Sri Lanka's government misses deadline for proposals to solve ethnic conflict
The Associated Press Wednesday, August 15, 2007 COLOMBO,

Sri Lanka: Government and opposition politicians charged with finding a political compromise to resolve Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict missed a crucial Wednesday deadline to hand in their proposals, a lawmaker said.
The All Party Representative Committee was supposed to submit its proposals for constitutional reform — which were expected to include a plan for devolving power from the central government — by Aug. 15.
The ethnic Tamil minority, which has suffered discrimination by the majority Sinhalese-controlled government for decades, wants Sri Lanka's provinces to be given more power. This would allow Tamils to exercise more control over their traditional homelands in the north and east, where Tamil separatists have been fighting for independence for more than two decades.
Gayantha Karunathilake, a lawmaker for the main opposition United National Party, said the government committee had missed the opposition-set deadline.
"The government is just wasting time," Karunathilake said.
The head of the committee, Tissa Vitharana, said two parties in the ruling coalition had requested an extension to discuss certain issues with their party leaders.
"We will begin discussions next week with a view to finalize a set of proposals," he said, but did not elaborate.
The United National Party must agree to any proposed constitutional reforms in order for them to be pushed through Parliament.
The separatist Tamil rebels have long claimed that bickering between the two main political parties has made a political settlement to the conflict impossible. More than 70,000 people have died in the civil war.

Top Sri Lanka official calls U.N. aid chief "terrorist"
Wed Aug 15, 2007 4:46PM IST Email Print Digg Single Page [-] Text [+] COLOMBO (Reuters) -

A top Sri Lankan government official called U.N. Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes a "terrorist" on Wednesday after he voiced concern about aid worker safety on the island last week.
Chief Government Whip Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, who is also the island's highways minister, told a media briefing he believed Holmes had taken a bribe from separatist Tamil Tiger rebels and 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 in the Sinhala language.
"So Holmes, who supports the LTTE (Tamil Tigers), is also a terrorist. This person tries to tarnish the image of Sri Lanka internationally," he added. "I think the LTTE has bribed Holmes."
Fernandopulle gave no proof to back up his assertion.
Holmes said on a visit to Sri Lanka last week the island had one of the worst records in the world for humanitarian aid worker safety.
He said almost 30 aid workers had been killed over the past 18 months. The Consortium for Humanitarian Agencies, an umbrella group of 104 aid agencies operating in Sri Lanka, puts the number at 34, a figure the government questions.
The government has accused Holmes of bias, helping to tarnish the government's reputation and indiscretion. The island's prime minister told parliament last week the government "utterly rejected" his remarks.
Holmes's visit coincided with the anniversary of the discovery of the massacre of 17 local staff of Paris-based aid agency Action Contre la Faim, which Nordic truce monitors have blamed on state security forces.
The government's peace secretariat has blamed the aid group, accusing it of negligence and irresponsibility.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa's government denies security forces have been involved in rights abuses and says a presidential commission is probing the allegations. The government has also rejected calls for a United Nations rights monitoring mission.
Nearly 70,000 people have been killed in the conflict in Sri Lanka since 1983 -- around 4,500 in the last year alone.
APRC adjourns indefinitely
By Kelum Bandara
Despite plans to handover its final report to President Mahinda Rajapaksa within this week, the All Party Representative Committee meeting was adjourned indefinitely yesterday. It is also reported that the adjournment comes after the APRC had reached 70% consensus on many issues.

According to some of the party representatives who attended the meeting yesterday, SLFP Representative Prof. Wiswa Warnapala and the MEP representatives had wanted the meeting adjourned as they wanted to consult their party leaders. At this moment, some of the minority party members had questioned whether the SLFP wanted to consult the President. Prof. Wisawa Warnapala who had represented the SLFP had mentioned that the President had to be consulted on certain matters.
Responding to the statement the minority parties had asked that the next date of the meeting be notified to them as they were prepared to attend it on short notice.
Prof. Wiswa Waranapala, when contacted by the Daily Mirror, confirmed that he together with the MEP wanted the meeting adjourned as they had to consult their party leaders. However, the APRC is to meet next Monday, according to him.
Earlier it was reported that the APRC had agreed in principle to abolish the Executive Presidency.
Highly placed political sources told the Daily Mirror that it had been agreed to make the Executive President answerable to Parliament under the proposed constitutional reforms aimed at resolving the national issue.
As agreed, the abolition of the Executive Presidency is supposed to be done when the first term of President Mahinda Rajapaksa expires in 2010. However, during the interim period the Committee had recommended that the President be made accountable to the House.