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Tuesday, December 15, 2009 - 8.20 GMT |
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Reconciliation
a priority of Govt- Kohona;
Real improvement in camps–
Sir John Holmes |
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Reconciliation
is a
priority
for the
government.
Reconciliation
and
rehabilitation
is
already
taking
place,
said
Permanent
Representative
of Sri
Lanka to
the
United
Nations,
Palitha
Kohona
in an
interview
with
CNN.
The
government
is
talking
to all
the
Tamil
parties
in the
country
including
the
Tamil
National
Alliance
(TNA)
which
was
formerly
the
mouthpiece
of the
LTTE.
The
government
held
elections
in all
the
Provinces
including
the
North
and East
which
consist
a Tamil
speaking
majority.
The
political
process
is
already
on
track,
he
stressed.
"The
Tamil
language
is an
equal
official
language
of the
country,
Tamil is
now
being
taught
extensively
in our
schools.
Thirty-nine
percent
of
Colombo
is now
Tamil.
Fifty-four
percent
of the
Tamils
live
amongst
the
Sinhalese
in the
south,"
he
further
emphasized.
Dr.
Kohona
said
that the
government
treated
IDPs
humanely
in the
aftermath
of the
humanitarian
operations
in the
North.
"It's
only six
months
after
the war
ended.
In May,
we had
over
300,000
people
pouring
into
camps,
which
were run
by the
government
in order
to feed
the
people,
provide
them
with
shelter,
and to
provide
them
with
health
care,"
Kohona
said.
The UN
Under-Secretary
-General
for
Humanitarian
Affairs,
Sir John
Holmes
joining
the CNN
interview
asserted
that it
was
legitimate
to have
people
in camps
because
they
need
assistance
but the
government
did not
allow
them out
because
of
security
concerns.
He also
stated
that
there is
progress
as
freedom
of
movement
is
granted
from 1st
of
December
and the
process
of
releases
have
started.
‘We’ve
seen
some
real
improvement
in the
last few
weeks,
we were
critical
for a
while…
but now
there’s
progress.
Now
people
are
going
home…
they
have
freedom
of
movement,
that’s
the
critical
point’,
stressed
Sir John
Holmes.
With
regard
to CNN’s
Christiane
Amanpour
question
on
access
to the
IDPs,
Sir John
Holmes
stated
that
there
was
access
and he
visited
the
camps
three
times.
‘From
the
beginning
the UN
and most
of the
NGOs did
have
access’
he said.
On
queries
on
civilian
casualties,
Sir John
Holmes
said
that
there
have
been
such
incidents
as the
LTTE
were
holding
around
300,000
civilians
under
hostage.
‘The
government
had a
real
problem
because
of the
heavy
concentration
of
civilians
held
against
their
will by
the LTTE’,
he
continued.
Kohona
refuted
charges
the Sri
Lankan
military
shot and
killed
LTTE
members
who
tried to
surrender.
"This is
an
allegation
which
popped
up very
recently,
not at
the
time.
And the
government
has
categorically
said
that
this
scenario
never
happened
… Gen
Fonseka
running
for the
presidency
recently
said
that he
would
not
believe
that his
own
troupes
would
have
done
anything
of that
sort,"
Dr.
Kohona
said.
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