Ramanisblog

Category: SriLanka

  • UK ‘to block Sri Lanka bid to hold Commonwealth summit’-BBC.

    Correct.SriLanka has to be chastised for genocide, not world recognition of any sort.
    Story:
    The UK will try to block Sri Lanka’s bid to host the next Commonwealth summit over its handling of the recent war, a UK government source has said.
    Sri Lanka could not be “rewarded” for actions that had a “huge impact on civilians”, the source said.
    The current Commonwealth summit is about to get under way in Trinidad and Tobago.
    Climate change and the controversial membership bid of Rwanda are also high on the agenda.
    Rising sea levels
    The 60th anniversary Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, being held in Port of Spain, begins on Friday.
    One of the key issues will be the choice of the 2011 venue.
    The Downing Street source said that Prime Minister Gordon Brown had “real concerns about Sri Lanka’s bid”.

    Queen Elizabeth will open the summit on Friday
    “We simply cannot be in a position where Sri Lanka – whose actions earlier this year had a huge impact on civilians, leading to thousands of displaced people without proper humanitarian access – is seen to be rewarded for its actions.”
    The UN estimates the conflict with Tamil Tiger rebels left at least 7,000 civilians dead with 150,000 people still displaced and living in camps.
    Climate change will also be high on the agenda, in the last major gathering of international leaders before the global summit on the subject starts in Copenhagen on 7 December.
    UN chief Ban Ki-moon, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Danish PM Lars Rasmussen are also attending the Port of Spain summit, to give weight to any statement on the issue.
    About half of the Commonwealth’s members are island states, many of them threatened by rising sea levels.

    About half of members, like the Maldives, are island states
    Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Patrick Manning, who is hosting the three-day meeting, said he hoped the summit could boost momentum for an agreement on carbon emissions at Copenhagen, amid “concerns about the way the negotiations were going”.
    “We hope to arrive at a political statement that can add value to the process that will culminate in Copenhagen next month… what we can do is raise our voices politically,” he said.
    The Commonwealth’s 53 nations comprise about two billion people, or one-third of the planet’s population.
    The leaders are meeting days after pledges by the US and China to limit their greenhouse gas emissions, amid concerns that the Copenhagen meeting could fail to agree substantial cuts.
    Zimbabwe issue
    The summit will also discuss Rwanda’s entry into the English-speaking club.
    The Francophone nation has been seeking membership following disagreements with France over events leading up to the 1994 genocide.
    The issue is likely to be controversial. The nation’s entry bid has received strong backing from some member states.
    However, some rights activists are angry that entry would reward a nation they say is guilty of abuses dating back to the 1994 genocide.
    BBC diplomatic correspondent James Robbins, in Trinidad, says the leaders are expected to admit Rwanda.
    He says most of the leaders apparently believe that if Rwanda is admitted, then they will be able to apply peer pressure to improve the lives of its people.
    Zimbabwe’s possible re-entry could also be brought up at the meeting.
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8382014.stm

  • Sri Lanka opposition forms alliance.

    The X factor is Fonseka ,till recently Commander of Armed forces ,which has successfully(?)eliminated LTTE(?).News from Srilanka indicate rift between Rajapakse and Fonseka;he has been kicked upstairs,his photographs removed from website of the government.Reason seems to be the apprehension of Rajapakse brothers-Rajapakse and Gothabaya Rajapakse , that Fonseka may effect a coup as he is very popular, not only among the Sinhal but Armed forces as well.Fonseka’s recent utterences also indicate his intention to enter the political arena.His plank has been that Army-read Sinhala, casualities could have been less had the President been little more patient and heeded to his advice;this to consolidate Sinhalese support.;at the same time he is of the opinion that the Tamil casualities could have been minimal if his advice were to have been followed;his intention is to ,if he comes to power, to declare Rajapakse as a War criminal in the Genocide of Tamils-this to ensure Tamil support and satisfy international concern on the Genocide.Opposition parties also seem to be thinking in terms of fielding him as common Candiadate .
    It has also come to the notice of Rajapakse & co and fearing for his life Fonseka is now in US.
    Let us watch the drama unfold.
    Story:
    Opposition parties in Sri Lanka have formed an alliance to fight presidential and parliamentary elections due by next April.

    They hope to dislodge a governing coalition still riding high on a tide of popularity among majority Sinhalas after the Tamil Tigers’ defeat in May.

    The new alliance is led by former prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, and includes Muslim and Tamil parties.

    Its main rallying cry is to abolish the presidential system of government.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8341115.stm