UNITED NATIONS, February 23 -- Amid controversy about the UN's seeming failure to follow up on accountability for presumptive war crimes in the killing of tens of thousands of civilians in Sri Lanka, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and his chief of staff Vijay Nambiar met Wednesday with the country's Attorney General Mohan Peiris and its Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, former General Shavendra Silva.
Silva has been the subject of controversy, for his role in the military assault in northern Sri Lanka in 2009. It has been reported that the government of Mahinda Rajapaksa converted such as General Shavendra Silva into an Ambassador to give him diplomatic immunity, and sent him to the UN to see if the UN would in a sense legitimate him. Inner City Press observed and took a photo as Ban Ki-moon shook Shavendra Silva's hand on Wednesday.
UN's Ban and Silva, Kohona looks on, ICC not shown (c) MLee
Also attending the meeting but standing off to the side during the handshaking was Ban's chief of staff Vijay Nambiar. Inner City Press nevertheless took a photograph of him standing by the side
Nambiar off to side of Sri Lanka photo op, Feb 23, 2011 (c) MLee
and later sitting at Ban's right hand for the meeting.
Sri Lanka officials, Ban, Nambiar et al - Ban's left not ID-ed (c) MRLee
In recent days, Inner City Press has asked Ban's spokesperson's office for a response to the inclusion of Nambiar in a filing with the International Criminal Court, which asserts
“a basis to question whether Vijay Nambiar was in fact an innocent neutral intermediary or in fact a co-perpetrator within the negotiation related community.”
The filing, which has been reported in the Australian press, recites that
"NAMBIAR again through the United Nations-24 hour dispatch center in New York. NAMBIAR replied to COLVIN that MAHINDA RAJAPAKSE, GOTABAYA RAJAPAKSE, AND PALITHA KOHONA had assured NAMBIAR that the LTTE members would be safe in surrendering to the SLA and treated like “normal prisoners of war” if they “hoist[ed] a white flag high.”
Ban's lead spokesman Martin Nesirky would not say he would seek a response from Nambiar or the Executive Office of the Secretary General to these descriptions.
Nesirky's deputy Farhan Haq issued an on the record statement to another journalist that “the Inner City Press story is inaccurate; there has been no complaint formally filed at the International Criminal Court.” Earlier on February 23, Inner City Press asked Nesirky to explain the statement; he has declined.
It was also unclear if Wednesday's meeting was intended to replace what Ban had announced as his Panel's ability to travel to Sri Lanka. The trip has not happened, and Inner City Press has been told by sources on both sides that Sri Lanka said the Panel could only “make representations” to Rajapaksa's own Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Commission, not interview Peiris, External Affairs Ministry Secretary Romesh Jayasinghe and other officials.
Inner City Press has been told, and has reported, that while Sri Lanka insisted that its officials would only meet with the Executive Office of the Secretary General -- run by Nambiar -- and not the UN Panel, the UN counter offered a video conference call with the Panel, or even written questions.
Now, instead, there has been a meeting with the Executive Office of the Secretary General, including Nambiar and Silva. The meeting, after Inner City Press yesterday reported its scheduling, was denied by Sri Lanka's Deputy Minister of External Affairs Neomal Perera:
The Government today rejected reports that External Affairs Ministry Secretary Romesh Jayasinghe and Attorney General Mohan Peiris were in New York to meet with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Deputy Minister of External Affairs Neomal Perera told the Daily Mirror that the External Affairs Ministry Secretary was overseas on a private visit and that, to his knowledge, there was no meeting scheduled between the Attorney General and Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
The Minister further rejected claims that the government had hindered the UN Secretary Generals’ Expert Panel from contacting the local Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC).
“We are in constant contact with the UN Secretary General’s office and they have not requested to meet with the LLRC. If they so wish they can contact them through us or even directly”, he said.
A representative of the LLRC told the Daily Mirror that any contact between the panel and the LLRC would generally have to be through the External Affairs Ministry. “The Commission has not been contacted, normally however it is understood that any contact would have to be made through the External Affairs Ministry; the Secretary Generals office or the UN office in Colombo would have to contact them- but no such contact has been made,” the representative said.
Reports claimed today that besides disallowing the UN Panel to visit Sri Lanka the government had rejected the Secretary Generals offers for those from the Panel to contact members of the LLRC through video conferencing or written questions.
As Inner City Press stood at the UN's stakeout on the second floor of the North Lawn building, Permanent Representative Palitha Kohona, named in the ICC filing, walked by with the ministers. Inner City Press asked, what about the denial? Kohona said that the deputy doesn't know anything, just ask him. But he has declined to comment on the ICC filing, not wanting to “dignify” it. Watch this site.
Footnote: one attendee on the UN side of the table was left unidentified: watch this site.
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On Sri Lanka, As UN Haq Claims No Nambiar ICC Filing, Meeting Disputed
By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive
UNITED NATIONS, February 23 -- With the UN accused of misstatements by Sri Lanka's government, the UN spokesperson's office has claimed that there is no filing with the International Criminal Court involving chief of staff Vijay Nambiar, in the process telling media covering Myanmar that an Inner City Press story is inaccurate.
But when UN spokesman Martin Nesirky was publicly asked Wednesday by Inner City Press about his deputy Farhan Haq's statement that “the Inner City Press story is inaccurate; there has been no complaint formally filed at the International Criminal Court,” Nesirky did not answer, only claiming “we spoke about that yesterday.”
The previous day, Nesirky would not commit to seeking a response from Nambiar if the descriptions of his involvement in Sri Lanka were accurate.
After that, at 7 pm on February 22, Haq received a question about Inner City Press' story about the ICC filing involving not only Sri Lanka Permanent Representative Palitha Kohona but also Nambiar, and why Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has not responded to calls, including by Permanent Five and other members of the Security Council, to on Myanmar replace Nambiar with a full time envoy.
Haq replied:
From: Farhan Haq [at] un.org
Date: Tue, Feb 22, 2011 at 7:16 PM
Re: Question about Nambiar, ICC and Burma envoy role
Yes, he is still the acting Special Adviser on Myanmar.
The Inner City Press story is inaccurate; there has been no complaint formally filed at the International Criminal Court. Please ask the ICC for anything more on that.
As for a full-time Special Adviser, Ban Ki-moon has been considering that idea; there is nothing to announce for now.
Inner City Press on February 23 asked Nesirky the basis for Haq's statement that “there has been no complaint formally filed at the International Criminal Court.” On both February 22 and 23, Inner City Press told Nesirky that the ICC filing had been widely reported in the Australian press.
Did the UN seek any retraction or correction from the Sydney Morning Herald?
Nesirky said he would only take a few questions on February 23 -- he used time accusing Inner City Press of making noise with its laptop, which was untrue -- so Inner City Press was unable to ask for the UN's response to Sri Lanka's government's claim that Ban Ki-moon daily schedule for February 23 is false, and that the UN has never even asked to meet wth members of Mahinda Rajapaksa's Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Commission.
UN's Ban & Nambiar, response to Haq & Lanka statements, ICC not shown
Watch this space and see below:
The Government today rejected reports that External Affairs Ministry Secretary Romesh Jayasinghe and Attorney General Mohan Peiris were in New York to meet with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Deputy Minister of External Affairs Neomal Perera told the Daily Mirror that the External Affairs Ministry Secretary was overseas on a private visit and that, to his knowledge, there was no meeting scheduled between the Attorney General and Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
The Minister further rejected claims that the government had hindered the UN Secretary Generals’ Expert Panel from contacting the local Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC).
“We are in constant contact with the UN Secretary General’s office and they have not requested to meet with the LLRC. If they so wish they can contact them through us or even directly”, he said.
A representative of the LLRC told the Daily Mirror that any contact between the panel and the LLRC would generally have to be through the External Affairs Ministry. “The Commission has not been contacted, normally however it is understood that any contact would have to be made through the External Affairs Ministry; the Secretary Generals office or the UN office in Colombo would have to contact them- but no such contact has been made,” the representative said.
Reports claimed today that besides disallowing the UN Panel to visit Sri Lanka the government had rejected the Secretary Generals offers for those from the Panel to contact members of the LLRC through video conferencing or written questions.
Watch this site.
At UN, Ban to Meet with Sri Lanka AG, His Panel Undercut, No Nambiar Comment
By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive
UNITED NATIONS, February 22 -- Two months after UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon claimed that his Panel on Sri Lanka could visit the country due to President Mahinda Rajapaksa's “flexibility,” on February 23 Ban is now scheduled to meet in New York with Sri Lankan Attorney General Mohan Peiris and Secretary for External Affairs C.R. Jayasinghe, Inner City Press learned late on February 22.
Ban's Panel has not traveled to Sri Lanka, even as its extended deadline approaches. Inner City Press has reported exclusively that the Rajapaksa government since Ban's December 17 statement has refused to allow Ban's three person Panel to interview any Sri Lankan official, saying that such officials will only speak with Ban's Executive Office of the Secretary General.
Even Ban's offers of video conference between his and Rajapaksa's Panel, or written questions, were rejected.
While many, including in Ban's office, feels this totally undermines the Panel on Accountability that Ban set up, they say apparently Ban has given in, as reflected by Wednesday's meeting. We'll see.
UN's Ban & M. Rajapaksa, Panel(s) & Nambiar not shown
Earlier on February 22, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky:
Inner City Press: I wanted to ask you a non-Libya question.
Spokesperson Nesirky: By all means. Make a change.
Inner City Press: Sure. There was a filing over the weekend on, with the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC)…
Spokesperson Nesirky: Start again, please.
Inner City Press: Yeah, there was a filing with the Prosecutor of the ICC that has been widely reported in the Australian media. It’s largely against the [Permanent Representative] of Sri Lanka, saying that he should be prosecuted. But it has a couple of paragraphs, one which says there is a basis to question whether Vijay Nambiar was in fact an innocent neutral intermediary. And then it has a factual, a paragraph that it says is facts, saying that Nambiar, through the UN’s 24-hour dispatch, told Colvin that Mahinda Rajapakse, Gotabaya Rajapakse and Palitha Kohona had assured Nambiar that the LTTE [Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam] members who surrendered would be treated like normal prisoners of war if they hoisted a white flag high. I wanted to know what the UN’s response to this now, why the reported filing? Is that an accurate statement of fact and what’s the UN’s response to the characterization?
Spokesperson Nesirky: Well, first of all, the filing is as reported in the newspaper.
Inner City Press: : No, no, the file; I can give you a copy of the filing if you want it, it’s public, it’s been made public by two Tamil organizations that filed it with [Luis Moreno] Ocampo’s Office. It was picked up in Australia, I guess because of the Kohona angle, but I just want to know, since Mr. Nambiar is the Chief of Staff of the UN, what is the response to the characterization of him as possibly involved and the factual statement of him conveying these assurances from the President of Sri Lanka?
Spokesperson Nesirky: Well, a couple of points. The second is that I think you would need to check with the International Criminal Court’s Prosecutor about something that has been filed to the ICC Prosecutor. I think you would need to look at that. Secondly, on the second part of your question, I really don’t have any comment on that at this time. Okay?
Inner City Press: [inaudible] what Mr. Nambiar…
Spokesperson: I said I don’t have any comment on it at this time. Okay, all right, thank you very much.
In what the UN called “inaudible,” Inner City Press asked Nesirky if he was even going to try to get a comment or response from Mr. Nambiar.
Now -- will Nambiar be at the February 23 meeting? Watch this site.
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By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive
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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.
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http://www.innercitypress.com/bannam1silva022311.html