Risky Summit: Why Sri Lanka’s Day Of International Glory Could Turn Sour
Marwaan Macan-Markar
Sri Lanka’s military is on the move again, even in these times of relative peace. In the crosshairs are not the Tamil Tigers, however, but a decidedly less martial task than subduing the separatist rebel army that was trounced in a bloody finale in May 2009, ending a nearly 30-year-long ethnic conflict. An on-going mission for the men in khaki is to lend their muscle for cosmetic purposes – to give the South Asian nation’s capital a facelift.
Benefitting from this show of force are landmarks of the British Raj that were left to rot in Colombo for years. So, too, the other colonial edifices, with their thick walls, spacious colonnades and wide porticos, that were shut out from public sight by high parapet walls.
The walls offered a commentary on the war: they were recent architectural additions to protect those working in them – largely government employees – from Tamil Tiger suicide squads. Now the walls are coming down and old gems of British colonial architecture are gleaming again, such as the restored grandstand at the once venerable Colombo Racecourse Ground.
These efforts to give Colombo a new, post-war sheen are timely. The city will serve as a host for the most important international showcase the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa has set its sight on. In mid-November, Sri Lanka is billed to host the summit of the Commonwealth heads of government.
This biennial gathering, often attracting leaders from the 54 countries who were part of the British Empire, would be the largest such summit held in the island nation since 1976. Then, Colombo hosted the summit of Non-Aligned Movement, which drew a much broader representation of leaders from Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Hosting the November summit, known formally as the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), would be a significant foreign policy landmark for Rajapaksa: assuming the leadership of an international organisation for two years. Such a platform of respectability would come at a time when Colombo has been subject to a storm of international condemnation.
