After days of defiance, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Tamara Kunanayakam, was transferred to Cuba, reported the Daily Mirror.
According to reports the external affairs minister, G.L. Peiris, made a phonecall to Kunanayakam late last month stated that she would be transferred to either Cuba or Brazil.
Indignant, she reportedly sent a letter to Peiris dated 1st May, rejecting the transfer offer.
Excerpts include:
"Your proposal to move me out only nine months after assuming duties as PR in Geneva, will suggest instability in our diplomacy and an ad hoc character, when, in a multilateral Mission, it is essential to display cohesion, unity and stability if we are not to be continuously on the defensive."
“Removing one of the very few Tamils heading diplomatic missions abroad will allow questioning of the bona fides of the Government’s commitment to reconciliation, will reinforce extremist elements on all sides, and validate the argument that mine was only a token appointment.”
In a subsequent interview with Lakbima News, Kunanayakam reiterated that she had no intention of resigning.
Some reports suggest that UPFA Galle District MP Sajjin de Vass Gunawardena and additional secretary Kshenuka Seneviratne were responsible for Kunanayakam's rapid exit from Geneva.
Sri Lanka's ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg and the EU, Ravinatha Aryasinha, has been appointed as the new Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva.
Sri Lanka's Deputy Head of Mission in Germany, P.M. Amza, will take Aryasinha's old role.
