Lee's exclusive report on UN failures in Sri Lanka
Maththew Russel Lee of Inner City Press in New York claims " exclusive credit" for publishing a follow- up report on the United Nation's failure in Sri Lanka during the final stages of the separatist war -- with a link to the full report.
Lee says, " First, Secretary General Ban Ki- moon's spokesperson Martin Nesirky said that Ban would have something to say on it in September. This was a brief reference in his General Assembly speech. Then yesterday ( on Friday) Inner City Press asked Ban's associate spokesperson Farhan Haq, who said " we will have, I think, more to say in, I believe, the days and weeks to come. Since a lesson supposedly learned by the UN from its inaction was to have the courage to speak, withholding the report seemed and seems contradictory.
" Today Inner City Press exclusively publishes here the UN's " Followup to the report of the SecretaryGeneral's Internal Review Panel on UN Action in Sri Lanka," dated July 9, 2013 and marked on each of its mere six pages, " Internal."
An excerpt from the report's introduction published in Lee's article says:
" In 2009 the Sri Lanka crisis was a test. We failed it. It was -- as characterized by the Internal Review Panel report that I commissioned -a ' systemic failure.' The challenges that plagued us in Sri Lanka were not new: they have been with us for many years and in diverse situations. They include failure to communicate evidence of impending cri- sis and lack of strategies to address serious violations drawing upon the full range of our diplomatic, legal and operational capacities. We do not always deploy and empower colleagues swiftly to address often rapidly changing circumstances, and back them up when they take risks. Lack of clear leadership at headquarters has resulted in mixed messages, reduced operational clarity and lost opportunities. Above all, we have not always been effective at getting Member States to reach agreement on concerted action."
With speculation mounting over early polls to the Western Provincial Council, the selection of the chief ministerial candidate for the two main contenders - the UPFA and the UNP - has become the talking point.
The name of a politico who has been much in the news over an election incident is being mentioned as the possible UPFA contender. What of the UNP?
At least one Colombo UPFA stalwart, who failed to obtain a post as a minister or deputy minister, they say, is talking to the UNP. But the UNP will first have to sort out its internecine issues before the matter receives attention.