South Africa not mediator says Lanka
The Government today informed Parliament that South Africa will not act as mediator in Sri Lanka and the recent visit of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was only to share views on the truth and reconciliation commission process.
Deputy External Affairs Minister Neomal Perera told Parliament that Ramaphosa was in Sri Lanka on an invitation extended by the Government of Sri Lanka.
He said that the visit took place following discussions held between President Mahinda Rajapaksa and South African President Jacob Zuma on the sidelines of the Commonwealth summit last year.
“The President of Sri Lanka had expressed interest to ascertain what lessons, if at all, Sri Lanka could take from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission process in South Africa. Therefore President Zuma designated Mr. Cyril Ramaphosa as special envoy to Sri Lanka to share South Africa’s experience of the TRC process,” the Deputy Minister told Parliament in response to a question.
He said the visit of Cyril Ramaphosa to Sri Lanka was undertaken in the capacity of a mutual sharing of views on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission process in order to explore the possibility of adopting a similar mechanism in Sri Lanka.
Ramaphosa met with various political leaders and delegations in Sri Lanka, including the Minister of External Affairs, Professor GL Peiris, the Leader of the opposition United National Party Ranil Wickremasinghe, the leadership of the Tamil National Alliance, the Chief Minister of the Northern Provincial Council, Mr C. V. Wigneswaran and Governor of the Northern Province Major General G.A Chandrasiri. (Colombo Gazette)
