 |
| Jan Eliasson. |
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
December 5 -Three weeks
after the UN
released a redacted
version of
the delayed
report into
the UN's
actions and
inactions in
Sri Lanka in
2009,
Inner City
Press on
Wednesday
asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman if
any movement
has been made
on the
commitment to
set up another
senior group
to review the
findings of
this Charles
Petrie report.
In
the
intervening
three weeks,
Inner City
Press has
asked this
without
answer. But on
Wednesday,
Ban's
spokesman
Martin Nesirky
had an
answer: the
review group
is being set
up under
Deputy
Secretary
General Jan
Eliasson.
One hopes it
might be a
credible
review and
lead to
accountability.
Inner
City Press
also asked
about reports
that Sri Lanka
General
Shavendra
Silva, who
appears in
Ban's first
Sri Lanka
report on the
killing of
civilians,
depicted in
connection
with war
crimes like
the shelling
of hospitals.
(Silva
also appears
in UK Channel
Four's Sri
Lanka
documentaries,
and was
allowed to
present the
government's
"Lies Agreed
To" in the
UN Dag
Hammarskjold
Auditorium,
with repercussions
that continue
still.)
Now
Silva despite
his past, is
reported to be
inspecting the
troops in
Lebanon, in
the UN
peacekeeping
mission. Inner
City Press
asked for
confirmation
and comment,
given Silva's
controversial
and then
limited
service on
Ban's Senior
Advisory Group
on
Peacekeeping
Operations,
and where the
SAG report is.
Nesirky
referred
both of these
questions to
the Department
of
Peacekeeping
Operations,
whose chief
Herve Ladsous
has at least
three times on
UN
TV since Silva
repercussions
in May
refused to
answer any
Press
questions,
including
about Silva's
role as a
Senior Advisor
on UN
peacekeeping.
So we'll see.
Watch this
site.
Footnote: for the "Ask State" Department session Wednesday morning with Under Secretary Tara Sonenshine, Inner City Press asked, "What will US do after the Sri Lanka Petrie report to ensure the UN doesn't again withhold info as 40,000 are killed?" But there's been no answer from #AskState. Yet.
ICP