| Yet another UN Cover Up - 2 UN Staff arrested in Sri Lanka, UN said nothing for 8 Days |
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"..Two UN staff members were disappeared by the Sri Lankan government six days ago in Vavuniya. For days, the UN said nothing. An e-mail was sent to Inner City Press, along with a photo of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon meeting with the staff in Vavuniya on May 23. Those disappeared served as drivers for the UN Office of Project Services and UNHCR, the UN's refugee agency. After some inquiries, the UN belatedly announced that two staff had been arrested, leading to short articles in the Indian and Canadian press, neither of which included the staff members' names. They are Kandasamy "Saundi" Saundrarajan of UNOPS and N. Charles Raveendran of UNHCR. They are Tamils..." says Inner City Press
Amin Awar, who had not responded to an emailed request to comment on the case, approached this reporter in the lobby of the Colombo Hilton on May 23 and argued that the court system in Sri Lanka is complex, but said he was advocating for the detained man.No update has been provided, and now two more staffers, including one from UNHCR, are detained. How much more will the UN put up with, or as some say, cover up? The email, lightly edited, is below. UN's Ban and Vavuniya staff, standing up for them not shown From: [Name withheld for fear of retaliation or worse] Dear Matthew, We write this email in desperation seeking your help to put more pressure on Sri Lankan Authorities and release 2 United Nations Staff ( I from UNOPS and 1 from UNHCR ) abducted by Sri Lankan Army Military Intelligence Officials in Vavuniya four days ago and currently detained. We have tried all the possible escalations within UN, including an urgent message to our Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon but nothing has helped so far. We reliably learn that they are now being detained and tortured at a Sri Lankan Army Military Intelligence interrogation camp in Kurumankadu, Vavuniya and since it is weekend no one is taking it serious & taking some bold action for their release or access to them & ensure they are safe. In our May30th Sit Report, our ground officers have highlighted the wide spread abductions and accounted for more than 13,310 missing people in Vavuniya IDP Camps, compared to the previous count. But our higher management in Colombo and Geneva has decided to downplay it and reported it as, “decrease is associated with double counting. Additional verification is required”. They never initiated a project for additional verification. Now we feel the pain of abduction when two of our colleagues are abducted. Photo of our Vavuniya UN Team Group Photo with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon when he visited Vavuniya last month, attached. We don’t know when we will see our colleagues again and the same smile ... please help. Due to security issues we cant talk on phone and sending this email with great difficulty & hope you will understand it. Thanks in advance. Concerned UN Staff, Sri Lanka AFP Story The two men, both ethnic Sri Lankan Tamils, were reported missing eight days ago and were subsequently discovered to have been taken into custody by Sri Lankan officials, the UN office in Colombo said in a statement. "We are not aware which, if any, charges have been laid, and nor are we aware of the details of any accusations," the statement said. The two men were working for the UN refugee agency and the UN office for Project Services in the northern region of Vavuniya Human rights organisations have reported that thousands of Tamils had been taken from the state-run camps for people displaced by the recently ended war between troops and Tamil Tiger rebels. The UN has often been at odds with the Sri Lankan government over Colombo's handling of the final days of battle against the rebels and the treatment of 300,000 people displaced by the fighting. The separatist Tamil Tigers were defeated last month when they lost the remaining territory under their control and their founder and chief Velupillai Prabhakaran was killed. |
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