Good-bye Gambari
Posted on December 4, 2009
Filed Under Burma news | Comments Off
Ibrahim Gambari
Ibrahim Gambari, the United Nation’s special envoy to Burma is to become the new head of the joint African Union-United Nations peacekeeping mission in Darfur effective January 1, it was announced today.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is seeking to appoint the Nigerian diplomat to the post that is expected to oversee as many as 26,000 troops and police officers
Gambari had come under fire from Burmese opposition sources, which felt he had failed in his mission to promote dialogue between the military junta and the opposition. They also felt he was pushing them to accept the junta’s roadmap for democracy.
Gambari made eight visits to Burma during his time as special envoy, but was often blocked from meeting senior figures in both the junta and the opposition. In August 2008, detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi refused to attend a scheduled meeting with Gambari (see: Gambari leaves without seeing Suu Kyi).
The visits were often criticised by the opposition, who said Gambari allowed himself to be manipulated by the junta for their own public relations purposes.
The Irrawaddy quotes Ashin Issariya, one of the leaders of the All Burma Monks Alliance as saying, “I did not see any significant successful results by Mr. Gambari. Actually, the UN seems to have little real power to affect the Burmese military junta. The junta has committed many human rights abuses and crimes, but the UN failed to take effective action.”
The UN has now begun the process of looking for Gambari’s successor.
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