UN
Gets
Sri Lanka Visa for Fundraising, Not War Crimes Panel, Doormat for
Despots
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 17 -- A month after visits to Sri
Lanka were
announced by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for his Panel of
Experts on Accountability, a UN official from New York is finally
going to Colombo.
It
is not,
however, about accountability. Rather, deputy chief of the Office for
the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Catherine Bragg is going to
issue an appeal for money.
At
the UN's
January 17 noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman
Martin Nesirky to comment on protests about aid non delivery in
Batticaloa, and why his Office never responded to these two questions
formally submitted to him six weeks ago on December 5, 2010:
Does
the
UN have any comment on Sri Lanka's government ordering the
International Committee of the Red Cross out of Northern Sri
Lanka?
Or,
as
previously requested, on the new rules requiring NGOs and INGOs to
register with the Department of Defense, etc?
The
latter
question was pending unanswered for much longer. The UN's OCHA, whose
previously chief John Holmes spoke of the very “bloodbath on the
beach” which Ban's Panel appears to be skirting around without
investigating, has not commented on the expulsions of and
restrictions on humanitarian NGOs and even INGOs.
Nevertheless
on
January 17 Nesirky, who had not announced Bragg's visit among the
press releases he read at the beginning of the noon briefing, would
not even confirm or explain Bragg's visit. He twice told Inner City
Press to “ask OCHA,” the UN arm which has refused to comment on
restrictions on humanitarian NGOs in the country they will now ask
for money for.
Inner
City Press
asked Nesirky to state when and under what conditions Ban's Panel
will or will not go to Sri Lanka, now in light of UN official Ms.
Bragg's fundraising trip.
Nesirky
insisted that the "Secretary General
has answered your questions," apparently referring to Ban's January
14
comment, after a press conference in which Nesirky refused to take a
Sri Lanka question, that the members of his panel “are now working
very seriously on finalizing the dates of visiting Sri Lanka.”
UN's Bragg elsewhere, Lanka visas for Ban's
Panel on Accountability not shown
Inner
City Press
then asked about “the government has said they can only talk to the
LLRC [Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Commission], that they
can't investigate anything.”
Ban
Ki-moon
replied, “They will be able to... They are now discussing that.”
Many
find it
strange that a month after Ban announced his Panel would go, and
specifically praised the “flexibility” of President Rahinda
Rajapaksa, he now says his Panel is having to (re) discuss the
ability to have conversations inside Sri Lanka, to which Ms. Bragg is
dispatched to raise funds.
In
a conversation
with one of the groups excluded from Northern Sri Lanka, the UN was
referred to a a “doormat for despots. To this has this UN sunk.
Watch this site.
* * *
Ban
Says
Panel
“Finalizing” Sri Lanka Dates, “Will Be Able” to
Talk B/y LLRC
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee, Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
January
14 -- For the four weeks since UN Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon on December 17 announced his Panel of Experts would visit
Sri Lanka and praised the “flexibility” of President Mahinda
Rajapaksa, his Spokesperson's office has refused to answer questions
about Rajapaksa officials' statements that they were unable of any
trip, that Ban's Panel would get only “conditional visas,” not to
investigate but only “make representations” to Rajapaksa's
Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Commission.
When
Ban
held his
next monthly press conference on January 14, Inner City Press sought
to ask, as it has in writing without a responsible answer, when and
under what conditions the Panel might travel, given that it was
supposed to issue a report by January 15.
But
despite Inner
City Press signing up to ask a question, and keeping hand raised
throughout Ban's 45 minute press conference, Inner City Press was not
called on to ask any question. This was something new.
While
other
reporters
shouted out questions about Ban administration corruption
and if Ban will seek a second term -- no comment -- Inner City Press
chose not to get into shouting. Rather, Inner City Press waited by
the exit of the Dag Hammarskold Library where Ban would pass.
“Mister
Secretary
General,
you said your Panel is going to Sri Lanka,”
Inner City Press asked, “what happened?”
Ban
Ki-moon
replied, “They are now working very seriously on finalizing the
dates of visiting Sri Lanka.”
Inner
City
Press
asked about “the government has said they can only talk to the
LLRC, that they can't investigate anything.”
Ban
Ki-moon
replied, “They will be able to... They are now discussing that.”
This
again
in
contradictory to what the Sri Lankan government has said, and even to
what Ban's spokespeople have said. Ban's acting Deputy Spokesman
Farhan Haq, bypassing Inner City Press' outstanding questions, told
BBC's Sinhala service that the Panel might only meet the LLRC outside
Sri Lanka.
Then,
when
Inner
City Press asked questions on it day after day, Haq said that Ban's
Panel's mandate is broader than the LLRC. Haq refused to answer if
the Panel or its staff would travel to Sri Lanka.
The
Sri Lanka
government immediately said that to the contrary, it would only be
with the LLRC, that no investigation or other discussion would be
possible, and visas would be limited to this effect.
Inner
City
Press
asked Ban Spokesman Nesirky with whom Ban spoke before making his
December 17 announcement and praising Mahinda Rajapaksa. Nesirky
refused to answer, just as he has refused any answer to the question
of Ban's prior relations and meetings with Rajapaksa, and Ban's close
family members' dealings and presence in Sri Lanka: all factual
questions refused.
UN's Ban and his Panel: who did Ban speak with,
who will they speak with?
Nesirky's
office
on
January 14 emailed Inner City Press that the Panel would delay
its
report into February. (Nesirky's Office's post hoc insertion in the
transcript, below, refers to the end of February ).
Then Nesirky
refused to allow any question from
Inner City Press: the above quoted and recorded answer was only
possible by waiting in the entrance of the auditorium.
Ban
claimed
transparency, but this is not it. Watch this site.
From
the
UN's
supplemented January 13 transcript:
Inner
City
Press:
since there’s no noon briefing tomorrow, I just wanted
to ask....with the Sri Lanka panel, and it was said that the four
months, its work term, expires on 15 January. Is that report going
to be turned in on that date? Has there been any — you know, on
the Secretary-General’s statement of 17 December, that the panel
was going to go to Sri Lanka?
Spokesperson:
I’ll
check on both of them for you, Matthew. Okay, thank you very
much and have a good afternoon.
[He
later
added
that the Sri Lanka panel has been granted an extension
until the end of February.]
, 
