Thoughts from London

Reform like charity must begin at home
Well, well, well. So now Foreign Minister Tyronne Fernando wants to reform the United Nations. Without waiting till he achieves what seems like his life's ambition- succeeding Kofi Annan as Secretary General of the UN- he has begun a "series of consultations and exchanges of view with his counterparts" to restore the authority and credibility of the UN "as a premier force for peace", said a foreign ministry release a few days ago.

Noble of the foreign minister to undertake such a formidable task in these dark days in international politics when might is right and moral clarity and military strength are seen as one.

With some 185 independent states in the world today- give or take one or two depending on the current imperialistic mood of Washington which might be inclined to add a few more stars to its flag- it would indeed by a Himalayan task that the foreign minister has taken on his shoulders.

Cynics of course might see it differently. All of the foreign minister's time is likely to be taken up jetting around the world to meet his counterparts on this mission impossible. And it would indeed be a good base camp from which to establish his credentials for a shot at the secretary-generalship.

But I am no cynic. Even if others see it as a personal undertaking rather than one on behalf of the country, though of course a cash-strapped Sri Lanka that appears to have even frozen public sector employment, will be paying the bills, I tend to see it somewhat differently.

Seeing how cabinet ministers keep flying to the four corners of the globe at the drop of a airline ticket, it must surely be a marvel of modern aeronautics that they do not run into each other at 35,000 feet.

So when others are flying high why deny the opportunity to Tyronne Fernando, who, after all, is the foreign minister. If Mr Fernando wants to follow in the tradition of some UNP ministers who, when they held the same portfolio, believed that being foreign minister meant being foreign to his own people and the job included passing judgment on airline food, well why not.

There are those who will doubtless challenge this notion of the foreign minister having to be foreign to his people. They will challenge us to go to almost any Sri Lankan diplomatic mission abroad and mention the name Tyronne Fernando.

Would there be blank looks on the faces of the employees, looks that ask who is Tyronne, what is he? Or rather would one see the first signs of obeisance, if not the burning of incense?

While cynics and critics might pillory the foreign minister my concern here is not to question the rationale for this gargantuan task he has taken to return the United Nations to its pristine glory.

Would it not be better, and certainly more profitable, if the job began at home? This is not being facetious. There are many people who say that this government seems to have two foreign policies.

On the one hand there is the public face represented by Tyronne Fernando that is to restore the authority of the United Nations, respect international laws and conventions and in certain circumstances act only with the sanction of the Security Council.
In the press release, the foreign ministry states that the consultative process was started in terms of a government decision.

That is all very good. But this same government appears to have another policy wherein it expects only some countries to abide by United Nations resolutions and criticises them for not doing so, while absolving other countries of deliberately thumbing their nose at the world body and, in fact, acting in defiance of the United Nations and the views of the majority of its members.

It is interesting to read the statement issued by the foreign ministry titled "Sri Lanka's position on the situation in Iraq" at the outbreak of the war against Iraq. It begins thus: "Sri Lanka has consistently urged Iraq to comply with the United Nations Security Council resolutions obliging it to eliminate weapons of mass destruction. Until now there has been a lack of full compliance with these resolutions. Therefore, the elimination of weapons has not been completed through peaceful means".

Sri Lanka not only condemns Iraq for not complying with the UN resolutions but also tacitly justifies any attempts to eliminate them by means other than peaceful. Moreover, nowhere is that statement is there any criticism of the United States for its decision to act outside the purview of the UN despite the fact that the chief weapon's inspector asked for a little more time to complete their investigations.

This despite the fact that we were a party to the final declaration of the Non-Aligned summit in Kuala Lumpur that denounced the United States-led war on Iraq.
This kowtowing to the US which has become increasingly noticeable is best exemplified by the comments of Economic Reforms Minister Milinda Moragoda, who in a contribution he made to a security conference in Hawaii, proposed that the United States to take on the world leadership.

Apart from the fact that the world is not his own to mortgage to Washington, in another of his unguarded comments he told publicly that when the American ambassador summons he does not stop to ask why but goes. "Stand not upon the order of your going but go at once" said the Bard to capture unbecoming haste and disorderliness.

But it is not the haste one objects to but to the kowtowing that so diminishes our standing as an independent and sovereign country and suggests another foreign policy that undermines our public commitment to nonalignment and the authority of the United Nations.

If there is one single country that has consistently used its veto power to undermine Security Council resolutions and act against the interests of the United Nations and majority opinion, it the United States.

Moreover it has used its contributions to the world body to manipulate policy and its power to eject officials it did not like from positions of importance. Its public announcements of moral righteousness are gravely undermined by its own actions around the world in the 50 years.

If the United Nations is to be reformed to better represent today's world and make the world body more democratic, there should be counterwailing measures to US power .So if Tyronne Fernando wants to reform the United Nations he better begin at home where a juvenile two-stranded foreign policy does little to repose faith in its understanding of international affairs.

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