Western governments unhappy with Sri Lanka

New Delhi: Western players in Sri Lanka`s peace process are attacking the Tamil Tigers publicly but are also unhappy with the island`s government. The US, the 25-nation European Union, Japan and Norway that remain committed to a negotiated solution to the dragging ethnic conflict feel that the situation in Sri Lanka is extremely volatile.

Their complaint is that Colombo does not have a credible approach to end the current spiralling violence and that while the government says it is committed to a devolution package for the Tamil minority, the reality looks different.

Representatives of some of these countries have shared their thoughts with the Indian government, which is equally worried over the manner the peace process in Sri Lanka is literally falling apart.

`We get this feeling that the (Sri Lankan) government is merely waiting for international players to somehow resolve the problem,` one Western diplomat told IANS.

`The government does not seem to have any strategy, a political way out. They wait for the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) to do something. Later they react. This cannot go on.`

Western diplomats say they have also conveyed their feelings to the Sri Lankan leadership in good faith but they don`t express their concerns publicly as it is a `state actor` in contrast to the LTTE.

On Wednesday, Donald Camp, the US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs, was in New Delhi. He was preceded the previous week by Yasuhi Akashi, Japan`s special envoy to Sri Lanka.

Before that, Norwegian minister Erik Solheim, who oversees the peace process, halted in New Delhi on his way from Kathmandu to Oslo.

While the international players are disgusted by the LTTE`s belligerence (in Colombo Camp called it `a terrorist group of the first order`), they have raised some issues directly with the Sri Lankan government.

In interviews he gave in Sri Lanka, Camp said Colombo too had responsibilities and it had to `address the legitimate grievances` of the Tamil people.

This also relates to investigating killings taking place in government- controlled areas. Privately, say diplomatic sources, there is much more pressure on Sri Lanka.

On its part, India has been calling upon Sri Lanka to come up with a credible political package and go for a `southern consensus` – a euphemism for `Sinhalese consensus` – so that competitive populism does not derail it.

Norway has in the past expressed its unhappiness over the way it has been attacked over its role as a peace facilitator. The latest criticism by some Sri Lankan politicians of Akashi over his reported remarks seeking UN deployment in the country has upset the diplomatic community.

`This is highly unfair,` another diplomat said. `They seek help from other countries to resolve their problem. But if anyone says anything they don`t like, they attack left and right. Is this fair’`

Most diplomats, however, have nice things to say about Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse and think he is in a position to overcome `Sinhala hardliners` if he wants to.

`The president is confident of himself and we feel he can deliver,` said a diplomatic source. `But for that he has to show leadership, think differently.` -By M.R. Narayan Swamy, IANS

It’s Asia’s turn for SG – Annan

TOKYO, May 18, 2006 (AFP) – UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said Thursday that most nations believe his successor should come from Asia, as campaigning for his replacement intensifies.

"I can say that most of the member states believe that it is a turn for Asia," Annan told a news conference in Tokyo.

"It is a practice that we have rotated it over the years from one region to the other," the Ghanaian said.

The United States, however, has resisted the regional power-sharing arrangement, saying it would support the best candidate regardless of his or her region.

Several Asian countries are putting forward successors to Annan, whose second five-year term expires at the end of the year. The world’s largest region has not had a UN chief since U Thant of Burma (now Myanmar) finished his second term in 1971.

South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon, whom Annan met earlier this week on his regional tour, has announced his candidacy.

Other Asians who have expressed interest include Thai Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai and Sri Lanka’s Jayantha Dhanapala, an adviser to President Mahinda Rajapakse.

Japan has not put forward a candidate and Annan said Asia’s largest economy would have slim chances if it did.

But "countries that are very powerful should not seek to get additional power by seeking positions of that kind, traditionally," he said. – Island