Sri Lankan demonstrators marched to Russia’s embassy yesterday to express gratitude for support against a UN war crimes panel, the subject of a fourth day of protests that have cracked open a rift with the world body.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday recalled the head of UN Sri Lanka for consultations and blasted Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government for failing to stop protesters from disrupting work at the world body’s office.
Ban also ordered closed the regional office of the UN Development Program, based in Colombo, but which UN officials in Sri Lanka said had already been downsized in preparation for a planned move to Bangkok. The main country office remains open.
The protests led by Sri Lankan Construction Minister Wimal Weerawansa, a popular nationalist ally of Rajapaksa, began on Tuesday with demonstrators clashing with police who tried to escort trapped UN staff out, until the government ordered them to stand down.
Weerawansa is staging a “fast unto death” protesting the UN move and he resigned from the Cabinet yesterday, according to his resignation letter.
He said in the letter addressed to Rajapakse that he was leaving the Cabinet with immediate effect to continue his struggle against the UN.
“I understand that the government is in difficulty because a Cabinet member is leading this agitation against the UN,” he said in his letter. “Therefore, I am resigning from my portfolio.”
While Weerawansa entered his second day of his hunger strike, about 300 demonstrators marched about a kilometer to the Russian embassy from the UN offices in central Colombo.
“We should thank Russia for standing by us,” demonstrator Anuruddha Perera said.
Members of the group flooded an embassy official with bouquets of flowers and handed over a letter. Others carried placards reading: “Thank you Russia, we need your support again.”
Russia and China both have criticized the three-member panel as unnecessary. It is tasked with advising Ban whether war crimes were committed at the end of Sri Lanka’s 25-year conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Sri Lanka destroyed the LTTE in May last year, but drew primarily Western criticism for the thousands of civilian deaths in the final months of the offensive. Both the government and LTTE were accused of putting civilians in harm’s way.
Rajapaksa in turn accuses the West of applying double standards to Sri Lanka’s fight to destroy a group on US and EU terrorism lists. The government says Ban’s panel violates its sovereignty, because it has its own commission probing the war.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was