Sri Lanka, 2002

Let me begin

by conveying, on behalf of the Sri Lanka delegation,

our sincere felicitations to Mr. Jan Kavan on his

election as President of this fifty-seventh session of the

General Assembly and our assurances of our fullest

cooperation.

I would also like to express appreciation for the

exemplary manner in which Mr. Han Seung-soo,

former Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of

Korea, guided the work of the fifty-sixth session. We

also warmly welcome Switzerland as a new Member of

the Organization, and look forward also to welcoming

East Timor.

Our discussions and debates in this Assembly

often reach great heights and seek grand objectives, but

ultimately they are about the future lives, well-being

and security of the people we are privileged to

represent. It is with such thoughts in my mind that I

recall the horrendous events of 11 September 2001,

which claimed the lives of so many Americans and

people of other nationalities from all over the world.

As we are only too painfully aware, they are not the

only victims of terror.

The attack confirmed what we in Sri Lanka have

long known: terrorism has long been globalized. As

President Bush acknowledged on 11 March 2002,

“September 11 was not the beginning of global terror,

but it was the beginning of the world's concerted

response.”

We in Sri Lanka perhaps know better than most

the tragedies that conflict and terrorism create. My own

country has been ravaged by a 20-year conflict, which

has caused more than 65,000 deaths. Eight hundred

thousand people are internally displaced. Tragic stories

abound: children who will never see their fathers return

home; mothers who have lost their sons; and children

who, even today, innocently step on anti-personnel

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mines. I have talked to the disabled soldiers and the

dispossessed, the people who have no homes, and those

who return to the north-east of our country to find war-

torn ruins and once productive fields sown with land

mines.

The election victory last December of the

Government I represent was a clear national mandate to

end the conflict in the north-east. The Government has

since moved swiftly towards the fulfilment of that

mandate. A ceasefire with the Liberation Tigers of

Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was signed on 22 February this

year. The ceasefire has held.

Confidence-building measures have encouraged

the free movement of people throughout the country

and have revived economic activity. Peace talks with

the LTTE, facilitated by Norway, began two days ago

in Sattahip, Thailand. The Sri Lanka Government has

unilaterally suspended the proscription of the LTTE in

order to facilitate the talks, to give peace a chance, and

to give the LTTE a chance for peace.

A flexible approach is necessary in the

negotiations, combining a warm heart with a cool head.

An understanding of the other side, their aspirations

and their concerns, is essential. Negotiations are

complex and will take time. In the early stages of our

talks with the LTTE, we are trying to resolve some of

the immediate practical needs of the people in order to

bring relief and normalcy to our society. Economic

reconstruction and development of the affected areas

will be a deciding factor in sustaining the momentum

of political negotiations. Development is part of the

healing process in a wounded, divided society. The

pressing day-to-day problems of the people need to be

settled as soon as possible.

Indeed, at the discussions in Thailand, there was

strong endorsement of the urgent need for resources to

ensure the early dividends of the peace process. The

role played by Norway in facilitating that process and,

most recently, at the peace talks is deeply appreciated. I

extend my sincere thanks to Norway for all its efforts.

Already, following the ceasefire, there are signs

of people enjoying their rediscovered freedom. The

people want more. Exchange visits between school

children and other groups from the south and from the

north have revealed to many that the other side is not

so different after all. Last week our capital, Colombo,

came to a standstill as people from all over the country,

from every religion and every ethnic group in society,

flocked to a peace rally.

Those are all encouraging signs. But with them

comes a risk. The imperative of peace is growing. The

people demand peace, and the politicians and

negotiators on both sides had better deliver. Peace is

people-driven. The conflict had dragged our economy

to near bankruptcy, and last year, for the first time in

independent Sri Lanka, we recorded negative growth.

Resources must flow into developing the areas ravaged

by war. Opportunities must be created. The momentum

of growth must be re-established. The people want to

see normalcy restored, not tomorrow but today. The

farmers want their damaged irrigation canals repaired

today; their harvest cannot be delayed until a final

agreement is reached. This imperative is driven even

more by young people among the Sri Lankan armed

forces and the cadres of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil

Eelam, whose weapons lie silent. Without international

support and help with resources to build a peace

dividend, the gloss on peace can be dulled. With the

recreation of opportunities for people and for growth,

politicians and negotiators will be driven even harder

to stabilize, advance and sustain the peace.

From there, we can approach the complex

constitutional issues. Those questions will take time.

We believe that the way forward is through a clearly

representative interim administration within a united

Sri Lanka in which the rights of all communities,

Tamil, Muslim and Sinhalese, are safeguarded. That

will allow us to carry forward an initiative to empower

local people by decentralizing governmental authority

and by establishing five regional economic

development zones. Through such initiatives, we intend

to encourage local people to be responsible for driving

economic growth in their own regions. Those

measures, along with the liberalization and

deregulation of our economy, will generate wealth.

Meanwhile, there is a pressing, immediate

security issue. Hundreds of thousands of mines need to

be removed from tracts of land to make them safe and

arable in order for the internally displaced persons to

return to their homes and their farms. Sri Lanka is

reviewing its position on the Ottawa Convention on

anti-personnel mines with a view to becoming a party

to it as confidence in peace grows. We are grateful for

the help we are receiving from the United Nations,

members of the international community and non-

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governmental organizations in our demining

programme.

My Government is resolved to ensure that the

people of the north and east of our Republic should

also enjoy the same security and the same quality of

life, democratic governance and human rights which

people in other parts of the country enjoy. Sri Lanka

has a high rating on the Human Development Index of

the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Our per capita income figures and our life expectancy

and our literacy rates are among the highest in the

region. Peace will further enhance all that, but its

dividend must be credited to all the shareholders in Sri

Lanka's future.

Sri Lanka welcomes the support that our peace

process has received from members of the international

community and from the United Nations. On a request

made by me to Secretary-General Kofi Annan, a United

Nations inter-agency needs assessment team visited Sri

Lanka in April and May of this year. The team

completed a strategic overview of the current situation,

which can guide immediate and mid- to long-term

action by United Nations agencies in Sri Lanka. We

thank the Secretary-General for his efforts.

Quickening the pace of peace and having its

dividends credited directly and urgently to the people

are imperative. We are grateful to all those who are

assisting us in Quick Impact Projects. The

implementation of those projects without delay will

help peace take root, involve people in the affected

areas in their economic and social recovery and ease

the way for higher stages of development.

Throughout its long history, there have been

flattering descriptions of Sri Lanka — centuries before

our Tourist Board promoted the serenity of the island.

The ancient Arabs and mediaeval Europeans called our

island paradise. If in the course of our recent conflict

some of the quality of paradise has been lost, then

surely paradise must be regained. Regaining Sri Lanka

is much more than a slogan, it is a practical, doable

strategy, in which we invite the international

community to participate.

While seeking a negotiated solution to our own

conflict, Sri Lanka strongly supports negotiating a

settlement of the Israel-Palestine conflict. We have

long supported a responsible peace process which

would lead to the acceptance of two States, Israel and

Palestine, prospering in conditions of peace and

security, as neighbours, within secure and recognized

borders. We urge the resumption of a serious dialogue

between Israel and Palestine as a prelude to sustained

negotiations.

In Sri Lanka, dialogue and negotiations are

turning around a long, drawn-out conflict. With respect

to those who were responsible for 11 September, the

approach needs to be different. No cause justifies the

killing of innocent people. Global terrorism must be

eradicated, whatever its manifestation and wherever it

occurs. We support a comprehensive approach to

international terrorism through the General Assembly's

Ad Hoc Committee on Terrorism. Terrorism has

affected virtually all the countries of South Asia. A

meeting in Sri Lanka will soon draft an additional

protocol to the Regional Convention on Suppression of

Terrorism of the South Asian Association for Regional

Cooperation. The protocol would update the

Convention, inter alia to meet the obligations

devolving on member States in respect of Security

Council resolution 1373 (2001) and the International

Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of

Terrorism.

The United Nations has been a source of good

since its inception. It is the forum in which there is an

opportunity for interaction and possible reconciliation

among complex, competing and even confrontational

concerns. Under the Secretary-General's initiative of

the Global Compact, it provides for the launching and

navigation of positive partnerships between the

corporate and State sectors.

We also look forward to the implementation of

decisions taken at the International Conference on

Financing for Development, held in Monterrey. We

welcome the Millennium Challenge Account as an

outcome of that Conference to assist countries

committed to democratic norms and good governance,

to the engagement of the private sector and to the

involvement of the people in the process of

development.

In Sri Lanka, we intend to re-establish an

investment-friendly country with an efficient

bureaucracy and a thriving private sector. On this visit

to the United States, I have brought a team from my

industrial sector to talk to United States businessmen.

We are grateful to the United Nations for helping my

Government to organize an investment promotion

forum in the United States tomorrow with the

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participation of members of our private sector, who

will interact with their counterparts here. Those “close

encounters of the business kind” will provide insight

into the opportunities for collaborative economic and

development ventures in Sri Lanka as we move

forward on the peace front. Investment in peace makes

sound political and economic sense for both Sri Lanka

and its partners abroad. Growth in Sri Lanka will be

good for everyone.

Across Sri Lanka, the people continue to build

the only true peace we can hope for. Without fanfare,

without politicians or media, they are quietly going

about their business, finding old friends and building

new relationships. Mistrust and suspicion are slowly

melting away as people talk and share past experiences.

The hatred in some hearts will take a little longer to

dispel. But even that will be overcome in time by the

deep desire for weapons to be destroyed, mines to be

cleared and the sound of laughter to be heard once

again.

Trusting the people, whether it be for the

consolidation of peace or the pursuit of development, is

the best policy. We are beholden to the people we work

for, whether they be clients or customers or

shareholders or voters.