EMBASSY OF SRI LANKA
COUNTRY INFORMATION UPDATE
OCTOBER 06, 2009

SRI LANKA NOTES CLARIFICATION ON MILITARY TACTICS STATEMENT BY U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT

WASHINGTON – President Mahinda Rajapaksa said Tuesday that he appreciated the clarification made by the US State Department Oct. 3 which exonerated the Security Forces from a statement of using rape as a weapon during the recent conflict.

In an Oct. 3 letter to Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama, Melanne Verveer, U.S. Ambassador- at-Large for Global Women's Issues, stated, "in the most recent phase of the conflict, from 2006 to 2009 ... we have not received reports that rape and sexual abuse were used as tools of war, as they clearly have in other conflict areas around the world."

Sri Lanka denied the rape allegation in an Aide Memoire that was delivered last week to the U.S. government. Ambassador Verveer then issued the clarification to Foreign Minister Bogollagama.

REUTERS: SRI LANKAN STOCKS CONTINUE CLIMB TO RECORD HIGHS

By Shihar Aneez

COLOMBO, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's share market .CSE hit a record high on Friday and became the best-performing bourse in Asia led by strong post-war economic growth hopes with heavy retail buying across the board, analysts and traders said.

It is the best performing bourse in Asia this year with a return of 100.61 percent so far. The bourse's performance is around double that of the benchmark emerging market equities index .MSCIEF, Reuters data showed.

The market jumped 0.97 percent to hit 3026.67 points, its highest since Feb. 19, 2007, before closing 0.68 percent or 20.41 points firmer at 3,018.01.

The bourse hit a record intraday-high of 3038.48 points on Feb. 19, 2007 and its previous highest close was 3016.42 points on Feb. 13. 2007.
Turnover was 1.08 billion rupees ($9.4 million), more than twice last year's daily average of 464 million rupees.

The bourse in a statement said the daily turnover has hit an average of 495.6 million for this year.

"It's a very active market," Shivantha Meepage, a research analyst at Acuity Stockbrokers, told Reuters. "All signs show more than 7 percent growth in the fourth quarter of this year.”

CSE NAMED THE WORLD’S BEST PERFORMING MARKET

Reuters announced Monday that the Colombo Stock Market (CSE) is the best performing stock market in the world for the year to date, CSE said in a statement.

The All Share Price Index (ASPI) broke further records today (5th October 2009) when the index closed at 3,098, the highest point reached by the CSE index. The growth of the index for the year to date reached 106.1% at market closed today.

The Milanka Price Index (MPI) closed at 3,508.7 today, recording a year-to-date growth of 115.1%.

The market capitalization of the CSE as at the end of trading today was RS. 994.5 billion, the highest record in CSE history.

SRI LANKA OBTAINS $5 MILLION FOR DE-MINING

The Government has received a donation of US$5 million from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to enable the government to purchase 10 flailing machines in order to further accelerate the de-mining programme in the North.

This outright grant was confirmed in Geneva at a meeting between Minister for Disaster Management & Human Rights Mahinda Samarasinghe and the High Commissioner for Refugees on the sidelines of the ongoing UNHCR Executive Committee meeting, which was also addressed by Minister Samarasinghe.

Responding to Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe’s statement, Antonio Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees stated that he was happy about the open and frank discussion that the government had with Prof Walter Kalin, Representative of the UN Secretary General on Human Rights of IDPs. He further stated that the UNHCR was strongly committed to support the de-mining programme in Sri Lanka.

SRI LANKA RANKS HIGH IN S. ASIAN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS

Sri Lanka has ranked above all neighbours in South Asia except Maldives on the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Human Development Index report released Monday (Oct. 5).

Human Development Report 2009 placed Sri Lanka at the 102nd position in the medium human development category for the quality of life of its citizens. In the South Asian region only Maldives fared better than Sri Lanka at the 95th position.

The Human Development Index (HDI) released yesterday for 182 countries and territories as part of the 2009 Human Development Report (HDR) is a summary indicator of people's well-being that combines the life expectancy, literacy, school enrolment, and GDP per capita.

The 2009 report said that between 1980 and 2007, Sri Lanka's HDI rose by 0.58% annually from 0.649 to 0.759 (which refers to 2007 statistics).

The Gender-related Development Index (GDI), a measure of gender equality that captures inequalities in achievements between women and men, for Sri Lanka was 0.756, 99.6% of its HDI. Out of the 155 countries with both HDI and GDI values, only 35 countries have a better ratio than Sri Lanka, the report showed.

$9 MILLION SPENT TO DEVELOP MAKULAM

Under the Uthuru Vasanthaya rehabilitation and development program of the North, Mankulam, a main town of the North and the second largest town in the Vavuniya District is to be developed at a cost of Rs.900 million

This project is conducted under a directive of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and supervised by Senior Presidential Advisor and Parliamentarian Basil Rajapaksa.

It is expected to construct roads, bridges and other infrastructure facilities shortly and the new Mankulam town would have new roads and buildings, including a provincial council secretariat, courts complex, transport terminal including bus and railway stations, public and private hospital complexes, a regional sports complex, commercial and financial institutions, adequate power and water supply.

NORTHERN UNIVERSITY DEVELOPMENT

The Government has allocated 90 million rupees to upgrade the Jaffna University and the Vavuniya Campus in the North.

According to the Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC) Professor Gamini Samaranayake, 55 million rupees has been allocated to enhance IT education facilities and welfare of students in Vavuniya campus.

'In addition, the World Bank project will be launched to upgrade the facilities in the universities next year', he said.

Under this programme, Rajarata, Sabaragamuwa, Wayamba and Uva universities will also be upgraded with top priority focussed on the Jaffna and Eastern universities.

$196 MILLION IN IDP AID SO FAR

Donors have provided nearly $196 million to help internally displaced persons who fled conflict zones in Northern Sri Lanka and who are now engaged in resettlement, according to a joint statement by the Disaster Management and Human Rights Ministry and the United Nations Resident/Humanitarian Coordinator in Sri Lanka.

The assistance complements the substantial expenditures by the Government of Sri Lanka for land clearing, drainage, electricity, water supply in the IDP sites in Vavuniya, Jaffna and Trincomalee.

“The Government is currently stepping up efforts to return as many of the 250,000 IDPs still in camps back to their homes or in the alternative accommodation to alleviate congestion ahead of the approaching monsoon rains,” said Mahinda Samarasinghe, disaster management and human rights minister. “In support of this process, donors have been generous in providing funds for de-mining as well as return packages comprising shelter, food and non-food items to assist families in re-establishing their households during the initial months of return.”

GOVT. RESETTLES 9,900 NORTHERN IDPS TO THEIR HOMETOWNS

The resettlement of the internally displaced continued throughout September, including the release of 9,900 internally displaced persons housed at the Menik Farm in Vavuniya to their hometowns. These IDPs were transported via state buses to their homes.

Their hometowns have been cleared of landmines buried by the LTTE during the war period.

Among those released were 6,838 to Jaffna, 2,170 to Trincomalee, 683 to Batticaloa and 274 to Ampara.

Among them were 74 students selected to the Jaffna University. They were sent back in special buses under armed escort.

RESETTLEMENT OF EASTERN PROVINCE CONCLUDED

The Sri Lankan government announced last week that it has completely resettled the war displaced civilians housed in the welfare camps in the Eastern Province.

The Department of Government Information said in a statement that as the final stage 91 families of the Kokuvil welfare village were resettled in Trincomalee district on Tuesday.

There were 112 camps for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) in the Eastern Province and over 35,000 families had been living in them following the escalation of conflict between the government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels in 2006.

Sri Lanka resettlement about 80 percent of the IDPs in the East – about 180,000 people – within eight months of the conclusion of fighting there in 2007. But some IDPs remained as de-mining continued.

All families in these camps have now returned to their original communities.

EXCERPTS OF A SEPT. 28, 2009 STATEMENT BY MAHINDA SAMARASIGNHE, MINISTER OF DISASTER MANAGEMENT AND HUMAN RIGHTS, TO THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE UNHCR

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND --Mr Chairman, The Representative of the UN Secretary-General on the Human Rights of IDPs, Professor Walter Kälin was in Sri Lanka for a three day visit which concluded over the weekend…

Professor Kälin is one international partner of Sri Lanka who has forged a constructive relationship with the country based on open dialogue and frank acknowledgement of the positives as well as the shortcomings that need to be remedied….

We have taken serious note of the concerns expressed by Professor Kälin and other friends and partners relating to the conditions in the camps, the issues surrounding freedom of movement and other protection issues.

Mr Chairman, with the defeat of terrorism, the Government of His Excellency President Mahinda Rajapakse is doing its utmost to reconstruct the foundations of a peaceful, democratic social order throughout the territory of the Sri Lankan nation….

Key to the success of the overall initiative is the treatment and eventual resettlement and return of IDPs who are among the worst affected by the conflict…

Terrorism and civil strife are among the worst man-made disasters. This is why we place such great emphasis on a comprehensive plan to redevelop infrastructure in war affected areas and ensure that these areas are safe and secure prior to resettling persons.

We are aware that there are trained and formerly active members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam among the IDPs. Those who have identified themselves and have given themselves up are being housed in special rehabilitation centres and a separate office was created – that of the Commissioner-General for Rehabilitation – to cater to their rehabilitation….

These ex-combatants too will have the opportunity to become full and productive partners in building the new Sri Lanka envisioned by President Rajapakse.