In Ban's UN, Press Barred from Photo Op with Sri Lanka Opposition Leader

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 5 -- That UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon “runs scared,” as one of his staffers puts it, more on Sri Lanka than other countries was again on display, but not to be photographed,  on July 5. Ban was to meet with Ranil Wickremesinghe, described in Ban's schedule as “Leader of the Opposition.”

But when Inner City Press asked to attend the photo opportunity at the beginning of Ban's meeting with Ranil, the double standards began.

  Only last week, with “Leader of the Opposition” of Israel Tzipi Livni met with Ban, Inner City Press was allowed to go to the photo op, observing the banter between Ban and the Israeli delegation.

  At the July 5 noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky: 

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Conflict Gives Way to Hardship

 

SRI LANKA Conflict Gives Way to Hardship
By Amantha Perera

In Allankulam in the Mulaitivu District, deep inside Sri Lanka's former conflict zone. Credit:Amantha Perera/IPS. Buy this picture

ALLANKULAM, Jul 6, 2011 (IPS) - Like many Sri Lankans, Kandiah Selvadurai measures the improvement in his life by the amount of money he spends on essentials. When basic goods were scarce more than two years ago, he paid dearly for them. These days, he buys them for a tiny fraction of what they used to cost.

Still, life is hard.

In early 2009, a kilo of rice was so scarce Selvadurai was spending 2,500 rupees (25 dollars) or more to buy it. That was when he and tens of thousands of other civilians, almost all from the minority Tamil community, were forced to live in a narrow swath of land on the northern shoreline as Sri Lanka’s bloody civil war reached its final act.                  MORE >>

Posted by Thavam