Sri Lanka's Peace Chief quits post

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 November 2005, 12:32 GMT]
Dr Jayantha Dhanapala, Secretary General of the Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP) in Sri Lanka resigned his post Wednesday to ''devote time to other obligations,'' media reports in Colombo said.

Jayantha Dhanapala was also acting as a Senior Adviser to Sri Lanka's President Kumaratunga. Both appointments took effect from June 1 2004.

The complexities of the conflict and hard positions taken by the parties involved proved difficult for the diplomatic skills of Dr Dhanapala to make any headway in the peace process during his 15-month stewardship at Sri Lanka's Peace Secretariat.

Jayantha Dhanapala was the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs from 1998 to 2003. He served for many years as a member of the Sri Lanka Foreign Service and was Ambassador in Geneva and in Washington D.C.

In February 1998 UN Secretary General Kofi Annan appointed Dhanapala as a Commissioner in the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) and the Head of the Special Group visiting the Presidential sites in Iraq.

External Links:

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Sri Lanka Peace Secretariat