The heads of Sri Lanka’s diplomatic missions spent 7 hours on a call with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs discussing “strategic communication” on the issue of genocide, reports a column in the Sunday Times this week.
The call, part of what the Sunday Times called a “time-consuming exercise”, was part of a new drive of video conferences from Colombo.
During the “record” 7 hour discussion on genocide “the Ministry spokesperson maintained stoic silence throughout,” it added.
See extracts from the Sunday Times below.
“With Addis Ababa saying that “There is no reference to genocide in this part of the world” to Riyadh adding that “There is only talk of Muslim Genocide in West Asia”, the discussion just went on and on with one of our Ambassadors butting in to say that “I am meeting all these important persons but I have nothing to tell them because I don’t get any response to my communications to the Ministry!” That to the man who is directing this new diplomatic foray and acted as moderator – Ravinatha Aryasinha, the Foreign Secretary.”
The Europe based Ambassador concerned went on such a long harangue, Aryasinha, the moderator pulled the plug or just muted the volume. Then there was our diplomat in Brasilia only saying how much he is trying to go around the South American continent, but not getting any support without mentioning a word about what his work was of relevance to “genocide.”
Sri Lanka’s diplomat at the United Nations in New York reportedly said there is “little happening in the UN” but “took time to ponder about Samantha Power becoming the next Secretary of State under a Joe Biden administration in the United States”.
“That would make her life difficult,” the column added.
“Then there were the newly appointed political ambassadors who made lengthy power-point presentations on their ‘vision.’ This was all capped by the diplomat in Beijing. When asked about ‘negative coverage’ he replied, “We don’t have to worry about any media issues in China.””
See the full text of the column here.