"UN suspends Sri Lankan troops from peacekeeping over army chief appointment" said in big bold letters as reported by Reuters .
This so called "suspension" is nothing but a PR gimmick and it really reminds me of the time when the UN "pulled-out" its Regional office from Colombo in protest of Wimal Weerawansa's 'farce unto death' in front of UNDP's SL office at Bauddhaloka mawatha several years ago.
Later the UN was caught pants down when it was revealed that the withdrawal of the UNDP Regional Office was anyway slated due to budget cuts and was in the process well before Wimal's antic! nevertheless, opposition and the so called 'civil society' had a field day screaming the UN was leaving because of Wimal's actions against the UN !
If you read Farhan Haq's statement, he added "In light of this appointment, the U.N. Department of Peace Operations is therefore suspending future Sri Lankan army deployments except where suspension would expose U.N. operations to serious operational risk."
Well, the last time I checked, there were no Sri Lankan troops raising the flags in UN in Geneva nor patrolling the ceasefire lines in Cyprus.
They are all deployed in deepest of war torn Africa and worst of violent Middle East or in Haiti, where criminality controls most of the territory (where even US forces venture not far out from its Embassy!).
So, in other words, SL peacekeepers are deployed in locations where the UN faces extreme risks.
Hence, in reality there will be no withdrawals nor suspensions. issue lies elsewhere, in Colombo where our own governments ( including the last Rajapaksha administration) have no balls to stand up to international (read pro-Eelam lobby) machinations and play diplomacy with diplomacy.
On the shorter term , instead paying lip service or issuing halfhearted statements , the Government should review Sri Lanaka's role in UN peacekeeping vis a vie the so called allegations against its military and decide in principle to participate in UNPKOs based on principle or just pull out altogether.
On the longer term , our govt should engage with the International community to address these allegations once in for all but then again, that's all a pipe dream. under Gota, who many of assume (or hope) will stake a more 'strong' stand, things will get even worse.
