The Leader of the visiting German Delegation, Ms Petra Ernstberger (CDU/CSU) thanked the GoSL for the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the progress made in Sri Lanka, and confirmed their overall impression, following visits to the North and the East of the country that “many good things had been done”.

She made this statement when the visiting cross-party delegation from the German Parliament held discussions with Minister G.L. Peiris at the External Affairs Ministry on November 6.

Minister Pieris expressed his satisfaction that the Delegation had obtained a first hand experience of the post –conflict developments taking place in Sri Lanka. The Minister gave an overview of the Government’s efforts, and said that the people of Sri Lanka had been emancipated from fear and terror after almost three decades.

Minister Peiris emphasized that although the military victory had been necessary to overcome terrorism, it has to be supplanted by practical initiatives in rebuilding the country and elaborated five elements in the Government’s strategy in this regard.

The first element he said was removing the scars from the people’s hearts and minds, and working towards long-term reconciliation. He explained the work of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) and said that in setting up the LLRC the Government has drawn from the experiences of other countries, while being responsive to local sensitivities. The LLRC which started its work on 15th August, has already submitted an Interim Report containing recommendations to President Mahinda Rajapaksa which included the urgent need to address issues such as the reducing of the High Security Zones, reintegration of ex-combatants into normal life after rehabilitation, administrative measures to be put in place for the use of the Tamil language and expediting legal processes against detainees. The Minister further informed the delegation that an Inter Ministerial Committee has already been put in place and has started its work towards implementation of these recommendations.

The second element was humanitarian considerations. In this regard, the GoSL had achieved significant progress. The Minister noted that out of the original 297,000 internally displaced persons, only approximately 18,000 now remained, all the rest having been resettled. Out of the 11,690 persons detained, 5221 have been released after rehabilitation while only the very hard core among the detainees will be tried in court.

The Minister said that the third element in the Government’s strategy is the diaspora, and the Government is reaching out to them to participate in the rebuilding process of the areas ravaged during the conflict. When the LTTE was active, the diaspora was a monolith, whereas now they are divided and carry different points of view. An important segment of the diaspora is actively engaging with the Government and working towards addressing post-conflict socio-economic issues.

There is a clear correlation between the fourth and fifth elements of the GoSL strategy, which is the economy and the political process. The Minister observed that development work in the North is underway and the private sector has responded magnificently in taking industries to the North thus giving the people there opportunities for jobs and livelihood recovery.

As to the political process, the Minister briefed that President Rajapaksa has revived the dialogue, which was started months ago with Tamil political parties, including the largest Tamil party represented in Parliament with 14seats, the Tamil National Alliance. Noting that the stakeholders have been requested to come forward with recommendations that are implementable Minister Peiris emphasized that the political process was integral to reconciliation, and could be reinforced by economic and human progress in the North.

The Minister expressed the hoped that the delegation was able to get a feel of the situation in Sri Lanka from their meetings with a broad spectrum of people during their stay, as well as from their visit to the North and to the former IDP sites.

The programme of the German Parliamentary delegation which arrived in Sri Lanka on 2nd November, also included visits to Vavuniya and Jaffna, and meetings with Sri Lankan Members of Parliament, Minister of Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa and courtesy call on President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The delegation, representing the German Parliament’s South Asia Friendship Group consisted Mrs. Petra Ernstberger (CDU/CSU), Chairperson of the Group and Head of the delegation, Mrs. Sabine Weiss (CDU/CSU) Deputy Chairman, Mr. Joseph Winkler (Bundnis 90/Die Grunen), Deputy Chairman, Mr. Paul Schafer (Die Linke), Deputy Chairman, Mr. Jurgen Klimke (CDU/CSU), Mr. Christian Von Stetten (CDU/CSU), Mr. Holger Ortel (SPD) and Dr. Brigit Reinemund (FDP).