The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will do his bit to reconcile conflicting interests in Sri Lanka during his three-day visit to the island beginning on August 31.

From his program it appears that he will press for unity and cooperation between the majority Sinhalese and the minority Tamils; between the predominantly Tamil North and the predominantly Sinhalese South; and between Northern Province Chief Minister C.V.Wigneswaran and the leaders of the Tamil main party, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).

To convey to the Sinhalese majority that the UN is not merely an advocate of Tamil rights but is interested in the welfare of the Sinhalese too, Ban will visit Galle on September 1 to address a conference on: Reconciliation and Coexistence: Role of Youth. During his last visit to Sri Lanka in May 2009, he visited Vavuniya in the North , flew over Mullaitivu, where the heaviest fighting had taken place, and talked to refugees in a Northern camp.  He did not visit any place in the Sinhalese South.

On September 2, Ban will be in Jaffna where he will have talks with the Northern Province Governor Reginold Cooray, visit war refugees living in a camp, and meet the leaders of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).

But in order to stress the importance of unity in the Tamil leadership, Ban will not meet Chief Minister C.V.Wigneswaran separately, but together with other leaders of the TNA. In the normal course, he would have met the Chief Minister separately. But by getting the Chief Minister to sit with the TNA leaders, Ban will be encouraging them to sink their differences and work together for the political and economic advancement of the Tamils.

Presently, there is little no economic development in the Northern Province due to political differences between Chief Minister Wigneswaran and the TNA, led by R.Sampanthan.

-NIE
Agencies