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C’wealth chief coming for talks as Canada pushes for action
View(s):By Namini Wijedasa
Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma will arrive here on February 10 amidst continuing Canadian efforts to convince the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) to formally examine recent events in Sri Lanka.
“He is coming on a routine visit to discuss arrangements for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) due to be held in Sri Lanka later this year,” Foreign Secretary Karunatilaka Amunugama said. “He will meet External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris and other senior officials.”
Diplomatic sources said the Government would use its discussions with Mr. Sharma to discourage any efforts —led by the Canadians —to place Sri Lanka on CMAG’s formal or informal agenda. Canada has been pressing for an extraordinary meeting of CMAG to take place before the next scheduled date in April.
Sri Lanka’s position, diplomatic sources said, was that there was a process to be followed in seeking to place a country on CMAG’s agenda, beginning with the good offices of the Secretary-General. This role had to be exhausted for other initiatives to be taken.
The Government will convey to Secretary-General Sharma that the Canadian request, therefore, ignores stipulated procedures by requesting Sri Lanka to be put on the CMAG agenda.
It will also say that using CMAG in this manner will only serve to politicise the Commonwealth which started out and has maintained itself as a voluntary association of countries.
The sources said that Government would emphasise that the Commonwealth was a “worthy networking platform” where common interests had been served away from politics. It would contend that this useful role for engagement “should not be lost due to the machinations of a few member states”.
Sri Lanka will maintain that Canada should look to constructive engagement for which it should change its present style. It will stress that Third World countries should not be held hostage to Canada’s domestic requirements.
Canada, which has already threatened to boycott the summit in Sri Lanka over lack of accountability for alleged war crimes, has stepped up its campaign after the impeachment of Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake.
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