Ban Ki-moon’s campaign for a second term as United Nations leader gathers pace on Monday when he is to formally announce that he wants to stay on as secretary general, diplomats said.

With no declared rival for the post and none of the five permanent members of the Security Council opposing Ban, the 66-year-old former South Korean foreign minister is certain to get a new five year term, envoys said.

His current mandate ends on December 31 but the Security Council powers — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — want to see the selection process handled quickly, diplomats said.

Ban will hold a press conference on Monday, following a meeting with the Asian group of nations at the UN, at which he is expected to announce his formal candidacy.

Approval by the 15-member Security Council approval and then a vote at the 192 country UN General Assembly should then be pushed through by the end of June, according to UN envoys.

“It is 100 percent certain that he will get the post again,” said one envoy from a Security Council member.

Ban made a quiet start to his term as the successor to Kofi Annan in 2007. Some envoys say his awkward English has not helped his image. He championed the battle against global warming but the collapse of the 2009 Copenhagen climate summit was a blow.

He also insists that quiet diplomacy is sometimes necessary but has been criticized by rights groups for not speaking out more forcefully against rights abuses in major countries like China.

Ban suffered particular criticism from rights groups for not speaking publicly about China’s detention of Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo last year.

But he has been praised by western nations for his strong stance on the Ivory Coast crisis and defending protesters taking part in the uprisings that erupted this year across the Middle East and North Africa.

He has repeatedly tangled by telephone in recent months with Moamer Kadhafi of Libya, Bashar al-Assad of Syria and Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen, chiding them as diplomatically as possible for not giving their people more freedom.

The action annoyed China and Russia which oppose what they consider unjustified interference in a country’s domestic affairs.

“But he is skilled at acting and speaking in a way so that none of the permanent five (Security Council powers) can really complain,” said a UN diplomat.

And Ban has been to the capitals of all of the permanent members, who could in theory veto his reappointment, in recent months to shore up his support.

The UN leader has a strict work discipline getting into the office at 7:30am and often staying to make calls around the world until past 8:00pm. He is also one of the best-travelled world leaders, clocking up hundreds of thousands of air miles each year.

On top of his defence of Arab protesters, Ban has also earned praise for his aggressive championing of women’s rights. He set up a special UN super agency for women which is now run by former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet.

Ban has also made nuclear disarmament a special cause.

A career diplomat, Ban attended Seoul National University in the 1960s when he took part in pro-democracy protests in South Korea.

Sri Lanka has gifted a Ceylon Sapphire studded diamond hair pin to Kate Middleton who marries Britain’s Prince William on Friday.

The state-owned Sri Lanka Gem and Jewellery Authority (SLGJA) said the gift was in appreciation of the British Royal family’s association with Ceylon Sapphires over many generations.

“This is the first ever international campaign aimed at raising awareness about the rarity and value of the Ceylon Sapphire,” Macky Hashim, the SLGJA chief, said. The hair pin had already been delivered to the Middletons, Hashim said.

Kate Middleton already wears a blue Ceylon Sapphire engagement ring, coming from the late Princess Diana, the mother of the groom, Prince William.

Diana wore it for her own engagement in 1981.

Hashim said sales of Ceylon Sapphire replica rings were in big demand since the announcement of the Royal wedding.

The Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) stated today that the seas around Sri Lanka will be tested every month for traces of radiation following the nuclear plant blast in Japan.

MEPA Chairman R. S. Ariyaperuma told Daily Mirror Online that although a test was carried out on sea water and cleared of any traces of radiation, they plan to conduct radiation tests monthly for at least another year to avoid any risks.

“If the radiation that leaked into the sea water in Japan would come into the seas of this region, we assume it should take place within roughly a year depending on the monsoon conditions and the sea water currents. Therefore we cannot state a specific period that we would be conducting these tests but the minimum period would be one year,” he added.

The United Nations does not endorse any statements made by its former UN spokesman Gordon Weiss, the Colombo UN office said today.

“Mr. Weiss is a former spokesman who was based in Colombo and his comments are his personal views on the situation that prevailed at the time. They don’t reflect those of the UN,” Colombo UN spokesman Tom Hockley told the Daily Mirror.

After the UN Experts’ Panel report was released, Mr. Weiss is reported to have made some controversial statements on the final stages of the war.

He had called for the investigation of foreign governments that supplied weapons to the Sri Lankan military during the last stages of the war.

“If foreign governments knew what was going on at this stage of the war and continued to supply arms, then I think it is a matter worthy of investigation,” he told the media, adding that the Indian government was aware of the situation in the North during the final stages of the war.

“I believe that Indians were aware of the civilian casualties, because they had pretty good intelligence inside the siege zone,” Mr. Weiss had said.

He claimed that although he was aware of the situation prevailing during the final stages of the war and he had discovered further facts while preparing his book.

“I was aware of it, a lot of it, but a lot of it I learned in the process of researching my own book in the year afterwards,” he told ABC Lateline in Australia.

While welcoming the Panel of Experts report of the UN Chief on Sri Lanka, the British government yesterday called on Sri Lanka to use its response to the UN report and the report’s recommendations to strengthen the process of accountability.

The Foreign Office statement also said that “the UK has consistently called for an independent and credible investigation to address these allegations which is why we fully supported the decision of the Secretary-General to establish the Panel of Experts.” 

“The report sets out the importance of a genuine and independent investigation, so that allegations of abuses are seen to have been addressed. We encourage Sri Lanka to use its response to the UN report and the report’s recommendations to strengthen the process of accountability and support lasting peace and security.”

It also stated “the serious nature of the allegations in the report underline that these allegations, and the issue of accountability for them, must be resolved before lasting reconciliation can be achieved in Sri Lanka.”

UN Chief Ban Ki-moon says he will only launch an international investigation into allegations of possible war crimes taking place at the final stages of the war in Sri Lanka that ended in May, 2009, if the member states agree.

After releasing the Expert Panel report on Sri Lanka a UN statement said “the secretary-general has been advised that this (international investigation) will require host country consent or a decision from Member States through an appropriate intergovernmental forum.  The monitoring and repository functions it was suggested this mechanism undertake will continue to be performed by the United Nations Secretariat.”

However the Ban’s statement didn’t mention a forum but it could include the U.N. Security Council, General Assembly or Human Rights Council.
The panel’s report called for an investigation of the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger rebels, as it stated that tens of thousands of the final 2009 offensive against Tamil separatists may have resulted from war crimes.
The UN Chief also said that there would be an inquiry into United Nations’ actions during the last stage of the war.
“The Secretary-General has decided that he will respond positively to the Panel’s recommendation for a review of the United Nations actions regarding the implementation of its humanitarian and protection mandates during the war in Sri Lanka — particularly in the last stages. The exact modality of such a review will be determined after consultations with relevant agencies, funds and programmes,” the statement added.
The 200-page report of a three-member panel, that made public, “found credible allegations” of violations of international humanitarian and human rights laws by both sides. The report also said UN “political organs and bodies failed to take actions that might have protected civilians,” including public use of casualty figures.
The report cited evidence that a “wide range of serious violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law was committed both by the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, some of which would amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

The United Nations has today made public the advisory report of the Secretary-General’s Panel of Experts on accountability with respect to the final stages of the decades-long armed conflict in Sri Lanka, which was submitted to him on 12 April 2011.  The decision to release the report was made as a matter of transparency and in the broader public interest.
The report was shared in its entirety with the Government of Sri Lanka on 12 April.  The Secretary-General has indicated his willingness to publicize the Government’s response alongside the report.  This invitation was extended to the Sri Lankan Government throughout the week, including again on Saturday by the Secretary-General to the External Affairs Minister of Sri Lanka.  The Government has not responded to this offer, which nonetheless still stands.
The Secretary-General expresses his appreciation to the advisory Panel of Experts who have provided their advice on how the undertaking on accountability in the joint communiqué that he had made with the President at the conclusion of Sri Lanka’s war can be fulfilled.
The Secretary-General is carefully reviewing the report’s conclusions and recommendations with regard to events that took place during the final stages of the conflict, including its assessment that there are a number of allegations of serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law committed by both the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Government of Sri Lanka, some of which could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The Panel’s first recommendation is that the Government of Sri Lanka should respond to the serious allegations by initiating an effective accountability process, beginning with genuine investigations.  The Secretary-General has consistently held the view that Sri Lanka should, first and foremost, assume responsibility for ensuring accountability for the alleged violations.  This and a number of other short- and medium-term recommendations that the Panel proposed in regard to steps that could be undertaken by the Government of Sri Lanka have now been shared with the Government.  He encourages the Sri Lankan authorities to respond constructively.
The Secretary-General has decided that he will respond positively to the Panel’s recommendation for a review of the United Nations actions regarding the implementation of its humanitarian and protection mandates during the war in Sri Lanka — particularly in the last stages.  The exact modality of such a review will be determined after consultations with relevant agencies, funds and programmes.
In regard to the recommendation that he establish an international investigation mechanism, the Secretary-General is advised that this will require host country consent or a decision from Member States through an appropriate intergovernmental forum.  The monitoring and repository functions it was suggested this mechanism undertake will continue to be performed by the United Nations Secretariat.
The Secretary-General trusts that the Government of Sri Lanka will continue to respect the work of the United Nations and its agencies as well as its obligations to the safety of United Nations staff in Colombo.  He regrets the inflammatory tone of some of the recent public statements emanating from Sri Lanka.
The Secretary-General sincerely hopes that this advisory report will make a contribution to full accountability and justice so that the Sri Lankan Government and people will be able to proceed towards national reconciliation and peace.

The full statement issued by the Spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

The United States welcomed recommendations of the Panel of Experts to the Secretary-General on questions of accountability on Sri Lanka. The report “makes a valuable contribution to next steps that should be taken in support of justice, accountability, human rights, and reconciliation in Sri Lanka,” said the US ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice.

The AFP quoting Rice said there has to be “an independent and full accounting of the facts in order to ensure that allegations of abuse are addressed and impunity for human rights violations is avoided.”

Earlier, UN human rights chief Navi Pillay said an international inquiry was desperately needed.

“The eyewitness accounts and credible information contained in this report demand a full, impartial, independent and transparent investigation,” said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Sri Lankan star bowler Lasith Malinga today said that he had taken the decision to retire from test cricket, before the 2011 World Cup due to his physical condition and injuries and hoped to play in the shorter forms of the games until the next World Cup  in 2015.

Addressing a press conference in Colombo Malinga added that he was able to recover faster after bowling 4 overs or 10 overs in T20 and ODI matches rather then after playing 20 to 25 overs per day in Test matches, which some times took two months to recover from.

He further added that it was his dream to play cricket and that he hoped to represent the Sri Lankan Cricket team in the 2012 T20 World Cup as well as the next World Cup in England if he was fit to do so.

Lasith Malinga noted that in 2008 he was sidelined due to his injuries and questioned what guarantee there was that he would be selected to the World Cup.

Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella yesterday said that the controversial Darusman report on Sri Lanka was about breathing life into a dead terrorist organization.

The report was released publicly yesterday.

‘No one in the civilized world would accept it’, Rambukwella pointed out.

‘It is totally in favour of the LTTE, which had been one of the most ruthless terrorist organizations to have been banned internationally’, the minister said.

Commenting on the release of the Darusman report, Rambukwella said they were asked by the creators of the report to respond to their work.

”Why do we respond to a report we do not accept?,” he said.

Security Forces personnel rescuing civilians from the clutches of the LTTE. These civilians were kept as a human shield by the LTTE

While the world had been horror-struck by the gruesome terroristic acts of the LTTE over nearly 30 years, the controversial Darusman report, which Sri Lanka totally rejects, attempts to give the LTTE some dubious respectability in the most cynical fashion.The following quote from the report proves the point:

The LTTE began as a Tamil liberation movement and eventually became the most disciplined and most nationalist of the Tamil militant groups, emerging as the dominant force espousing a separatist agenda in the mid-1980s.

However, it is plain to see that this is nothing but a childish attempt at whitewashing the LTTE which emerged as the world’s most brutal terror outfit. Our pictures here of instances of LTTE savagery over the years prove the point.