As Sri Lanka Arrests Two UN Staff, UNHCR Offers Praise After Staying Silent
By Matthew Russell Lee 
June 19, 2009
The Inner City Press 
Original Source: http://www.innercitypress.com/untrip5may3srilanka062009.html http://www.innercitypress.com/untrip5may3srilanka062009.html
UNITED NATIONS, June 19 -- 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.
   Meanwhile http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2009/06/21/fea21.asp UNHCR's country officer for Sri Lanka Amin Awar continued to praise the governmentand the internment camps in Vavuniya. While in Sri Lanka in May, Inner City Press http://www.innercitypress.com/untrip1may3srilanka052209.html published a story about another UNHCR staffer, detained by the government since last year. 
   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.
Subj: 2 UN Staff abducted 4 days ago and now believed to be tortured by Sri Lankan Army Military Intelligence - Pls Help to Release them
From: [Name withheld for fear of retaliation or worse]
To: Matthew.Lee [at] innercitypress.com
Sent: 6/19/2009
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