Mangala: ‘We can’t be acting like North Korea or Venezuela or Eritrea’

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka should use diplomacy and not engage in confrontation at international fora such as the UN Human Rights Council to find solutions, former Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said in Colombo.

“The government should place its trust in diplomacy and not confrontation that is step number one because diplomacy can lead you to solutions but from the start, if you are going to call all the countries that criticize you enemies we will not go far because Sri Lanka has voluntarily over the years has become a signatory to all Human Rights resolutions passed in the UN since 1948,” he said in a report published in Economy Next.

Addressing a press conference. Samaraweera who withdrew his candidacy from the last election said “so now we can’t be acting like North Korea or Venezuela of Eritrea, Sri Lanka is a country that has always dealt with the world on equal terms.”

He added that Sri Lanka’s foreign relations are more important than ever at this moment when the country’s economy is in the doldrums and hurtling toward an abyss.

Further, he said that the truth behind the UN Human Rights Council resolution 30/1 is hidden behind lies and untruth just like the MCC grant the country lost which was also hidden behind a mountain of lies.