Mahinda Rajapakse, who was sworn in yesterday as Sri Lanka's new president, faces the daunting task of forging a permanent peace with the Tamil Tiger rebels or risk a return to civil war on the tropical island.
Rajapakse, whose victory on Friday also coincided with his 60th birthday, narrowly defeated challenger Ranil Wickremesinghe in a vote that was marred by a rebel boycott which prevented thousands of ethnic Tamils from casting ballots.
Chief Justice Sarath Silva was to administer the oath of office to Rajapakse at a ceremony yesterday that comes as escalating violence threatens a fragile 2002 ceasefire.
PHOTO: AP
"He is taking charge of the country at a time when it has been on decline with the regard to the ethnic conflict," political analyst Jehan Perera said.
Unlike Wickremesinghe, Rajapakse took a hard line against the rebels while campaigning for the election, which was seen as a referendum on the peace process.
Rajapakse said that he would never give in to demands by the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for sweeping autonomy in their strongholds in the north and east.
"The position he had taken during the election campaign will make it difficult for him to reverse the decline" in relations between the government and the rebels, Perera said.
"He needs to get the LTTE into a mutually acceptable framework. If he fails, there is risk of war returning," he added.
The Tigers have not made any comment on Rajapakse's victory but they have accused Sri Lanka's majority Sinhalese of discrimination and say that ethnic Tamils can only prosper in a separate state.
"The ethnic question is already staring at him in the face," the independent Island newspaper said in an editorial yesterday.
"He will have to unveil his plans as to how he is going to deal with the problem which has defied remedies for two decades," the editorial said.
Rajapakse secured support from Sinhalese voters, the most radical of whom oppose any concessions to the Tamil Tigers.
Wickremesinghe, who has favored granting the rebels more autonomy, was overwhelmingly supported by Sri Lanka's Tamil and Muslim minorities.
The Tamil Tigers began fighting for a separate state in 1983. More than 65,000 people were killed before the ceasefire, which led to peace talks that stalled over the Tigers' demands for broad autonomy.
Clashes, though sporadic, have intensified.
IDENTITY: A sex extortion scandal involving Thai monks has deeply shaken public trust in the clergy, with 11 monks implicated in financial misconduct Reverence for the saffron-robed Buddhist monkhood is deeply woven into Thai society, but a sex extortion scandal has besmirched the clergy and left the devout questioning their faith. Thai police this week arrested a woman accused of bedding at least 11 monks in breach of their vows of celibacy, before blackmailing them with thousands of secretly taken photos of their trysts. The monks are said to have paid nearly US$12 million, funneled out of their monasteries, funded by donations from laypeople hoping to increase their merit and prospects for reincarnation. The scandal provoked outrage over hypocrisy in the monkhood, concern that their status
Trinidad and Tobago declared a new state of emergency on Friday after authorities accused a criminal network operating in prisons across the country of plotting to kill key government officials and attack public institutions. It is the second state of emergency to be declared in the twin-island republic in a matter of months. In December last year, authorities took similar action, citing concerns about gang violence. That state of emergency lasted until mid-April. Police said that smuggled cellphones enabled those involved in the plot to exchange encrypted messages. Months of intelligence gathering led investigators to believe the targets included senior police officers,
The United States Federal Communications Commission said on Wednesday it plans to adopt rules to bar companies from connecting undersea submarine communication cables to the US that include Chinese technology or equipment. “We have seen submarine cable infrastructure threatened in recent years by foreign adversaries, like China,” FCC Chair Brendan Carr said in a statement. “We are therefore taking action here to guard our submarine cables against foreign adversary ownership, and access as well as cyber and physical threats.” The United States has for years expressed concerns about China’s role in handling network traffic and the potential for espionage. The U.S. has
A disillusioned Japanese electorate feeling the economic pinch goes to the polls today, as a right-wing party promoting a “Japanese first” agenda gains popularity, with fears over foreigners becoming a major election issue. Birthed on YouTube during the COVID-19 pandemic, spreading conspiracy theories about vaccinations and a cabal of global elites, the Sanseito Party has widened its appeal ahead of today’s upper house vote — railing against immigration and dragging rhetoric that was once confined to Japan’s political fringes into the mainstream. Polls show the party might only secure 10 to 15 of the 125 seats up for grabs, but it is
RSS