The Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs who is leading the Sri Lanka delegation to the 74th General Assembly Session is scheduled to discuss the matter regarding the Sri Lankan peace keeping troops with the Under Secretary General of the UN Department of Peace Operations today, September 27, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement yesterday.
"Following the statement issued by the Deputy Spokesman for the UN Secretary General on Wednesday (25th) that the UN Department of Peace Operations has decided to repatriate a Sri Lankan Army unit and individual officers currently serving with UN Peacekeeping due to concerns on the appointment of Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva as the Commander of the Sri Lanka Army, the Government of Sri Lanka is in discussion on this issue with the UN," the Foreign Ministry said.
"Following the statement issued by the Deputy Spokesman for the UN Secretary General on Wednesday (25th) that the UN Department of Peace Operations has decided to repatriate a Sri Lankan Army unit and individual officers currently serving with UN Peacekeeping due to concerns on the appointment of Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva as the Commander of the Sri Lanka Army, the Government of Sri Lanka is in discussion on this issue with the UN," the Foreign Ministry said.
Accordingly, Foreign Secretary Ravinatha Aryasinha is to meet the Under Secretary General of the UN Department of Peace Operations in New York today to discuss the issue.
UN Spokesman Farhan Haq said in a statement that while being grateful for these contributions to UN peace operations, particularly in some of the UN’s most complex missions, based on the UN’s commitment to the highest human rights standards for all personnel deployed on UN peace operations, the UN had expressed concerns to the Government of Sri Lanka over the appointment of Lt. Gen.Shavendra Silva to the position of Commander of the Sri Lanka Army.
Accordingly, the UN Department of Peace Operations had suspending future Sri Lankan Army deployments except where suspension would expose UN operations to serious operational risk.
However, speaking to the Daily News Military Spokesman Maj. Gen. Sumith Atapattu said the military had not been officially notified of an repatriation of Sri Lankan troops from UN peace keeping operations. But, he said that one unit deployed for UN peace keeping operations were scheduled to return to the country as their term of contract had ended. He added that there is a proper procedure that needs to be followed in such instances where the Foreign Ministry is first notified and where the military is then notified of such developments. However, Maj. Gen. Atapattu said that no such notification had been given to the Army regarding such a decision. He also noted that it was not becoming of such a UN official to make such a statement over the appointment of the Army Commander of an independent country, without having followed the proper channels.
(Daily News)