African 'finance minister of the year' facing jail for telling his country's politicians to trim their perks

Liberian senate threatens Amara Konneh, who was named 'Finance Minister of the Year' by Financial Times' Banker magazine

Amara Konneh is one of a new generation of African economists who have won global plaudits for their efforts to end the public corruption and wastefulness of the past Photo: AFP

By Colin Freeman, Chief foreign correspondent- 09 Feb 2016

An African finance minister who was named "Finance Minister of the Year" by a London banking magazine has been threatened with jail for trying to trim the perks of his country's politicians.

Amara Konneh's efforts to rebuild the economy of war-torn Liberia won him the award two years ago from the influential Banker magazine, which is published by the Financial Times.

Mr Konneh with IMF  Director Christine LagardManaginge in Monrovia, Liberia, last year

On Tuesday, however, the Liberian Senate ordered his arrest after he refused to apologise for sending them a letter telling them to cut their personal allowances.

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Nigeria Is Coming Apart at the Seams

At best, a revitalized Biafran secessionist movement will lead to mass bloodshed. At worst, it will trigger the country's unraveling.

BY MAX SIOLLUN-FEBRUARY 8, 2016

Crowds of Igbo-speaking people barricade streets across southeastern Nigeria, bringing traffic to a standstill. They wave black, green, and red secessionist flags; distribute their own currency and passports; and demand the creation of a new independent country called Biafra. It could be 1967 — or 2016.

Nearly 50 years after the same region of Nigeria seceded, sparking a devastating civil war, separatists are once again threatening the fragile national unity of Africa’s most populous country. Back in 1967, the federal government deployed a quarter million troops to quash the secessionist movement, while also imposing a land and sea blockade. Over a million civilians died in the nearly three years of fighting that followed, mostly from starvation.

Why is the southeast once again considering secession when the region’s last attempt resulted in such horrendous suffering? Part of the answer is that many Igbos, who form the majority in Nigeria’s southeast but a minority in the country as a whole, view the failure of their previous attempt at secession as the great missed opportunity of their time. For three decades after the war, military dictatorships suppressed all secessionist talk, leaving Igbos to wonder silently about what might have been. But after the country transitioned to democracy in 1999, latent separatist inclinations began to resurface once again.

The resurgence of the Biafran secessionist movement is symptomatic of a much deeper problem with the Nigerian state. The federal government’s chokehold on states and ethnic groups is fueling multiple demands for autonomy and the right to manage resources at a local level — demands that could ultimately lead to a fracturing of the country. The latent insurgency in the oil-producing Niger Delta is one example of this trend, as is the emergence of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), which has acted both as a violent vigilante group and as an advocate for the autonomy of the Yoruba people of southwestern Nigeria.

A deep disillusionment with the Nigerian government also lies at the heart of the Biafran dream of independence. Igbos have long felt marginalized and excluded from economic and political power by the Hausa-Fulani and Yoruba ethnic groups, which have dominated national politics and the bureaucracy since 1970. Many Igbos believe that the federal government (and their fellow Nigerians) have never forgiven them for seceding in 1967, and have discriminated against them ever since. They believe that in Biafra they will find all the things that Nigeria has failed to provide: good leadership, jobs, infrastructure, regular electricity, economic and physical security.

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Conservatives appear to have overspent on three by-elections

Channel 4 News has obtained evidence of tens of thousands of pounds of spending by the Conservatives during key by-election campaigns which appear not to have been declared.

MONDAY 08 FEBRUARY 2016

Hundreds of pages of receipts obtained by this programme seem to show undeclared expenditure by the party in three crucial parliamentary by-election campaigns in 2014.

The documents appear to reveal a pattern of undisclosed spending and link directly to Conservative HQ and senior figures within the party.

Campaign spending in each by-election is subject to a legal limit of £100,000 to ensure fairness, so contests are not skewed in favour of richer political parties.

If all the receipts had been declared, the party would appear to have flouted spending limits in all three by-elections in Newark, Clacton, and Rochester & Strood during 2014.

All three by-elections were seen as crucial battles to halt the then-growing popularity of UKIP, which was increasingly threatening to steal support from the Tories.

Our investigation obtained copies of receipts for six hotels across the three by-election areas showing stays by large numbers of Conservative campaign workers, including senior party figures.

In all, the hotel bills show 1,401 nights of accommodation, with the total cost of rooms, food, and additional spending amounting to £113,030.63 across the three campaigns.

Of this 1,182 nights with costs of £94,112.19 fell within strict campaigning time limits, known as regulated periods, where spending must be declared by law.

This includes £56,866.75 undeclared hotel bills in Rochester, which would have taken them £53,659.83 over the £100,000 spending limit; £26,786.14 in Clacton, which would take them £10,835.36 over the limit; and £10,459.30 in Newark, which would mean a £6,650.28 overspend.

Under the name "Mr Conservatives"

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India bans Facebook’s ‘free’ Internet for the poor

By Annie Gowen-February 8

NEW DELHI — India’s telecom regulator said Monday that service providers cannot charge discriminatory prices for Internet services, a blow to Facebook’s global effort to provide low-cost Internet to developing countries.

Facebook’s “Free Basics” program provides a pared-down version of Facebook and weather and job listings to some 15 million mobile-phone users in 37 countries around the world.

When it debuted in India in April, however, Free Basics immediately ran afoul of Internet activists who said it violated the principle of “net neutrality,” which holds that consumers should be able to access the entire Internet unfettered by price or speed.

On Monday, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India agreed, prohibiting data service providers from offering or charging different prices for data — even if it’s free. The Free Basics program has run into trouble elsewhere in the world recently — with Egypt banning it and Google clarifying that it pulled out of the application during a testing phase in Zambia.

[India, Egypt say no thanks to free Internet from Facebook]

In a statement, Facebook said that while the company was “disappointed with the outcome, we will continue our efforts to eliminate barriers and give the unconnected an easier path to the Internet.”

In an interview before the ruling, Chris Daniels, Facebook’s vice president for Internet.org — the umbrella organization of the global effort — said India’s negative reaction has been “unique versus other markets we’ve seen. We’ve been welcomed with open arms in many countries.”

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg launched the program to great fanfare in 2013, partnering with other international tech firms on a mission to connect the 4 billion people in the world without Internet access — which he says is a basic human right.

India has 300 million mobile Internet users but still has close to 1 billion people without proper Internet access. But it is second only to the United States in number of Facebook users, with 130 million, with vast expansion potential as Facebook works to increase its user base beyond the developed world.

Read more>>>

Mutant sperm-factories spread in testes

Image copyrightSPL

By James Gallagher-9 February 2016

Mutant sperm-factories spread in men's testicles as they age to increase the risk of children with genetic diseases, researchers have shown.

Millions of spermatogonia produce a constant supply of sperm in the testes.

But the University of Oxford study showed mutant spermatogonia gain a "tumour-like" competitive edge, leading to a greater proportion of sperm becoming defective.

Experts said couples should consider having children earlier in life.

A range of diseases including autism and schizophrenia are more likely with older dads due to mutations in their sperm.

And the risk of very serious health problems goes from around four in every 200 births to five in every 200 once the father passes the age of 50.

Mature sperm

The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, analysed 14 testes from men aged between 39 and 90.

The sexual organs were considered healthy, but were removed for other conditions such as a hernia causing swelling in the groin.

The researchers explored the "massive tangle of spaghetti" inside the testes to find the areas producing diseased sperm.

The analysis of the DNA - the instructions for life - in those defective zones showed mutations linked to a range of bodily processes.

They were linked to malformations and a predisposition to cancer, but they also had a role in growth and reproduction in the testes.

The same mutations that were ultimately damaging to children were encouraging the defective spermatogonia to spread - leading to a greater proportion of sperm being defective.

Image copyrightThinkstock

Prof Andrew Wilkie, one of the researchers, told the BBC: "This is why we call it selfish selection.

"These mutations within the testes get an advantage over their normal neighbours, but if that sperm fertilises an egg then that [mutation] carries a disadvantage to that person and causes disease.

"It's the first time anyone has been able to look at a piece of testis and say that's where this is happening."

That "selfish" growth is more commonly seen in cancer.

The researchers were able to find the mutations because their impact is so severe.

It is still unclear what the study means for the sections of DNA that increase the risk of disorders such as autism.

Allan Pacey, a professor of andrology at the University of Sheffield, said the risks associated with being an older dad were well known.

But he told the BBC the explanation had been unclear: "These are important processes to understand because more and more men are waiting until they are older before they have their children.

"Moreover, it is a sobering reminder that men are not as immune from reproductive ageing as we might think.

"If they have a choice, couples should always consider having their children earlier in their lives than perhaps they want to."

Follow James on Twitter.

The High Commissioner for Human Rights visit to Sri Lanka raises hopes for victims

Photo courtesy Reuters, via CFR

by Yolanda Foster 

 

- on 02/07/2016 

This week, the UN’s top human rights official, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein – the High Commissioner for Human Rights – is visiting Sri Lanka. He will see a country that has changed considerably since his predecessor Navi Pillay came to the island in 2013.

Since then, the increasingly authoritarian government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa was voted out of office. The new government, led by President Maithripala Sirisena, has taken notable steps to change Sri Lanka’s course on human rights. The climate for freedom of expression has improved and some of the key rights institutions are no longer firmly in the hands of the President and his closest confidants.

As someone who has worked on Sri Lanka for many years, I was struck during my last visit in January by how much the atmosphere had changed in recent months. In coffee shops around the capital Colombo, I and fellow activists could talk openly about pressing rights issues – something most people would have been too scared to do under the previous government.

But even if Sri Lanka in many ways is a better place today than a few years ago, it is still a country living under a cloud of the devastating armed conflict with the Tamil Tigers that ended in 2009.

The decades-long civil war culminated in the months leading up to May 2009, when government forces led an unrelenting assault through the Tamil Tigers’ strongholds in the north. I interviewed Tamil parents scared of forced recruitment by the Tigers who hid their children in wells. Thousands of families suffered months of torment as they were caught up in the bombing, many forced to dig bunkers and drink saltwater to survive. I have spoken with survivors dazed and traumatised from the warzone.

Last month, I was standing in an eerie landscape of craters and debris along a beach near Nandikadal lagoon  where the conflict had raged six years ago. I was struck by the realisation that families had been forced to build their bunkers with wedding sarees – a precious family heirloom. In the midst of the debris you could still see what remained of the sarees now bleached pinkish-white by the sun – scattered on the sand like a funeral garland for all the dead and missing.

You don’t have to scratch the surface far in the North to feel the open wounds of war. In PTK in the shadow of an ugly government-sponsored ‘Monument of Conquest’, victims’ families talk of on-going surveillance.  Trauma and distress is widespread. Displaced families – still waiting for land to be allocated – are struggling to put food on their tables. ‘We need help, we need support with livelihoods’ a common need asserted across Mullaitivu district.

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President Reaffirms Commitment To Reconciliation Process

By Jehan Perera –February 8, 2016

Jehan Perera

Prior to Independence Day there was an increasing concern about the extent of President Maithripala Sirisena’s commitment to the reconciliation process. These doubts surfaced with the President’s declaration that there would be no international involvement on issues arising from the war. He followed this up by saying that no war crimes had been committed in Sri Lanka and that the UN report only alleged human rights violations. Both of these assertions were given wide media publicity. They contradicted the government’s agreement with the UN Human Rights Council regarding international participation of foreign judges, prosecutors and investigators in a judicial accountability mechanism. It was left to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to exercise his damage control skills and assure the international community that Sri Lanka would stand by its international commitments.

In the course of his Independence Day speech President Sirisena fell in line with the Prime Minister’s position. He said “There are incorrect interpretations given about the resolution presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council. I clearly state that we are facing these resolutions in order to protect the pride and dignity of our country, our people and our security forces, and also to make our tri forces to be internationally renowned armed force. We should face these resolutions with patience, discipline and decorum so that our country could be respectfully recognized by all international organizations including the UNO and all states in the world.” This change of direction ensured that the visit of UN Human Rights High Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein to Sri Lanka would not start on a note of fundamental disagreement.

The government has used the presence of the UN High Commissioner to share its plans for an expedited series of consultations with the general public in the space of three months and to bring in an element of international participation into the process. An eleven-member Consultation Task Force will work with the help of Pablo de Greiff, Special UN Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparations and guarantees of non-recurrence. The framework for the consultation process, already formulated, will have two phases — a web-based process in all languages and a face-to-face consultation process which will focus on specific stakeholders –including children, military, disabled combatants, widows and ex-child combatants. The government has planned to mobilize civil society groups to undertake wide ranging consultations with multiple sectors of society to modify and supplement the mechanisms it has proposed.         Read More  

Geneva Issue: Sri Lanka Govt. Earmarks 11-Member Task Force

[Dr. Pakiasothy Saravanamuthu (Secretary) & Manouri Muttetuwegama (Chairperson) ]

07/02/2016 

UN Special Rapporteur coming here to help in the consultation process.
Two-phase action plan shown to Western countries and India.

An eleven-member Consultation Task Force will enforce provisions of the US-backed resolution which was jointly sponsored by Sri Lanka at the Human Rights Council in Geneva last year.Its work will be carried out with the help of a UN expert who will arrive in Colombo next week. He is Pablo de Greiff, Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparations and guarantees of non-recurrence.

This will be part of an Action Plan formulated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as stated in a confidential document circulated to Western countries and India as part of the implementation of the UNHRC (UN Human Rights Council) Resolution titled promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka adopted by the UNHRC in October, 2015.

The framework for the consultation process, already formulated, will have two phases — a web-based process in all languages and a face-to-face consultation process which will focus on specific stakeholders –including children, military, disabled combatants, widows and ex-child combatants. The web-based process will begin after Mr. de Greiff arrives.

According to the Action Plan, the consultation process will be “victim centric” and will be completed within three months. The 11-member Committee named by the Government comprises Manouri Muttetuwegama (Chairperson), Dr. Pakiasothy Saravanamuthu (Secretary), Gamini Viyangoda, Prof. Chitralekha Maunaguru, Visakha Dharmadasa, Dharmasiri Bandaranayake, Dr Farzana Haniffa, Shantha Abhimanasingham PC, Mirak Raheem, Prof. Daya Somasunderam and Gameela Samarasinghe.

The Task Force, which will report to a Steering Committee on Reconciliation and the Prime Ministerial Action Group (PMAG) will consult stakeholders on design of the domestic mechanisms. The Steering Committee is now speaking to experts and researching on options available, according to a Government note seen by the Sunday Times. It says “the actual designing and presentation of legislation to Cabinet and Parliament will begin only once the process of consultations concludes.”

On the subject of “commencing a dialogue with persons of Sri Lankan origin overseas,” the note says “267 out of 424 individuals and eight entities out of 16 entities that were listed under the UN Security Council resolution 1373 in 2014 were de-listed in 2015.”

It says that the “Government is working with the private sector to organise a month-long festival in June 2016 for persons of Sri Lankan origin, inviting them to re-visit Sri Lanka.”

The Cabinet of Ministers has already approved the setting up of a Secretariat to service the Consultation Task Force. It will also service the Steering Committee’s other Working Groups to be set up shortly to:

Draft legislation for an Office on Missing Persons
Draft legislation for the issue of certificates of Absence.
Draft Enabling legislation to give effect to the Convention against Enforced Disappearances 
Working on researching into experiences of truth seeking mechanisms elsewhere and judicial mechanisms
Working on implementing the recommendations of the Working group on Enforced Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID).

ST

A wider view of Colombo

The failure to find a political solution was in part due to the LTTE’s belligerence and its suicidal politics, and in part the nationalist manoeuvres and rivalry between the UNP and the SLFP, undermining the two-thirds parliamentary majority necessary for constitutional amendments. Currently, the absence of the LTTE and a national government consisting of the UNP and SLFP have created a golden opportunity.

by Ahilan Kadirgarmar

( February 8, 2016, Jaffna, Sri Lanka Guardian) Indian foreign policy on a political solution to the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka has been consistent for close to three decades. The Indo-Lankan accord of 1987 led to the 13th Amendment to the Sri Lankan constitution, recognising Tamil as an official language and devolving power to the provinces – two longstanding demands of the Tamil minority. Since then, India has consistently called for the full implementation of the amendment and meaningful devolution.

A year after his election, President Maithripala Sirisena has initiated a constitutional reform process to address the question that has haunted the country since Independence. Even as Indo-Lankan relations are going through a major transformation after the regime change in Colombo, it might be time for Indian foreign policy to depart from its long engagement grounded on the 13th Amendment and support a far-reaching constitutional reform process. Will External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s visit to Sri Lanka, break India’s silence and welcome the possibility of a constitutional transformation?

Indian engagement with Sri Lanka escalated on the political front following the J.R. Jayewardene regime’s alignment with the US in 1977. India got entangled in the civil war, gave refuge to fleeing Tamils, and suffered the failed IPKF mission. It was constrained by a security approach to contain the LTTE, particularly after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Over the last decade, particularly in the post-war years, India has emphasised economic engagement. However, Indo-Lankan relations focused on economic integration will not only be shaped by the political leadership in Colombo leaning towards India but also by the local and international pressures affecting the consolidation of the new government.

Mahinda Rajapaksa regime

Following the defeat of the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime, the West, led by the US, has moved closer to Colombo to counter China. US and European engagement with Sri Lanka has always focused on security and human rights. Most Western capitals and their embassies in Colombo have little understanding of the history of state-building and the devolution debate. They do little more than support junkets for officials and NGOs to study federalism and governance models in places like Switzerland, Canada and the UK. It’s the transitional justice process linked to the UNHRC resolution of September 2015 that has dominated international engagement with Sri Lanka in recent months.

This is where a shift in Indian policy supporting constitutional reform could go a long way for sustainable peace. Economic relief for the long-suffering war-torn population, the release of lands taken by the military and of prisoners languishing under the Prevention of Terrorism Act have to be dealt with urgently. However, the broader process of wartime accountability for human rights abuses has to be preceded by a political solution that recognises the historical grievances of the minorities and addresses the root causes of the conflict. Here, India’s vocal support prioritising a constitutional solution can be an effective check on the West’s narrow and skewed approach, which has shifted from “war crimes” pressure on the Rajapaksa regime to a “transitional justice” engagement with the new government. Without a political solution, the transitional justice processes will be hard to sustain.

Constitutional reform process

The constitutional reform process is bound to face the test of disruptive political forces – of Sinhala Buddhist chauvinism and separatist Tamil nationalism. Enshrining a progressive new constitution requiring a referendum amounts to defeating nationalist and polarising forces. The credibility of the new constitution will depend on whether the country is able to remove the unitary conception of the state, which centralises power in Colombo, while also ensuring safeguards against separation. Under a unitary constitution, the bureaucracy, judiciary and even educationists function with a centralised mindset alienating people on the periphery.

An extensive body of work on constitutional reform includes a vibrant devolution debate and the constitutional bill defeated in the parliament in August 2000. Such proposals sought fiscal, land and police powers for the provinces; a single structure of governance at the district and village levels, eliminating the parallel structure of the central government; and checks on provincial powers to ensure the rights of numerically smaller minorities.

The failure to find a political solution was in part due to the LTTE’s belligerence and its suicidal politics, and in part the nationalist manoeuvres and rivalry between the UNP and the SLFP, undermining the two-thirds parliamentary majority necessary for constitutional amendments. Currently, the absence of the LTTE and a national government consisting of the UNP and SLFP have created a golden opportunity.

Nevertheless, the war-torn people continue to live in a state of alienation. The integration of the war-affected, mired in a deep economic crisis, requires a credible process of development and devolution. Unfortunately, the Northern Provincial Council, led by Chief Minister C.V. Vigneswaran has given devolution a bad name through administrative inaction and an extreme Tamil nationalist discourse.

Indian engagement in a constitutional solution has to rise above the vicissitudes of the political process in Sri Lanka.

India has to allay Sinhala fears of regional hegemony and commit to principled support for democratisation and minority rights. With an SLFP President, a UNP PM, a TNA Opposition Leader and the Muslim leadership all having embraced a robust constitutional process, there may not be a better time for Indian foreign policy to shift its vision and weigh in with its diplomatic capital to support the constitutional solution.

The writer is a political economist based in Jaffna, Sri Lanka

An Appeal to Democratic Forces

Photography courtesy Huffington Post

• by Dr. Richard Perera and Dayapala Thiranagama 
• - on 02/08/2016 

The great electoral victory won by democratic forces on 8th January 2015 against the anti-democratic, corrupt, murderous, and authoritarian family rule is in jeopardy. The Rajapaksa family and cronies have begun to regroup in order to reverse the democratic gains we have made. This appears a real threat at present. If these attempts are not halted the country will be flung into an abyss and the people will again face the situation that prevailed during the thirty years of barbaric war. Nobody would like to go back to that era again.

These murderous and anti democratic forces are ever ready to use the anxieties of people in the South to present a bleak future around the devolution of political power to the provinces. In doing so, they try to hide behind the slogan of patriotism. They argue that the devolution of power would lead to the division of the country. They want to paint a picture of regional democracy bringing the Sinhala nation and Buddhism to its knees. Their argument is built on the premise that the Sinhala Buddhist supremacist forces should govern the country. They argue that the other communities must faithfully follow their dictate. The multi-ethnic and multi -religious nature of this country and the plural democratic governance that would make Sri Lanka a modern nation has no bearing on their discourse as they try to appeal to the seemingly ‘primordial’ sentiments of the Sinhala community.

In their utterances of fundamentalist and anti democratic statements they appear deluded and shameless, and, moreover, betray Buddhism itself. They argue that the crimes committed against innocent people and other activists in the South should not be investigated or punished because perpetrators are from the security forces. These murders were carried out by the regime as part of silencing the dissent by death. They insist that the law should not be applied against these criminal acts because they happened during the war. The case against the abduction and disappearance of Prageeth Ekneligoda about six years ago is being heard now at Homagama Magistrate Court. When the court was in session, Galgoda Aththe Ghanissara Theca of Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), a fundamentalist Buddhist outfit that campaigns against non-Buddhist and minority communities forcibly entered the court and disrupted the proceedings by making a statement. He was subsequently arrested and remanded on the charges of contempt of court. The so-called joint opposition demanding to absolve Yoshitha Rajapaksa who was arrested a few days ago on the charges of money laundering presents similar arguments. Since his father led the regime that defeated the Tamil Tigers, they try to argue that the Rajapaksa family is being victimized to please the Tamil diaspora.

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ZEID REFRAINS...

FEB 08 2016

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein yesterday said advocating for a common amnesty for political prisoners would lead to new complications.

The High Commissioner explained that it would not be possible to advocate for a general amnesty for political prisoners currently being held by authorities, as experience from other countries have shown that such a move gives rise to more issues.

Zeid made these remarks at a meeting with the Northern Province Chief Minister C. V. Wigneswaran at his office in Jaffna, when the issue of political prisoners were brought up by the latter.

However, Wigneswaran highlighted that if such an amnesty was given to political prisoners during the JVP insurrection in 1971 and for 10,000 LTTE cadres in 2009 and 2010, the government should be able to do the same for the 273 prisoners who are currently held in custody, some politicians who participated in the meeting claimed.

The other politicians who participated in discussions with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights included, Northern Province Education Minister T. Kurukularajah, Fisheries Minister Balasubramaniam Denis Waran and Agriculture Minister Ponnuthurai Ayngaranesan..

The High Commissioner addressing the media said the issue will be discussed with the higher officials in Colombo.

Apart from the problem of political prisoners’ discussions between the Chief Minister and the governing politicians in the Northern Provincial Council, talks also focused on the issues of continued military presence in the North and the missing persons as well.

The Chief Minister also presented the visiting High Commissioner with a document containing detailed information and statistics on a number of issues faced by the civilians living in North including military presence, political prisoners, the issues of missing persons and the release of land.

Zeid said that he is satisfied with the discussions he had in the North. He also met Northern Province Governor H.M.G.S.Palihakkara.

“The discussions very much focused on the challenges and problems faced and plans but also the plans and achievements in connection with this region and the people who aspire to see more information in terms of those detained and those missing as well as the issue of the release of land. These discussions will continue today and tomorrow in Colombo with the highest officials of the state.”
 

UN role in Sri Lanka’s accountability process

By Neville Ladduwahetty-February 5, 2016, 7:59 pm 

After several contradictory statements from the President, the Prime Minister, and spokespersons, finally the Prime Minister has very correctly stated that the "Constitution does not permit foreign judges to sit in judgment" (The Island, February 2, 2016). Elaborating further, the PM stated: "If we are to permit foreign judges to sit in judgment then our Constitution has to be amended with the consent of the people at a referendum". It would also need a 2/3 approval of Parliament.

This position should satisfy the provisions in paragraph 6 of the UN Resolution A/HRC/30/L.29 dated 29 September, 2015 that recognizes "the importance of participation in a Sri Lankan judicial mechanism, including special council’s office, of Commonwealth and other judges…". Since the operative word in the above Resolution is "participation" the clarification by the PM was needed in view of calls by the US, UK and others, for foreign judges to sit in judgment during the proceedings. Considering the contradictory statements that have been made on this and other subjects, the concern of the public is that the Government would cave in under external pressure and retract its statement.

According to paragraph 6 of the Resolution the purpose of the accountability process is "to investigate allegations of violations and abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law, as applicable". As such, the "applicable" parties to the accountability process should be the Sri Lankan Government, the LTTE and their supporters both in Sri Lanka and outside, and the International Community, in particular the UN. Had these parties acted jointly in a decisive manner during the Armed Conflict they could have made a difference to the human rights and humanitarian law violations that are characteristically associated with such conflicts.

ROLE of the UN during the

ARMED CONFLICT

The role of the UN during the final stages of the Armed Conflict when the LTTE held nearly 300,000 plus civilians hostage is contained in the "Report of the Secretary-General’s Internal Review Panel on United Nations Actions in Sri Lanka". This report was prepared by a Panel Headed by Charles Petrie and three staff. Given below are some relevant extracts from this report:

Read more...

Sri Lanka, not Sri Lankans, the OHCHR agenda

There is a continuum in the unfolding of events in Geneva. If we fail to comprehend the bigger picture, underestimate Sri Lanka’s strategic importance, and refuse to see ourselves as Sri Lankans, we will find ourselves, again, in a fratricidal war that will provide fertile ground for marauding invaders. It is urgent that the people of Sri Lanka regain their sovereign right to govern themselves from those who, in Geneva, betrayed their trust by surrendering the authority accorded to them to external forces whose interests are antithetical to ours, thus also demonstrating their inability to govern.

by Tamara Kunanayakam

( February 8, 2016, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) It should by now be obvious to any keen observer of events in Geneva and vacillations of Sri Lanka’s ruling class that the ‘human rights’ game being played out has little to do with the Sri Lankan people and everything to do with the island’s strategic location on the Indian Ocean as vital maritime link between a declining West and a rising East, with China at its centre, and strategic observation post, and with Washington’s fundamental commitment to maintaining a unipolar world in which it has no peer competitor. Sri Lankans matter only insofar as they constitute obstacles to that goal, or would-be collaborators, or opportune victims to be used and abused as and when strategy requires.

Yesterday, Sri Lanka got too close to China and Russia, and regime-change was in order. Today, having obtained the support of collaborators within the Yahapalanaya regime to subscribe to a resolution devastating for Sri Lanka’s sovereignty, all efforts concentrate on stabilizing its auxiliaries in Colombo by ensuring implementation of a precedent-setting joint resolution whose reach extends far beyond Sri Lanka’s shores or its relations with Washington.

Washington’s ambitions are not just geopolitical, but the erection of a new international architecture that will permit its unilateral, preemptive, and preventive use of force, anywhere, at any time, unconstrained by the rules and norms of the multilateral system of international relations that is Charter-bound to respect sovereignty. 

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Indian foreign minister meets the heads of minority political groups

Feb 08, 2016

In order to review the new constitution and the actions the government has about the national problem the Indian foreign minister Sushma Swaraj had discussions with the minority party leaders of Sri Lanka.

The leader of TNA R. Sampanthan said the meeting he had with the Indian foreign minister Sushma Swaraj was satisfactory.

The opposition leader said that the Indian foreign minister pledged that the Indian government would continue talking with the Sri Lankan govern about the minority problems.

The opposition leader said the current government would commit itself to bring a solution to the national problem.

“The solution given would be a good one and the Indian government should render their help” he said.

The opposition leader said that he had discussions with the Indian foreign minister about the illegal fishing done by the Indian fisherman’s.

“Only the Indian government can stop that. Due to this many of our fisherman’s are suffering. We urged the Indian government to take urgent steps” opposition leader Sampanthan said.

Muslim Congress
The Indian foreign minister had discussions with the Muslim Congress as well.
The deputy secretary of Muslim Congress Nizam Kariappar said the Indian foreign minister spoke with their party about the steps taken so far about the national problem.

He said “We had discussions with the foreign minister about the progress of the meetings between the SLMC and the TNA”
The deputy speaker of the SLMC Nizam Kariappar said that the Indian foreign minister said that the Indian government believes that the current government would give a permanent solution for the national problem which can be acceptable by all the people of the country.

The leader of the Tamil progressive alliance Mano Ganeshan said that the Indian foreign minister told that India would give a special attention to the Tamil people living in the plantation sector.

Tamil Progressive Alliance
He said his party urged the Indian foreign minister to focus equal attention equal to the Plantation sector Tamil problem as focused to the northern Tamil issue.

Minister Mano Ganeshan said that he told the Indian minister that the plantation sector Tamil people are concerned about the new constitution and the new electoral system introduced.

Minister Mano Ganeshan further said “When a similar reform happened sometimes back we could not participate but now there is no such situation, we informed her”