Senior most Political Affairs official here
by Shamindra Ferdinando : The Island
Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama yesterday said B. Lynn Pascoe, United Nations Under Secretary General for Political Affairs, would visit the Vavuniya welfare centres for the internally displaced persons this week.
Speaking to The Island Bogollagama said President Mahinda Rajapaksa had telephoned UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Monday regarding the impending visit. Subsequently, the Minister had contacted Pascoe, who held the post of US Ambassador in Indonesia before accepting the top UN posting on the invitation of Moon, in March 2007.
Bogollagama said Sri Lanka had nothing to hide and welcomed Pascoe’s visit to the northern Vavuniya region. He said it was part of regular consultations with the UN on what he called the post-LTTE era though some had sought to interpret the visit differently. He said critics could not have been blind to Sri Lanka’s untiring efforts to resettle the displaced as quickly as possible though the process was slow due to the presence of anti-personnel and other types of mines both east and west of the A9.
Moon visited Vavuniya a few days after the LTTE had collapsed with the killing of its leader Velupillai Prabhakaran on the banks of the Nanthikadal lagoon on May 19, 2009.The Foreign Minister said since the UN chief’s visit last May, the situation at welfare centres had significantly improved with the assistance provided by the international community. He highlighted the food assistance provided by the World Food Programme as a critical element in the overall support given by the UN.
Diplomatic sources said that Pascoe would also take up Sri Lanka’s decision to expel UNICEF spokesperson James Elder for being overtly critical of the Sri Lankan government, particularly with regard to running of welfare camps.
Northern Province Governor Major General (ret.) G. A. Chandrasiri told The Island yesterday that the number of the displaced accommodated at welfare centres had been reduced to 247, 804 by September 3, 2009. There had been 288,938 as at May 22, 2009 (at the time of the UN Secretary General’s visit), he said.
Chandrasiri, who was in Jaffna to review humanitarian work, said that they were in the process of releasing 9,920 men, women and children from Vavuniya welfare camps. “We should be able to complete their release within the next few days, perhaps within a week,” he said.
Bogollagama said that contrary to certain reports, the government had given the international community direct access to IDP centres even at the height of the war. He said India had medical personnel first at Pulmodai, where they treated the war wounded before shifting to Vavuniya. Had the Sri Lankan military had anything to hide and been engaged in widespread attacks on civilians as alleged by the LTTE and their supporters, the government would not have allowed an international presence within IDP centres, he said. UN representatives as well as Japanese special envoy Akashi had visited the largest IDP facilities, he said urging critics to look at the situation in the north with an open mind.