|
On Sri Lanka, UN Adopts "Janus Face," Half Calling to Stop
Fighting, Hedging Bets
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at
the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
April 8 -- The day after UN
Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon declined to call for a ceasefire or even
suspension of fighting in Sri Lanka, his top humanitarian official John
Holmes
published an opinion piece in the UK Guardian calling for just such
a pause. At
the UN's noon briefing in New York, Inner City Press asked if Holmes'
piece is
now the UN's position. Ban's spokesperson Michele Montas said, "You
will
have something more precise on this tomorrow... or the next day." Video
here,
from Minute 11:33.
Close
observers tell Inner City Press that the UN wants to have it both ways.
Given
the resistance of Sri Lanka's government to any criticism, Ban does not
want to
call even for a humanitarian pause. But if the "bloodbath
on the
beach" now predicted by Holmes takes place, the UN doesn't want to
be
blamed. By publishing his article, by adopting a Janus face, the UN
covers its
bet.
UN's Ban and Holmes, ceasefire or no ceasefire, some say "Janus face"
Meanwhile,
the UN-affiliated
International Monetary Fund is slated to deliberate on April
25 on Sri
Lanka's request for a $2 billion loan to make up for money spent in
the military action, and for the detention camps in the north. Some say
that
with the commitments made to the IMF during the recent G-20 meeting in
London,
$2 billion is "peanuts.... who cares about human rights?"
From the
transcript of the April 8 noon briefing:
Inner City Press: Michele, on
this, the piece
by John Holmes in The Guardian, I mean, that’s the UN’s call or
is it John Holmes’ personal call? I’m
just trying to judge whether it was…
Spokesperson Montas: John Holmes
speaks not just in his capacity
as the humanitarian coordinator, he speaks for the UN.
Inner City Press: I mean, we were
both there when the Secretary-General yesterday… he seemed to be
calling just
for the Government to comply with international humanitarian law as it
conducts
its… whereas John Holmes is saying there should be a cease… you know, a
suspension of hostilities. Which is the
UN calling for?
Spokesperson: I can tell you
that we will have something
more precise on this tomorrow.
Inner City Press: Okay.
Watch this
site.
Click here
for a new YouTube video, mostly UN Headquarters footage, about civilian
deaths
in Sri Lanka.
Click here for Inner City
Press' March 27 UN debate
Click here for Inner City
Press March 12 UN (and AIG
bailout) debate
Click here for Inner City
Press' Feb 26 UN debate
Click
here
for Feb.
12 debate on Sri Lanka http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/17772?in=11:33&out=32:56
Click here for Inner City Press' Jan.
16, 2009 debate about Gaza
Click here for Inner City Press'
review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate
Click here for Inner
City Press' December 24 debate on UN budget, Niger
Click here from Inner City Press'
December 12 debate on UN double standards
Click here for Inner
City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics
and this October 17 debate, on
Security Council and Obama and the UN.
* * *
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
Feedback: Editorial
[at] innercitypress.com
UN
Office: S-453A, UN, NY 10017
USA
Tel: 212-963-1439
Reporter's
mobile (and
weekends):
718-716-3540
Other,
earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available
in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright
2006-08 Inner City Press, Inc. To request
reprint or other permission, e-contact Editorial [at]
innercitypress.com -
|
, 
