Inner City Press: Investigative Reporting from the United Nations

On Sri Lanka, UN's Explanation of Non-Release Shifts, 3 Weeks After Panel Finished Report

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 20 -- The UN's story about their delay in releasing the Panel of Experts' report on Sri Lanka got even more convoluted on April 20.

Inner City Press asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's acting Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq to explain the delay between the Panel's sign off date on the report as obtained and published by Inner City Press (but not The Island), March 31, and the April 12 turn off to Ban, and April 13 to Sri Lanka.

The UN's Haq said, “I won't have a comment on the time frames.”

Then he tried to explain the delay by referring to Ban Ki-moon's travels -- for example to Hungary and now Russia, where Haq has declined to say if Sri Lanka will be discussed. Haq said, “The panel wanted to present to S-G... He has had a number of travels.”

Inner City Press asked if anyone in the UN -- for example, Ban's senior adviser Vijay Nambair, whose role in the so called white flag killings of surrendees at the end of the conflict has been described in a filing with the International Criminal Court -- saw the report between its March 31 sign off date and April 12.

Haq did not say no, instead choosing to re-focus on Ban Ki-moon not having gotten it until “Monday.” (Actually, according to the UN it was Tuesday, April 12 -- Inner City Press reported on April 11 it would be the next day, April 12).

But then Haq spoke about the UN's senior advisers -- no mention of Ban -- getting a response together. Nambiar, it seems clear, has not been recused.

Ban, with Kohona looking on, with Silva, 196 pages & 36 hours not shown

The UN tried to explain the delayed release -- after having told General Shavendra Silva that Sri Lanka had 24 then 36 hours -- as waiting for the government's response.

But then Haq says there is no need to wait. The fact remains: the report was signed off on by the Panel three weeks ago, and Ban has allowed Sri Lanka to control its leaked release and to call for mass protests. Watch this site.

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UN Report Was Ready March 31 But Was Delayed for Sri Lanka, Kohona Says Don't Release, Silva Lobbies

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 19 -- The scanned portion of the UN Panel of Experts report on Sri Lanka war crimes leaked, presumptively by the government, to The Island newspaper has been obtained by Inner City Press and is being put online here.

It shows that the Panel's three members signed off on the report on March 31, 2011. Why was it only on April 12 that it was handed to Ban Ki-moon, who on April 13 gave it to Sri Lankan Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN General Shavendra Silva?

Inner City Press spoke both with Silva and with Permanent Representative Palitha Kohona on the evening of April 19, arriving uninvited at a reception at Kohona's residence. Despite statements by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesmen that the report would be released, Kohona argued that it should not be made available to the public.

Kohona emphasized, as it seems his government did to Ban Ki-moon, that because April 13 onward was a holiday in Sri Lanka, the UN should not release the full report. Kohona said that Monday was a lunar holiday, and the UN could not release the report -- giving a new meaning to Ban Ki-MOON.

Those days were used to leak portions of the report to The Island newspaper, with President Mahinda Rajapaksa calling for mass protests against the UN report on May 1.

At Kohona's reception, the Permanent Representative of Egypt -- Maged Abdelaziz, the same one as under Hosni Mubarak -- arrived and chatted with Silva and Kohona, Egypt, as head of the Non Aligned Movement, pressured Ban Ki-moon against any real investigation of war crimes in Sri Lanka.

Abdelaziz left early, as did Inner City Press. Silva said he had two other events to attend -- part of a campaign about and against the Panel of Experts report. We'll have more on this.

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On Sri Lanka, UN Gave 196 Pages to Silva, Asked 24 Then 36 Hours, Got Played

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 19 -- On Sri Lanka, with the UN Secretariat in seeming paralysis holding back the war crimes Panel of Experts' report five full days after portions were leaked, presumptively by the government, to The Island newspaper, sources have described the process to Inner City Press.

The report, they say, is 196 pages long. On April 11, Inner City Press learned that it would be handed to Ban Ki-moon on April 12. After it was, it was also provided -- on hard copy only -- to Sri Lanka's Deputy Permanent Representative, General Shavendra Silva, who is himself implicated in war crimes in the final stages of the conflict.

The UN told Shavendra Silva that Ban would be releasing the report in 24 hours, sources tell Inner City Press. Silva responded that the Sri Lankan government wanted or needed “a little more time.” The UN replied that it would give 36 hours, tops.

But the 36 hours came and went. And by then a scan of the hard copy had been provided to The Island, a newspapers with agrees with President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The Island ran it, with typos as identified by Inner City Press.

Inexplicable to many, Ban and the UN Secretariat even then did not release the report. They held it over the weekend, and did not release it either Monday or Tuesday. They have, many say, undermined the report.

The Experts, too, have done their part. Their report as excerpted says that all international staff left an area, then has international staff witnessing the shelling of a medical facility. This will be fodder for the government's response. But the government of Rajapaksa has already responded, with a call for mass protests against the UN report on May 1.

Why did Ban do this? Why did he never call for a ceasefire? Why did he send Nambiar as his envoy, and still allow him to be involved after his role in the so-called white flag killings of surrenderees? What will Ban discuss with Russia on his upcoming visit? How might this all be used to assure a second term as Secretary General? Watch this site.

Footnote: beyond misleading about the meeting of Attorney General Mohan Peiris with Ban's now invisible panel, it's reported that during that secret session, the UN agreed to give Sri Lanka some extra weeks before the filing of the report. It was extended to April 12, the day before the New Year in Sri Lanka, when all of the above then happened. One couldn't have done more to undermine a war crimes report.

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These reports are usually also available through Google News and on Lexis-Nexis.

Click here for a Reuters AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click here for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund. Video Analysis here

Other, earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.

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