UNESCO's Matsuura to re-examine VoT issue

Director General of UNESCO, Koichiro Matsuura has assured Sri Lanka's Ambassador in France and delegate to the UNESCO, that he will re-examine the entire issue on the UNESCO press release issued earlier this week regarding the attack on the Voice of Tigers (VoT) Station.

The Director General gave this assurance when Ambassador Chithranganee Wagiswara met him on December 6 personally to lodge Sri Lanka's protest against the recent statement made by the Director General, in which he had "condemned" the air strike on the VoT radio station, which has been described as a "civilian" radio station. On the Instructions of the Foreign Minister, Ambassador Wagiswara re-asserted the government's position that the Director General's statement must be "retracted" as the VoT is a Clandestine Radio Station directly operated by the LTTE, a well-known terrorist organisation and is neither legal nor legitimate.

It was also noted that VoT cannot be considered as a "civilian" radio station and that those employees at the VoT facility cannot be considered as "Civilian" media personnel.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister, Rohitha Bogollagama, who made a statement on this matter in Parliament on Wednesday, has also brought the government's concerns on the UNESCO Director General's statement to the attention of the UN Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka, Neil Bhune. The Resident Coordinator maintained that he was neither consulted nor made aware of the UNESCO Director General's Statement, until he saw it reported in the media.

The Minister reiterated Sri Lanka's demand that the statement be retracted and informed the UN Resident Co-ordinator that he should make known to UNESCO the actual facts on the ground relating to the activities of the VoT. The Minister emphasised that the VoT was a terrorist broadcasting organisation and hence, was, legitimate target for attack, in Sri Lanka's fight against terrorism.

The Minister said that the UNESCO Director General's statement has been broadly condemned by the government, as well as Opposition parties including the UNP and JVP and has brought embarrassment to the UN system as a whole in Sri Lanka. Bhune assured the Minister that he would convey the Minister's sentiments to the UNESCO Director General and brief him on the matter.