Russia Sent A Spy Ship To Havana While US Diplomats Are Visiting

An American classic car drives past "Viktor Leonov" — the same ship docked in Havana harbor today — in Havana, Cuba, on Feb. 27, 2014.

JAN. 21, 2015, 7:04 AM

A Russian spy ship "bristling with antennas and satellite dishes" docked in Havana harbor just a day before a US delegation is set to travel to the country, CNN reported today.

President Barack Obama announced plans to normalize relations with the still communist-governed island nation in late 2014. The US severed diplomatic ties and imposed an economic blockade in the early 1960s, after Fidel Castro's regime seized control of the island.

But the spy ship could be Russia's blatant demonstration that the US's opening of ties won't weaken the island's relationship with Moscow, another government whose foreign and economic policies have often been at odds with those of the US and its allies.

"It may have a secret mission, but they're certainly not trying to hide the ship's presence," CNN's Patrick Oppman reported as he gestured to the spy ship behind him. "It glided into Havana early this morning in full view of everyone to see" and docked where cruise ships usually do, he added.

It wouldn't be the first time Russia used its fleet to send such blunt messages to its rivals.

In November, Putin's visit to the G20 summit in Australia was accompanied by a four warships that remained in international waters on the edge of Australia's maritime claims. The ships may also have been used to gather intelligence.

The spy ship currently in Havana harbor also paid Cuba a visit last year, stocking up on "quite a bit of Cuban beer and rum," Oppman said, before making its way closer to the United States for possible espionage.

Roberta Jacobson, the US's top diplomat for Latin America, will lead the visit to Cuba set for Jan. 21st and 22nd. Despite the shift in US policy, there's a lot for Cuba and the US to work out before ties are fully restored, including the status of fugitives from US justice living in Cuba and the mechanisms for lifting import and export restrictions in both countries.

SEE ALSO:  Russia and Iran just got even closer

Achieving the African Renaissance

by Osita Ebiem

( January 27, 2015, New York City, Sri Lanka Guardian) To achieve the seemingly elusive African renaissance the leaders have to steer the societies and the peoples away from the current practice of reliance and expectation from the outside, to a firmly rooted belief in self and native solutions.

The persistent turmoil and conflicts in African countries, and the fight we are trying to wedge against poverty, poor leadership, corruption and a host of other problems on the Continent will still be long drawn until we sincerely decide to redraw Africa’s political map along the long existed and still enduring and realistic cultural divides.

African societies need to be returned to their original precolonial autonomous ethnic national divisions. These new national boundaries will serve as the transformative agents that will produce the most needed attitude change in the people. The new attitude will in turn restore the peoples’ regard for and allegiance to their indigenous values that are soundly rooted in non-materialistic cultural traditions.

This “radical” move of political and social structural adjustment will help to restore the peoples’ faith in their selves and their lore, norms and traditional institutions. When the peoples are made to consciously and boldly accept and respect the realities of these existing differences among them, it will help them to voluntarily and intuitively choose from among their neighbors, who they want to relate with as citizens of the same country. Cultural and social assimilation do not happen through decrees and edits. They evolve over time through other means like; time itself and peoples’ interaction among themselves, genocides and some other forms of cataclysmic upheavals.

When Africans can accept division as the most realistic road to progress, its peoples will quickly revert to believing in their selves again and abandon the present state of permanent confusion where one ethnic people are permanently trying to out trick and disrespect the other ethnic group to prove their superiority. The existing situation is creative- and innovative-numbing, and stunts every kind of positive growth.

Foreigners, the colonial Europeans could not have known better than the African peoples themselves who they would have chosen to relate with as fellow citizens of the same country and those they are better off relating with as international neighbors and friends.

It is only when the people can summon enough courage to travel through this “revolutionary” path that the long sort for Africa renaissance will come. Africans at that point will come to realize that separation from each other does not mean institution of enmity between each other. They will also know that when any union is riddled with mutual distrust and resultant permanent state of conflicts which in turn will not allow the people to pursue any common aspirations and collective social goals then the people are better off relating with each other from a distance than from an uncomfortable debilitating proximity.

When Africans can accept division as the most realistic road to progress, its peoples will quickly revert to believing in their selves again and abandon the present state of permanent confusion where one ethnic people are permanently trying to out trick and disrespect the other ethnic group to prove their superiority. The existing situation is creative- and innovative-numbing, and stunts every kind of positive growth.

It is also a fact that with this sort of confused mix as we have it today in Africa the people cannot develop enough necessary patriotic feelings which can enable them to innovate and achieve collectively and individually. (Patriotism though most of the time is displayed by individuals but in principle and fundamentally, patriotism is always a collective feeling. No one individual feels patriotic alone. An individual must first belong to a collective to which they feel real attachment and belonging before they can demonstrate patriotism when it is called for.)

The present collection of peoples into “countries” in Africa on the bases that the people cannot relate with as having any rooting in any of their indigenous cultural and traditional values further erodes the peoples’ confidence in their selves. It has created the current condition where the people are always trusting that an external solution is superior to an internal solution. This is so because the present colonial countries are actually to the native leaders a no man’s land where leadership positions are chances to transform the leaders, and opportunities to grab only for their own selves as every leader is his own lord with no allegiance to any people.

Under the prevailing state of things, as long as we selfishly insist on maintaining the status quo, the people will continue to look outside their selves to meet their challenges and solve their problems. The recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa is an example here. Almost all the help had to come from outside and in the overall the people and their leaders demanded and accepted assistances from outside like it was a right and the normal thing that should be.

Osita Ebiem is a Biafran citizen and our special correspondent on Nigeria and Africa.

129-YEAR OLD MAN CLAIMS HIS LONGEVITY IS DUE TO CANNIBALISM

World News Daily Report 

January 26th, 2015 | by Barbara Johnson

Gembogl|  A tribal man from the hinterland of Papua New-Guinea named Akaro-Muru, claims to be the oldest man alive in the world today at 129 years old. Even more surprising, the elder of the Omo Masalai  tribe adds that his incredible longevity is due to the ritual cannibalism still practised by his tribe on a regular basis.

The old warrior is held in high esteem by other tribesmen, bearing the title of tultul, an honorific position awarded to retired war chiefs. Even the other elders of the Omo Masalai tribe claim that he was already an old man when they were children, but no one really knows his age.

Akaro-Muru himself isn’t even capable of counting up to 129, but  like many warriors of the Omo Masalai clan, he owns a morbid necklace made of human teeth which allows him to record his age. Since he became a warrior at the age of 12, he collected a tooth  from every victim that the tribe sacrificed during an eerie cannibalistic ritual that takes place once a year. The tribal elder’s necklace holds an impressive 117 teeth, which suggests he could be 129 years old.

Akaro-Muru’s necklace was analyzed by scientists, and many of the teeth have been confirmed to be more than 100 years old.

Living deep in the jungle in the northern part of the Chimbu (or Simbu) province, many members the Omo Masalai tribe still practise ritual cannibalism on a regular basis. They believe that by eating their enemies, they can absorb a form of vital energy known as mana, which strengthens them. This type of ritual is mostly hidden from authorities but is still practised today in many areas of the Papuan hinterland.

“Mana is what keeps me alive and strong” says the tribal elder. “Every time I eat human flesh, I can feel the energy flow through my body and I feel young again. It is better than any of the White man’s medicine… it is magic!”

The Omo Masalai were feared headhunters when the first missionaries arrived in the region, and still wear their traditional body paintings for ceremonies. These paintings were designed to scare their enemies and earned them the nickname “skeleton tribe”.

Most medical experts disagree with Akaro-Muru’s theory however, claiming there are no known positive effects to cannibalism, but many possible negative side effects. This includes an increase in risks of Prion diseases like kuru and Creutzfeld-Jacob disease. In the early 20th century, a kuru epidemic did indeed devastate the Fore, a tribe of cannibals in the eastern highlands of Papua New Guinea, and the epidemic was linked to a Fore ritual of feasting on the brains of the dead.

Ebola outbreak moves into endgame

With fewer than 100 cases of deadly virus reported in west Africa in last week, focus turns to contact-tracing

A medical worker in Kailahun, Sierra Leone, one of the areas worst affected by Ebola. Photograph: Carl De Souza/AFP/Getty Images

Sarah Boseley, health editor-Thursday 29 January 2015 

Fewer than 100 cases of Ebola have been reported in west Africa in the last week, according to the World Health Organisation, which says the outbreak has now effectively moved into the endgame.

The massive effort that went into building treatment centres for thousands of sick people was now being diverted as quickly as possible into contact-tracing. All previous Ebola outbreaks, although on a far smaller scale, have been stopped by the efficient tracing and monitoring of every person who might have come into physical contact with someone with the virus.

In Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, “efforts have moved from rapidly building infrastructure to ensuring that capacity for case finding, case management, safe burials and community engagement is used as effectively as possible”, said the WHO’s latest situation report.

However, the switch in tactics was happening as scientists in Guinea said the virus could be mutating. “We know the virus is changing quite a lot,” the human geneticist Dr Anavaj Sakuntabhai told the BBC website.

“That’s important for diagnosing [new cases] and for treatment. We need to know how the virus [is changing] to keep up with our enemy.”

Researchers at the Institut Pasteur in France were trying to track mutations that could make it easier – or harder – for the virus to jump from one person to another. Viruses mutate to increase their chances of survival. Ebola is not efficient in humans because it quickly kills its host, usually before it has had a chance to infect large numbers of people, unlike flu, for instance.

Sakuntabhai said there had been several cases of people who were infected but had no symptoms. “These people may be the people who can spread the virus better, but we still don’t know that yet. A virus can change itself to less deadly but more contagious, and that’s something we are afraid of,” he said.

But professor Jonathan Ball, a virologist at the University of Nottingham, said it was still unclear whether more people were not showing symptoms in this outbreak, compared with previous ones.

“We know asymptomatic infections occur … but whether we are seeing more of it in the current outbreak is difficult to ascertain,” he said. “It could simply be a numbers game: that the more infection there is out in the wider population, the more asymptomatic infections we are going to see.”

The rapidly dropping number of cases will make it a considerable challenge to trial vaccines against Ebola. Trials of the vaccine that is most advanced, made by the British drug company GlaxoSmithKline, were due to start on frontline health and burial workers in Liberia, but there were only four cases of illness in the country last week. Sierra Leone had the most cases – 65 – while Guinea had 30. The trial is set up to compare the numbers who become ill among vaccinated and unvaccinated groups of people.

Results from a second round of safety trials of the vaccine, run by Oxford University, have just been published in the New England Journal of Medicine. They showed no safety problems, but were “a tad disappointing”, according to experts; the 60 human volunteers did not experience as strong an immune system response to the vaccine as scientists would have liked.

“These results show that the vaccine has the potential to work, particularly in the people who responded strongly, but I have some doubts about its ultimate effectiveness as the vaccine moves into tests in Africa,” said Dr Ben Neuman, a lecturer in virology at the University of Reading. To have enough of an effect, it may be necessary to add a booster jab – possibly one of the other vaccines now being trialled.

Better contact-tracing is vital to end the epidemic altogether. Currently, only half the new cases in Liberia are in people who are known contacts of those who were ill. In Guinea, 30% are known contacts. In Sierra Leone, the figure is not yet known.

The case fatality rate was between 54% and 62% in the three countries, said the WHO, and there was no sign this had improved over time. More than 22,000 Ebola cases have been reported since the start of the epidemic. Data from the WHO suggests there have been almost 8,800 deaths, but the lethality of the virus suggests the true figure is much higher.

CALIFORNIA MAN GETS 25-POUND PENILE IMPLANT TO BECOME PORNSTAR

World News Daily Report 

-January 27th, 2015 | by Barbara Johnson

Los Angeles| A 26-year old man from California underwent a radical cosmetic surgery in order to accomplish his childhood dream of becoming a pornstar. Lucas Weston got a 25-pound penile implant, making him the man with the longest genitals in the world.

The young man who studies Law at UCLA , decided to undergo this unique surgery to set himself apart from other actors in the pornographic industry. He found a specialist as Sunset Cosmetic Surgery who accepted to practise the delicate procedure for 35,000$.

Mr. Weston, as rapidly become a phenomenon in the porn industry under the name Max Schlong.

Beginning in January 2014, it took eight months and a total of nineteen separate surgical interventions to reach the final result. A tissue expander had to be inserted in his penis, which was regularly enlarged with saline to stretch the skin. The expander was then removed and the massive implant inserted into the space.

His massive member now weights an impressive 26.8 pounds (approximately 12.1 kg) and measures a little more than two feet (62 cm) even when flaccid and reaches an incredible three feet and two inches (98 cm) when erect. This easily surpasses Jonah Falcon, an American actor and writer who had been reported as having the World’s Largest Penis with 9.5 inches (24.13 cm) in length when flaccid and 13.5 inches (34.29 cm) when erect.

“Now, I have something unique to offer to the world of porn” says Mr. Weston. “Ron Jeremy and Rocco Siffredi can now retire, I’m here to take over! I have the biggest dick in the world and I am more than ready to use it! I want to become the greatest actor in the history of pornography!”

The young man’s new career looks promising indeed, as he has already appeared in seven photo shoots and played in four different movies over the last two months and already has more than a dozen other contracts for the upcoming weeks. His incredible asset has already attracted a lot of attention and many of the biggest studios in the pornographic industry have already contacted him and made various offers.

Doctor Morrow, who performed this unusual enhancement surgery, claims his accomplishment could constitute a major breakthrough in the field of penile enlargement.

Many medical experts have criticized the spectacular surgery, stating that the disproportionate size of Mr. Weston’s genitals could now constitute a serious risk for his health and even threaten his life.

“Genitals of this size can be a serious problem when they become erect” says Dr. Jane Sutter, vice-president of the American Surgical Association. “The quantity of blood it needs to become firm is incredible and could cause a lack of blood in the brain or other vital organs. I’m actually surprised that he doesn’t faint every time he gets an erection. It was an irresponsible decision on the part of Dr. Morrow to accept to undertake such a procedure.”

Lucas Weston insists that he feels great and doesn’t suffer from any side effect, adding that this surgery was the greats thing that ever happened to him.

Revisiting Sampur: How Long Will it Take to Return Home?

• by Bhavani Fonseka
• - on 01/28/2015 

By Bhavani Fonseka and Mirak Raheem

The election of a new President has unleashed high expectations of change for the better. Although for some the expectations relate to macro issues of constitutional reform and good governance, for others their hopes are more basic: that of survival, of returning to their own homes and rebuilding their lives. A key stumbling block to these expectations being met was the claim by the previous government that Sri Lanka no longer had any internally displaced persons (IDPs). Ground realities though are starkly different with thousands in the North and East of Sri Lanka unable to return home due to land occupation, ad hoc high security areas, special economic zones among other reasons. The people from Sampur are a special caseload in that all of the above quoted reasons have been cited as obstacles to their return.
Revisiting Sampur How Long Will It Take to Return Home by Thavam Ratna

One Way Sri Lanka Can Shield its ex-Defense Secretary from a U.S. Criminal Prosecution

By Ryan Goodman-Wednesday, January 28, 2015

International audit firms tasked with probing Basil, Wimal
  
?????????????What Happened to War Cram

Last week, Sri Lanka’s Justice Deputy Minister responded to an Op-Ed that I published in the New York Times, in which I described reasons that the United States can and should pursue a criminal investigation of U.S. citizen and Sri Lanka’s ex-Defense Secretary, Gotabaya Rajapaksa. In this post, I respond to the Deputy Minister’s statement that his administration would protect Mr. Rajapaksa from a criminal trial by the United States, if it ever came to that.

Here are the key parts of the Deputy Minister’s remarks, published in the state-owned newspaper News Daily:

“It is true according to the said U.S. war crimes statute enacted in 1996, that nationality requirement is easily satisfied in terms of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s U.S.citizenship for them to prosecute him.”
“But not within Sri Lanka’s jurisdiction,” he explained.
“No other country can do what it likes in our jurisdiction. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa is safe as long as he stays within the jurisdiction of Sri Lanka,” explained Deputy Minister Senasinghe. Asked what the government’s position was in regard to probing allegations of war crimes in Sri Lanka in view of the UN inquiry which is already underway in this respect, Senasinghe said: “our position is very clear. We will conduct a domestic probe with the assistance of the UN.”

Under the law, it is true that President Sirisena’s administration could legally secure Mr. Rajapaksa’s safety from a U.S. war crime prosecution if he stays in Sri Lanka—under one condition. The Sri Lankan government would have to prosecute him themselves.
The United States and Sri Lanka have a long-standing extradition agreement that would apply directly to Mr. Rajapaksa and to the offences he allegedly committed.  Unequivocally, article 1 of that agreement obligates Sri Lanka to extradite “persons sought by the authorities of the [United States] for trial or punishment for an extraditable offence.” Accordingly, although the Deputy Minister’s statement is true—that “no other country can do what it likes in our jurisdiction”—Sri Lanka has already formally agreed to give the United States access to criminal suspects in such cases.
The Deputy Minister may well recognize that the obligation to extradite would loom over the case. His statement that Mr. Rajapaksa “is safe as long as he stays within the jurisdiction of Sri Lanka” suggests he knows that Mr. Rajapaksa could also put himself in jeopardy by stepping foot in other countries that have an extradition agreement with the United States. As things stand, he cannot fly with ease to London for a weekend, an important conference, or a relative’s graduation—who knows whether a sealed US indictment may already be out there, in which case he could be apprehended at Heathrow and extradited to the United States (see Section 5(2) of the UK-US extradition agreement).
There is one legal “escape” from the obligation to extradite, however.
The bilateral agreement between Sri Lanka and the United States, like most extradition agreements, prohibits cases of “double jeopardy”—prosecuting the person twice for the same crime. Article 5 states: extradition “shall not be granted” when the individual has already been subject to prosecution and “convicted or acquitted” of the offenses in the home state. But that requires a full-blown and genuine trial, and nothing short of it. Article 5, indeed, stipulates that extradition shall not be precluded if local authorities “decided not to prosecute the person … or to discontinue any criminal proceedings.” Sri Lanka would have to see a trial through to the end.
In short, if Sri Lanka prosecutes Mr. Rajapaksa that could indeed shelter him and preserve the country’s broader sense of autonomy. But if the Sri Lankan authorities do not act, at some point another party—in this case the United States in pursuit of its own citizen—might step in. As I discuss in the op-ed, hopefully the Obama administration will signal a commitment to pursue such a path so that Sri Lankans are encouraged to take the legal matter into their own hands first. Recent public statements by senior Sri Lankan officials may indicate that they genuinely believe there is sufficient political space for such a prosecution—including an important interview with the new Foreign Minister (and here) and from the Minister of External Affairs. The United States can help engage current political will to ensure the pronouncements of these senior officials become tangible government policy.

FILED UNDER: Executive & Military, International Justice

"வட, கிழக்கின் அனைத்துப் பிரச்சினைகளையும் கையாள உயர் மட்டக்குழுவொன்று தேவை" 

யோ.நிமல்ராஜ்-2015-01-28

அரசியல் கைதிகள், உயர்பாதுகாப்பு வலயம், காணிகளை மக்களிடம் கையளித்தல், காணிகள் ஆக்கிரமிப்பு உள்ளிட்ட வடக்கு, கிழக்கு மாகாணங்களில் காணப்படும் பிரச்சினைகளை கையாள்வதற்கென அரசாங்கம் உயர் மட்டக் குழு ஒன்றை நியமிக்கவேண்டுமெனவும் அரசினால் நிறைவேற்றப்படும் தீர்மானங்களுக்கு செயல்வடிவம் கொடுப்பதே அக் குழுவின் பிரதான நடவடிக்கையாக அமையவேண்டும் என்றும் தமிழ்த் தேசியக் கூட்டமைப்பு தெரிவித்துள்ளது.

நேற்று செவ்வாய்க்கிழமை இடம்பெற்ற தேசிய நிறைவேற்று சபைக் கூட்டத்தில் தமிழ்த் தேசியக் கூட்டமைப்பினர் முன்வைத்த கோரிக்கைகள் தொடர்பாக வினவியபோதே தமிழ்த் தேசியக் கூட்டமைப்பின் தலைவர் இரா. சம்பந்தன் இவ்வாறு தெரிவித்தார். 

இது தொடர்பாக அவர் தொடர்ந்து தெரிவிக்கையில்;

தேசிய நிறைவேற்று சபையின் இன்றைய (நேற்றைய) அமர்வில் பல்வேறு விடயங்கள் தொடர்பாக பேசப்பட்டது. வடக்கு,கிழக்கில் தமிழ் மக்கள் எதிர்கொள்ளும் இன்றைய பிரச்சினைகள் தொடர்பாக நாம் பல்வேறு கோரிக்கைகளை முன்வைத்திருந்தோம். 

யாழ்ப்பாணத்தில் குறிப்பாக வலிகாமத்தில் காணப்படும் உயர் பாதுகாப்பு வலயங்களில்  உள்வாங்கப்பட்டுள்ள காணிகளை விடுவித்து மக்களிடம் கையளித்தல் மற்றும் குடாநாட்டில் புதிதாக காணிகளை கையகப்படுத்தும் விவகாரங்கள் தொடர்பாக எமது நிலைப்பாட்டினை தெரிவித்திருந்தோம். 

அதேபோல கிழக்கு மாகாணத்திலும் பரவலாக காணிப்பிரச்சினைகள் உண்டு. குறிப்பாக சம்பூரில் உள்ள காணிப்பிரச்சினை தொடர்பாக ஆராயப்பட்டது. 

அத்துடன் வடக்கு, கிழக்கு மாகாணங்களின் சகல மாவட்டங்களிலும் காணிகள் தொடர்பாக பல்வேறு பிரச்சினைகள் உண்டென்பதனை சுட்டிக்காட்டியிருந்தோம்.

இக்காணிகளை சரியான வழிமுறை ஊடாக மக்களிடம் கையளிக்க வேண்டிய தேவையுள்ளதனை அரசிடம் வலியுறுத்தியிருந்தோம். 

அதேவேளை, யாழ்ப்பாணம் சுன்னாகம் பகுதியில் நிலத்தடி நீரில் எண்ணெய் கழிவுகள் கலப்பதனால் ஏற்பட்டுள்ள பிரச்சினைகள் தொடர்பாகவும் சுட்டிக் காட்டப்பட்டதுடன் இவ்விவகாரம் மக்களின் மிக முக்கியமான பிரச்சினையாக உள்ளதால் உடனடியாக அரசாங்கம் தக்க நடவடிக்கையினை எடுக்க வேண்டுமென கோரப்பட்டது. மேலும் மணல் அகழ்வு தொடர்பாக குடாநாட்டில் கடந்த காலத்தில் இடம்பெற்ற பாதிப்புக்கள், குழப்பங்கள் தொடர்பாகவும் இங்கு ஆராயப்பட்டதுடன் இவ்விடயத்திலும் சரியானதொரு அணுகுமுறை கடைப்பிடிக்கப்பட வேண்டுமென கூட்டமைப்பு வலியுறுத்தியிருந்தது. 

பல வருடங்களாக சிறைகளில் தடுத்து வைக்கப்பட்டுள்ள அரசியல் கைதிகளின் விடுதலை  விவகாரத்தில் அரசாங்கம் கவனம் செலுத்தவேண்டுமெனவும் எம்மால் இங்கு கோரப்பட்டது. 

அத்துடன் கிழக்கு பல்கலைக்கழகத்தில் காணப்படும் நிர்வாக ரீதியிலான  குளறுபடிகள் மற்றும் அதனால் மாணவர்களின் கல்வி நடவடிக்கையில்  ஏற்பட்டுள்ள பாதிப்புகளை தெளிவாக கூறியிருந்தோம். இவ்விவகாரத்தில் அரசாங்கம் காலதாமதமின்றி தக்க நடவடிக்கை எடுக்கவேண்டுமென வலியுறுத்தப்பட்டது. 

இவ்வாறாக வடக்கு, கிழக்கு மக்களின் பல்வேறு பிரச்சினைகள் தொடர்பாக தேசிய நிறைவேற்று சபையின் அமர்வில் சுட்டிக்காட்டப்பட்டது. 

ஆனால் வடக்கு , கிழக்கு விடயங்களை கையாள்வதற்கான ஒரு குழுவினை அமைத்து நடவடிக்கை எடுக்கவேண்டுமென்பதே எமது குறிக்கோளாக இருந்தது. இதற்காக பிரதமர் தலைமையில் இடம்பெறவுள்ள கூட்டத்தில் வடக்கு, கிழக்கு பிரச்சினைகள் தொடர்பாக முக்கியமான தீர்மானங்கள் எடுக்கப்படும். 

பல்லாண்டு காலமாக நாம் எமது பிரச்சினைகள் தொடர்பாக பேசிய வண்ணமே உள்ளோம். வெறுமனே பேச்சுக்கள் மூலம் எந்தவிதமான பலன்களும் கிடைக்கப்போவதில்லை. 

உயர் மட்ட சந்திப்புகளில் நிறைவேற்றப்படும் தீர்மானங்களை கையாள்வதற்கென ஒரு குழு நியமிக்கப்பட்டு அக்குழு அவ்விடயங்கள் சம்பந்தமான நடவடிக்கைகளை முன்னெடுக்கவேண்டும். விரைவில் இக்குழு நியமிக்கப்படவுள்ளது. 

எமது கோரிக்கைகளை அரசாங்கம் ஏற்றுக்கொண்டுள்ளதுடன் விரைவில் குழு ஒன்றினை நியமிப்பதற்கும் இணக்கம் தெரிவித்துள்ளது.  பேசப்படும் விடயங்கள், 

தீர்மானங்கள் தொடர்பான பல்வேறு செயற்பாடுகளும் முன்னெடுக்கப்படவேண்டும் என்பதே இக்குழுவினை நியமிப்பது தொடர்பான  எமது நோக்கம். 

Seizing the new opportunity for peacebuilding in Sri Lanka

Posted by Phil Vernon on 26/1/2015

Now that we’ve had a little time to digest the democratic ouster of Mahinda Rajapaksa by Maithripala Sirisena as president of Sri Lanka on 8 January, what are the peacebuilding opportunities and challenges?

Rajapaksa’s regime was effective in many ways: it had defeated the 25-year Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebellion in a crushing military victory in 2009; it implemented a great deal of infrastructure improvement, including in the war-ruined north; attracted much inward investment from elsewhere in the region; and improved living conditions for the growing middle class.

But its manner of governing proved its undoing. The Rajapaksa family circle dominated not just the reins of government, but also large swathes of the economy, seeming far more corrupt than earlier regimes. The cost of living rose sharply recently, partly as a result of the government taking out huge foreign loans – some of which were transparently used to promote the family’s economic and political interests. President Rajapaksa’s governing clique was closely allied to Sinhala Buddhist hardliners, and he did little to foster reconciliation with the ‘defeated’ Tamil minority, while allowing new conflicts with Sri Lanka’s Muslim minority to be stoked. His modernisation agenda paid scant attention to the needs of tens of thousands of poor families whose homes were razed to make way for new economic projects; and the new infrastructure built in the post-war north was designed with little involvement of the people living there, who were simply expected to take it or leave it. Human rights violations allegedly committed during the final stages of the civil war, and afterwards, were not investigated. A common popular comment on his rule was that “he simply went too far” – and this is also given as one of the reasons why security forces and political allies refused to go along with the coup he is alleged to have attempted, when he realised he would lose the election.

President Sirisena is popularly known by his nickname “Maithri”, or “blessings”, but we should be careful not to expect too much. In a political system known for shifting loyalties, the strength of his power-base will be determined by the parliamentary elections due in April; he may not show his full hand until after then, for political reasons. The coalition which he led in the presidential elections includes a variety of unnatural bedfellows, all of whom must be satisfied. And the margin of his victory was small, with 51.3% of the vote. While in a nice piece of symbolism he was sworn into office by a Tamil judge, and he has promised to rebalance the political institutions in favour of the judiciary and parliament, and to investigate alleged human rights violations by the state, it is not clear how far he will go in promoting much-needed national reconciliation. Although he won the election largely on an anti-corruption ticket, it will be hard to root out the corruption which is endemic in the political system; or to hold together a wide coalition without allowing some members to ‘benefit from power’.

I have written before about how political systems and political cultures tend to be resilient to change. Ironically, even though he is not personally from a political elite background, the natural result of President Sirisena’s election could eventually be a restoration of the pre-Rajapaksa status quo, in which a narrow elite political class ran Sri Lanka in a way which allowed its members to retain their political and economic dominance while providing technocratic government but failing to resolve political issues like the need for nation building and inter-community reconciliation, and the need for jobs for young people; nor to prevent a 25-year civil war. If that were to be the case, there are risks of more instability and insecurity down the road.

Expectation management will be key, and beyond that from a peacebuilding perspective, it therefore seems critical to seize this opportunity to:

• Open up government to as much transparency as possible;
• Prevent conflicts and promote reconciliation between Tamils and Sinhalese, and with Muslims;
• Increase the genuine power of local government, so that people can participate better in decisions which affect them;
• Create a policy environment which supports economic opportunity for young people from all groups; and
• Support the emergence locally and nationally of young leaders from diverse backgrounds who are committed and have the talents and skills to promote a peaceful and prosperous Sri Lanka – the next generation of politicians.

Fresh Debate Erupted in the British Parliament On Sri Lanka

British Government must show unwavering support for international efforts to ensure accountability and reconciliation in Sri Lanka, says Siobhain McDonagh MP

( January 28m, 2015, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) The British Government must be willing to hold the Sri Lankan authorities to account if they reject the findings and recommendations of the forthcoming United Nations report into alleged war crimes and human rights violations on the island, according to Siobhain McDonagh MP.
Speaking during a debate on Sri Lanka in the UK Parliament on Wednesday 28th January, the Labour MP for Mitcham and Morden and the Vice-Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils said no measures should be taken off the table by the British Government, including possible sanctions and travel bans, if President Maithripala Sirisena’s Government fails to comply with the inquiry.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is due to publish its war crimes report by the time of the 28th Session of the UN Human Rights Council, in March 2015. Their findings, which will focus primarily on the final years of the country’s armed conflict and its immediate aftermath -2002 to 2011, will make an assessment of possible suspects complicit in the alleged perpetration of war crimes and human rights violations in Sri Lanka. The report’s conclusions may pave the way for future criminal investigations.
Ms McDonagh said that international pressure on the Government of Sri Lanka was vital to ensure truth, accountability and justice, given the culture of impunity on the island. Whilst welcoming the recent Presidential election victory of Mr Sirisena and the removal of the previous incumbent, Mahinda Rajapaksa, she noted that Sirisena’s new administration must be willing to reach out to minority communities, particularly Tamils and Tamil speaking Muslims, who had been so badly treated by Rajapaksa’s regime. Given the fact that the electoral support of these communities was vital to him securing the Presidency, Ms McDonagh said Maithripala Sirisena was duty bound to address their longstanding grievances – on war crimes allegations, human rights violations, political marginalisation and religious intolerance amongst other important issues.
Siobhain McDonagh, Labour’s MP for Mitcham and Morden, said:
“The demise of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Government will, I hope, provide fresh impetus to address the key, unresolved issues arising from the country’s armed conflict and its aftermath.
Sri Lanka can only be set on the path to a sustainable peace if the war crimes allegations are addressed, the culture of impunity ended, a comprehensive political settlement to the Tamil national question is negotiated and the rights and freedoms of all Sri Lanka’s citizens are afforded equal respect and protection.
However, whilst President Sirisena’s Government has some bold plans for reform, I am deeply concerned at his unwillingness to recognise the mandate of the OHCHR investigation. The tens of thousands of Tamils who were slaughtered in the final stages of the armed conflict alone deserve justice. The British Government must uphold the values and precepts of international humanitarian and human rights law, by giving unwavering support to the OHCHR. They must ensure the Government of Sri Lanka is held to account if President Sirisena’s Government continues to snub the UN process and rejects any possible future criminal investigations.”
End Notes
1. The adjournment debate – ‘Progress on OHCHR report on Tamil people in Sri Lanka’ – took place in the Westminster Hall, UK Parliament, on Wednesday 28th January from 09.30 to 11.00.
2. A transcript of the full debate will be available on the House of Commons Hansard page: http://goo.gl/s5VM0N (Search date and/or ‘Westminster Hall’)
3. The OHCHR investigation on Sri Lanka was given a mandate by the UN Human Rights Council in March 2014 to “undertake a comprehensive investigation into alleged serious violations and abuses of human rights and related crimes by both parties in Sri Lanka during the period covered by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), and to establish the facts and circumstances of such alleged violations and of the crimes perpetrated with a view to avoiding impunity and ensuring accountability, with assistance from relevant experts and special procedures mandate holders”. For further information on the investigation’s mandate, method of work and legal framework, please see link: http://goo.gl/JF1ssG