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UN Post- Tyrone's Name Not Endorsed by The Cabinet
Bandula Jayasekara in Colombo,
SLT 7.00 A.M Friday 16 January.
The Cabinet of ministers had not endorsed the name of minister for foreign
affairs Tyrone Fernando as a candidate for the post of United Nations
Secretary-General to contest from Sri Lanka in the year 2006. Though a
foreign ministry press statement was issued in October last year under the
headline "Cabinet endorses Tyrone's candidature for UN top post", the
cabinet had only given permission to ascertain the possibilities.
The press statement said " The Cabinet last night approved Foreign Minister
Tyrone Fernando's candidacy for the post of UN Secretary General which will
be vacant in 2007 when present Secretary General Kofi Annan's term ends. The
proposal suggesting Fernando was presented by Prime Minister Ranil
Wickremesinghe. It was passed unanimously, Cabinet sources said."
However, contrary to the above report, according to reliable sources, what
had actually transpired at the Cabinet meeting on 8th October 2003 was quite
different. According to these sources, the Cabinet did not endorse Foreign
Minister Tyrone Fernando's candidature for the post of UN Secretary General.
The relevant minute of the Cabinet meeting held on 08.10.2003 is as follows.
" (F) Any Other Business"
21. Cabinet authorized the Minister of Foreign Affairs to ascertain the
firm commitments and
support for his candidature for the post of Secretary General of
United Nations and report to
Cabinet.
Action by: My/Foreign Affairs
Copied to: Secretary to the Prime Minister "
However, minister Fernando had been carrying out an aggressive campaign
using the foreign ministry. He had challenged any diplomat better than him
to come forward and to contest for the post, which would fall vacant only in
2006 .A United Nations Wire Report filed by Respected former New York Times
UN Bureau Chief Barbara Crossett says that a South Asian, Tyrone Fernando,
foreign minister of Sri Lanka, the first to declare publicly that he was a
candidate for the UN Secretary-Generals post has scant international
experience and is not even considered a strong contender. Names mentioned so
far are of Anwarul Karim Chowdhury, a well-known and popular diplomat from
Bangladesh, India's Shashi Tharoor, now undersecretary general for
communications at the United Nations. Thailand's Surin Pitsuwan, a former
foreign minister and Singapore's Kishore Mahbubani its permanent
representative at the United Nations, South Korea's Han Sung-Joo and our own
former UN Under- Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, Jayantha
Dhanpala. However, unlike minister Fernando, none of them have announced
their names as contenders for the post.
Published: Thu Jan 15 19:59:46 EST 2004
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Tamils celebrate Thai Pongal in Colombo.
Leo de Lile in Colombo,
12.25pm, SLT Jan.15, 2003.
A Sri Lankan Tamils worship in a New Kathiresan Hindu temple at Welawatha,
on Thursday, January. 15. Sri Lanka's minority Tamils who were at the center
of two decades of civil war, joined millions of others around the world to
celebrate the harvest festival, the Tamil equivalent of Thanksgiving. It is
held to honor the Sun, for a bountiful harvest. Families gather to rejoice
and share their joy and their harvests with others. The Sun is offered a
"Pongal" of rice and milk, giving thanks to sun for the rich harvests
reaped.
More...
Published: Thu Jan 15 04:03:07 EST 2004
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20,000 School dropouts have returned to schools in North/East
Bandula Jayasekara in Colombo,
SLT 6.45 A.M Friday 16 January.
Nearly 20,000 school dropouts have returned to schools in the North East
after the ceasefire agreement between the government and the LTTE. In the
North/East, the rate of student dropout was 15%, approximately 50,000
children, four times the national average. The government has now developed
an action plan to address the needs of 50,000 children affected by war.
According to the office of the Commissioner General of Relief,
Reconstruction and Rehabilitation 55 schools have been reconstructed by
using donor fund while 93 schools have been identified for repairs in 2004
using international resources. 35,000 children in the region have been
provided with tables and chairs in the classrooms.
The ministry of education is carrying out general education projects,
teacher education and teacher deployment projects, rehabilitation of schools
vacated by the security forces and secondary education modernization
projects with the support of donors such as the World Bank, ADB, GTZ and
NORAD. In the North and the East of Sri Lanka, there are 1,994 schools with
a total enrolment of about 648,000.
Though the government has shown an increased interest to improve the
education in the North and the East the LTTE activities targeting school
children continues. Last week twenty members of the LTTE staged propaganda
dramas at the Tamil Maha Vidyalaya in Vauniya during school sessions without
obtaining permission from the authorities. LTTE staged the drama despite
number of assurances given to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission on several
occasions. Latest report released by the Refugees International pointed
out that many families fear that their sons, including teenagers, will be
induced to join or will be impressed into the LTTE's army and recruitment of
child soldiers by the LTTE has increased since the ceasefire.
Earlier reports said that some parents have stopped their children from
going to school since the LTTE is abducting unsuspecting children at the
rate of nearly two a day. School children have expressed concern that they
cannot concentrate on exams due to fear. One official said " The government
can do this much and more. But, the LTTE must allow innocent children to
study since they are the future of this country."
Published: Thu Jan 15 19:12:53 EST 2004
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