To preserve our planet, we need a global framework for conservation

By Policy Forum - 30th November 2018

Human activities are exacting a devastating toll on the diversity of life on Earth. Source: Shutterstock

By Policy Forum - 30th November 2018

THE UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has the unenviable job of being the peak global body for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. Almost all of the CBD’s 196 member states are currently meeting at its 14th Conference of the Parties in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

The meeting is taking place amid growing alarm among scientists and conservationists about the devastating toll that human activities are having on the variety of life on Earth and its essential roles in sustaining human life and wellbeing.

Between 1970 and 2014, wildlife populations have declined on average by an astounding 60 percent. In Australia, threatened-species habitat the size of Tasmania has been destroyed since 2000, and the list of threatened species and ecological communities has increased by 30 per cent during this time.

SEE ALSO: Mangrove forests’ resilience could help save us from climate change

In 2010, the CBD launched a set of 20 ambitious targets – the Aichi Targets – that countries aimed to achieve by 2020. Regrettably, few of these targets will be met. The likely main exception is Target 11, which aims for the effective and equitable conservation of at least 17 percent of terrestrial areas and 10 percent of coastal and marine areas.

One reason for this shortfall is a lack of robust measures to hold nations to account for progress towards the targets. But ultimately, one of the biggest factors is the lack of political priority that decision-makers put on conserving nature.

With the 2020 deadline just around the corner, countries are now beginning to discuss in earnest how to set the next round of targets. The endpoint for the new targets will likely be 2030, coupled with a longer-term goal for 2050. The new targets – which many hope will herald a ‘New Deal for Nature’ – will be launched at the CBD’s next conference in Beijing in 2020.

Firefighters try to extinguish flames during a wildfire at the village of Kineta, near Athens, on July 24, 2018. Source: Valerie Gache/AFP

Understandably, much of the negotiators’ attention at the meeting in Egypt has been on mapping out a process for crafting the targets. Ensuring that this process is inclusive and transparent is critical for the legitimacy of the targets, and there’s much to be learnt from the way in which the Sustainable Development Goals were created. But attention to procedure shouldn’t distract from the substance and urgency of what is at stake.

Given that previous targets haven’t managed to bend the curve of biodiversity loss very far, setting another round of global targets might seem like a futile exercise. Ultimately many of the actions that will make the biggest different need to happen at national and local levels.

But global cooperation remains an essential part of the solution, not least because the drivers of biodiversity loss are closely interwoven with the workings of the global economy. For example, everyday products that Australians consume – from chocolate to shampoo – may contain palm oil from Indonesian plantations on land that was once forested habitat for orangutans.

SEE ALSO: Climate change in Asia: Why collective welfare comes before individual rights

Drawing on new research set out in a forthcoming book on The Politics of the Anthropocene we can think of the challenge confronting the CBD as one of creating a ‘living framework’.

That is, the CBD needs to build an institutional framework for action that is flexible enough to respond to changing social and ecological conditions, but robust enough to provide a foundation for global cooperation.

While the track record of environmental problem-solving at a global level isn’t great, elements of living frameworks can be found. Perhaps the best example is the success of the Montreal Protocol in reversing ozone layer depletion. As we argue in other research, the Paris Agreement on climate change also has a promising mix of flexibility and stability, with five-yearly cycles of national contributions and review housed in a legally binding treaty.

Cattle on a dry paddock in the drought-hit area of Quirindi in New South Wales, Australia, August 7, 2018. Source: Glenn Nicholls/Shutterstock

Even so, we need to be careful about how far the parallels can be drawn between climate change and biodiversity. One big difference is the lower political profile of biodiversity compared to the high geopolitical stakes evident in UN climate talks. So a key question is what, if anything, the CBD can do to build political will and catalyse cooperation.

A promising approach here is to build on a strategy adopted in the UN climate regime, which is for the CBD to act as an ‘orchestrator’ that harnesses the enthusiasm of other actors, such as civil society, business and clubs of committed states.

SEE ALSO: Top 5 things you can personally do about climate change

A positive development in this area is the newly formed Coalition of the Willing on Pollinators. The Coalition aims to curb dramatic declines in bee populations and other species which pollinate crops that are vital for human nutrition. The grouping was formed in 2016 during the CBD’s previous conference in Cancun, Mexico, and now includes 24 members, including the European Commission.

Coalitions such as these can accelerate implementation, foster cooperation across different sectors (such as the agricultural and chemical industries in this case) and help to hold members accountable for their commitments.

Global gatherings can also put a spotlight on countries that are falling behind. To the surprise of many delegates and observers, the Australian government decided not to send a delegation to the conference, citing security reasons. The safety of government officials is an understandable concern. Nevertheless, it’s vital that Australia – as one of the world’s seventeen ‘megadiverse’ countries – remains actively engaged in shaping the future of nature conservation.

Dr Jonathan Pickering is a Postdoctoral Fellow based at the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance at the University of Canberra.

Pierrick Chalaye is a PhD candidate at the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance, University of Canberra.

This piece was first published at Policy Forum, Asia and the Pacific’s platform for public policy analysis and opinion.

Eating ourselves and the planet to death

Developing policy for sustainable food systems and behaviours requires a new approach

SHARON FRIEL-13 JULY 2018

Food consumption is contributing to the harm of humans and the environment. As Australia marks National Diabetes Week, Sharon Friel looks at the need for healthier and more environmentally sustainable food behaviours.

Highly processed foods including confectionery, savoury snacks, processed meats and soft drinks now dominate the food supply of high- and middle-income countries. In Australia, almost 40 per cent of people’s energy intake comes from these sorts of foods – foods which provide very little nutrition.
Consumption of such foods is rapidly increasing in many countries across Asia and the Pacific. High levels of consumption of highly processed foods are a significant contributor to the current and future disease burden from non-communicable diseases, including type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, in Australia and across the region.

Producing and consuming these foods are contributing to harming the environment as well as human health. The latest IPCC report suggests that agriculture, forestry, and related land use accounts for approximately 24 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. The industrial food system drives deforestation and biodiversity loss, land degradation, water overuse, and pollution.

Notably, there is a bi-directional relationship between climate change and food systems. Climate change affects the production and availability of food by placing stress on the quality and availability of water, by creating conditions hospitable to pests and disease, and by reducing biodiversity.

Food production and availability are also being affected because changes in hydrological systems and an increase in severe weather events, such as storms and flooding, are contributing to worsening soil erosion and degradation, and crop damage.

The increasing supply of highly processed foods comes via globalised food systems. This is where food manufacturing, retail, and marketing – often by transnational food and beverage corporations – shape national and local food systems in ways that alter the availability, price, nutritional quality, desirability and ultimately consumption of highly-processed foods.

All stages of this industrial food system – from growing, harvesting, processing, packaging, transporting, marketing, selling and consuming, through to the decomposition of food waste in landfills – produce greenhouse gases and contribute to climate change and environmental degradation.

From a demand perspective, what, where and how much people eat are responses to their economic, environmental and cultural contexts.

This has been observed over the past few decades, with consumption of these foods growing with rising incomes, changing labour market structures, increasing urbanisation and greater normalisation of highly processed foods which are poor in nutrients.

There is growing international agreement on the need to move to healthier and more environmentally sustainable food production and consumer behaviours to promote population and planetary health.

The principles of healthy and sustainable food behaviours are: avoiding excessive food consumption beyond nutritional needs; reducing consumption of highly-processed foods that are energy-dense but nutrient-poor; reducing food waste; and shifting dietary intake towards relatively more plant- and less animal-based foods.

Developing policy and action to support the uptake of food behaviours that are both healthy and sustainable requires a new approach – one that brings together formerly distinct policy areas such as agriculture, food, commerce, health, planning and social policy. This provides great opportunities for policy co-benefits, but also brings challenges to ensure cross-portfolio collaboration and coherence.

Namibia's success in the fight against HIV

In Namibia, organised groups of people with HIV provide essential support for each other

By Vauldi CarelseBBC Africa, Namibia-1 December 2018

Harvey Davis comes to open the gate to his dusty, wind swept compound in the remote part of northern Namibia.

"Welcome, welcome, it's been so long since we've had visitors," he exclaims at the two health workers.

The 79-year-old summons his wife, Ruth Nasidengo, who is 40, from their home. She emerges with two babies, clinging to each arm.

This is the front line in Namibia's war against HIV, where a data-driven on-the-ground approach has helped it become one of the most successful countries in tackling its spread.

Harvey Davis was happy to be tested by the health workers

The red-uniformed health workers are field officers, who report to a troop commander, who in turn is under a division commander. Rather than guns, their weapons are a small plastic table and a cooler bag filled with ice packs and HIV tests.

Leontine Iipinge and Maria Johannes have walked more than 3km (2 miles) from their base in the Oshana region to visit the couple.

The initials TCE, meaning Total Control of Epidemic, stand out in bold letters on their shirts. It is a programme run by a national NGO, Development Aid from People to People (Dapp Namibia).

The field workers are two of more than 200 TCE health workers serving a population of nearly 182,000.

Mrs Nasidengo, a mother of twins, has been living with HIV for over a decade and has been a client of TCE for two years.

It takes 15 minutes to get a result after the blood is taken

But this visit is about her husband as he is about to get his first home HIV test.

The ice packs in the cooler maintain the correct temperature for the rapid tests.

With his 11-month-old daughter, Dora, sitting on his lap Mr Davis watches as Ms Iipinge unpacks and disinfects her instruments and pricks his finger.

"I'm not worried," he quips, "but it sure looks like Dora is."

Detective work

As the 15 minutes tick by before the result is known, Ms Iipinge explains how testing the partners of people with HIV helps contain the spread of the virus.

Back at their base in Oshakati town, they compile data of all people known to be HIV-positive and then set about tracing their sexual partners to establish their HIV status.

The rapid test looks for HIV antibodies in the blood and the results are indicated by stripes appearing in the window of the device.

As Mr Davis and his daughter watch, a single stripe appears showing that he is HIV-negative (two stripes indicates a positive result). But he is still referred to a hospital as he needs to be given drugs that reduce the risk of contracting the virus from someone who is HIV-positive by 90%.

TCE field officers have worked in this area for 14 years.

They have built community trust and respect but not everyone can be easily persuaded to take an HIV test.

The next stop for Ms Iipinge and Ms Johannes is about 12km away and they are heading to the home of Lucas Angula in the Evululuko township.

Maria Johannes says her HIV-prevention work is inspired by trying to improve the lives of Namibians

He found out that he was HIV-positive just last month, but it had taken his wife, Matilda Ipandula, 10 years to convince him to take the test:

'We would always fight and argue whenever I brought up the issue of HIV testing with my husband," she says.

"He refused to listen and that's why I asked our neighbour to get involved. It was difficult but it had to be done."

The neighbour, Emirita Kuutondokwa, now forms part of Mr Angula's trio, a support group made up of someone who is HIV-positive and two others.

He says their encouragement has helped him deal with his diagnosis and take the drugs that help contain the spread of the virus.

Lucas Angula (left) had to be persuaded to take the HIV test by his wife Matilda Ipandula (right)

Support is a key ingredient to the success in containing the spread of HIV here.

Close to Mr Angula's house, a small knot of people have gathered under a Marula fruit tree.

They are singing a song, in the Oshiwambo language, about how they are the lucky ones.

This is what is known as a Community Adherence Club - a group of 12 people who are all HIV-positive.

They take turns to collect medication from the clinic 20km away. This frees the remaining 11 to get on with other things and avoids clogging up the clinic.

'Not about the money'

After seeing to her clients, the division commander, Ms Johannes, joins the group to shake off the tension of the day as they dance around the tree.

"When you get into this, it's first about the job and the salary but as you stay it becomes about the people and the passion," she says.

"I've had field officers here who have only stayed for five months because they feel what they get as a salary does not compensate the time they spend at work but the ones that stay, they have passion to be with the people, to work with the people, to improve the lives of the people."

Newly released data by the US President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar) shows it is this community-centred approach that has helped Namibia exceed some of the 90-90-90 targets set by UNAids in 2014.

The figures measure:

• The percentage of people who are thought to be HIV-positive who know their status

• The percentage of people who know their status who are taking antiretroviral drugs

• The percentage of people who are taking the drugs who have an undetectable level of HIV

For Namibia, the figures are 86%, 96% and 91% respectively.

'No time to relax'

Its neighbour, South Africa, the country with the highest number of HIV infections in the world, scores 90-68-78.

But Health Minister Dr Bernard Haufiku says now is not the time for complacency.

"There is a real possibility that we will be able to reach our target by the date set by UNAids [2020], we just have to give it a little bit of a push because we are almost there, just a few percentage left. We need to focus, especially on the prevention campaigns in the field, targeting young people that have not been tested."

Namibia used to have one of the highest HIV-prevalence rates in the world, but in the past 15 years, the number of new HIV infections has halved.

But the high infection rate among young women aged 15-24 continues to worry health officials here.

The health minister adds that on the 30th anniversary of World Aids Day, on Saturday, he will be encouraging young men to get tested and treated.

In Namibia, it seems to be the older generation, men like Mr Davis and Mr Angula, who are setting the example.

Ms Johannes hopes that at some point she will no longer have to deliver bad news to her clients.

"I remember there was a day in 2015," she says.

"My first six clients of the day all tested positive. Telling six people they're HIV-positive, without a break… it's a day I'll never forget."

Ven. Dambara Amila Thera in gas company payroll - MP D.V.Chanaka

Nadira Gunatilleke-Saturday, December 1, 2018

MP D.V. Chanaka alleged that a monthly payment of Rs. 95,000 was paid to Ven. Dambara Amila Thera by a leading Gas company during the past three years. He said all court cases filed against then Joint Opposition (now Government) members are still going on without any interruption.
Addressing a press conference at the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Head Quarters at Battaramulla yesterday, he said that Buddhist monks usually do not take money for preaching Bana and chanting Pirith.

“Therefore, may be the money that was allegedly paid was for slinging mud on Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and to promote the new Constitution which divides the country into nine pieces. These type of persons destroy the respect that the people have for religious leaders,” Chanaka said.
According to the MP, the company had allegedly paid the monthly salaries for another 38 persons and if they are not in the list, Ratnaptiya, Uyangoda, Prof. Wijesuriya etc should announce it to the public and get their names cleared.

“Corrupt persons are campaigning against the holding of elections because their corrupt activities would be revealed to the country,” he said.

MP Chanaka pointed out that on November 15 this year Bribery and Corruption Commission Deputy Director General Sunethra Jayasinghe had sent a letter to the Finance and Media Ministry querying about Rs.27 million in payments allegedly made to a group of people including Samanali Fonseka, Prof. Sarath Wijesuriya and Gamini Viyangoda during past three years for certain items etc. In her letter she says the payments are not tally with the real market prices of those items etc. “What the JVP states about court cases is not true and all court cases are proceeding without any interruption,” he said. MP Chanaka accused UNP Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa of building shanties in the name of houses and only Rs. 8 million was spent on 20 houses.

“But, Rs. 20 million was spent for publicity and Rs.800,000 for three name boards which could have been used to build another three houses,” Chanaka alleged. “In then past, the Joint Opposition revealed about acts of corruption and malpractices with concrete evidence and by making formal complaints to the Bribery and Corruption Commission, But even a statement had not been recorded so far. Three and half years passed since the complaints were made. The UNP had allegedly paid over Rs.20 million as rent for some buildings while having state buildings that can be used. But everything will be revealed to the country in a proper way with evidence. One of the master minds of the Central Bank Bond scam is still free and another stays inside Temple Trees without any problems,” MP Chanaka said. MP Kanchana Wijesekera said allegations have been made that the Media Ministry had made payments to Samanali Fonseka, Prof.Sarath Wijesuriya and Gamini Viyangoda and 38 others.The Sri Lanka Podu Jana Peramuna Youth League said the Bribery Commission has queried from the Ministry about this questionable payment and called for clarifications. Wijesekera said the Media Ministry had made payments to a number of persons for variety of services rendered by them, during the past three and half years and the Bribery Commission was in a quandary about those payments.

Sirisena seeks exit strategy as Mahinda fails majority test

TNA will not support an impeachment says Sampanthan

ECONOMYNEXT –December 1, 2018, 8:28 pm 

President Maithripala Sirisena appeared to have softened his hardline position and was seeking a face-saving exit from the political crisis of his making, according to legislators who had closed-door talks with him.

The president was acutely aware of the consequences should the Supreme Court this week hold that his November 9 sacking of parliament was illegal, a Tamil legislator at talks on Friday evening said.

The Tamil National Alliance leader R. Sampanthan assured Sirisena that the minority party, which commands 14 crucial seats and holds the balance of power in parliament, will not support an impeachment.

However, an adverse ruling from the highest court could be the basis to institute criminal proceedings against both Sirisena and the entire bureaucracy, legislators had indicated to the President.

The immunity of the president from prosecution applies only while he is in office and as set out by a Supreme Court ruling in 1999 (SC 509/98), anyone carrying out his illegal orders can be criminally prosecuted along with him.

"These matters were explained to the President during the talks and he was also shown a way out to act immediately before the Supreme Court pronouncement which could happen on the 7th or thereabouts," an MP at the talks said.

SLFP’s S. B. Dissanayake has publicly asked Sirisena to withdraw his controversial gazette notification that is now challenged before the  Supreme Court. However, there was a doubt if the president could rescind the parliament dissolution gazette.

Should the Supreme Court hold against the November 9 shock sacking of the parliament, exactly two weeks after Mahinda Rajapaksa was named to replace deposed prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sirisena and his officials could become liable for a criminal prosecution.

Paragraph 115 of the Penal Code deals with conspiracy against the sovereignty of the people and is punishable with a 20 year jail term.

"Whoever conspires to commit any of the offences (against the state),  or to deprive the people of the Republic of Sri Lanka of their sovereignty in Sri Lanka or any part thereof, or conspires to overawe, by means of criminal force or the show of criminal force, any of the organs of Government, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description which may extend to twenty years, and shall also be liable to fine," according to the Penal Code.Meanwhile, the TNA delegation spoke with Sirisena in Tamil. Veteran parliament interpreter M. K. Rahulan  translated for the president. With TNA’s M. A. Sumanthiran also fluent in Sinhala they made sure that nothing was lost in translation, the MP said.

He said the talks started nearly two hours behind schedule, but they went off well with Sirisena dropping his insistence that he will never reinstate Ranil Wickremesinghe as prime minister even if his United National Party (UNP) and their allies commanded a majority.

"Earlier, he told us that he will never make Ranil the PM, but today his position was that it would be difficult for him to work with Ranil," the lawmaker said adding that they noted a marked climb down by Sirisena.

Fresh NCM

Sirisena acknowledge that his prime minister candidate Mahinda Rajapaksa did not command a majority in the House. He has already lost two no-confidence motions as well as his statement to parliament on November 15 was also rejected.

In addition, the UNP and like-minded parties have also passed two resolutions cutting off funding for the Prime Minister’s office and members of the disputed cabinet.

Sirisena has called for a fifth vote, this time in the form of another NCM to be decided by name on December 5 when parliament meets next.

"Such a resolution is already in the order book and can be taken up for a vote on Wednesday without suspending the Standing Orders," the MP said.

However, the UNP legislators who met Sirisena after the TNA said their talks ended in a deadlock, but agreed to meet again on Sunday.

The UNP did not see any fresh ideas from the president to resolve the crisis and suspected if he was trying to buy time hoping that a delay will allow Rajapaksa more time to engineer defections.

However, five votes in parliament, two of them through the electronic voting system, has made it clear that those opposed the purported government were in the majority.

Sirisena had initially prorogued parliament for 20 days saying he wanted to give Rajapaksa time to prepare a full appropriation bill for 2019. Instead, the country is now looking down an economic precipice with no sign of a budget.

Political prisoners

During the talks with the TNA, the president promised he will hold a meeting with the Attorney General on December 3 to discuss the issue of releasing Tamil detainees numbering over 100 who are languishing in jail for long periods without any charges brought against them.

He also pledged to support a draft constitution that envisages a greater degree of autonomy for the minority Tamil community, but legislators said they did not pin much hopes on that given Sirisena’s track record. 

Sirsena Caving In?

By N. Logathayalan –NOVEMBER 30, 2018

President Maithripala Sirisena has shown that he is really indistinguishable from his pre-2015 gang of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s. The latter only needed to have waited till 2020 to gain power through elections. But the judicial nooses were tightening round their necks at Courts. Rajapaksa’s family and friends were in real danger of going to prison – and pretty soon too. So they threw caution to the winds and jumped the gun dissolving Parliament unconstitutionally.

They tried to buy government MPs. It did not work. Sirisena claimed in a major speech that MPs were on auction. It turns out that the only cross-overs at that point were to his side, making it quite plain that his side was doing the bribing. One clown has been crossing back and forth and has made a joke of the Tamil community.

The literally crooked gang did not have the required numbers in Parliament. They tried their hooliganism in Parliament but failed to avoid a no-confidence vote. Now they are boycotting Parliament to make excuses as to why they cannot demonstrate the numbers they claim in Parliament.

Worse is to come. Important cases are being heard in the Supreme Court.

The cases are hopeless for Sirsena. His argument for the legality of his dissolving Parliament is essentially this: that Artcle 33 (2)(c) of the Constitution gives him the power to dismiss parliament anytime: “In addition to the powers, duties and functions expressly conferred or imposed on, or assigned to the President by the Constitution or other written law, the President shall have the power to summon, prorogue and dissolve Parliament.”

In contrast, Article 70 says that Parliament can be dissolved only 4 years and six months after its first meeting, or on a motion supported by 2/3 of all members. Neither of these two conditions has been fulfilled.

The President’s case is essentially that Section 33(2)(c) may be read in isolation, and he can ignore section 70. However, there is enough case law that says that different sections must be interpreted in manner that the whole is harmonious. Yet in his gazette proclamation dissolving parliament, Sirisena draws from Section 70(1), the only place in the constitution that speaks of dissolution of parliament by proclamation and which he claims to ignore.   Section 70, he says, does not apply in interpreting Section 33. Moreover in that special gazette proclaiming the dissolution of parliament (No. 2094/45 of 27 Oct.) he invokes the powers conferred on him by article 70(5) – reminding one of wanting to have the cake and eat it at the same time. Moreover, that article confers no power on anyone and only speaks of the dates he has to set for elections. He has proclaimed claiming powers not conferred on him by the article he has cited. It shows the quality of legal advisers Sirisena has.

The President’s interpretation in reading Section 33(2)(c) – that is, that he can dissolve parliament any time – means that he can call for elections, and when he does not like the result call for elections again and so on till he gets the results he wants. What s worse is that by his interpretation he can never be impeached – for when Parliament dares to impeach a terrible president like himself, all that the President has to do is dissolve Parliament. That absurdity renders Sirisena’s interpretation totally crazy – what in logic is called reductio ad absurdum, reducing a thesis to the absurd conclusions it leads to, thereby disproving the thesis.

All these arguments will be heard 4, 5 and 6 of December with the inexorable verdict expected on the 7th. I do not need to expand on the many more reasons why the Supreme Court will find the dissolution of Parliament unlawful.

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Ranil is UNP’s nominee for PM – Kabir

2018-12-01

The UNP has informed President Maithripala Sirisena and the Tamil National Alliance that UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe is the nominee of the UNP for the position of Prime Minister.

In a letter to both the President and TNA Leader R. Sampantham, UNP Chairman stated, “I write to you to inform you that Hon. Ranil Wickremesinghe, MP, is the nominee of the United National Party for the position of Prime Minister.”

The letter also thanked the TNA for their support during this ongoing crisis.

Chief of Defence Staff detained over mass murder cover-up

December 1, 2018, 8:38 pm 

(Colombo, AFP) -Sri Lanka’s highest-ranking military officer was remanded by a court Wednesday after weeks evading arrest for allegedly protecting the chief suspect in the murder of 11 people during the civil war.

The Colombo Fort magistrate ordered that Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne, the country’s military chief, be held in custody for a week pending investigations into the abduction and murder of the young men between 2008 and 2009.

The magistrate denied bail for Wijegunaratne after it emerged he tried to abduct a key witness over the weekend, and sought to have an investigator removed from the case.

"I am denying bail because in your position you are able to influence witnesses and disrupt the investigations," Magistrate Ranga Dassanayake told a packed courthouse.

Wijegunaratne, who appeared in full military regalia, has denied any connection to the murders.

Wijegunaratne’s bodyguards earlier shoved journalists trying to photograph the chief of defence staff as he entered the courtroom.

Earlier in the day, Wijegunaratne surrendered after weeks of ignoring court summons.

Investigators told the court that Wijegunaratne protected the main accused in the high-profile murders, naval intelligence officer Chandana Prasad Hettiarachchi.

He was arrested in August over the killings in the closing stages of Sri Lanka’s bloody separatist war that ended in May 2009.

Three warrants for Wijegunaratne’s arrest were issued earlier this month but he ignored them, even travelling to Mexico while investigators were seeking a statement from him.

Police believe the 11 victims were killed while in the illegal custody of the navy. Their bodies were never found.Military figures were accused of abductions and extrajudicial killings during the 37-year war against the Tamil Tiger separatist movement.

Several intelligence officers are facing prosecution over the murder of journalists critical of Mahinda Rajapaksa, the former president whose tenure was marred by allegations of war crimes and grave rights abuses.

His recent controversial appointment as prime minister by Sri Lanka’s president has plunged the country into crisis, with parliament twice voting against the war-era strongman ruler taking over government.

Rajapaksa, who has refused to step aside as Sri Lanka drifts in a power vacuum, and several members of his family are being investigated for fraud and murder during his 10-year presidency.

But those inquiries were thrown into doubt after his surprise return to the helm of government in an alliance with President Maithripala Sirisena.

Rajapaksa led Sri Lanka as government troops defeated the Tamil insurgency in May 2009, ending years of bitter and brutal fighting.

The final days of the offensive were marked by major abuses, according to rights groups. A UN panel has said 40,000 civilians may have been killed in the final stages of the war.