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US, Japan freeze aid over SL crisis

Under pressure, president pledges to lift parliament suspension in 10 days; Tamil party to back ousted PM in trust vote

Agencies
Sri Lanka's deposed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the United States and lapan had frozen more than a billion dollars of development aid after his abrupt dismissal raised doubts about the future of democracy in the island.
The move to hold back project financing, along with the EU's warning it could withdraw duty-free concessions for Sri Lankan exports if it didn't stick to commitments on national reconciliation, will further strain the economy, Wickremesinghe told Reuters in an interview.
President Maithripala Sirisena fired him last month after months of tensions within the government and appointed Mahinda Rajapaksa as premier in a shock move that has plunged the nation into a political crisis.
Yesterday, Sirisena announced that he would lift the suspension of parliament in 10 days. He had on Friday promised the parliamentary speaker that he would recall the assembly on Wednesday.
Rajapaksa is a former president who led the country to a military defeat ofTamil separatist guerrillas in 2009 but who has since faced widespread allegations of human rights abuse and targeting ofTamil civilians.
Wickremesinghe, who has challenged his dismissal and vowed to remain prime minister until parliament voted him out, said there were international concerns about a government led by Rajapaksa.
"Countries are sensitive, they have concerns (about a government led by
Rajapaksa) democratic countries have concerns,” he said in the interview conducted in the prime minister's official residence in a colonial-era bungalow where Wickremesinghe is camping along with his supporters.
The United States has held off on a nearly $500 million aid programme for building of highways and improving land administration by the government-funded Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), Wickremesinghe said.
Japan had also put on hold plans to extend a soft loan of $1.4 billion for a light railway project, he said. "A lot of projects are held up, the Millennium Challenge, the Japanese Ioan,” he said.
The Sri Lankan embassy in Washington has been informally told by the MCC that around $480 million will be on hold because of the latest situation in the country, a Sri Lankan foreign ministry official separately confirmed to Reuters.
An official at the Sri Lankan ministry of Megapolis and Western Development also confirmed the freeze to Reuters on the Japanese loan, imperilling the project.
An official at the Japan International Cooperation Agency said the agency was closely monitoring political developments and the railway project loan had been withheld.
The US embassy in Colombo had no immediate comment when asked if Washington is taking any measures due to the Sri Lankan political crisis.
The United States and the EU have urged the president to immediately summon parliament and let deputies decide who is to lead the country. Sirisena suspended parliament until November 16 and has made no public statement on his plans.
While Wickremesinghe is staying on in the premier's residence called Temple Trees, Rajapaksa has taken over the offices of the prime minister following his swearing in.
Wickremesinghe said his party will step up a public campaign for parliament to be called and he be allowed to prove his majority. "We are all contemplating alternative actions, this includes a big mobilisation of people. Ultimately this has to be decided in parliament." NO-CONFIDENCE MOTION Sri Lanka's Tamil minority pledged to back a motion of no-confidence against Rajapaksa when parliament reconvenes.
In a statement on Saturday, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) called Rajapaksa's shock appointment by the president last week "unconstitutional and illegal" and said its members would back a bid by sacked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to remove him.
The minority coalition has the backing of 15 legislators in the 225-member parliament and could play a key role in swaying a no-confidence vote as Rajapaksa and Wickremesinghe now command the support of about a 100 politicians each, reported Aljazeera Online.
But analysts said the TNA's decision did not spell defeat for Rajapaksa because the former president has managed to whittle away at Wickremesinghe's initial majority by getting at least six members from his United National Party (UNP) to switch camps.