Ramaphosa to come on Monday

South Africa’s Special Envoy to Sri Lanka Cyril Ramaphosa will arrive in Sri Lanka on Monday for talks with the government, the opposition and other groups in an initiative to find a lasting solution to the North-East problem,  a senior government source told the Daily Mirror.

Earlier the visit of Ramaphosa was in the balance due to opposition by some UPFA constituent partners.

Meanwhile, TNA leader, Parliamentarian R. Sambanthan said he was not aware of Mr. Ramphosa’s visit to Sri Lanka but added if there was an invitation from him for a discussion the TNA would accept it gladly.

JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva said Sri Lanka did not want an external interference to resolve problems within and added the government must take the full responsibility for the sorry state of affairs.

 “The policies of the UNP and the UPFA governments did not promote ethnic harmony but only communal mistrust. That has resulted in foreign interference today which is extremely detrimental to Sri Lanka,” Mr. De Silva said.

There has been much opposition from the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) and the National Freedom Front (NFF) for Mr. Ramaphosa, who is also the Deputy President of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) visiting Sri Lanka in mid July.

JHU Spokesman and WPC Member Nishantha Sri Warnasinghe said the JHU vehemently protested if the government invited Mr. Ramaphosa to visit Sri Lanka on a peace initiative.

 “No positive results would be brought from a South African model peace initiative as the issues in Sri Lanka and South Africa are totally different. Besides, South Africa cannot win the confidence of the people in Sri Lanka as that country maintained a close link with the LTTE. Therefore, it concerns only on the grievances of minorities. The JHU firmly believes that Sri Lanka can resolve issues with minorities through a domestic mechanism which is the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC). The TNA must participate in the PSC deliberations without going after foreign governments to resolve our problems,” Mr. Warnasinghe stressed.

National Freedom Front leader and Minister Wimal Weerawansa said the attempt to bring Mr. Ramaphosa to negotiate between the government and the TNA was intended to internationalize the domestic issue of Sri Lanka.   

 “Eric Solheim negotiated between the government and the LTTE. Ramaphosa is now trying to initiate a dialogue between the TNA and the government in the same way. But, TNA does not want outsiders to talk to President Mahinda Rajapaksa or the government members. The door is open always for the TNA to come and talk,” Minister Weerawansa said. (Sandun A. Jayasekera)