On
Sri
Lanka,
Darusman Tells
Press "It's a
UN Report,"
Ban Berated
Staff
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 20 --
When Marzuki
Darusman spoke
to the media
at
the UN on
Thursday, his
biography as
read out by
the UN did not
include his
recent work on
Sri Lanka.
Inner City
Press asked
him
about what the
Sri Lankan
government has
taken to
calling the
"Darusman
report." Video
here,
from Minute
17:52.
Darusman
said, "it
is a UN
report, no
less, no
more," coming
from a "Panel
of
Experts
instituted by
the Secretary
General" Ban
Ki-moon.
"Therefore it
can only be
known as a UN
report on Sri
Lanka."
Video here,
from Minute
20:06.
Inner
City Press
asked about
how the report
was only
belated
transmitted to
the Human
Rights
Council,
without much
of a push by
Ban for
enforcement.
Darusman
merely said
"it is now
being referred
to the Human
Rights Council
in Geneva."
Multiple
sources
tell Inner
City Press
that when Ban,
his chief of
staff Vijay
Nambiar
and others met
with Sri
Lankan
president
Mahinda
Rajapaksa in
September, Ban
openly
criticized his
own UN staff
in front of
Rajapaksa, for
failing to
provide enough
advance notice
to the Sri
Lankan Mission
before the
transmission
to Geneva.
Darusman
at UN Oct 20,
Ban yelling at
staff not
shown (c)
MRLee
After
Darusman's
press
conference,
Inner City
Press spoke
with a Sri
Lankan
diplomat
who asked to
be anonymous,
referred to
only a "Sri
Lankan"
to the effect
that Darusman
"has a big
head" and is
misstating the
law by calling
it a UN
report.
But
if anything,
Darusman has
been too
quiet. While
Sri Lanka
complains that
on a
previously
panel in Sri
Lanka Darusman
was most
interested in
"getting
paid," now
Darusman has
rebutted the
marginalization
of the report,
affirming it
as a "UN
report."
How about Ban
Ki-moon? Watch
this site.
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