At
UN
on
Myanmar, 2 Meetings, No Action, Less Candor on 2 Day Visa
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December
6, updated -- After the UN Security Council took Myanmar off
the written Program of Work for December, where it was only a
footnote, on Monday two separate closed door briefings were
scheduled.
At
11 am Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon and his envoy Vijay Nambiar briefed the Group of
Friends of the S-G on Myanmar.
Then
at
3 am a
separate but presumably similar briefing by Nambair became for the
Security Council in its consultation room. No outcome was expected.
As
Inner City
Press reported
last
week, Nambiar's internal reporting to UN
officials was critical of Aung San Suu Kyi, characterizing her as out
of touch and somehow too hard line, UN sources say. Nambiar prefers
those more amenable to authoritarian government.
The
rationale for
having the repetitive briefings is that the memberships of the Group
of Friends and the Security Council are different.
On
December 3,
Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky to confirm or
deny that Myanmar had given Nambiar a visa for a mere two days.
Nambiar leads Ban into darkness, transparency not shown
On
camera, Nesirky said he'd look into it, but that the Secretariat
might to decide not to say one way or the other. That now appears to
be the case -- from a UN Administration which says it is transparent.
Inner
City
Press
asked if Nambiar would talk to the media. Nesirky said that Nambiar
would be asked. We are waiting. Watch this site.
* * *
After
2
Day
Myanmar Trip, Nambiar “Trashed” Aung San Suu Kyi to UN
Officials
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December
3 -- When UN envoy Vijay
Nambiar went to Myanmar
over the US Thanksgiving weekend, he was given only a two day visa,
sources tell Inner City Press, to meet with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
Upon his return he has told UN officials that Aung San Suu Kyi is out
of touch, too hardline, a relic.
Nambiar
is
seen as
accommodative to the military government of Than Shwe, and favors
Burmese counter parties of a similar bent. Than Shwe, on the other
hand, likes to have a mere part time and interim UN envoy, in this
case mostly occupied as Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's chief of
staff.
On
December 2,
Inner City Press asked Ban's acting Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq to
confirm that Nambiar will briefing the Security Council on December
6, and to respond to criticism of
Nambiar's whirlwind visit to
Myanmar, including by some of those he met with.
Haq
refused to
confirm the briefing -- it was later nevertheless confirmed -- and
said that some liked Nambiar's visit. Certainly, Myanmar's military
government.
One
question is
why Aung San Suu Kyi offer such public praise of Nambiar's visit,
while Nambiar “trashed her,” as one official put it to Inner City
Press, immediately upon his return. Watch this site.
ASSK & UN's Nambiar, subsequent "trashing" no shown
From
the
UN's
December
2
transcript:
Inner
City
Press:
Just factually, can you confirm that the Chef de Cabinet,
Vijay Nambiar, will be briefing the [Security] Council on 6 December
on his visit to Myanmar? And also, if he’s seen the criticisms
made by a number of the people that he met with, saying that this was
essentially just a kind of a note-taking visit. What’s his
response to those now public
criticisms in Irrawaddy and elsewhere of
the visit by people that he engaged with? What’s his take on the
visit?
Acting
Deputy
Spokesperson
Haq: Well, first of all, I don’t share your
assessment of the trip. There were a number of viewpoints, including
people who were quite pleased with that visit. Secondly, as for the
schedule of the Security Council, I will leave it to the President of
the Security Council, Ambassador Rice, to brief you at 1 p.m. about
what their schedule will be, and she can announce for you what their
upcoming programme is.
Inner
City
Press:
Will Mr. Nambiar, either here or at the stakeout or in
some other forum, speak to the press about his publicized and
long-awaited visit to Myanmar?
Acting
Deputy
Spokesperson:
Well, if he does brief the Security Council, we
will see at that point whether he intends to brief the press at that
point.
Watch
this site.
, 
