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CONTROVERSIAL AMBASSADOR JON WESTBORG WILL FINISH HIS COLOMBO JOB AND RETURN BACK TO NORWAY SAYS RANIL WICKREMESINGHE By Walter Jayawardhana reporting from Los Angeles Norway’s controversial ambassador in Colombo, Jon Westborg will complete his assignment in Sri Lanka and return to Norway shortly, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe announced In a letter written to President Chandrika Kumaratunga, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was involved in a controversial deal of importing radio transmitter equipment and a VSAT satellite communication earth station for the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam with the Norwegian ambassador said Westborg was returning to Norway after six years of his job as Norway’s envoy in Colombo. Sri Lanka’s opposition parties vehemently protested against the ambassador and the second largest opposition party in Sri Lanka, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna wanted Westborg declared a Persona non Grata and be banished from the island nation. An organization of Buddhist monks, the Jathika Bhikku Front took part in spectacular demonstration in front of the Royal Norwegian embassy in Sri Lanka by burning the national flags of Norway.But the Prime Minister said in his reply to the President that the Norwegian ambassador was going back to his country after six years of service in Sri Lanka and the government of Norway would continue to utilize his services. “ Therefore, as a government, “ Ranil Wickremesinghe said, “ we should exercise due care at this critical stage of the peace process to ensure that the enthusiasm of the Norwegian facilitation and the momentum thus far generated continues undiminished.” Wickremesinghe said the credentials of Westborg’s successor had been handed over already to the Foreign Ministry in Colombo. Ranil Wickremesinghe did not mention what job the controversial Colombo ambassador of Norway and former head of the NGO Redd Barna in Sri Lanka prior to that is going to take up in Norway after the very powerful position he held in Colombo. But Wickremesinghe praised him as a person who was having “unrivalled experience of the ground realities in Sri Lanka.” The opposition groups also accused him as a person directly linked to the separatist activities of the LTTE during his time as the chief of the Redd Barna in Sri Lanka. Like the government’s earlier explanation for the importing of the transmitter and the communication equipment Ranil Wickremesinghe’s reply to President Chandrika Kumaratunga seemed to raise more issues than it promised to solve in this shady political deal. Speaking about the VSAT communication equipment Ranil’s Defense Secretary Austin Fernando told a London broadcasting station, BBC’s Sandeshaya, that the equipment had been spirited away before the inspection. But in his reply contradicting his own official Ranil Wickremesinghe said, “this unit for which clearance had been approved by the TRCSL had not been brought in to the country.” But he did not say why it was not brought into the country while it had been approved and why the LTTE vying for it threw the opportunity away. Ranil Wickremesinghe also said that dozens of VSAT communication units were being used in Sri Lanka by many including some foreign correspondents. But Ranil Wickremesinghe in his reply could not obviously give an assurance that the LTTE would not make use of it against Sri Lanka. Ranil Wickremesinghe argued in his reply to the President that this was the first time the LTTE radio broadcasts are going to operate under a government license. But Ranil Wickremesinghe did not explain how his government was going to regulate or what he was going to do if the laws were violated. Even right now the LTTE had illegally arrested a government soldier and presented him before an illegal court which remanded him . His government could not do a thing about it. Earlier the press and the opposition had raised many questions, which would erode the already damaged credibility of the Prime Minister. On January 3 2003 the island asked in an editorial: “ Our editorial of November 30, on the same subject pointed out that while the government says that the LTTE wrote to the government seeking a license for a radio station on October 18 by October 17 the equipment had already arrived in the Colombo Port!” The island editorial questioned Ranil Wickremesinghe: “Once the new transmitter is installed and if the LTE violates our broadcasting laws we simply cancel the license…and let them keep the transmitter!”. (EOM) (04/01/03 go2lanka.com) |