International community assisting Sri Lanka to find peace - Asia Foundation Chief
 

by Manjula Fernando

Asia Foundation Chairman and former US congressman Douglas Bereuter said the US can play a supportive role but the ultimate decision on a political solution to the ethnic strife lies with the two partners of the conflict.

"We can encourage our Government to continue to play a constructive role but ultimately the decision to find a political settlement has to be made by Sri Lankans," Bereuter told the Daily News when asked whether he sees a pro-active role for US in reviving the currently stalled peace process that has become more fragile after the killing of former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar.

"We are part of the international community that has taken a special responsibility for assisting Sri Lankans to find peace. Ultimately it is up to Sri Lankans to develop that peaceful environment, I'm sure, a huge proportion of the citizens want to have peace," the senior congressman who was instrumental in enacting a resolution in the US legislature to encourage the Sri Lankan peace process remarked.

He added that US can only play a supportive role in achieving that goal and it was already doing that along with other international partners.

Bereuter a senior member who counts over 25 years in the US congress was instrumental in bringing the resolution 181 before the House in 1995. This was unanimously passed and enacted in the US legislature.

The resolution while denouncing all acts of violence and terrorism called on the parties to find a just and lasting peaceful settlement to the ethnic issue. For the first time in the US history it upheld the territorial integrity of Sri Lanka and was considered a great achievement for the Sri Lankan Government.

Bereuter said the September 1995 resolution was an expression of the Congress's concern that they move toward a peaceful settlement to the conflict in Sri lanka.

The Asia Foundation President is here to attend the Foundation's annual autumn meeting being held this week.

The Asia Foundation, a US based non-profit non-governmental organisation committed to the development of a peaceful, prosperous and open Asia pacific region is now holding its annual autumn meeting in Colombo.

The board of trustees, led by Chairman L. Ball III and its President, Bereuter arrived in Colombo on Sunday to attend the meeting, the first to be held in Asia. They met Peace Secretariat Director General Jayantha Dhanapala and is expected to meet civil society leaders and government officials to discuss programs initiated by the Foundation during their stay here.

Operating in Sri Lanka since 1954, the Foundation through grants, technical assistance programmes and operational activities supports the efforts to promote democratic governance working closely with local governing bodies, civil society and the private sector.

In addition the organisation also promotes human rights and access to justice, conflict management and resolution, private enterprise policy reform and rights related tsunami recovery activities. Their autumn meeting will formulate their agenda for Asia for the forthcoming months.

Foundation's Sri Lankan representative Nilan Fernando said during the past year the foundation has funded various programmes in Sri Lanka to the tune of US $ 2 million out of the US $ 99 million spent in Asia.

Their most success stories are the Books for Asia Program under which they have distributed over 1.1 million volumes of books in the aftermath of the tsunami. Sri Lanka has received 2.6 million volumes of books during the past 40 years of its operations in the country.

Among the main funding bodies of the Asia foundation are the USAID and the British Government.