Des Browne arrives in Sri Lanka today on his first visit since Sri Lankan government rejected his appointment as special envoy to Sri Lanka by Prime Minister Gordon Browne.
Four other British Members of Parliament also joining him in the visit. The delegation that will be in Sri Lanka for two days, are John Bercow (C); Malcolm Bruce (LD); Edward McGrady (SDLP), and Mohammed Sarwar (Lab).
Sri Lanka has invited Mr Browne to visit as part of a cross-party British parliamentary delegation to meet Sri Lankan officials and visit Tamil detention centres on guided tours.
Tamils believe this visit by British delegates will only be an acquaintance with the situation in detention centres.
The Defence Secretary Rajapakse tagged the visit last week by David Miliband with his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner, as waste of time. And President Rajapkse in hard terms told western teachings are not required to Sri Lanka. David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, returned empty-handed from Sri Lanka after a joint mission with Bernard Kouchner, to appeal for a ceasefire and approval for aid agencies to access to conflict area.
A statement on the Defence Ministry website Sunday lashed out at Western governments, it said that some countries that portray themselves as the global guardians of human rights, had made several shameless attempts to recommend punitive action against Sri Lanka. Ironically, these so-called human rights champs tried to justify their claims saying that they were doing it for the safety of civilians. Moreover, they put a number of ridiculous demands on the Sri Lanka government, such as offering amnesty to the terrorists, allowing a third party to rescue the terrorist leaders, go for a ceasefire, etc. Never did history unmask the hypocrisy and the sanctimony of the Western Powers than their behaviour towards Sri Lanka during recent times. In this context, the people of Sri Lanka are grateful for the wholehearted support given to them by India, Pakistan and the rest of the South Asian countries, China, Russia, Pakistan, Japan, Iran, Libya, Vietnam, Mid-East, African and Southeast Asian countries.
Mr Miliband told the parliament Thursday on his return from Sri Lanka that the Sri Lankan Government is engaged in a war without witness in the north of the country. Civilians have fled the terror of the LTTE, but are afraid of what awaits them at the hands of the Government and unsure whether they will ever be allowed home.
He said they were given assurances by the Sri Lankan Government that they had nothing to hide. And Miliband said they made a request to Sri Lanka to allow UN agencies and international non-governmental organisations the freedom to operate to capacity in all areas, for greater confidence from the international community.
He added, Mr Des Browne will take up the invitation of President Rajapaksa and visit Sri Lanka as part of a cross-party group of MPs next week and will pursue these points.
The foreign Secretary said he will be visiting New York on 11 May for UN Security Council business and will pursue further UN involvement in the crisis. He was to discuss with Secretary Clinton that night on how to work more closely together to find a way to bring the fighting to a stop. The detail of the discussion was not made public yet.
Des Browne at the parliament debate on Sri Lanka:
All hon. Members know from our experience of debates, particularly on Northern Ireland, exactly what we need to do to create an inclusive peace process that has no preconditions attached to it, respects the rights and aspirations of all parties in a diverse community, and leads to a lasting peace. I had no illusions about my ability to resolve decades of conflict, but I wanted to make a small contribution in that context on the island of Sri Lanka. I have felt frustrated by my inability to do that thus far, but I have never given up on the opportunity to do so at some stage, if I stuck at it.
Now there is a greater challenge, a humanitarian crisis and a situation that can be resolved only by a ceasefire and agreement to the conditions that I understand the Sri Lankan Government have agreed with John Holmes, Walter Kaelin and all those who have intervened with them and have been accepted on the island to discuss the matters that Members have raised about international supervision, conduct, and care of the people who come out of the conflict zone.
If hon. Members present, and those who hear this speech otherwise, will forgive me, I do not intend to rehearse all the steps that need to be taken, because I agree with what everybody has said. I want to say that the Sri Lankan Government have invited me to go to Sri Lanka with an all-party group of Back-Bench Members of Parliament. Those who have agreed to come with me are distinguished, serious and well-qualified Members of this House; I will not identify them because I have not agreed with them that I can do so. In any event, the applications for visas are with the Sri Lankan Government as I speak, and I want to ensure that they are processed and that we get to go.
I close by saying that I intend to go with that group to Sri Lanka to deliver on behalf of the House the message that it agrees today. I agreed to be the Prime Minister’s special envoy to work with and for the Government but not be of the Government, but I am a Member of this House. For that reason, I hope that the parties’ Front-Bench teams can get together and discuss what we are debating today, and give us a message that we can take to Sri Lanka that does not have behind it the division implied by a vote in this House. It will be much better if we speak with one voice, which we do. In five or 10-minute speeches one Member might give slightly different emphasis from another, and connections with people in our constituencies or elsewhere might rightly cause us to deliver certain messages, but we all agree about this.
We should speak with one voice and empower the small group of people from all parties who have bravely and readily agreed to come with me next week to deliver a very strong message. In that way, perhaps we can be one institution that says to the Sri Lankan Government and the people in the conflict, “This killing must stop, and there are very simple steps that can be taken to allow all of you to emerge from this with dignity and live in peace.”
The house resolved: 'That this House strongly supports the efforts of the Government within the United Nations, the European Union, the G8 and other international bodies to bring about an end to the conflict in Sri Lanka, to open the way for an international humanitarian relief effort and to promote a process of political reconciliation; welcomes the £7.5 million the Government has already committed to the relief effort; supports the Foreign Secretary’s joint visit to Sri Lanka with his French counterpart; endorses the Government’s calls for the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to declare an immediate ceasefire and to allow the civilians trapped in the No Fire Zone to leave unhindered, facilitated by the UN; urges both parties to the conflict to allow full and unrestricted access for humanitarian aid to be safely delivered; supports the Government’s efforts to persuade the government of Sri Lanka to allow international oversight of all internally displaced persons, including a transparent registration process and improved conditions within the camps with better access to food, water and medical facilities; urges the government of Sri Lanka to allow freedom of movement in and out of the camps so that families separated by the conflict can be reunited; and endorses the Government’s efforts to persuade the government of Sri Lanka to initiate a process of political reconciliation with all speed as the only way of ensuring a lasting peace between the communities.’
-News analyzed and edited by Tamil National [editor2tamilnational.com]
