Sri Lanka's new prime minister was sworn into office yesterday and said hardline President Chandrika Kumaratunga was now in charge of reviving peace talks with Tamil rebels.
"They [talks] should start as soon as possible," new Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse told reporters as he left his house for the swearing-in ceremony. "We need peace."
He said Kumaratunga would be in charge of the peace process once the new government takes over after proving its majority in parliament, which is due to convene on April 22.
Direct talks with the Tamil Tigers, fighting for two decades for a separate Tamil state in the north and east of the island, broke down last April, although a two-year-old truce has held.
"The president will handle the peace process," Rajapakse said after 10 Buddhist monks blessed him in an early-morning ceremony.
But uncertainty surrounding the new government hit the markets, with the key Colombo all-share index plunging 9.5 percent.
Rajapakse also said neighboring India, which intervened in Sri Lanka's rebellion in the 1980s before withdrawing after heavy troop losses, should take a larger role in trying to bring a permanent end to the war that has killed 64,000 people.
"India must come in as soon as possible," he said.
Rajapakse was greeted by warm applause from party leaders when he entered the colonial-era Presidential Secretariat building to be sworn in as the country's 13th prime minister.
There was a light moment when Rajapakse's eyeglasses caught in the end of his trademark red scarf and it took him a minute to untangle them.
He said his first job would be to secure a majority in parliament.
"The first priority is that. We are very confident of getting a majority. I do not want to give names right now," he said of possible coalition partners.
Rajapakse, 58, will lead a government that is eight seats short of a majority in parliament, after his United People's Freedom Alliance won 105 seats in the 225-seat parliament in last Friday's general election.
NETWORK-MAPPING PROJECT: The database contains 170 detailed files of Taiwanese politicians and about 23 million records of household registration data in Taiwan China has developed a network-mapping project targeting political figures and parties in Taiwan to monitor public opinion during elections and to craft tailored influence campaigns aimed at dividing Taiwanese society, according to documents leaked by Chinese technology firm GoLaxy (中科天璣). The documents, collected by Taipei-based Doublethink Lab, showed a database was specifically created to gather detailed information on Taiwanese political figures, including their political affiliations, job histories, birthplaces, residences, education, religion and a brief biography about them. Several notable Taiwanese politicians are in the database, including President William Lai (賴清德), former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍),
RECOGNITION: Former Fijian prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry said that Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy serves as a stabilizing force in the Indo-Pacific region Taiwan can lead the unification of the Chinese people, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Polish president Lech Walesa said in Taipei yesterday, adding that as the world order is changing, peaceful discussion would find good solutions, and that the use of force and coercion would always fail. Walesa made the remarks during his keynote address at a luncheon of the Yushan Forum in Taipei, titled “Indo-Pacific Partnership Prospects: Taiwan’s Values, Technology and Resilience,” organized by the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Walesa said that he had been at the forefront of a big peaceful revolution and “if
North Korea tested nuclear-capable rocket launchers, state media reported yesterday, a day after Seoul detected the launch of about 10 ballistic missiles. The test comes after South Korean and US forces launched their springtime military drills, due to run until Thursday. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Saturday oversaw the testing of the multiple rocket launcher system (MRLS), the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The test involved 12 600mm-caliber ultra-precision multiple rocket launchers and two artillery companies, it said. Kim said the drill gave Pyongyang’s enemies, within the 420km striking range, a sense of “uneasiness” and “a deep understanding
North Korea yesterday fired about 10 ballistic missiles to the sea toward Japan, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, days after Pyongyang warned of “terrible consequences” over ongoing South Korea-US military drills. Pyongyang recently dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with Seoul, Washington’s security ally, describing its latest peace efforts as a “clumsy, deceptive farce.” Seoul’s military detected “around 10 ballistic missiles launched from the Sunan area in North Korea toward the East Sea [Sea of Japan] at around 1:20pm,” JCS said in a statement, referring to South Korea’s name for the body of water. The missiles
RSS