Category: News

What evidence does UK government need to sanction Sri Lankan Chief of Defence staff Shavendra Silva, who is credibility accused of involvement in mass atrocity crimes including extrajudicial executions and disappearances? Siobhain McDonagh MP raised this question in the UK parliament.

What more evidence foreign secretary needs to sanction against Silva, to follow the United States government in those sanctions for war crimes, she further asked.

We regularly engage with the US and other partners on issues relating to Sri Lanka, Amanda Milling, Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office), said in her reply to McDonagh.

The UK government keeps all evidence and potential designations under the UK Global Human Rights sanctions regime under close review, guided by the objectives of the sanctions regime. We would not normally speculate about future sanctions targets, as to do so could reduce their impact, she further added.

#timetosanction #lka generals says .⁦@Siobhain_Mc⁩ in uk parliament – design by ⁦@T_E_M_P_L_O⁩ pic.twitter.com/GyboJ9koNr

— ITJP (@itjpsl) January 25, 2022

Sri Lankan farmers have rejected a compensation offer and guaranteed purchase price for paddy for being inadequate and discriminatory.

“The farming community is not ready to accept the guaranteed price of 75 rupees [37 US cents] per kilo as it was not sufficient to cover the production costs of farmers,” said Namal Karunaratne, convener of the All Ceylon Farmers Federation.

He also criticized the decision to pay compensation to farmers who cultivated paddy only using organic fertilizer. “Compensation for crop losses should be paid to all farmers, whether it is paddy, vegetables or tea plantations. The government should pay more than 100,000 rupees per acre,” Karunaratne demanded.

The island nation’s farmers have been in crisis since the government banned chemical fertilizers and agrochemical imports in April 2021 to make the agriculture sector 100 percent organic.

The government decided to revoke the ban in November, allowing the private sector to import after a serious shortage of fertilizers across the nation and protests by farmers’ organizations and opposition parties.

Some farmers gave up cultivation during the season while others incurred huge debts as the crops failed due to a shortage of fertilizers.

Now the government has decided to pay compensation to all farmers who cultivated paddy during the season using organic fertilizer.

Minister of Agriculture Mahindananda Aluthgamage said the cabinet had approved 40,000 million rupees as compensation meant for paddy farmers who used organic fertilizers.

Tea plantation workers and vegetable growers affected by crop damage are now demanding that the government compensate them as well for crop damages.

Rights activist Nalin Suresh Hewawadu alleged the ban on chemical fertilizer imports was initiated to tide over the foreign currency reserves crisis and not for the benefit of farmers.

Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey has arrived in Sri Lanka on a one-day official visit.

The Turkish Foreign Minister, accompanied by a 13-member delegation arrived at the Katunayake Bandaranaike International Airport on a special flight from Turkey.

State Minister of Regional Cooperation Tharaka Balasuriya and the Turkish Ambassador to Sri Lanka welcomed the delegation at the BIA.

The Turkish Foreign Minister and the delegation are scheduled to depart Sri Lanka at 3.15 pm today.

“Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Türkiye, will pay official visits to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and to the Republic of Maldives on 28-30 January 2022,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.

“All aspects of bilateral relations as well as current regional and international issues will be discussed at the meetings to be held during both visits,” the Ministry added.

Sri Lanka has initiated a country strategy for India with an eye on integrating its ‘fragile’ economy with the Indian economy with focus on eight sectors to boost fortunes, The Economic Times reports after an interview with the Ambassador of Sri Lanka to India, Milinda Moragoda.

The Gotabaya Rajapaksa-led Government has identified energy, refineries, electricity grid, ports, real estate, tourism and information and communications technology for attracting investments from India, Moragoda has stated.

“India is the biggest economy in the region and Lanka wants to benefit from the Indian growth story,” he said. “Lanka can be a springboard for the Indian investors in the region. Our idea is to integrate our economy into the Indian economy for a win-win situation.” he mentioned.

The article reads as follows;

The Trincomalee oil firm project is one of the concrete initiative that could lead to integration with the Indian energy sector, Moragoda said. Lanka also has requirement for oil refineries and look forward to Indian refiners participation in that sector. Cross-border electricity grid is another area where Lanka is seeking to integrate into the Indian grid, given its limited requirements compared to India. “Few of India’s other neighbors have benefitted from this model,” the envoy said.

Colombo also plans to expand collaboration in the fields of strategic cooperation, defence and Indian Ocean security between Sri Lanka and India, according to the country strategy document. This would include expanding bilateral joint military exercises, study tours, and increased high-level military exchanges. The goal is also to secure relevant training berths offered by India’s defence ministry and establish and maintain contacts with India’s paramilitary and police forces, with a view to securing additional training opportunities for Sri Lankan forces.

Sri Lanka is in talks with bondholders to avoid default and is also now considering discussing a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa has said.

He told the London Financial Times that Sri Lanka is looking at all options to avoid default and alleviate the economic crisis.

“We have [international sovereign bonds] which we have to repay back, so we are negotiating with them. Then we have creditors and we have to service their debt, so whether we can have an adjustment or some type of thing,” he said.

Rajapaksa added that the Government would “think about a programme with the IMF . . . All those discussions are going as well.”

The Government had recently said that it is unlikely to seek a bailout from the IMF.

Most members of the Cabinet did not support seeking financial support from the IMF.

A majority in the Cabinet are against the pre-conditions expected to be proposed by the IMF for the funding.

IMF’s mission chief for Sri Lanka, Masahiro Nozaki had told Daily Mirror via email in late December that the staff is still ready to discuss the option if requested.

Nozaki said a staff team from the IMF visited Colombo from December 7–20 to conduct the 2021 Article IV consultation with Sri Lanka.