|
At Sri Lanka Dialogue of UN Council, Photos on
Wall, Press in the Hall
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
March 26 -- A week after the Press
reported on an opposed request for a UN Security Council briefing on
Sri Lanka,
and pro-government sources said it would not take place, a Council
"interactive dialogue" takes place in the UN basement.
The government, it's said, will show photos,
blaming all deaths on the Tamil Tigers or LTTE. If the past is any
guide, the
UN briefing John Holmes will tread lightly, not blaming the government
even for
deaths caused by its use of heavy artillery into the supposed No Fire
Zone. The one time Holmes called Sri
Lanka dangerous, government speakers called him a terrorist. Since
then, he and
UN Resident Coordinator Neil Buhne have, others in the UN say, been
captured.
As Inner
City Press exclusively reported, Mexico, Austria, the rest of the
European
Union members of the Council and the United States requested a
briefing. Russia
was first in opposition, then China, Libya, Viet Nam, Uganda and Turkey. Japan was listed by pro-government media as
disfavoring a meeting, which Japanese Ambassador Yukio Takasu denied to
Inner
City Press. And now the briefing is set.
The format
is described as "more than an Arria formula meeting" -- in which NGOs
can speak, but not all members have to attend, since the Council
president does
not preside. In this "interactive dialogue," the Libyan president
will preside -- unwillingly or unhappily, it seems clear -- and all
members
must send a representative. It is a meeting of the Council, but it is
not in
the Council chamber.
At 3:15
p.m., a glance inside the room showed the projector already set up,
pointed at
the wall. Staff flowed in, and a media
stakeout was set up outside. This page will be updated.
Update of 3:32 p.m. -- as top UN Humanitarian strode into the meeting
in Conference Room 7, Inner City Press asked him if he might speak to
the Press once the meeting is over. Not sure yet, he said, adding "This
meeting does not exist." To be sure not to confuse readers, let it be
added that a staffer of a European Union member country said, "That
must have been dry humor," when told of the quote by Inner City Press.
But it is true that the meeting is not listed in the day's UN Journal,
and those who opposed it being held will surely try to talk-down its
import. French Ambassador Ripert and Mexican Ambassador Heller were
visible as Austria's Ambassador rushed in.
Update of 3:52
p.m. -- representing the United States in the closed-door "interactive
dialogue" is the Mission's #3, Rosemary DiCarlo. It's said that she
will speak to the Press, on Sri Lanka, when the meeting is over.
Click here for
the OCHA document about civilian deaths, leaked to Inner City Press
ten days ago, and here for the Sri Lankan government's attack published
on UN OCHA's own Relief Web website, on the UN document's figures.
Update of 4:10
p.m. -- a Western diplomat emerged from Conference Room 7 and told
Inner City Press that the "Sri Lankan mission's show is over," and now
they are going around the table allowing Council members to speak.
Inner City Press asked if the show was of the government's good works
or the LTTE's bad works. Both, the diplomat said. Any acknowledgement
by Sri Lanka that is has caused civilian casualties. No, the diplomat
responded. They were spinning everything pretty positive, talking about
some new sea route.
Update of 4:22
p.m. -- Chinese Deputy Permanent Representative Liu came out and headed
up the stairs. This was just a briefing, he said, nothing will come out
of it. Was it useful? "Maybe useful," he said.
Update of 4:33
p.m. -- UK Ambassador John Sawers emerged and spoke, briefly, at the
stakeout microphone. He said that John Holmes has called on both sides
to implement a suspension of fighting so civilians can leave. Inner
City Press asked if Holmes had used any casualty figures, and if he had
indicated deaths caused by the government as well as the LTTE.
Amb. Sawers said that Holmes spoke of "tens of deaths" every day, and
that for more, Inner City Press should ask Holmes. He added that
access to the IDP camps should be improved. And then he was gone.
French
Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert also spoke to the Press, off camera;
what he said will be transcribed later, watch this space. The
U.S. Mission says that Ambassador DiCarlo will speak. Is the U.S.
making moves to take civilians out?
Update of 5:06
p.m. -- Ambassador DiCarlo did emerge, and took four questions before
the stakeout camera. Pending transcription, she said that the
government has been using heavy artillery near hospitals, and referred
to interment camps, to be funded only for three months. She noted that
the LTTE is a terrorist group, but -- using the word "but" -- said that
the government's response has left much to be desired. How now the Sri
Lankan government can claim that no UN member state has criticized its
military actions is not known. Another Ambassador -- probably to
be quoted by name in Inner City Press' next story -- said you could
call the meeting a "friendly censure" of the Sri Lankan government.
UN's Ban and Sri Lanka's PR Hewa
M.G.S. Palihakkara
On Sri Lanka, UN Official
Describes "Nightmare Scenario," Treaty Official
"Knows Better"
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS,
March 25 -- While the UN allows Sri
Lanka's government to claim that the UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights, who
said that both the Tamil Tigers and the government might be guilty of
war
crimes, "is not the UN," in New York on March 25 a senior UN official
described to Inner City Press what the UN is trying to do about Sri
Lanka. The trapped civilians, who the
official said
are being shot at by both the Tamil Tigers and the government, must be
extracted. But how?
The official
described a plan to convince both the Tamil
Tigers and the government, which have so far refused, to accept a
cessation of
fighting and international observers to get the civilians out.
What we are
afraid of, the UN official said, is a nightmare scenario in which in a
final
drive against the Tigers, tens of thousands of civilians are killed and
the UN
looks guilty, like in Srebrenica. This must be avoided.
The
official said that Norway has been trying to talk with both sides,
quietly, to
broker such a deal. But the UN is growing dubious that Norway has the
necessary
connection. The US, he said, offered its military strength but was
rejected.
US Ambassador
to the UN Susan Rice on March 20 told Inner City Press that the US
favors the Security Council getting full information on the
humanitarian
situation in Sri Lanka. On March 25, Austria's Ambassador to the UN
told Inner
City Press that a way is being devised to let this happen.
The UN
official also described what he called a strategy of letting "the Tamil
diaspora"
know that any support of the Tamil Tigers might subject them to war
crimes
prosecution. This gambit seems to ignore something that the Sri Lankan
government and is supports brag about, that the country's refusal to
join the
International Criminal Court makes it -- and crimes on its territory --
unreachable by the International Criminal Court. The threat against
Tamil Tiger
supporters, then, must involve the War on Terror.
Recently
long-time UN official Lakhdar Brahimi wrote an op-ed in the
International
Herald Tribune warning of the mounting dangers to civilians in Sri
Lanka, and
urging Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to demand access to the conflict
zone and
to appoint a special envoy.
The envoy
named by the UK, Des Browne, has been denied entry to the country.
Following
Ban's meeting with the UK's Gordon Brown on March 25, Ban said that Sri
Lanka
was one of four country conflicts they discussed. The others were
Sudan,
Afghanistan and Myanmar. Brown offered some specifics on Sudan and
Afghanistan,
but nothing on Sri Lanka.
At right, then-UN Palitha
Kohona, now denies UN HCHR is UN
Inner City
Press sought to ask for a read-out, but
the two men took only four questions. Afterwards, Inner City Press
asked both
the UK Mission spokesman and Ban's spokesperson for a read out of the
meeting,
which will be reported on this site upon receipt, as well any response
to the
unanswered portion of the questions Inner City Press asked at the UN
noon
briefing on March 25:
Inner City Press: There was a
statement by the Foreign Secretary of Sri Lanka that the country has
received
no criticism from the UN of how it’s conducting its conflict in the
north. He says that Ms. [Navi] Pillay, the Human Rights
Commissioner, “is
not the UN”, and apparently implies that, in the discussions between
the
President and the Secretary-General, there’s been no criticism
whatsoever of
any action of the Government. I wanted to know, is that
consistent with
your understanding of those calls?
Spokesperson Michele Montas: As far as I
know, a number of issues were raised. Humanitarian issues were
also
raised.
Inner City Press: And also, the
Foreign Ministry of Sri Lanka has put out a statement condemning the
OCHA
document that says there were 2,683 deaths, saying it’s entirely
unverified and
asking the UN to retract it. Is the UN considering retracting its
own
document that’s that specific on numbers?
Spokesperson: As far as I
know, OCHA is standing by its numbers.
Question: Okay. Neil
Buhne was quoted as saying that he is not standing by it. He’s
been
quoted in Sri Lanka saying that he doesn’t stand by the number.
Maybe
he’s been misquoted. The Resident Coordinator, Neil Buhne, has
been
quoted as saying that he doesn’t stand by the number.
Spokesperson: So he is
saying that it’s just an evaluation? That’s what I said earlier…
[The Spokesperson later said that
the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is not in a
position to
verify numbers put out by local groups on deaths.]
Inner City Press: He’s saying it
was a report for donor countries, not meant for public distribution,
whatever
that means.
Spokesperson: Okay. I
can verify what those numbers meant.
Inner City Press: That would be
great. Then just one factual thing is that the Voice of America
has in a
report said that the Government of Sri Lanka makes it such that
international
employees of NGOs as well as independent journalists are prohibited
from
travelling to the north. So I know in your report you’d said how
the Red
Cross and WFP are delivering this aid. Is it your understanding
that, as
in Darfur currently, that international staff of NGOs can’t go to that
region?
Spokesperson: I can ask the
people there for you. We can ask for more information.
[The Spokesperson later said that
only national United Nations and non-governmental organization staff
were in
the conflict zone.]
Inner City Press: Okay, that’d be
great. I’d appreciate it.
It should be noted that Sri Lanka's foreign
secretary Palitha
Kohona, who said the UN High Commission for Human
rights "is not the
UN" himself served in and led the UN's Treaty Section. "He knows
better," one official told Inner City Press. More than one officials
questioned Neil Buhne's performance in Sri Lanka, one said that Buhne
has been
"captured." On that, Inner
City Press has repeatedly asked the UN for more information about its
staff
member forcible recruited into the Tamil Tigers -- for the record, for
those
pro-government activists who claim that any question about civilians is
support
for the Tamil Tigers, such recruitment is to be condemned.
Footnote:
By
happenstance, Inner City Press ran
into former UN Peacekeeping chief Jean-Marie Guehenno on March 25 in
front of
the UN and asked him about Sri Lanka and Brahimi's proposal, would
Guehenno
consider the post. Guehenno called the
situation in Sri Lanka serious, and with a serious face said he would
consider
such an assignment, UN envoy to Sri Lanka. He said he has not been
assigned any
cases since taking up his post as Under Secretary General for Regional
Cooperation. (Inner City Press joked that USG for Lost Causes might be
a good
title; Guehenno jokingly gave himself a promotion to Deputy SG for Lost
Causes.) Many hope that northern Sri
Lanka and the civilians trapped are not a lost cause. Watch this site.
Click here for Inner City
Press March 12 UN 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 -
|
, 
