After
UN
Link to Sri
Lanka Report
Goes Dead,
Back Online
Here
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 14 --
Two and a half
hours after
the report on
the
UN's action
and inaction
in Sri Lanka
was handed to
Secretary
General
Ban Ki-moon by
Charles
Petrie, Ban's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
began
Wednesday's
noon briefing
saying it was
now online.
Inner
City Press
accessed it
and asked why
it had
sections
blacked out,
and
no mention of
Ban's envoy
Vijay Nambiar
and his role
in the
so-called
White Flag
Killings of
surrenders
Tamil Tiger
leaders.
Nesirky
didn't
answer on the
redactions,
nor on
Nambiar,
saying there
would
be another
briefing
tomorrow.
Inner City
Press wrote a
story, linking
to the Petrie
report.
But
shortly after
that, numerous
readers
contacted
Inner City
Press
saying that
the UN link
had "gone
dead." Inner
City Press
checked and it
was true: the
link no longer
worked.
So
here
now is the
report as the
UN put it
online
Wednesday at
noon, with
redactions for
example in
Paragraphs 83
and 84 of the
Narrative in
Annex III. Click
here to view.
We will have
more on this,
but for now
re-post the
report
as a public
service. Watch
this site.
Earlier:
UN
Report
on Sri Lanka
Has Portions
Blacked Out,
No Nambiar,
More Spin?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 14 --
The UN said it
would make the
Petrie report
into its
actions and
inactions in
Sri Lanka
public.
But when it put
the
report online
at noon on
Wednesday,
portions had
been
blacked-out
or redacted.
Click here
to view, for
example
Paragraphs 83
and 84 in the
Narrative in
Annex III.
Inner
City Press did
a fast word
search and
found that
while
"John Holmes"
-- who defends
his and the
UN's actions
on
Tuesday --
appeared in
the report, UN
envoy Vijay
Nambiar did
not.
Inner
City Press
asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin
Nesirky who
made the
decision to
black out
portions of
the report and
whether
Nambiar, who
played a role
in the White
Flag Killings
of
surrendering
Tamil Tiger
leaders, would
be part of
Ban's new
senior
advisory team.
Nesirky
did
not explain
the
redactions,
repeating
twice that
some
yet-unnamed
senior UN
officials will
brief the
press
tomorrow. He
did not answer
on Mr.
Nambiar.
Inner
City Press
reported and
exclusively
pursued that
Ban accepted
as a
Senior Adviser
on
Peacekeeping
Operations one
of the
Generals most
associated
with the
killings in
Sri Lanka in
2009,
Shavendra
Silva.
If he accepted
Silva, how not
Nambiar?
Silva
appeared with
Kohona at a
film screening
in the UN's
Dag
Hammarskjold
Auditorium, fallout
written up by
the SLC, here.
After
being excluded
from a UN
memorial
service
Wednesday
morning after
the
Petrie photo
op, Inner City
Press spotted
Nambiar
leaving that
closed
session. So he
was at the UN.
In
what remained
of Wednesday's
noon briefing,
Inner City
Press asked
Nesirky if Ban
has any
comment on the
impeachment of
Sri Lanka's
chief justice
by the
Rajapaksa
government. He
does not,
apparently.
Analysis:
it
is not at all
clear that
this long
delayed Petrie
report
represents any
more serious
approach by
Ban's UN on
the ongoing
issues in Sri
Lanka. Some
call it a
belated
attempt at
cover up, or
covering
something. But
we will see,
continuing to
cover it.
Watch
this site.
, 
