At
UN, N. Korea Test Reaction Veiled in Secrecy, P-5 Search for Leak
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, June 10, updated June 11
-- Seventeen days after North Korea conducted at
least its second underground nuclear test, the UN Security
Council is scheduled this morning to circulate a previously-leaked
draft sanctions resolution. A belated reaction with belated demands for
secrecy, it will finally be made public on a volutary basis. For that
reason and those below, for now there was no need to have it published
here until circulated - now here it it.
North Korea has already denounced it, and
it is unclear who, if anyone would actually search North Korea ships.
Perhaps the U.S. will seize more of Kim Jong-Il's money, as it did in
Banco Delta Asia. But it could have done that without action by the
Council.
Early
in the process, Inner City Press got and published a
draft of the resolution, minus
substantive operative paragraph eight. Credit was given; there
was little push-back.
Then on
June 5 Inner City Press obtained the
near-final draft, which had been circulated to the capitals of the
Permanent Five member plus Japan and South Korea. Inner
City Press
put it online that Friday at noon, it went with credit to Japan,
the
AP, Times
of London and Washington
Post. The feedback, however, was
not all positive.
Several
Ambassadors approached Inner City Press to complain. You have made
things more difficult, they said in different ways. One, Rosemary
DiCarlo of the U.S., was to her credit willing to explain why.
Countries find it hard to back away from positions in a draft that
goes online, she said. Another had said, just summarize it, don't put
the text online. Ambassador DiCarlo said that it's easier to
back
away from a summary.
France's
Permanent Representative Jean-Maurice Ripert had an extraordinary
reaction. He summoned "the French press," how ever defined,
and insisted to them that the draft Inner City Press had put online had
not, in fact, been circulated. This had been contradicted by
others in the French mission, and by other diplomats. Still Ripert
insisted it was true, according to multiple sources in attendance at
his meetings.
Ripert held yet another news event for only portions of the press corps
on the eve of the North Korea meeting, this time about peacekeeping. He
focused on the Congo, yet the topic of the UN Mission there, known by
its French acronym MONUC,
constructively working with indicted war criminal Jean-Bosco Ntaganda
somehow did not come up. We'll have more on this.
The
U.S. mission took a different approach, grilling other Council
members and even Secretariat staff trying to determine the source of
the leak. To some, the approach seemed inconsistent with what Barack
Obama has said, about transparency and openness to the press. Several
journalists detailed to the UN during these past two weeks have
expressed surprise at the press relations of the current U.S.
mission. Perhaps a work in progress.
Secrecy at the stakeout, hunt for leak and
promises of transparency not shown
Tuesday
at six o'clock, the Russian mission emailed out comments of
Ambassador Churkin, that consensus is emerging. Then at nine a.m.
Wednesday, a meeting was scheduled for two hours later. It will be
live blogged here. Watch this space.
Update
of 11:08 a.m. -- one by one, or rather each with separate entourage,
they have entered. Susan Rice with security and spokesman; Vitaly
Churkin, like China's Deputy Liu, with a jaunty step. China's Permanent
Representative with a single political advisor and a smile.
France's Ripert, who reported told some journalists to only expect a
vote on Friday, stopped and said in French, hopefully "demain"
(tomorrow).
Update
of 1:20 p.m. -- the Office of the Spokesperson for Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon, true to form, held its noon briefing in direct conflict
with the Ambassadors who spoke at the stakeout. Perhaps so that even
fewer reporters would attend and ask questions at the Secretariat's
briefing. There were only three, and none of the questions were
answered. Afterwards, Russia's Vitaly Churkin was speaking at the
stakeout. He was asked why the draft has not yet been "put into blue."
Ripert, it was said, repeated his prediction of adoption tomorrow or
Friday. Several Japanese reporters expressed relief, that their two
week vigil of watching nothing happen appears finally at an end.
Update
of 7:53 p.m. -- a vote on Thursday is said to be unlikely, by a
non-permanent Security Council member, some of whom pushed back
against not having been included in the process of the P-5 plus Two.
As Swiss Ambassador Peter Maurer told the Press on Wednesday
afternoon, on the record, why do countries work for four years to get a
seat on the
Council only to sit back and wait to be given the menu by the P-5?
Update
of June 11, 11:19 a.m. -- A Russian diplomat tells the Press that there
have been a number of amendments proposed, presumably by non P-5
members, and "they must be considered." Asked if a vote Friday is
possible, he said, "I do not know... I have to ask my expert."
Update
of 11: 26 a.m. - Japan's Ambassador Takasu, more upbeat, said in
Japanese to the press from that country (which in turn offered this
translation to Inner City Press) that he is not aware of any
opposition, but that he will of course listen to any opinion. Asked if
there will be a vote Friday, he said he does not like to make
predictions.
Update
of 11 p.m. -- it has "gone blue," and a meeting scheduled for June 12
at 11 a.m., presumably to vote: watch this site.
* *
*
At
UN, Near Final Draft on North Korea Leaked to Inner City
Press, Arms Export Ban and Cargo Inspection Added
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press: Exclusive-Must Credit
UNITED
NATIONS, June 5 -- Thirteen days after North Korea conducted an
underground nuclear test, a near-final
draft resolution emerged
behind closed doors at the UN Security Council.
The six-page
draft, a copy of which Inner City Press obtained and puts
online here as a must-credit exclusive, has more than thirty
operative paragraphs, compared to the mere 14 paragraphs of the three-page
draft Inner City Press similarly obtained and published on
May 28. (AP, Japanese and other media appropriately credited Inner
City Press).
This time, Inner City Press is
told by its sources that the draft was circulated to the capitals of
the Permanent Five Plus Two -- these last are Japan and South Korea
-- with the deadline for comments on June 5 at 10 a.m. New York
Time.
The provision allowing North Korea to import light weapons, in
Paragraph 10, is attributable to Russia, according to a well placed
Inner City Press source who calls it the Kalishnikof or AK-47 clause.
Beyond the cargo ban, other provisions are weaker than
the proponents wanted. Paragraph
19, for example, merely calls
on "member states and international
financial and credit institutions not to enter into new
commitments... except for humanitarian and developmental purposes."
Paragraph 17 prohibits "bunkering services, such as provision of
fuel or supplies" to vessels. Paragraph 22 calls for reports
within 45 days.
At UN, media chases news of draft now published by Inner City Press
While
the draft resolution seems unlikely to change North Korea's course,
it has been the subject of intense journalistic interest for nearly
two weeks now at the UN in New York, particularly by Japanese media,
who have remained camped out in front of the Security Council during
meetings on Somalia, Bosnia and Tribunals and on June 5, Sudan and
Sri Lanka.
Non-permanent members of the Security Council complained to the Press
that they were kept in the dark throughout the days of negotiation.
On
the morning of June 5, Inner City Press obtained the draft
resolution
that, as a must-credit exclusive, it puts online here. Watch this
site.
* * *
Sri
Lanka Denies IDP Reduction Reported by Inner City Press, Raises to
UN
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, June 5 -- The Sri Lankan government has denounced a story
about "missing" internally displaced people which Inner
City Press, based on discrepancies in UN documents and statements
from UN sources, published this week.
Beyond denying that any IDPs
have been removed from the UN-funded camps in Vavuniya, which Inner
City Press visited on May 23, the government has said
that it is
raising the matter with the UN. "Minister of Human Rights and
Disaster Management, Mahinda Samarasinghe is expected to take up the
issue with United Nations," according to a pro-government web
site.
On
June 2, Ban Ki-moon's Spokesperson publicly denounced Inner City Press
for its reporting, but denied
she had discussed "complaining to Google
News" about it, presumably to stop its distribution or censor it.
The next
day she recanted, click here. Click here
for Inner City Press (on NYTimes.com) on tensions in Sri Lanka.
Inner
City Press' story noted that even the UN, in a May 30 report,
acknowledged that its number of IDPs in the camps decreased by over
13,000.
While the public report by UN OCHA ascribed this sudden drop
-- from May 27 -- to "double counting," local UN sources,
on condition of anonymity due to fear of retaliation not only by the
Sri Lankan government but also by the UN, told Inner City Press that
as with the satellite photos of the conflict zone and casualty
figures, some in the UN were seeking to downplay this potentially
troubling information.
In Vavuniya IDP camp, UN's Ban on government's banner
OCHA's
May 30 report states that "276,785 persons crossed to the
Government controlled areas from the conflict zone. This represents a
decrease of 13,130 IDPs since the last report (Sitrep No.18) on 27
May 2009. The decrease is associated with double counting. Additional
verification is required."
But earlier,
OCHA had praised the "improved, systematic registration
being undertaken in the camps."
The
article
continued that UN
sources in Colombo tell Inner City Press that senior UN officials
above them, Sri Lankan nationals who are Sinhalese, are downplaying
the 13,000 "missing" IDPs, which would otherwise be of much
concern given the reports of disappearances from the camps, the
seizing of teenage males for detention and females for other
purposes, as UK Channel 4 asserted with on camera interviews
Shouldn't the UN look into this more closely, given
multiple and credible reports of people being "disappeared"
from the UN-funded IDP camps? The UN so far has done nothing in this
regard.
To expedite matters, one hopes, Inner City Press now
publishes a list of some of the places where the UN -- or perhaps a
less compromised body -- should look for missing people:
Pallekelle
near Kandy; Ambepussa, Boosa and, it is said, the Army training camp
at Diya-talawwa.
On June 2, Ban Ki-moon's Spokesperson while again publicly denouncing
Inner City Press for its reporting, denied
she had discussed "complaining to Google News" about it, presumably to
stop its distribution or censor it.
The next day, Ms. Montas
confirmed
that both legal action and "complaining to Google News" were
discussed at a meeting she had with four top UN officials,
including
Mr Ban's speech writer, who also traveled to Sri Lanka on May 23, the
UN's top lawyer Patricia O'Brien, Angela Kane and the head of UN
"Public Information," Kiyotaka Akasaka, previously of the
Japanese foreign ministry.
Following a failure by these officials to respond to requests that they
explain how the strategy they discussed comports with the free press
Article 19 of the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Inner City
Press has asked for action from UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights Navi Pillay, click here.
Footnotes:
During this week's back and forth about the UN threatening legal
action against the Press, and to complain to Google News about Inner
City Press' coverage, a high UN official, again anonymous due to
fear of retaliation even at his level, approached Inner City Press to
say that the attempt at censorship or expulsion was being pushed by
what he diplomatically called "a member state." Asked if
this meant Sri Lanka, he nodded.
Meanwhile,
in a show of retaliation, the UN has taken the step of seizing and
checking the UN e-mail of staff members who they believe have been
sources for Inner City Press. Some say that when the UN went to Sri
Lanka, rather than seek to hold the government to a high standard of
human rights, the effect was to make the UN
(even) more like the
administration of the Rajapaksas...
Guard
in Manik Farm camp, (c) M. Lee May 23, 2009
The
article below quoting that "Minister of Human Rights and
Disaster Management, Mahinda Samarasinghe is expected to take up the
issue with United Nations" takes issue with Inner City Press
quoting that
"UN
sources in Colombo tell Inner City Press that senior UN officials
above them, Sri Lankan nationals who are Sinhalese, are downplaying
the 13,000 "missing" IDPs, which would otherwise be of much
concern given the reports of disappearances from the camps, the
seizing of teenage males for detention and females for other
purposes, [as] UK Channel 4 asserted with on camera interviews."
Contrary
to the (intentional?) misinterpretation below, Inner City Press was
not saying that all Sri Lankan nationals are Sinhalese -- rather,
that within the UN's staff in Sri Lanka, those who are of the
majority Sinhalese group are seen by their Tamil colleagues as in
some cases using their positions in the UN to advance, as some phrase
it, "the Sinhalese Buddhist nationalist cause." Inner City
Press did not invent these divisions, and the article's and
minister's statement that all is now well in Sri Lanka is, at best,
wishful thinking. Within the UN, some recall the way in Rwanda a Hutu
staff member named Callixte Mbarushimana was allowed to use his UN
position and materiel to further the Hutu extremist cause which has
since been acknowledged as genocide. The UN continued employing and
paying Callixte Mbarushimana for many years. Some wonder, will that
happen with the UN in Sri Lanka?
On
June 5 outside the UN Security Council, Inner City Press asked the
Special Adviser of the Secretary General on the Prevention of
Genocide, Francis Deng, if his Office will do any work on Sri Lanka.
"We try to follow what is going on, the post-conflict
developments," he said. "It's been going on for twenty five
years, you don't just...." His voice trailed off. "One
phase ended, presumably, but....". And his voice trailed off
again. Of course, it's been "going on" for far longer than
25 years.
The
article:
Sri
Lanka rejects ICP report on IDP disappearance
Fri,
2009-06-05 18:06
By
our Colombo Correspondent
Colombo,
05 June, (Asiantribune.com): The Sri Lankan government today totally
rejected a claim in a Inner City Press (ICP) quoted by a pro LTTE
website, that 13,000 people from Internally Displaced camps have
disappeared, and described it as a malicious attempt to discredit the
Colombo government.
Highly
placed government sources said that the Tamil Diaspora overseas
working for the LTTE were now engaged in a disinformation campaign to
discredit the Government unable to bear the crushing defeat of the
LTTE and its' terrorism.
Rehabilitation
Ministry sources expressed anger and surprise over the pro-LTTE
canard that is being spread through internet websites misquoting
figures of the number of displaced persons.
They
said the ICP report was aimed at creating a rift between communities
now living peacefully as one people of one country." That is why
they have quoted Sinhalese as Sri Lankan nationals knowing well that
Sri Lanka is a multi-ethnic country", they added.
Explaining
further about the contents of the ICP report quoted by a pro-LTTE
website, a ministry source said that if Sri Lanka nationals were only
Sinhalese as claimed, there could be no Tamil displaced persons in
the country.
Meanwhile,
the Minister of Human Rights and Disaster Management,Mahinda
Samarasinghe is expected to take up the issue with United Nations as
the ICP report from the pro-LTTE website had quoted unnamed UN
sources in Colombo to claim such disappearance of a large number of
displaced persons, which, the Sri Lankan government has totally
rejected.
Watch
this site.
In
Sri Lanka 13,130 Missing IDPs Reported But Downplayed By UN,
Journalist Beaten
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, June 2 -- With the UN already under fire for withholding and
downplaying the number of civilian casualties in Sri Lanka, another
ongoing controversy has opened up concerning the number of internally
displaced persons detained in the IDP camps in northern Sri Lanka.
Between the May 27 and May 30 reports of the UN's Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, over 13,000 IDPs simply
disappeared from the camps.
OCHA's
May 30 report states that "276,785 persons crossed to the
Government controlled areas from the conflict zone. This represents a
decrease of 13,130 IDPs since the last report (Sitrep No.18) on 27
May 2009. The decrease is associated with double counting. Additional
verification is required."
But earlier,
OCHA had praised the "improved, systematic registration
being undertaken in the camps."
UN
sources in Colombo tell Inner City Press that senior UN officials
above them, Sri Lankan nationals who are Sinhalese, are downplaying
the 13,000 "missing" IDPs, which would otherwise be of much
concern given the reports of disappearances from the camps, the
seizing of teenage males for detention and females for other
purposes, UK Channel 4 asserted with on camera interviews.
UN's Pascoe and Holmes, head of OCHA,
questioned by Press, missing IDPs not shown
These UN
sources are surprised, since even Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is
under fire for downplaying what has happened to the Tamils, that the
UN would be so seemingly cavalier about 13,000 "missing"
persons from almost entirely Tamil interment camps.
Meanwhile,
in further fall out, journalist Poddala Jayantha, secretary of the
Sri Lanka Working Journalists' Association, was kidnapped near his
home and severely beaten with sticks before being dumped in a suburb
of Colombo. The government had accused him of being too sympathetic
to the Tamil Tiger -- or just to the Tamils. The UN, too, has its
different way of trying to crack down on journalists. Watch this
site.
On
June 3, Inner
City Press asked
Inner
City Press: on Sri Lanka, there are these OCHA reports they put out,
you know, situation reports. And the one
of 30 May says that, you
know, in essence it says that, it decreases the number of IDPs in the
camps by 13,000 and it says, in a single line it says this decrease
is associated with double-counting. In the previous
report [27 May], which
had 13,000 more IDPs, it said that the system was improved systematic
registration. So what is the UN doing to make sure that people
aren’t actually disappearing from the camps when its own numbers
reflect 13,000 people missing?
Spokesperson
Montas: Well, I have to say that it is a rather an unusual
situation. There is such a massive influx of people, which can
explain that the registration process -- which is still ongoing, by
the way -- there was some double counting that was involved. And, as
soon as they found out they rectified the numbers to reflect that. So,
the UN can, you know, we’re there… They’re not our camps,
you know. We’re there to assist for better treatment of the IDPs.
Inner
City Press: Since the numbers were so specific, can the… is the UN
then by saying that the entire 13,130 that are missing are just
double counting, is it saying that no one has been taken out of the
camps?
Spokesperson
Montas: That is what OCHA is saying. It is double counting, they
went through it several times, and it is double counting. It is not
about people missing.
We'll
see -- watch this site.
, 
