The UK wants to block Sri Lanka from hosting the next Commonwealth heads of government meeting in 2011 in protest at Colombo’s military repression against the Tamil population earlier this year.
Speaking at the opening of the Commonwealth summit in Trinidad and Tobago on Friday, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will tell fellow Commonwealth leaders that it would be unacceptable for Sri Lanka to be allowed to host the meeting of one of the world’s largest groups of democracies.
At the last Commonwealth heads of government meeting in 2007, Sri Lanka said it would like to host the 2011 Commonwealth summit.
“The prime minister has real concerns about Sri Lanka’s bid,” a London source said.
“We simply cannot be in a position where Sri Lanka — whose actions earlier this year had a huge impact on civilians, leading to thousands of displaced people without proper humanitarian access — is seen to be rewarded for its actions,” the source said.
“The prime minister will continue to talk to other leaders about this, but is clear this won’t wash,” he said.
Brown feels strongly about blocking Sri Lanka’s bid because he believes hosting the next meeting would give Colombo respectability.
The Commonwealth has 53 members from four continents, representing almost one-third of the world’s population.
BLOODY WAR
Colombo ended a 26-year civil war earlier this year with a brutal military campaign against the Tamil Tigers that was widely condemned around the world. Up to 300,000 people were detained as they fled the last days of the fighting.
The London Observer reported that an estimated 136,000 Tamils remain behind barbed wire, most in the Menik Farm complex, near the town of Vavuniya.
John Holmes, the head of the UN’s humanitarian agency, last week told Colombo it should free the internees, a process now due to start on Tuesday.
Brown told Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa that he must ensure the suffering is minimised.
On June 16, Brown — who discussed Sri Lanka’s bid to host the Commonwealth meeting with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma — said: “Sri Lanka stands on the brink. We have called repeatedly for the violence to cease. The humanitarian agencies must be granted access to civilians caught in the crossfire of a dreadful conflict.”
“Sri Lanka must understand that there will be consequences for its actions,” he said.
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