Colombo authorities in the dark
The defence authorities and the Foreign Ministry was yesterday in the dark on media reports that Sri Lanka had offered military training and associated expertise to the Congo.
According to the media reports the Sri Lankan Envoy in Nairobi Kana Kananathan had made the offer at a meeting held with the Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi recently.
Ambassador Kananathan conveyed Sri Lanka’s commitment to supporting Congo in various ways, stating that Sri Lanka’s proficiency in peacekeeping missions and extended an offer to assist in training the Congolese armed forces, in line with Sri Lanka’s defense diplomacy.
“We in Colombo are not aware of such a meeting or the utterances regarding the offer of military expertise to the Congolese security forces by our ambassador in Nairobi”, a top official with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Colombo said.
There is a protocol that has to be adopted when dealing with such matters military or otherwise but this has not been the case for whatever reason at the Nairobi end, the official said.
The defence authorities for their part were equally ignorant on the matter saying that military issues must be first discussed with the relevant authorities in Colombo before they could be endorsed in overseas capitals.
We were not made aware of any such plans for such arrangements and therefore the matter cannot be treated seriously”, a senior official with the Ministry of Defence (MOD) in Colombo said.
He said that the Sri Lankan Government has never been known in the past to provide military training or expertise to foreign forces but would not rule out the possibility if there is a request.
For the moment however some 1,000 plus Sri Lankan security force personnel are embedded with the UN Peacekeepers in Africa and the Middle-East.
