in 2009
was given to
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon by
Charles Petrie
on Wednesday
morning.
After an initial
Media
Alert not
permitting
independent
press coverage
of the
hand-over, a
7:30 am email
clarified that
it could be
covered. Inner
City Press was
there, and took
photos, here
and here.
Attending
with
Ban were his
chief of staff
Susana
Malcorra (who
is also
studying the UN's
failures in
responding to
or at least
communicating
to member
states about
Hurricane
Sandy),
the chief of
Ban's
political
unit and
another
staffer.
Not
present was
Vijay Nambiar,
who was not
only
Malcorra's
predecessor
but
also Ban's
envoy to Sri
Lanka in 2009.
He became
embroiled in
the
so-called
White Flag
Killings, in
which he
conveyed to
two Tamil
Tiger leaders
that if they
came out, they
would be
treated in
compliance
with
international
humanitarian
law.
After this
assurance,
they came out
and were
immediately
killed.
Nambiar
earlier
this year told
Inner City
Press that he spoke
with, among
others, then
Sri
Lankan foreign
secretary
Palitha Kohona.
Kohona has
denied it
to
Inner City
Press; today,
Kohona is
quoted that it
is "'absolute
nonsense' to
say a 'small
country' could
intimidate the
UN and that
his country
had worked
with senior UN
officials."
Well,
yes: Sri
Lanka's
Rajapaksa
goverment
"worked with"
senior
UN officials,
including
Nambiar and
Ban himself.
Sri Lanka got
Ban
and others to
accept one of
the Generals
responsible
for the
carnage,
Shavendra
Silva, as a
"Senior
Adviser on
Peacekeeping
Operations" to
the UN. Ban
told Inner
City Press
that this was
a
decision of
the member
states.
Silva
appeared with
Kohona at a
film screening
in the UN's
Dag
Hammarskjold
Auditorium, fallout
written up by
the SLC, here.
On
November 13,
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's
spokesman
Martin
Nesirky:
Inner
City
Press: I want
to make this
request in
advance, I've
been
thinking of
the Benazir
Bhutto report,
and I remember
in this, I
think it was
in this room
that the
Chair, Mr.
[Marzuki]
Darusman,
gave a press
conference, is
there some
ability to
have Q and A
either
of Mr. Petrie
or the
Secretary-General
on this
important
report of
the UN’s own
performance?
Spokesperson:
That’s being
looked into.
We are
obviously
aware of the
interest
and that’s one
reason why it
is being made
public.
Watch
this site.
, 
