Tamil News Network (TNN) » Inner City Press

Ban Ki-moon Tells Press Alleged War Criminal as UN Adviser Was "Decided by States"

Inner City Press — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 08:10:00 +0000

Twelve days after Inner City Press began reporting on Sri Lankan alleged war criminal Shavendra Silva joining the "Senior Advisory Group on Peacekeeping Operations" of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, on Wednesday evening the question was finally put to Ban Ki-moon himself. He said, "Sri Lankan mission? It was the member states that decided."

Inner City Press had tried to ask the question during Ban’s stakeout session outside the Security Council but was not permitted to. An hour later, Ban [...]

Sri Lanka Got Saudi & Nepal to Stand Down, Silva to Now Cede to Kohona?

Inner City Press — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:45:16 +0000

Amid growing outrage at Sri Lankan General Shavendra Silva, accused of war crimes, becoming a UN Senior Adviser on Peacekeeping Operations and at Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s refusal to do or say anything about it, Inner City Press has learned more details of how this "travesty" came about.

Ban’s spokesman Martin Nesirky on January 30 told Inner City Press to "ask the member states in the Asian Group" — so Inner City Press did.

It emerges that there was no [...]

Sri Lankan Alleged War Criminal Silva "Selected" as Ban Adviser on Peacekeeping?

Inner City Press — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:57:14 +0000

In an example of UN "bluewashing" of a an alleged war criminal, Sri Lanka is bragging that its Major General Shavendra Silva has been selected for the "UN Secretary General’s special Advisory group on Peace Keeping Operations," along with former Deputy Secretary General Louise Frechette and former head of UN Peacekeeping Jean Marie Guehenno.

Acts of Shavendra Silva’s battalion in 2009 are described in the UN’s own Panel of Experts report on Sri Lanka, and lawsuits have been filed against [...]

At UN Despite Ban’s Claims, Doubts on Yemen, Haiti, Sri Lanka, Buckpass on S. Sudan

Inner City Press — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 09:09:59 +0000

Touting the rule of law at the UN on Thursday, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon claimed to oppose amnesties and support international prosecutions, saying that people want accountability and transparency.

But after Ban spoke with Yemen strongman Ali Saleh on November 23, Inner City Press asked him if he had raised to Saleh his push for the immunity he is now in the process of obtaining. Ban replied that "I have not discussed in detail on that matter." If he opposed [...]

As IMF Spins on Greece & Hedge Funds, No Answers on Ukraine, Sri Lanka

Inner City Press — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 22:12:00 +0000

The International Monetary Fund under Christine Lagarde has become even less transparent, answering fewer and fewer press questions.

During the IMF briefing on January 12, the first one in four weeks, Inner City Press submitted four questions, including this: "On Greece, please describe the IMF’s engagement with hedge funds asking them to accept a hair cut: are hedge funds reacting differently than banks and what is the IMF doing?"

IMF spokesman Gerry Rice did not posed the hedge fund [...]

While UN Claims Zero Tolerance, No Discipline of Sri Lankan Abusers in Haiti

Inner City Press — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 08:20:49 +0000

As the UN praises its own response to the earthquake in Haiti two years ago and even the cholera epidemic the UN alleged brought after that, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s spokesman Martin Nesirky on Tuesday could not say if even one of the 114 Sri Lanka soldiers repatriated for pedophilia had been disciplined.

As stated in a report prepared for the UN Human Rights Council, 111 soldiers and 3 officers from MINUSTAH’s Sri Lankan battalion were repatriated due to allegations [...]

At UN, Ban’s Fat Cuts Drown Ethnic Cleansing Questions, Stealth Sri Lanka Answers

Inner City Press — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 09:36:45 +0000

With the UN dodging questions about allowing ethnic cleansing in Pibor, South Sudan, Inner City Press on January 6 asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s spokesman Martin Nesirky whether the budget cuts Ban brags about were responsible for the UN’s failure to record or broadcast questions asked the day before about the slaughter:

Inner City Press: yesterday when Mr. Ladsous finally did do a stakeout, there was no microphone for questions, so that when you watch it, all you have is Mr. [...]

At UN, 5 Year Rule Has Haysom Offered Afghan Deputy Post, Kane Resists Lebanon

Inner City Press — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 07:50:34 +0000

The "five year rule" propounded by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, under which high official should serve no more than five years in a particular post, is causing a game of musical chairs.

Senior adviser Nicholas Haysom, for example, is said by Inner City Press’ multiple sources to have been offered the Deputy envoy post at the UN Mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA. He had previously been in contention but not chosen for the top envoy post for the UN in [...]

At UN, Ban Has Belatedly Watched "Killing Fields of Sri Lanka," Response UNclear

Inner City Press — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 11:31:53 +0000

"Killing Fields of Sri Lanka" has finally been watched by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, according to a one-word response provided to Inner City Press on December 28 by Ban’s Office of the Spokesperson.

The documentary depicts UN culpability in the abandonment and killing of civilians in Northern Sri Lanka in 2009, when Ban was, as now, Secretary General; it reports on the so-called White Flag killings of Tamil Tiger leaders in whose surrender Ban’s chief of staff Vijay Nambiar [...]

As Sri Lanka Threatens Critics of LLRC, Ban Awaits Cheat Sheets of DPA, HRC

Inner City Press — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 09:34:01 +0000

One week ago about Sri Lanka, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon "noted that the report of Sri Lanka’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) was tabled in parliament today and welcomed that it has been made public. The United Nations will be studying the report closely."

After a week of silence from Ban, even while the Sri Lankan government announced it would take legal action against non-governmental organizations which have joined the criticism for the LLRC report as no leading [...]