Sri Lanka cabinet meets in former rebel-held area

The Sri Lankan cabinet has held a special meeting in Kilinochchi, the former capital of the defeated Tamil Tigers in the far north of the island.

The town was the guerrillas’ stronghold for 11 years until January 2009.

The BBC’s Charles Haviland in Colombo says that by assembling there, the government was making a clear statement of its role in reunifying the island.

Our correspondent says during the meeting ministers agreed to lower the price of diesel in the north.

Strategic base

“The meeting started at 10am and ended at 12.30pm,” enterprise minister Douglas Devananda told BBC Tamil.

“It was a routine cabinet meeting in which we discussed developments in the Northern Province.”

President Rajapaksa called for people in the north to sink their political differences and rebuild the region.

He told public servants in Kilinochchi that local lives must be rebuilt, saying that the authorities were resettling displaced Tamil civilians in their homes with “unparalleled speed”.

He told the civil servants that “working for the people is similar to working for God” and that they must strive to ensure “the entire Northern Province is transformed into a conducive environment to live and work”.

“The people who come to you are those who have gone through immense difficulties. You are their only consolation,” he said.

For years during their separatist war and long after losing Jaffna further north, the Tamil Tigers held Kilinochchi.

The meeting was the first in decades to be held by the government in the north

It served as their command centre with the trappings of a state-within-a-state – including law courts, administrative offices, a tax system and a bank.

Eighteen months ago it fell to the Sri Lankan army, who established a strategic base inside the buildings used earlier by their enemies.

Our correspondent says that the cabinet meeting was a potent symbol of the government’s achievement in vanquishing the Tigers and reunifying an island divided for so long.

But government critics say it must now do more to heal the island’s ethnic divisions, which are still raw – especially in the north and east.

Some opposition MPs have condemned the Kilinochchi cabinet meeting as a waste of money, with one saying he expected hundreds of luxury vehicles to converge on the town.

A prominent moderate Tamil politician, V Anandasangaree, said he felt that that constant government visits were “irritating” local people still in shock after the war or searching for missing family members.

Government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said constructive criticism was welcome, but ministry officials were available to solve people’s problems and the meeting was money well spent.

Chaired by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the cabinet reviewed the progress of reconstruction in the former war zone, where people are only gradually returning to their homes.

A massive war memorial has recently been built in Kilinochchi. Recent visitors there say other construction work is proceeding slowly, hampered by the density of landmines in the area. Story taken from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south+asia-10630548

Nepal PM announces resignation ‘to end deadlock’

Mr Nepal became prime minister in May 2009Nepalese Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal has announced his resignation in a televised speech.

He said that he wanted to bring an end to political deadlock in the country and move the peace process forward.

Mr Nepal has been under pressure to resign for some months by the Maoists. They say that as the largest party it is their right to determine who is PM.

Mr Nepal was appointed little more than a year ago to head a 22-party coalition that succeeded the Maoist government.

The BBC’s Joanna Jolly in Kathmandu says that it is not yet clear who will succeed him.

His resignation comes a month after his governing coalition and the opposition Maoist party agreed to extend the deadline for the country to write a new democratic constitution by one year.

‘Confusion and indecision’”I have decided to resign from the post of prime minister so that the peace process can be completed, a new constitution drafted and the current political deadlock resolved,” he said.

“I had frequently urged the political parties including the Maoists to find an appropriate way out of the present deadlock and forge a consensus. But no agreement has reached so far.”

Mr Nepal said it “would be inappropriate to further prolong the situation of confusion and indecision”.

He became prime minister in May 2009 after the previous government – led by the Maoists – resigned following a row with the president over the firing of the army chief.

The prime minister said he had hoped to negotiate with the Maoist party to move forward with the peace process, but they had refused to fulfil their commitments to the deal, which include integrating their former fighters into the national army and disbanding their paramilitary wing.  (Story taken directly from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/10464705.stm)

Post-war Sri Lanka searches for ‘just peace’

It is exactly a year since Sri Lanka declared victory in its decades-long war against Tamil Tiger separatists. It ended with the top Tiger leaders killed after being besieged with thousands of civilians they had herded into their final stronghold.

On the strength of that victory, President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his government won landslide elections. Charles Haviland reports from Colombo as Sri Lankans reflect on a remarkable anniversary.

The government intends to relish the memory of the victory

By a grey sea, tanks rumble into motion. Massive vehicles mounted with mortars, artillery and multi-barrelled weapons parade steadily past a podium.

All the army regiments are on hand, their berets black, maroon or blue, their uniforms khaki and camouflage. “Eastern Front” reads one truck. “Vanni Theatre” reads another, recalling the last northern battleground. Marching music and drum beats fill the air.

For the anniversary, the Sri Lankan military has been rehearsing for a huge display of the hardware that helped it win.

The government is irritated because it feels that many Western countries, troubled at the scale of civilian casualties at the end of the conflict, fail to give Sri Lanka due credit for its achievement.

Coup plot

“Even the big countries, they are battling to defeat terrorism,” Rajitha Senaratne, a cabinet minister, tells me at his home on a rainy evening.

My husband has a very clean character and he has never done anything wrong for our country Anoma Fonseka

“All the entire world armies fighting in Iraq, in Afghanistan, still failed.

“But the same terrorism, one of the worst terrorist organisations, has been crushed by the small country, a small army, the Sri Lankan army. And taught it a lesson. So actually it’s something to celebrate.”

Heavy rains have delayed the victory parade. But when it happens, there will be one man conspicuously absent – the result of a bitter post-war feud.

Gen Sarath Fonseka, who headed the army when the war was won, is locked up at naval headquarters, within easy earshot of the parade ground.

He unsuccessfully challenged President Rajapaksa in January’s presidential election. Shortly afterwards the government accused him of planning a coup.

It arrested him and is trying him on various counts, including one that he dabbled in politics while still army chief.

He can only leave detention to attend parliament, having been elected to it last month.

His family and colleagues deny he did anything wrong.

“They have given two or three charges but all are false,” his wife, Anoma Fonseka, tells the BBC.

“I know that because my husband has a very clean character and he has never done anything wrong for our country. The truth will be coming out afterwards.”

Transformed atmosphere

Whoever masterminded the war victory, most Sri Lankans are heartily glad it is all over.

In the last year things have improved so much. There’s absolutely no fear of any terrorism whatsoever Dai Liyanage

The five-star hotels are buzzing once more. Tourism has picked up from its war-time doldrums.

In one top city establishment, the Cinnamon Grand, I sip a caffe latte with Dai Liyanage.

He’s a Sri Lankan who lives in Britain. But since the war he keeps revisiting. He says that with the Tamil Tigers no longer active, the atmosphere is transformed.

“Places like bus stations and railway stations were targets where large numbers of people could be killed in one go. So that was always a fear,” he says.

Now he says that things have improved so much that “there’s absolutely no fear of any terrorism whatsoever”.

Not everyone, though, wants to celebrate.

The main Tamil party has asked that people offer special prayers at temples and elsewhere, saying this is a time for mourning because so many died in the long war including tens of thousands of civilians.

This week the International Crisis Group called for a UN-backed investigation into possible war crimes by both sides, especially in the war’s final phase.

“Can you have unity without reconciliation – can you have reconciliation without accountability?” asks Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, a human rights activist from the Centre for Policy Alternatives think tank.

“There are people who still want to know what happened to members of their family. There are a number who are missing and disappeared. And people are not going to forget those things easily.”

He believes there should be more acknowledgement of the suffering endured by ordinary people.

‘Ambiguity’

Another critic of the government is a man who was until recently a top Sri Lankan diplomat, Dayan Jayatilleka.

The war has cast a heavy shadow over Sri Lanka

As ambassador to the UN in Geneva last May, he helped ward off a planned motion of censure against his country from Western governments over the conduct of the war.

Mr Jayatilleka tells the BBC that the war was an entirely just one, but he feels there is not yet a “just peace”.

“I strongly felt and feel that we should have followed up the military victory with an outreach to the Tamil people and the Tamil politicians,” he says.

“I do not see that having happened. And we have a studied silence or at best an ambiguity about the shape of the political settlement or the political reconciliation between the south and the north.”

The government says its priority is not political reforms but redeveloping the north where many war-displaced Tamils still lead very restricted lives in military-run camps.

Indeed, the war still casts a heavy shadow over Sri Lanka.

The authorities say they must go on countering remnants of the Tamil Tigers based abroad.

One year on, they denounce what they call “traitors” at home.

A state of emergency remains in force and the defence ministry is still taking on new powers.

But the authorities reject accusations of war crimes against them or the idea of any international inquiry on the matter.

They intend this week to relish the memory of their victory which, they say, quite simply liberated the island from the clutches of terror (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8690408.stm).

Nepali prime minister ‘ready to resign’

Nepal’s prime minister is “ready to resign” to pave the way for an end to the country’s political impasse, his spokesman has said.

Madhav Kumar Nepal agreed to quit to gain support from the opposition Maoist party to extend the term of the parliament.

The three main parties have agreed on a power-sharing deal.

The country has been suffering from political deadlock since the Maoists quit government last May.

“He is ready to resign,” a spokesman for Mr Nepal, Bishnu Rijal, told AFP news agency. “But he wants to make sure that all the outstanding issues arising from the peace process are settled before he resigns.”

He added that the prime minister would meet party leaders over the weekend to discuss the way forward.

The parliament, or Constitutional Assembly, elected in 2008, had been due to expire on Friday, the deadline to write a new constitution.

But the Maoists, the ruling Communists and the Nepali Congress Party agreed to extend parliament by up to a year.

The Maoists had demanded Mr Nepal’s resignation as part of the deal to avert political crisis.

There had been disagreement over the details of the new constitution, which would pave the way for fresh polls. The parliament’s extension allows time for more negotiations.

The Maoists, who are the largest party in parliament, have been protesting against the government since their leader, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, resigned as prime minister last year

Story taken from : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/10192198.stm

Nepal parliament deal ends political impasse

Nepal’s MPs have agreed to extend its parliament by up to a year, as reports suggest the prime minister agreed to resign to allow the deal to go through.

Maoist opponents had demanded Madhav Kumar Nepal’s resignation as part of the deal to avert political crisis.

The parliament, elected in 2008, had been due to expire on Friday.

However, the extension was agreed at the 11th hour by the Maoists and the ruling Communist Party of Nepal and Nepali Congress parties.

Dinanath Sharma, a spokesman for the Maoist party – the largest in parliament – was reported as saying agreement had been reached to form a new national consensus government.

The parliament, or Constituent Assembly, which was elected after a decade of civil war, faced a Friday deadline to write a new constitution to replace the interim version.

However, there had been disagreement over the details of the new constitution, which would pave the way for fresh polls. The parliament’s extension allows time for more negotiations.

Maoist demands

The Maoists had said agreement was impossible without the resignation of the prime minister, in favour of a national unity government led by them.

Associated Press reported law minister Prem Bahadur Singh as saying Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal would resign to make way for the new government.

The Maoists, who ended their decade-old rebellion in 2006 to join a peace process, had also demanded that their former fighters be integrated into the national army.

On Thursday, the President of Nepal had called party leaders to a meeting and told them to resolve their differences before parliament was dissolved or leave the country facing the prospect of presidential rule or even emergency rule.

Earlier this month, the Maoist party brought Nepal to a virtual standstill with a six-day strike in an attempt to force the government to resign.

Taken directly from BBC : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/south_asia/10179564.stm

Sri Lanka’s first post-war parliamentary polls close

Voting has ended in parliamentary elections in Sri Lanka – the first since government forces defeated Tamil Tiger rebels last year. Read Full Story Here.

Sri Lanka President Rajapaksa visits Tamil city Jaffna

BBC News

By Charles Haviland

Sri Lanka’s president has addressed a crowd of his supporters on a rare visit to the northern city of Jaffna, which was once held by the Tamil Tigers.

As reported in the BBC by Charles Haviland:  Mahinda Rajapaksa said that development was his priority rather than political reforms.  Rajapaksa was re-elected in January, eight months after the Tamil Tigers defeat.  The city in which he visited Jaffna had been made the capital by Tamli Tigers by a breakaway Tamil-ruled statelet for five years in the early 1990s.  The president reached out to the crowd speaking mostly in Tamil and declared, “That from now on there would be no racial division in Sri Lanka.”  Haviland from the BBC reports that some local people told the BBC that they appreciated the normality of life now that the government had won the civil war.  Others said that Tamils faced special problems which had to be addressed.  According to the BBC although Rajapaksa’s support seems thin in the north, most predict that his government will easily win next week’s election.Read Full Story Here

March 26th: Nepal News Update

March 26th Nepal News Update

The Himalayan News Service:  Top leaders of the Nepal congress and the CPN-UML agreed today to form the Constitutional State Restructuring Commission.  This decision was made after the readers had held consultations with all 24 parties representing the constituent Assembly.  NC vice-president Ram Chandra Poudel after the meeting reported that disputed issues, such as the form of governance, state restructuring and how to bring the peace-process to a logical end, had been discussed.  This was the first bilateral meeting between the NC and the UML after the demise of NC president of GP Koirala on March 20.  The CA panel has suggested 14 federal units on identity basis of community with out considering their functional capability. Read full story here

Himalayan News Service:  Addresses the question of how the constitution drafting body can prepare the constitutions first draft with out reports from parties in place.  The NC president, GP Koiralo, had made the request that each party reach consensus before the reports from the thematic committees are submitted, on forms of governance, election system, structure of legislature and its inter-relation with executive and legislation and federal structure.  Both the NC and UML have maintained that the parties should reach consensus on key issues of the constitution, as it would require at least 2/3 majority of CA members to endorse it.Read full story here

March 26th: Sri Lanka News update

March 26, Sri Lanka News Update

The BBC reports on an account of a Sri Lanken women who has been arrested for converting from Budhism to Islam.  Read Full Story here

The Colombo Times reports on the countries pre-election campaign saying that there is a rise in violation, intimidation, as well as other threats.  Independent poll observers have noted that the biggest offenders have been candidates and supporters of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA).  Daily attacks between the two have become to be known as the ‘Manape’ war.  One independent poll observer Mr. Tennakoon has said that the country has seen close to a hundred incidents including one murder.  Read full story here

BBC News

Leaderless Sri Lankan opposition faces uphill task

With parliament dissolved, Sri Lanka must hold a general election by April. The opposition is now in huge difficulties, with its one recent figurehead incarcerated. Read full story here