Sri Lanka buying advanced fighter jets from Russia

Sri Lanka’s air force is shortly to take delivery of five advanced fighter aircraft from Russia to counter the threat posed by the LTTE’s air wing, The Nation newspaper reported Sunday. In addition to buying the five MiG 29 interceptors, Sri Lanka is looking to upgrade its ground attack Kfirs to interceptor role by adding radars and missiles, the paper said.

“Though the Sri Lankan officials were in talks with their Indian, Pakistani and Chinese counterparts, it is reliably learnt that the new MiG 29s joining the air force, are from Russia,” the paper said, adding that India has been manufacturing the interceptor since the 1980s.
The average price in the world market of the MiG 29 is in the range of US$ 15 million, it said.
The MiG 29 fighter aircraft designed in the former Soviet Union, for an air superiority role entered service with the Soviet Air Force in 1983. It is now in use with the Russian Air Force (which reportedly has over 450), as well as in many other nations, including India (which has over 60).
The MiG 29 was mainly produced to counter leading US fighter aircraft such as the F15 and F16 and in most of its variants has only an air to air strike capacity, the The Nation said. “If the necessary upgrades are not carried out on the newly acquired aircraft, their role would be limited to intercepting the LTTE’s light aircraft, with limited contribution to the main task of the SLAF, which is ground attack.”

UK arms sales to Sri Lanka match tsunami aid

Britain licensed £7 million worth of weapons and military equipment for export to Sri Lanka this year alone, it was revealed during a debate in Parliament Wednesday. The sum matches the amount of British aid provided in the wake of December 2004 tsunami. On Thursday the UK government said it was holding back half its £3 million annual aid allocation for this year citing British concerns over human rights in Sri Lanka.

“Inquiries that I have made reveal that £7 million-worth of [UK] arms were licensed for delivery to Sri Lanka in the last quarter for which figures are available,” Joan Ruddock, a ruling Labour party MP, told the House Wednesday during a landmark debate on Sri Lanka.

“Licenses were for armoured all-wheel drive vehicles, components for heavy machine guns, components for military distress signalling equipment, and many other types of equipment, including military aircraft ground equipment and communications equipment, and small arms ammunition,” she said.

“All of that is military equipment that could conceivably be used in the conflict,” she said.

“I know that our Government have obeyed the rules—the EU and the national criteria by which we agree export licences. There is no question of wrongdoing. However, … I ask the Minister to consider whether those export licences and similar licences should continue when a live conflict is clearly under way in the country.”

However, government ministers did not respond to Ms. Ruddock’s question.

Later in the debate, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development Gareth Thomas said in the wake of the December 2004 tsunami, Britain “committed aid of about £7 million immediately after [it] struck.”

Of this sum, about £500,000 is outstanding, Mr. Thomas said. It had been allocated to “to develop the capacity of the North-East Provincial Council to lead the recovery process,” he added.

The council has since been disbanded when the North-East Province itself was demerged by the Sri Lankan government last year.

Meanwhile the UK said Thursday is to withhold £1.5 million of aid this year.

Britain agreed in 2005 to provide Sri Lanka £41 m ($81.6 million) in debt relief until 2015, in yearly instalments of 3-6 million pounds, as long as Colombo met a series conditions, Reuters reported.

Britain was due to make a payment of 3 million pounds this year, or around $6 million, and has paid just half.

"What we have said for this year is we are making half of the agreed payment because there is an ongoing consultation process about progress towards meeting the conditions agreed between the two governments," the spokesman for the British High Commission in Colombo said.

SLFP to handover party proposals to APRC today

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) will officially handover its set of proposals to the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) today whereby it intends to seek a solution to the country's decade old ethnic problem and create a sustainable development and good governance within the country's administrative structure.

SLFP General Secretary Minister Maitripala Sirisena will present these set of proposals to APRC Chairman Minister Prof. Tissa Vitharana.

"This is a home grown model formulated by the SLFP based on the Grama Rajya concept. This is not a final solution. This is only a set of proposals put forward by the SLFP as an approach to reach a common consensus on key major issues. Modalities will be worked out later," Chairman of the SLFP Committee appointed to prepare these set of proposals Minister Prof. Viswa Warnapala told a media briefing yesterday.

"A common consensus should be reached with other political parties at the All Party Conference to transform this SLFP document into Government proposals," he said.

"The SLFP firmly stands for a negotiated settlement based on the devolution of power. As enunciated in the Mahinda Chintana, we have formulated this indigenous model by safeguarding the country's unitary State, sovereignty and territorial integrity. We have also proposed a mechanism to prevent the separatist tendencies in the country."

Through these proposals, the SLFP has proposed a Parliamentary model of Government and a Cabinet system of Government led by the Prime Minister. The SLFP intends to abolish the Executive Presidency if a national consensus is reached upon. Otherwise it would be continued with certain amendments, the Minister said.

"According to the SLFP proposals, we have recognised the district as the unit of devolution. If it is necessary, provisions have been introduced to amalgamate two districts. There are 25 districts. It has been proposed to increase this up to 30 based on demographic and geographic factors. All these amalgamations will be made by safeguarding the rights of the minority communities," he said.

Prof. Warnapala said: "According to our set of proposals, we have devolved power to the people and not to institutions. We also intend to amend the present Municipal Council and Urban Council Acts and to formulate a Consolidated Local Government Act.

"The SLFP is a strong political party. It is not only a political party but also a political phenomenon. The SLFP believes the people should adopt new measures to make a fresh start. Therefore the SLFP has presented these set of proposals to take the country forward and find a solution to the country's national problem."

Minister Sirisena said the SLFP Central Committee has unanimously adopted these set of proposals. The draft of these proposals were announced at the PA May Day rally on April 30. Various successive Governments have put forward their proposals on the North and East problem. Sometimes, these proposals have been praised and sometimes such proposals have been highly criticised.

Therefore President Mahinda Rajapaksa once he assumed duties called the All Party Conference (APC) to find a lasting solution to the ethnic problem. In addition, the APRC was also appointed to obtain the views of the political parties, he said.

According to the Minister, the APRC has met 28 times while the APC has met five times under President Rajapaksa's patronage. This clearly indicates that the SLFP has acted in a more responsible manner to find a solution to the ethnic problem."

"We invite all political parties to express their views in this regard. This is not our final proposals. These SLFP proposals should be further discussed at the APC."

Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said: "This is only a beginning. Through these proposals we intend to reach a consensus among political parties on key major issues. Then we can go for a solution based on these factors."

The Minister said if the UNP was so concerned about the country, why don't they submit their proposals. This shows the political dishonesty on the part of the UNP.

Information and Media Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa said these proposals were formulated after extensive discussions by the SLFP Central Committee.

This is a very democratic document formulated by the SLFP.

Courtesy : Daily News