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Wednesday, May 14, 2008 - 05.53 GMT |
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FM hails Sri Lanka’s ties with the UN |
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Foreign Minister
Rohitha Bogollagama has underscored the
importance that Sri Lanka attaches to its
relationship with the UN system. He made
this observation following high level
interactions with UN officials at the UN
Headquarters in New York last week. During
his visit, Foreign Minister met the UN
Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, the Executive
Director of UNICEF Ms. Ann Veneman, UN Under
Secretary General for Political Affairs, Mr.
Lynn B Pascoe and the UNDP Administrator,
Mr. Kemal Dervis.
The Foreign Minister met the UNICEF
Executive Director, Ms. Veneman on 7th May
and briefed her on the initiatives taken by
the Government to empower the people of the
North and the East, the latter through the
successful holding of Local Government
elections in Batticaloa on 10 March 2008 and
the elections to the Eastern Provincial
Council on 10th May 2008. She responded by
complimenting Sri Lanka saying "democracy is
taking hold in the East". The Minister said
that the Task Force appointed by President
Mahinda Rajapaksa, comprising three members
representing the Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim
communities, would be able to address the
development needs of the people in the
North.
Discussing the challenges of development and
rehabilitation in the North and the East,
especially the road map for restoration of
democracy, the Minister stated that
rehabilitation and re-integration of former
child combatants was a priority task, which
required considerable resources and efforts.
A successful re-integration process would
need empowering children who had been
involved in armed conflict with livelihood
skills and value-based education so that
they would be recognised as equal members of
the society.
Minister Bogollagama drew the attention of
the UNICEF Executive Director to the LTTE's
continuing child recruitment practices,
which compelled each family in the North to
provide one child for that organization. The
Minister explained how the LTTE had targeted
civilians and civilian facilities, and its
gross violations of human rights, including
the ethnic cleansing of Muslims from the
North. The LTTE was also engaged in
organised crime, including arms-smuggling
and narcotics trafficking. Ms. Veneman
recalled reading an article recently, which
described how Colombian drug dealers were
using plastic submarines to smuggle arms and
drugs, in an obvious comparison to the
activities of LTTE.
Appreciating Foreign Minister Bogollagama's
commitment and interest in strengthening
mutual cooperation, Ms. Veneman reaffirmed
her support for ongoing recovery activities
in Sri Lanka and clarified that UNICEF's new
approach to assisting countries is based on
the need "to add value", which meant that
"if a country is doing well in some areas,
UNlCEF would help in other areas under its
mandate, where progress is lacking". She
also indicated that assistance for
micro-credit and development of SMEs needed
to be addressed in the overall context of
UN's country programme in the near future.
The Foreign Minister met the UN Under
Secretary General for Political Affairs Mr.
Lynn B. Pascoe on the same day and briefed
him on the APRC process and the
implementation of the 13th Amendment to the
Constitution. He also briefed Mr. Pascoe on
the significance of the Provincial Council
elections in the Eastern Province.
Mr. Pascoe inquired about the role for the
international community, following the
termination of the ceasefire agreement with
the LTTE. The Minister explained that LTTE
terrorism was currently at its highest level
and it was important that the LTTE is
weakened militarily, in order to empower the
people in the North through the democratic
process. He referred to the positive
developments in the Eastern Province
following the eviction of the LTTE by the
security forces. He said the Eastern
Province could become a model for conflict
resolution and mentioned the positive steps
taken to rehabilitate and re-integrate child
soldiers released by the TMVP, into civil
society.
Minister Bogollagma met the UNDP
Administrator, Mr. Kemal Dervis on the
following day (8th May) and briefed him on
some house-keeping issues with the UN that
the Minister had helped resolve, since he
assumed office. The Minister also stated
that some other issues of mutual concern
were addressed pragmatically during the
visit of UN Assistant Secretary General, Ms.
Angela Kane, to Sri Lanka in February 2008.
He remarked that overall, Sri Lanka – UN
relations were on a sound footing and that
development work and delivery of
humanitarian services were proceeding
smoothly.
Responding to a query from Mr. Dervis, the
Minister stressed the need for the UN to be
extra-cautious in monitoring the conduct of
its local staff, following the recent arrest
of a local employee of the UNDP, who was
detected at a check-point carrying a
micro-pistol intended for use by the LTTE.
It was important that the UN Office in
Colombo ensures that its local staff did not
breach Government security regulations.
Minister Bogollagma drew the attention of
Mr. Dervis to a new tactic by the LTTE of
moving its military facilities and offices
closer to UN locations in the un-cleared
areas and stressed that UN should warn the
LTTE to desist from such action, lest it
cause unnecessary collateral consequences.
The Minister also apprised the UNDP
Administrator of the Government's roadmap
for the restoration of democracy in the East
and the appointment of a task force for
development work in the North. Mr. Dervis
assured the Foreign Minister, the UNDP's
support for the Sri Lankan Government's
development efforts.
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