The US ambassador to Sri Lanka , Julie Chung, was reportedly humiliated when Samantha Power, the head of US aid, came to visit President Ranil, according to a weekend newspaper. The annoyance is President Ranil’s request that Samantha Power and him meet privately before their official meeting. According to the publication, Julie Chung disagreed with this suggestion and insisted that she should also attend the One-on-One meeting.
The reality of this is unknown to us. But Ranil’s foreign policy specialists are aware that Ranil approaches foreign affairs in this manner. That is, Ranil’s strategy is to deal with political leaders or the heads of foreign ministries instead of the ambassador in Sri Lanka.
It’s possible that Ranil wanted to put Samantha Power and Julie Chang at odds by asking for a private meeting. In this way, Ranil had repeatedly attempted to incite tension between the ambassadors and the other state officials from those nations.
Nirupam Sen was the Indian ambassador here after Ranil assumed power in 2001. Ranil did not give the Indian ambassador any attention when he was present. Bypassing the ambassador, he attempted to communicate with India through Brajesh Mishra, the security advisor to the then-prime minister Vajpayee. In doing this, he received assistance from Milind Moragoda, a minister in Ranil’s administration.
Defense Secretary Austin Fernando of Ranil’s administration noted a worthwhile tale about this in his book.
The Palali Runway in the north needed renovation in 2003, according to the authorities. India agreed to provide assistance through a line of credit for that. These operations were coordinated with the Defense attache of the high commision in SriLanka. At that time, the LTTE and Ranil’s government had struck a pease agreement something India was not particularly happy with. India expressed concerns on Norway’s involvement in the peace process. Ranil was informed by Milinda that he would inform India about the peace negotiations through Misra, the security adviser to the Indian Prime Minister, and that India had no objections.
However, the ministers in Ranil’s administration who speak with Indian High Commissioner Nirupan Sen informed Ranil that India is having issues with the peace process. According to Austin Fernando’s account in his book, the Indian Embassy’s defence attaché put out a number of requirements in order to grant a line of credit for the Palali Runway rehabilitation during negotiations with Austin Fernando. Austin stated that the conditions had been authorized by Indian High Commissioner Nirupan Senn.
Austin says that when he told Prime Minister Ranil and the Defense Minister that he couldn’t accept those terms, they both guaranteed him that the Prime Minister would speak with the Indian Prime Minister to address the matter. At the conclusion, he declared Chandrika, the president, had taken control of the Ministry of Defensethat and Ranil’s government had been overthrown, and Palali repairs had not done .
The fact that Ranil tried to resolve the issues with the Indian Prime Minister instead of the country’s ambassador demonstrates how much of a mess he caused. During the 1989 Indo-Ceylon Accords, Nirupam Sen worked in the Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka. As a result, Nirupam Sen had a thorough understanding of both Ranil and the foreign policy of the U.N.P. Ranil was aware of this.
India and JR’s government were at odds at the time because JR’s administration did not agree with all of the decisions made by the Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka. Ranil did not like Nirupam Sen. As a result, Ranil’s plan was to set both the indian government and the ambassador at each other. It fell flat.
Today, Ranil does not like Julie Chang. She supports the struggle, which is the cause. Ranil planned to protest to the US State Department about Julie after she persuaded him not to suppress the struggle. Samantha Power is Mangala’s friend . Through those relationships, Ranil seeks to persuade Samantha to control or eliminate Julie. It won’t be successful. There is little question that Ranil will damage US – SL relations with his failing tactic.
By Upul Joseph Fernando
