‘Reconciliation, is something unimaginable’

by Manjula Fernando

Ban Ki-moon who made an important second visit to Sri Lanka since the end of war in May 2009 left for China on Friday night, leaving some of the most pressing questions unanswered.

The UN Secretary General with President Maithripala Sirisena

At a media briefing wrapping up his three day official tour, at Galle Face Hotel, Colombo, the Secretary General sidestepped two important questions posed by the media, namely, whether the UN was proceeding on the presumption that Sri Lanka has committed war crimes; and the issue of international judges and prosecutors in the proposed domestic judicial mechanism.

As regards the second question he had a vague answer, to the effect that Sri Lanka was moving in the right direction, while the first question was never answered.

“This beautiful and bountiful island has so much to offer to the world,” the Secretary General said in his opening remarks at the media briefing and continued, “since my last visit in 2009, Sri Lanka has made great progress, and on the whole profound changes”.

Bold decision

However, he stressed that there was much more to do. Commenting that Sri Lanka is currently at the crossroads, the UN Chief welcomed the initiatives undertaken by the Unity Government to promote good governance and the bold decision to face the past.

“Sri Lanka has suffered too much from decades of violence and the people need to overcome distrust between the communities,” he opined.

“Unlike in the past you are receiving friendly support, sympathetic consideration and recognition (from the international community).” He said the gap between the international community and Sri Lanka was getting narrow. “There is a gap, even though you are not fully there (today), the level of gap has reduced.”

UN Secretary General and Mrs. Ban Soon-Taek with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Mrs. Maithree Wickremesinghe at Temple Trees

UN Chief Ban Ki-moon meets with Foreign Affairs Minister Mangala Samaraweera

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon meets with Justice C.V. Wigneswaran, Chief Minister of the Northern Province

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon meets with Reginal Cooray, Governor of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka, in province capital Jaffna.

Ban Ki-moon meets with some residents of the resettlement area in Palai Veemankamam South Village, Sri Lanka.

The UN Secretary-General inspects a home in the resettlement village of Veeman Kamam on the Jaffna Peninsula on September 2, 2016.

The UN Chief in Galle to address a youth event, ‘Reconciliation and Coexistence: Role of Youth’.

He attributed this goodwill to the commitment the Unity Government has shown to work with the international community to address their concerns but cautioned that Sri Lanka must work at a reasonable pace to ensure justice to victims.

The Secretary General said: “Reconciliation will not be accomplished overnight... it is a complex process...that requires continuous nurturing..it asks you something unimaginable.. it asks you to overcome all the harm done, the torture, the murders and extra judicial executions, suicide bombings, disappearances and forced recruitment, the suffering and violence..it asks you to overcome but not forget the loss of your loved ones. It calls on you.. to try to heal the wounds and begin to see each other as people, as part of the same country.. and learn to forgive.”

But, he said the victims cannot ‘wait forever’ to find justice.

Earlier in the afternoon, the Secretary General met the Governor of the Northern Province Reginald Cooray who welcomed him to the region.

Thereafter, he met with the Opposition Leader and a delegation of the TNA at the iconic Jaffna Library. Deviating from his original program, the Secretary General briefly met the Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Vigneswaran in an adjacent room. His original program did not have a specific slot to meet the Chief Minister.

TNA parliamentarians said, the UN Chief promised to ensure that the UN Human Rights Council resolution which addresses Sri Lanka’s past accountability issues and calls for international prosecutors and judges to take part in any future domestic reconciliation mechanisms, will be implemented in full.

While in Jaffna the UN Chief visited a resettlement village in Veemankamam where former IDPs languishing in camps have been resettled in permanent brick houses.

“First of all you have to address so many economic and social issues desired by people to promote reconciliation,” he underlined at the media briefing, while commending the establishment of the Office of Missing Persons and the moves currently afoot to rewrite the Constitution.

Moon, speaking at an event on the theme ‘Sri Lanka on SDG16: Sustaining Peace – Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals’, held the previous day at Hilton Colombo, commended the Government for the symbolic gesture of singing the national anthem in Sinhala and Tamil at the Independence Day celebrations, and for passing the 19th Amendment.

“To recover from the cataclysms of the past, Sri Lankans will need to have all four elements of post-conflict resolution: truth-telling, accountability, reparations and institutional reform. There is no fast route to achieving this. It will take many years of political courage and determination....I assure you that the United Nations will be your partner on every step of this journey,” he said.

Serious injustice

He listed the releasing of Northern land to its rightful owners and reducing the size of the military presence in the North and the East as some of the outstanding issues. “The UN also has to address its legacy of action in Sri Lanka,” the Secretary General said, adding that their role during the last phases of the conflict did not meet the expectations of the people and the world.

“We reviewed our involvement in the terrible events of that time and continue to take steps, to ensure that human rights are at the centre of our decision making,” he said, explaining that the outcome of this self-scrutiny will be applied to all its Member States equally. Soon after his arrival in Sri Lanka, the UN Secretary General and Mrs.Ban Soon-Taek met Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe at Temple Trees and President Maithripala Sirisena hosted him for dinner the next day at the President’s House.

The closed door meetings with the two leaders had focused on the future of the reconciliation process and a permanent solution to the ethnic issue.

The UN Chief travelled to Galle on Thursday to address a youth event, ‘Reconciliation and Coexistence: Role of Youth,’ where he pointed out that the exclusion of young people from peace building and reconciliation processes is a serious injustice.

“Why should young people be sent off to fight wars, but be prevented from building peace?,” he questioned. His visit was marred by several protests in Colombo by Sinhala nationalist movements which demanded a stop to the ‘UN meddling in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs’ and in Jaffna by groups of missing persons’ relatives ‘demanding justice for their loved ones’.

Moon departed for Hangzhou, China to attend the G 20 summit, at 10.30 p.m. Sri Lanka time on Friday, at the end of his two-day visit.