Another Turn :

The visiting Archbishop of Canterbury and head of the Anglican Church Rt. Rev. Dr. Rowan Williams presenting a gift to the Mahanayaka of Asgiri Chapter Most Ven. Udugama Sri Buddharakitha Thera when he called on the Buddhist prelate in Kandy yesterday. Also in the picture is the Bishop of Kurunegala, Rt. Rev.Kumara Ilangasinghe.
Pic by Shane Seneviratne

Anglican head Williams seeks to foster Sri Lanka peace
Wed May 9, 3:37 AM ET

COLOMBO (Reuters) - Visiting Sri Lanka amid escalating civil war, the spiritual leader of the world's 77 million Anglicans said on Wednesday he wanted to help foster peace on the majority-Buddhist island.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, making a pastoral visit to the island as the state fights near daily land and sea battles with separatist Tamil Tiger rebels, said he wanted to learn about suffering caused by a war that has killed nearly 70,000 people since 1983.

"I'm here partly making a passing visit to the bishops with whom I work in this area but I'm also conscious that this is a time of great trial and suffering for the people of Sri Lanka," Williams told Reuters Television in the capital Colombo.

"I want to be here to learn something about the situation, to see how the Church is responding to it and to give encouragement to those working for peace here."

Williams visited the ancient hill capital of Kandy on Tuesday, where the sacred tooth relic of Lord Buddha is kept, and met with top Buddhist clergy. An estimated 70 percent of Sri Lankans are Buddhist, with Christians trailing Hindus and Muslims at around 6 percent.

Williams' trip coincides with a visit by a top U.S. State Department official Richard Boucher, who is expected to urge President Mahinda Rajapaksa's government to crack down on reported rights abuses by security forces and to rein in paramilitaries.

Williams' visit also comes after Britain last week suspended around $3 million dollars in debt relief aid to the government citing concerns about human rights abuses and mushrooming defence spending.


Co-chairs to discuss Lankan crisis
Bush discusses Lankan issue with Indian Premier
By Easwaran Rutnam


The co-chairs to the Tokyo donor conference – The United States, the European Union, Norway and Japan – will meet in Colombo tomorrow to take stock of the volatile situation in the country, well informed sources told the Daily Mirror.


Richard Boucher, the visiting US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian affairs will attend the meeting with the co-chairs ambassadors who are said to be concerned over the fate of the ceasefire agreement as a result of the deteriorating security situation.


The Daily Mirror further learns Indian High Commissioner Alok Prasad may attend the co-chair meeting with the visiting US envoy in the light of New Delhi having similar concerns. Last week Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunga was in New Delhi to deliver a message to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.


Meanwhile US President George W. Bush, on Monday evening, discussed the situation in Sri Lanka during a telephone conversation with Prime Minister Singh, India’s SUN TV news reported yesterday. The two leaders had discussed the increasing hostile situation between government troops and the LTTE and the threat posed by the LTTE air capabilities.


A statement from the Indian Prime Minister’s office however did not make any reference to the two leaders discussing the issue in Sri Lanka but instead said they discussed “regional matters” apart from more specific issues related to the US and India.

The government on Monday reiterated that the LTTE’s homegrown air wing of light aircraft poses a threat to India's nuclear installations. "There is an air threat which has a range of 200-300 nautical miles, and this range brings within it not only cities within Sri Lanka, shipping in the Indian Ocean, but also the nuclear installations of India," Foreign Secretary Dr. Palitha Kohona told a media briefing. "And we are talking about a terrorist organisation that did not hesitate to murder the prime minister of our neighbour," he added


U.S. envoy mulls problems of civilians, spurned peace process in northern Sri Lanka
The Associated Press
Wednesday, May 9, 2007

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka: The United States will try to help solve some of the problems suffered by civilians living on a war-ravaged peninsula in northern Sri Lanka, a senior U.S. diplomat said Wednesday during a visit to discuss the country's stuttering peace process.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher traveled Wednesday to the Jaffna peninsula, a predominantly ethnic Tamil area, where he met with local government, military and civic leaders, as well as university teachers and students, the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry said.

"I have had a very interesting visit and spoke to a lot of people about the situation here, trying to understand the difficulties people face," he told reporters in Jaffna.

"We'll try to do our part to try and solve some of these problems," Boucher said, without elaborating.

The ministry did not say what Boucher discussed with the officials.

In August, the military blocked the only land link to the peninsula — parts of which are controlled by separatist Tamil rebels — effectively cutting off some 500,000 ethnic Tamils from the rest of the country. The closure has led to soaring food prices in Jaffna.

The Tamil Tiger rebels began fighting in 1983 to establish an independent homeland in Sri Lanka's north and east for the country's mostly Hindu Tamils, who have faced decades of discrimination by the predominantly Buddhist Sinhalese majority.

The Jaffna peninsula is the heart of that violent struggle.

The war killed at least 65,000 people before a Norwegian-brokered cease-fire in 2002. But the peace process has steadily unraveled since December 2005, and air raids, bus bombings, suicide attacks and jungle clashes have claimed an estimated 4,000 lives since then.

Boucher's visit to the north comes just days after fighter jets pounded rebel positions there.

On Tuesday, Boucher met with Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama. He was also scheduled to hold talks with President Mahinda Rajapakse and other officials during his three-day visit, which ends Thursday.


No room for foreign interference - Foreign Minister
House of Commons debate does not reflect British Govt's view:
Ranil Wijayapala and Irangika Range

KOTTE: Foreign Affairs Minister Rohitha Bogollagama yesterday assured the Parliament that not even a semblance of foreign interference in the internal affairs of the country will be allowed under President Mahinda Rajapaksa's administration.

Responding to a JVP sponsored adjournment debate on the House of Commons debate on Sri Lankan situation, the Minister said the UK has not conveyed any message through diplomatic channels about any decision taken by the Parliament regarding the Parliamentary group's proposed visit to Sri Lanka.

"If there is any such message we will respond to it accordingly," the Minister added. He said the debate on Sri Lankan situation by the UK House of Common was a mixture of view about the Sri Lankan situation by various political parties and it does not reflect the view of the British Government.

"When we visit other countries, we brief them the current situation of Sri Lanka. It is just a debate and there is no need to panic about it.

They have agreed the LTTE should be abandoned."

He also said that strong foreign diplomatic relationships are very important to the country. Otherwise it could be isolated.

"We have understood the need for a proper political solution. The Government would like to extend an invitation to each political party to join hands to find a solution for the ethnic issue. The Government will bring a lasting solution.

The Government always utilises its best efforts to defeat terrorism and bring a lasting solution within the democratic framework," the Minister added.