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Dhanapala bows out of race

B. Muralidhar Reddy

Colombo's move follows poor showing in straw polls

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka on Saturday announced the withdrawal of the candidature of Jayantha Dhanapala for the post of United Nations Secretary-General.

In a press statement released here, the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the U.N. said the decision followed the outcome of the "third straw poll." Mr. Dhanapala fared poorly in all the three rounds of the polls.

"The Government of Sri Lanka has consistently held the view that the next Secretary-General of the United Nations should be an Asian and, to this end, nominated Ambassador Jayantha Dhanapala, a distinguished career diplomat and former international civil servant, for the post.

"Following the results of the third `straw poll' in the election of the Secretary-General conducted by the members of the Security Council on Thursday, the Government of Sri Lanka — with the total agreement of its candidate — has now decided not to further pursue the candidature of Mr. Jayantha Dhanapala in the interest of ensuring a consensus in electing an Asian candidate," the statement said.

Mr. Dhanapala is the Senior Adviser to the President of Sri Lanka. He was invited to manage the peace process by the Government in mid-2004 after a distinguished career as a national and international diplomat.

He functioned as Secretary- General of the Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process until the end of November 2005 when he relinquished duties to devote more time for his U.N. candidature.

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