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From Anura Maitipe in Hambantota

President Mahinda Rajapakse urged all political parties and other groups interested in peace to unite and work sincerely to strengthen the hands of the government in order to bring lasting peace in the country.

Addressing a meeting to inaugurate the Yovun Diriya program (Youth skills development) at Naigala in the Hambantota district yesterday President Rajapakse said that he led a parliamentarian group to Geneva when the human rights of the people in the South were violated in late 80s and today he has planned to send a similar group to Geneva to protect the human rights of the people in the North and East.

Neither a Government nor any other group has the right to kill people and my Government would respect the right to life of all citizens irrespective of their communal or political differences. Therefore, all parties involved in the issue should make sincere efforts to stop killing and move towards a peaceful settlement, President Rajapakse said.

The main objective of the Yovun Diriya program is to provide training opportunities to 97 percent students who are denied University education. With proper training, these youth would be able to secure well paid jobs locally and abroad, the President said.

To reach its development goals, the country needs to train its youth in different skills and this new program would harness such needs to prepare the youth towards this goal thereby shaping a disciplined work force, he added.

It is a known fact that the country is short of skilled workers to fill existing vacancies. Our target is to train 30,000 youth annually to meet the current local requirement. The excessive workforce would be channelled to the foreign job market, the President said.

President also said that no country could achieve its development targets without peace. "We have already taken steps to restart talks to bring lasting solution to the prolonged conflicts in the country", he added.

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