Britain’s Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown faced strong criticism from Opposition Conservatives yesterday for his handling – or bungling – of relations with Sri Lanka when he announced the appointment of a special envoy to negotiate a ceasefire and a political solution to the country’s insurgency.
Speaking for the Conservatives, Liam Fox, the shadow Foreign Secretary said the appointment of Des Browne, a former Defence Secretary, as Gordon Brown’s special envoy, without Sri Lanka’s approval was a further example of the incompetence of the British prime minister.
“Having presided over calamitous damage to our economy”, said Mr. Fox to the BBC, “he is now making a complete mess of relations with friendly countries overseas”.
The criticism came while Foreign Secretary David Miliband indicated that he “believed”, he had the green-light to send a special envoy to Sri Lanka after he had spoken to President Mahinda Rajapaksa by telephone.
A British High Commission spokesman quoted a British Foreign Office spokesman as saying the decision to appoint a special envoy was not unilateral. He said consultation started after an official letter Premier Brown sent President Rajapaksa on January 20, 2009 on the matter and will continue when Mr. Miliband and Foreign Minsiter Rohitha Bogollagama hold a telephone conversation tomorrow.
The Sri Lanka Government vehemently denied any approval had been given, and described Britain’s announcement as a “unilateral” decision that was a “disrespectful intrusion into Sri Lanka’s internal affairs”. In a statement issued from Colombo, the Cabinet of Ministers had said that it would also be a hindrance in pursuing a sustainable solution to the conflict in terms of a Sri Lankan agenda”.
The Liberal Democrats, Britains third largest party criticised Prime Minister Brown for not taking enough action on Sri Lanka by seeking a ceasefire through diplomatic channels at the United Nations.
Yesterday, Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona rejected any claims that the British decision was not "unilateral", while Defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella told reporters in Kandy that the British special envoy was welcome to Sri Lanka as a "tourist", and could visit Kandalama or the beaches down south, if he wished.
Meanwhile, a leading member of the European Parliament, Robert Evans, Chairman of the European Parliament Delegation for relations with South Asia, called on UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to send a peacekeeping mission to Sri Lanka as soon as possible.
"All the evidence suggests that about quarter of a million people are not just stuck in limbo, but could be caught in a ghastly blood bath," said Evans, a member of the British Labour Party.
He said that the civilians were terrified of Sri Lankan troops advancing on them, as well as the LTTE which might shoot anyone who tries to escape from the remaining areas under its control.
At the UN, a move by Mexico to bring the Sri Lanka situation on to the Security Council was scuttled by Russia (The Sunday Times city edition last week exclusively reported this). Russia took up the position that Sri Lanka was not on the agenda of the Security Council.
Asked if Russia had opposed a proposal to discuss the humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters there was "little exchange" (of ideas) at an informal session of the Security Council. "We believe that the Security Council should stick to items on its agenda."
As of now, Sri Lanka was not on the agenda. There are other fora, he said, to discuss the situation in Sri Lanka. "Why not go to the other fora?" he asked, but did not spell out any details.
A Foreign Ministry source said there was little chance that the Sri Lanka situation would be brought up before the Security Council.
He said both Russia and China would oppose such a move because the Russians wanted to avoid its human rights situation in Chechenya being put on the Security Council agenda and the Chinese would protect their flank against any attempts to put Tibet on the agenda. “In short, the asylum has been taken over by the inmates,” the source said.
According to Foreign Ministry sources, any proposal for a UN peace keeping force in Sri Lanka is a hard-sell because such a decision can be taken only by the 15-member Security Council. No peace keeping force can be despatched to any country without Security Council authorization, he added. |
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