 |
|
Sir John Holmes was flown to Jaffna by the Sri Lankan military for an official visit. Photo Daily Mirror |
Responding angrily to United Nation’s Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressions of support for a senior UN official who described Sri Lanka as “the most dangerous place for aid workers,” the Colombo government launched a tirade on Ki-Moon, following up its earlier scathing attack against UN humanitarian coordinator John Holmes as a "terrorist" who took a bribe from the Tamil Tigers.
Senior Sri Lankan minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle launched a scathing attack against Ki-moon, saying that he did not give a ‘damn’ about whatever the UN Secretary General had to say, The Nation newspaper reported on August 12.
Fernandopulle was responding to Ki-Moon’s criticism that Fernandopulle’s comments last week calling UN humanitarian coordinator John Holmes a "terrorist" who took a bribe from the LTTE were "unacceptable and unwarranted."
Meanwhile, Sir Holmes has has written to Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse explaining himself and appearing to back off from his earlier criticism of the Colombo government’s human rights record.
President Rajapakse has not commented on the controversy.
Fernandopulle, who is also the Chief Government Whip, told The Nation, “I don’t give a damn about what this UN boss has to tell me or Sri Lanka. He can say whatever he wants, but I will still go by what I said and that is, John Homes is a terrorist who takes bribes from the LTTE.”
Fernandopulle also said that he had a busy schedule, and had better things to do than waste his time listening to what the UN boss and the likes had to say.
“I do not care what the UN Secretary General says. We cannot allow any foreigner to come to our country and work against us,” he said.
“I am a busy man and I have bigger problems to worry about than a statement made by the UN Secretary,” he added.
Fernandopulle’s tirade was the latest in a week long volley of accusations from the Sri Lankan government against the United Nations.
It also ended the matter, with the UN quietly dropping its protests and Sir Holmes writing to Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse seeking to mend fences.
The whole saga started when Sir Holmes, at the end of his visit to Sri Lanka in early August, gave an interview to Reuters in which he said that the country had one of the worst records in the world for humanitarian aid worker safety.
Sir Holmes told Reuters: "there is a concern ... about the safety of humanitarian workers themselves and the record here is one of the worst in the world from that point of view."
“We've seen almost 30 humanitarian workers killed over the last 18 months or so," he added, calling on the government to probe civil war abuses and consider an international rights monitoring mission.”
The Consortium for Humanitarian Agencies, an umbrella group of 104 aid agencies operating in Sri Lanka, actually puts the number at 34, a figure the government rejects.
Holmes said he had positive and frank discussions with government officials, and had been reassured that abuses would be looked into. He called on the government and the Tigers to ensure aid workers have access to the needy, and called for respect of international humanitarian law.
However, the Sri Lankan government reacted furiously to Holmes’s comments. Key government figures accused Holmes of bias and of deliberately seeking to tarnish the government's reputation.
Speaking in the parliament, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake said Sir Holmes’ comments called into question the ability of the UN to be impartial.
"The government of Sri Lanka, in no uncertain terms, rejects John Holmes' assertion that Sri Lanka is not safe for humanitarian workers," Mr Wickremanayake said.
"The government cannot but feel that Sir John has contributed to those who seek to discredit the government and tarnish its international image."
Defense ministry official Keheliya Rambukwella reacting to Holmes;s comments told reporters a formal complaint was lodged with U.N. officials.
“We have written to our permanent representative in New York to take the matter up,” said Rambukwella. He further said Sri Lanka would ask for the UN undersecretary to retract his comments.
However the strongest criticism against the senior UN official came from minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle who called him a "terrorist" and accused him of taking a bribe from the Liberation tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Fernandopulle, told a media briefing he believed Holmes had deliberately tried to harm Sri Lanka's reputation.
"I would say Holmes is completely a terrorist, a terrorist who supports terrorism. We consider people who support terrorists also terrorists," Fernandopulle told the briefing.
"So Holmes, who supports the LTTE (Tamil Tigers), is also a terrorist. This person tries to tarnish the image of Sri Lanka internationally,"
"I think the LTTE has bribed Holmes." he added without giving any proof to back his accusations.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reacted to Fernandopulle’s accusations and said comments by the Sri Lankan minister calling his humanitarian coordinator a "terrorist" were "unacceptable and unwarranted,".
"We believe them (the comments) to be unwarranted and unacceptable and the secretary-general fully supports the work of his emergency relief coordinator, John Holmes." Said UN spokeswoman Michele Montas speaking to reporters.
She also said Sir Holmes, a Briton, has written to Sri Lanka's minister for disaster management and human rights, Mahinda Samarasinghe, saying it was "regrettable that a few words used in an interview have attracted disproportionate attention and have threatened to overshadow his sincere desire to have the most constructive relationship possible with the government."
In his letter, Holmes said that he was not ‘suggesting’ either to Reuters or in his discussions with the government that the government was not concerned about human right issues and not trying to protect humanitarian workers “but simply referring factually to the terrible incidents that have taken place and the need to step up even further all our efforts to prevent such things in future. That was my consistent message throughout.”
“It is all the more regrettable that one phrase I used in an interview with Reuters, in response to a question, has attracted quite disproportionate attention in some parts of the media and threatens to distort or overshadow the rest of the visit and the discussions, and my absolutely sincere desire to have the most constructive relationship possible with the government. I was certainly not deliberately trying to strike a different or more negative note in this interview, as some have suggested.”
“On the contrary my desire throughout the visit was to be consistent in public with what 1 was raising in private, and 1 had indeed raised my concern about the safety of humanitarian workers with virtually everyone I met, as you know, and also mentioned it at the press conference with you.”
Sir Holmes also called for a meeting with President Rajapaksa and Minister Samarasinghe during their visit to New York next month.
