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If CFA Cease To Function International Support Would Be Eroded Warns Co-Chairs

BThe Co-Chairs of the Sri Lanka peace process say If the Ceasefire Agreement ceases to function, the wider peace process would be gravely jeopardized and international support for that process would be deeply eroded. In a statment issued today the Co-Chairs, the European Union, United States, Japan and Norway, say they are alarmed by the deteriorating security situation in Sri Lanka.

It says "Since February 2005 there has been an escalation of violence resulting in the killing and injuring of persons associated with the Government of Sri Lanka, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and other political groups. Unless security is guaranteed, a central pillar of the Ceasefire Agreement will be undermined. If the Ceasefire Agreement ceases to function, the wider peace process would be gravely jeopardized and international support for that process would be deeply eroded.

The Co-chairs call on the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE each to take immediate action to prevent killings. The LTTE must stop all killings by their forces. The Sri Lankan government, in accordance with the Ceasefire Agreement, must ensure that all paramilitary groups are disarmed and prevented from any activity that might lead to acts of violence. The government must also guarantee the security of unarmed LTTE cadres in government-controlled areas.

Maintenance of the Ceasefire Agreement is the responsibility of the two parties alone. In this effort, they have had the excellent assistance of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission and the full support of the international community. The Co-chairs believe that it is time the parties demonstrate the seriousness of their commitment to the Ceasefire Agreement by coming together to resolve outstanding issues and renew their cooperation. The SLMM can only fulfill its functions under the Ceasefire Agreement if the parties actively demonstrate the will to uphold the agreement.

Final draft on CEB reforms soon

The Ministry of Power and Energy will present its final draft on the proposed CEB reforms within the next few days.

Private Secretary to Power and Energy Minister Susil Premajayanth, A. T. K. Chandradasa said that the ministry had completed its final draft on reforms to restructure the Ceylon Electricity Board.

The draft will be presented before the Cabinet for approval within the next few days, he said.

He also said that the Power and Energy Ministry decided to bring in reforms after trade unions hitherto opposing such reforms now agreeing to them . "We had several discussions with CEB trade unions on the matter, almost all the trade unions agreed to bring in the reforms except one trade union, which is of the JVP", he said.

Asked how they would face countrywide trade union action which the JVP had been saying they would launch against the reforms, Chandradasa said that massive trade union action was unlikely since most of the trade unions who had earlier opposed them had agreed to support the reforms.

Meanwhile, JVP MP Chandrasiri Wijesinghe commenting on the proposed reforms said that they had opposed these reforms when they were first introduced by the UNF together with PA. "I'm not too sure whether the present reforms are the same. However, if they were going to be the same, the JVP would stand against them," he said.

"We would like to ask the Power and Energy Minister Susil Premajayanth if he could guarantee that present propsals could help uplift the CEB and convert its present position of bankruptcy to profitability," he said.

"But the JVP would not oppose any constructive measure that is envisioned to better manage the CEB," he said.