At
UN,
Thai Minister Kasit Dismissive on Rohingya, As Ban's Envoy Says
Nothing
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 14 -- After Thai foreign minister Kasit Piromya
declared victory in the UN Security Council Monday over Cambodia's
request for peacekeepers, Inner City Press asked him about Thailand
expelling and denying UN refugee agency access to Rohingya refugees
from Myanmar.
Let
us deal with
Rohingya later, Minister Kasit first said. Then, after accusing
Cambodia of putting its soldiers inside the contested Preah Vihear
temple, he said that Thailand has accepted a range of refugees in the
last 20 to 30 years, naming boat people from Viet Nam.
Why
then is
Thailand refusing UNHCR access to and expelling the Rohingya? One
clue was found in Kasit's praise of Myanmar's recent military
dominated election, which he cited as proof of the effectiveness of
ASEAN's diplomacy.
Inner
City Press
has repeatedly queried the Spokeperson for UN Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon for the comment of Ban's chief of staff and part time envoy
on Myanmar, Vijay Nambiar, to the plight of the Rohingya, asking
What
is
Ban Ki-moon's, Vijay Nambiar's (as envoy) and the UN system's
response to
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/104251/20110124/thailand-rohingya-boat-people-unhcr-deport.htm#
“Thai
police said on Monday as many as 91 Rohingya boat people, who ended
up in the country while fleeing from Myanmar, will be deported”?
What
will
the UN do? What does Mr. Nambiar say?
After
weeks,
the following arrived from the UN:
“Regarding
the Rohingya boat people, UNHCR is trying to obtain access; please
follow up with UNHCR on that matter.”
On
when Ban would
acting on the request by the UK, Mexico and others that he replace
Nambiar with a full time envoy to Myanmar, the UN has continued to
dodge, as
sources tell Inner City Press the plan is to try to kill
off the UN General Assembly mandate on Myanmar, replacing it with
ASEAN.
UN's Ban & Kasit, protection of ejected Rohingya not shown
Now,
on the
Rohingya, BBC reports that
Thai
foreign
ministry spokesperson Thani Thongphakdi said in a statement
that the group of 91 "illegal migrants" were found ashore
in Trang province... "Since they were found to be [from Burma]
they were later deported at a border crossing in Ranong province to
Burma," Mr Thongphakdi said, adding that the move was "in
line with their wish". He said that Thailand's authorities had
"no knowledge how this group could have travelled further".
The
Rohingyas
who are now in Andamans have told Indian police that they
suffered beatings and torture at the hands of the Thai law enforcing
agencies after their arrest in Trang province. "Later we were
taken to the sea and put on a boat which had no engine and with very
little food and water in it," one of the Rohingyas told the
police in a recorded statement.
Yet
Minister Kasit
told Inner City Press on Monday that there is a dialogue with UNHCR,
and not to worry. This calls even Thailand's claims about its
fighting with Cambodia into questions. Watch this site.
* * *
On
Myanmar,
As
EU
Prepares
Visit,
Ban Delays Replacing Nambiar,
GA Mandate To Be Cut?
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February
8
--
When
the European Union's Catherine Ashton
came to the UN on Tuesday, Inner City Press asked for the EU's
position on Myanmar, and to contrast it with Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon's.
Ashton
began,
“With
Myanmar,
Aung
San
Suu Kyi is somebody we are in contact with,
she and I have just been writing to each other, and I'm hoping that
somebody from the EU will be visiting her shortly.”
By
contrast after
Ban's chief of staff and part time Myanmar envoy Vijay Nambiar
visited Aung San Suu Kyi, when he returned his internal assessment
within the UN as conveyed to Inner City Press by well placed UN
sources was that she is out of touch and too hard line.
Ashton
continued
that
“on
all
of
these issues, we need to talk with the opposition,
of course with her, she's central, but also with the others around
her and engage with this... The EU will make its position clear when
we've got that type of discussion out of the way and so we're waiting
to be given the chance to talk with her.”
Inner
City
Press
asked
Ashton
if
she agrees with Ban Ki-moon's recent assessment, if
the EU is on the same page.
Ashton
replied
that
she
doesn't
have
a “detailed, finger tip knowledge of the last
thing the UN said.”
Ban
Ki-moon put
out a statement about the new parliament, 25% of whose members are
appointed by the military and in which proposals have to be shown to
a screener 10 days before they are introduced, with the possiblity of
prohibition without any chance of appeal.
Catherine Ashton at the UN, previously, ASSK
assessment not seen
After
for
weeks
declining
to
answer
Inner City Press' questions about the banning of
the National League for Democracy in Myanmar, the plight of the
Rohingya and when Ban would finally move on the request by the UK,
Mexico and others to replace Nambiar with a full time envoy, the UN
sent this:
From:
UN
Spokesperson
-
Do
Not
Reply [at] un.org
Date: Mon, Feb 7, 2011
at 4:18 PM
Subject: Your questions on Myanmar
To: Matthew
Russell Lee [at] Inner City Press
In
response
to
your
emailed
question
about the dissolution of the NLD in
Myanmar, we have the following to say: We have taken note of the
decision with concern and continue to follow developments closely. We
believe that in order to succeed any transition must be inclusive and
participatory, including both those who won seats in the recent
elections and those who did not participate.
Regarding
the
Rohingya
boat
people,
UNHCR
is trying to obtain access; please
follow up with UNHCR on that matter.
On
replacing
Nambiar, the UN has had nothing to say. Now, sources in the UN tell
Inner City Press there is a reason. The goal is to get the entire UN
mandate on Myanmar eliminated in the General Assembly, by pointing to
the new parliament and recycled president. That, the sources say,
explains Ban's statements and delay. Watch this site.
