On Sri Lanka, UN’s Nambiar Resists Briefing the Council on His “Confidential” Trip: Is a USG Subpoena Needed?
[Inner City Press]
Despite having been sent as the UN’s envoy to the “bloodbath on the beach” in Sri Lanka, Ban Ki-moon’s chief of staff Vijay Nambiar is now reluctant to give the Security Council even a closed door briefing on the crisis, sources told Inner City Press late Tuesday. One well-placed Council diplomat said that despite all 15 members, including China and Russia, agreeing to an “informal interactive dialogue” with Mr. Nambiar, who has just returned via India from three days in Sri Lanka, they were told that Nambiar views the matter as “too sensitive” even for discussion behind closed doors. Nambiar argued that as a “mediator,” what he discussed with Sri Lanka’s president Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brothers was “confidential,” even from the Security Council.