UN role in Lanka under attack

Kadirgamar said that with the exception of the UNHCR, which is involved in providing humanitarian assistance to refugees, other UN agencieshave mandates only for economic and social development activities. “But they are trying to expand their mandate,” he said. The foreign minister said he would “not tolerate this”, adding that had he been in Sri Lanka, he “would have summoned them and given them a dressing down”.

The indirect tongue-lashing came soon after Kadirgamar made an impassioned appeal at the UNGA for the adoption of a convention on suppressing terrorism and for united international action against the recruitment of child soldiers, of which the LTTE stands accused by the Sri Lankan government.

It is understood that the UN is in the process of drafting a reply to Kadirgamar’s outburst against its officials.

Kadirgamar also had harsh words for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which too issued a statement condemning the two recent incidents in which civilians were killed.

“They should have drawn a distinction between the two, and not referred to the two incidents in the same breath. It looked as if theywere trying to make a virtue out of the retaliation,” he said, referring to the LTTE’s attack on villagers and the belief that it was an act of revenge for the Mullaithivu air-raid.

On an earlier occasion, the ICRC representative here was told off for commenting on an alleged air-raid on a church in Jaffna. The Geneva-based organisation then apologised to the government. Though dependent to a large extent on both the UN and ICRC for humanitarian aid, medical and technical assistance in and outside the conflict areas, the Sri Lankan establishment remains deeply suspicious of the motives of these two organisations.

After ICRC confirmed 21 civilian deaths in the recent air-raid in Mullaithivu, deputy defence minister Anuruddha Ratwatte also raised the issue of the accuracy of the organisation’s information “on air-strikes”.

Kadirgamar’s outburst against the two organisations has come at a time of heightened awareness in Sri Lanka of the role of the UN in East Timor. Questions have been raised in variousfora here, by supporters and opponents of the LTTE, if the precedent set by the UN in East Timor could be applied to Sri Lanka.