Features

MUSLIM – SINHALA RIOTS IN BERUWELA IN 1991

Published

5 years ago

2021/08/15

Sahan Weerasooriya

DEALING WITH RACIST MOBS

EXCERPTED FROM SENIOR DIG (RETD) MERRIL GUNARATNE’S “COP IN THE CROSSFIRE”

I was Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) of the Greater Colombo Range in 1991 and overlooked the Kalutara Police Division. The Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of the Division was Jagath Jayawardena who later retired as a DIG. Aluthgama, Paiyagala and Beruwela were also police stations within the Kalutara Division. These areas were inhabited by large numbers of Muslims.

In the latter half of 1991, a seemingly innocuous incident involving a Sinhalese and a Muslim in Beruwela gave rise to tension between the two communities. A Sinhalese was assaulted by a Muslim. There had not been any previous enmity between them. In a matter of hours, clashes between Sinhalese and Muslims began to erupt, first in Beruwela, and then in the adjoining towns, Aluthgama and Paiyagala.

Senior Superintendent of Police Kalutara called for additional manpower to handle the situation. They were sent by me from the adjoining Panadura Police Division as well as the Kelaniya Division which too came within my purview. The situation according to SSP Jayawardena as the weekend commenced had improved to a point where the regional police felt confident that normalcy could be restored within a matter of days. President Premadasa telephoned me over the weekend to clarify the situation and, based on the assessment of SSP Kalutara, I assured him that normalcy was within sight.

On Monday following the weekend when I was at work in police headquarters, Prime Minister and Deputy Minister of Defence D.B Wijetunge telephoned and said that he had received reports that the situation in Aluthgama – Beruwela was out of control and that he had decided to despatch army troops to restore order. When I telephoned SSP Kalutara for a clarification, he informed me that there had been a sudden renewal of clashes between the two communities following an abatement of violence over the weekend. I immediately left for Kalutara, realizing that prompt and effective intervention was necessary.

I reached the bungalow of SSP Kalutara by about 2 .00 pm. and proceeded from there to the Beruwela police station with the SSP. Having arrived at the police station, I called for books and documents which had records and summaries of incidents that had taken place over about five days to study them to form my impressions. Two murders, a number of cases of arson, serious acts of violence not amounting to murder, and several cases of mischief had been reported at the Beruwela police station alone.

Similar cases had also been reported at the Paiyagala and Aluthgama police stations as well. A total of over 280 complaints had been registered at the Beruwela police station alone. A matter of significance was that in respect of about 225 of these complaints, the victims had been Muslims. I was therefore able to conclude that Sinhala elements had gone on the rampage, and that the police on duty were turning a blind eye to the excesses as happened in the 1983 communal disturbances.

I did not however disclose my impressions to SSP Kalutara. We thereafter toured Maradana, a village in Beruwela, where several incidents had taken place. The first impression I had, when I saw police on duty along the way was that their numbers were more than adequate, that they were well armed, but that most of them were in clusters and groups, and appeared sluggish and indifferent. My assessment was confirmed when we turned onto the road leading to Maradana from Colombo – Matara highway, and observed a large number of armed policemen indifferently watching a car being set on fire near a Buddhist temple. On seeing our jeep, the miscreants took to their heels, passively watched by the police.

The police group in question was under the control of an ASP who appeared disinclined to act firmly. I realized that the first requirement was to wake the police from their slumber and to emphasize the importance of invoking the Emergency Regulations firmly to deal with the lawless and the violent. Fortified with such thought, I returned to the Beruwela police station and immediately converted it into an improvised Command Centre, with SSP Jagath Jayawardena and Superintendent of Police (SP) Edward as my assistants.

We decided to stay over at Beruwela police station till order was restored. I ordered the immediate transfer of selected senior officers from Kelaniya, Gampaha and Negombo Police Divisions to Beruwela on a temporary basis to offer strong leadership to the partisan police ranks. Sectors identified as bad areas where incidents continued to occur were placed under these officers. To emphasize the seriousness and urgency of the situation and the need for concerted steps, I scheduled a conference of senior officers for 5.00 am. the following morning.

At about 11.30 pm the same night, I received a call from President Premadasa seeking a clarification of the latest situation as well as how things had taken a turn for the worse. I did not want to let down the local police, but merely assured him that peace would be restored in a short space of time.

On the following morning, I was conferring with my senior officers about the strategy I had mapped out to quell unrest when I received a phone call to say that Prime Minister D.B. Wijetunge, General S.C. Ranatunge, Secretary of Defence, General Wanasinghe, the Army Commander, and Ernest Perera, IGP, would be arriving by helicopter at the Muslim Maha Vidyalaya grounds in Beruwela at 7.00 am.

We rushed to the school grounds where a large number of Muslims had assembled. As the Prime Minister alighted from the helicopter, they in unison called for the mobilization of the army in place of the police. All of us thereafter adjourned to a classroom in the school where the Prime Minister and Secretary of Defence addressed the Muslim people who had gathered. Secretary of Defence addressing the people said that Army, Navy and Air – Force troops would arrive shortly to assist the police, and that they will work under the command of the DIG.

On being called upon to address the assembly by General Ranatunge, I assured them that I will act firmly and restore normalcy within a very short span of time. After the meeting was adjourned, I assured the Prime Minister and Secretary of Defence that peace and normalcy will be restored within 24 hours.

Upon their departure, I returned to Beruwela police station and recommenced the conference I had earlier adjourned. Army, Navy and Air Force officers who had brought troops with them too attended the conference. I assigned them sectors as well. The sectors had by then to be extended since violence had spread to Dharga Town. I realized that unless firm measures were invoked, riots would spread to Galle. Addressing the officers,

I made them understand that the reason for the escalation of violence was because a certain degree of partiality had coloured the actions of the police on duty. I said that regardless of race and creed men on duty should act firmly, employing the powers vested in them by the Emergency Regulations. I requested the officers to go back to their sectors and inform their subordinates that once the uniform was worn, police knew only two types of communities, those who obeyed the law and those who flouted it; and that if any subordinate had mistaken racial bias for patriotism, he should shed his uniform and join the miscreants.

I emphasized the need for arrests, detections and confrontations where miscreants were identified committing serious acts of violence and arson. Sector officers were called upon to announce the enforcement of a local curfew from 12.00 pm, to be lifted only for 5 hours from 7.00 am. the following day in their sectors. A conference to review the progress of the security plan was scheduled for 6.00 pm. the same day. I also requested SSP Kalutara to inform the recognized elders of the Sinhala and Muslim communities to meet me in the course of the day.

The conference concluded with the sector officers informed that if they acted firmly and decisively, peace and normalcy could be restored before the lapse of 24 hours: also that I would stand by them in their endeavours. The elders of the two communities met me thereafter in the company of Minister Imtiaz Bakeer Markar, the political organiser of the United National Party for Beruwela. I explained to them my plan of action, and solicited their assistance to restrain the youth from resorting to violence.

Having inspired and goaded the sector officers to act positively, I did a few rounds in the area and observed that those posted on duty were alert and vigilant. On returning to my Command Centre, I gathered that a group of Sinhalese had stormed a Muslim village in Paiyagala, set fire to all the houses and inflicted injury on Muslims. The police had confronted them when they were engaged in the commission of serious acts of violence, and being unable to restrain them, had opened fire. Two of the injured had later succumbed to injury.

Reports were also received in the Command Centre that the army in their sector in Dharga Town had shot a Muslim dead in a confrontation when engaged in acts of violence. By nightfall, and as confirmed by the sector officers at the evening briefing, the situation had virtually returned to normal. On the following morning, I had the elders summoned for tea and refreshments in the church premises adjoining the Beruwela police station. Minister Imtiaz Bakeer Marker too was present.

I addressed them and explained that firm action as required by the law had been necessary because misguided youth of both communities were led by their heart, not the head, and that once they had realized that the police and the services would act firmly, sanity had returned to them. I thereafter requested the two communities to live in amity. Speakers from both communities and the Minister thanked the police and the security forces for restoring normalcy.

Thus communal unrest spread over five days and which had threatened to spread to Galle in the south and even the North Western Province, was brought under control in less than 24 hours.

POSTSCRIPT

I had opportunity to handle a few more similar experiences in my career. With the infamous racial riots in 1983, I was, as an SP, belatedly posted from police headquarters to Colombo about a week or two from the onset of riots. I was then lingering sans recognition in police headquarters, after my battles with politicos in Kelaniya and Kurunegala . The Colombo South area was assigned to me, with the rest of Colombo placed under Janaka Perera who was then a Colonel. Adopting a firm line, we restored sanity fairly quickly, despite our exertions being unfortunately required far too late.

My experience convinced me that police ranks were coloured by prejudice to a considerable extent, as was the case in Beruwela too in 1991. I think if we look at the sad saga of communal violence on our soil from about 1958, what is patently clear is that one of the reasons for delays in curbing violence was the strange inertia of the security forces, at least in the early stages. It is also my firm belief based on experience, that service and police ranks respond well to positive leadership.

Handling mobs has its own challenges. There has to be a strategy against them. I was convinced that when people gather to demonstrate and cause havoc with a communal mindset, speed and firmness are essentials to bring them to heel. The psychology of mobs has unusual characteristics. Crowds swell rapidly to transform into reckless numbers when mobs sense weakness in the security forces. The ‘heart’ then starts ruling the ‘head’. With the multiplication of numbers due to perceived weaknesses of the police, mobs become yet more violent, irrational, and reckless. When handling mobs, all efforts have therefore to concentrate on getting heads’ to think and react, rather than allow the ‘heart’ to trigger excessive emotions and violence. Speed and firmness have to characterise the response of the police.

A swift response to the emergence of racist mobs also calls for decisive political direction, good intelligence, and firm police responses. Dilatory tactics, indecision and too much of tolerance maybe fateful. All previous racial riots up to the aftermath of the Easter Sunday carnage were characterized by ineptitude on the part of the police and the security forces to act decisively in the early stages. It has to be acknowledged that governments of the time too have to be blamed for failing to offer bold and unambiguous directions. I must however offer a bouquet to my ‘bete noire’, former President Chandrika Kumaratunga, for being unique in making it clear to the country and the security forces in her time that she will not tolerate racist violence. I am certain that if there were such efforts, she would have nipped them in the bud without any hesitation.

There are times when negotiations work, but mostly with mobs not tainted with racism. Around 1994-5, the Voice of America (VOA) broadcasting station in Iranawila , was under perpetual siege from irate mobs, encouraged by radical Christian priests who feared that western influences would infiltrate the tranquil life of the villagers. The transports of Americans to and from the VOA were regularly stoned and attacked, causing fairly serious injuries.

DIG Gamini Randeni’s hasty response was to order the opening of fire, resulting in a miscreant being killed. He unfortunately chose to handle tension by pouring fuel to the flamess. I was then requested by the government to proceed and find a way of restoring normalcy. On my way to Chilaw, after a meeting with the American Ambassador, I pondered and made up my mind that amidst the intense hostility to the police, the only option available was negotiation and persuasion, so as to win the confidence of the ring leaders behind mobs.

I was successful in gaining the confidence of the Catholic Bishop of Chilaw, and through him, the young priests who supported the villagers. I also addressed the ringleaders of violence separately, and once confident that they were veering to my way of thinking, assembled the young priests and the community leaders together for a series of meetings and drove sense into them. Normalcy was thus restored, with the clergy and the village leaders agreeing to keep the peace. Strong arm tactics were not contemplated, but other methods were planned and held in readiness.

The lesson that emerges from these experiences is that racist mobs have to be handled differently to mobs which espouse other causes. The riots of racist mobs target life, limb and property. Police then have to confront them firmly and swiftly. But mobs which espouse popular grievances outside the pale of racism, and prefer agitations, have to be addressed differently. The adoption of negotiations would then be paramount, for in such instances, it is more important to address the grievances than use force.

Even during the tenure of office of President Premadasa, Negombo was volatile since villagers in the coastal town agitated on the streets against tourism and tourists, accusing foreigners of promoting child prostitution. I was despatched to win over the radical Catholic priests backing the agitation, and through dialogue, won them over and established a task force against vice, with the clergy and community leaders as components. Here too, the use of force would have been fatal.

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Features

Defend civic space upon which peace is built

Published

12 hours ago

2026/09/22

Sahan Weerasooriya

by Jehan Perera

International Peace Day was observed on 21 September. It finds Sri Lanka with a genuine achievement to record and a demanding test to meet. The UN’s theme this year was “Invest in Peace: For Everyone, Everywhere, Every Day.” It also honoured the “everyday architects of peace”—people driving local action and building a lasting peace from the ground up. In the 2026 Global Peace Index, Sri Lanka rose 30 places, from 97th to 67th among 163 countries. Over the same period, global peacefulness declined for the twelfth consecutive year to its lowest level since the index began, and South Asia suffered the sharpest regional deterioration. The test is whether the government will protect the civic space in which those architects of peace work.

Sri Lanka’s improvement is real and deserves acknowledgement. In this year’s review, issued a few weeks ago, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights acknowledged progress in the form of action against corruption, arrests and investigations linked to political killings, enforced disappearances and the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks, and continued official denunciation of racism. A ranking, however, records conditions at a particular moment. It does not guarantee that they will last. Sustainable peace will depend on three factors. These are whether the government addresses the unresolved causes of conflict, whether it strengthens accountability for past and present abuses, and whether it protects the civic space in which peace is built from below. On the first two the record is incomplete. On the third, the draft NGO law threatens to weaken the very organisations that press for the other two.

What holds Sri Lanka back from a higher place are the same things that fed the war at home and also feed international conflict that rages elsewhere in the world. These are racism or ethnic nationalism that is narrow-focused, corruption and lawlessness. Equality, accountability and the rule of law are their remedies. The present government has committed itself to these, and is a significant improvement over governments of the recent past. But these pillars are not held up by governments alone. Peace is made in villages, workplaces and university campuses. It is made by families who insist on the truth about their disappeared, by journalists and lawyers who expose abuse, and by community organisations that bring Tamils, Muslims and Sinhalese into practical cooperation.

Unfinished Work

The UN High Commissioner’s report to the current Human Rights Council session, covering October 2025 to July 2026, shows how much remains to be done. The Prevention of Terrorism Act is still being applied, producing arbitrary arrests and long detention without charge. The report calls for a moratorium pending repeal and for the release of long-term detainees. Military-occupied land has not been released, memorialisation lacks support, and tensions over land and religious sites persist. The Batticaloa district illustrates how such problems endure. In the past three years, two Presidents, Ranil Wickremesinghe and Anura Kumara Dissanayake, have visited and instructed that the dispute over grazing land in Mailaththamadu and Mathavanai be resolved. It is a dispute between Tamil cattle farmers and outside Sinhala cultivators, and it has not been resolved. When two Presidents issue instructions and nothing changes, the fault lies in the machinery of State. An unresolved dispute does not stand still. It hardens into the next grievance.

Accountability shows the same pattern. The report documents torture and deaths in custody, and surveillance and intimidation of activists, journalists and civil society. Serious cases remain stalled for years, among them the killing of seventeen aid workers of Action Contre la Faim in Muttur two decades ago. Sharper still is the case of the Eastern University refugee camp at Vantharamoolai, where in 1990 the army took away 158 persons in a single day. They were never seen again. The camp’s officer-in-charge, Dr T. Jayasingam, later Vice Chancellor of the university, identified the officers responsible. More than three decades on, those officers have not been questioned. These cases are still remembered because families, survivors and independent witnesses have refused to let them be forgotten. Meanwhile several commissions of inquiry have completed their investigations but nothing further has happened.

What South Africa, Argentina and other post-conflict societies have found indispensable are four pillars of what is called “Transitional Justice” which are truth, accountability, reparations and non-recurrence. In Sri Lanka’s circumstances, truth means credible, independent investigation of what happened to the disappeared, and support for memorialisation. Accountability means prosecuting Muttur, Vantharamoolai and comparable cases, and removing credibly accused persons from senior office. Reparations mean compensation for victims and the return of military-held land. Non-recurrence means repealing the Prevention of Terrorism Act, releasing those held under it in the meantime, and resolving local disputes such as Mailaththamadu before delay hardens them. A country that buries its past does not escape it. The past returns in the next generation.

Civil Society

It is against this background that the draft NGO law is most troubling. The proposed legislation contains sweeping provisions for State oversight and control of civil society organisations. Among these are enforcing a licensing requirement on NGOs, which is to be renewed every three years, and severe penalties for not submitting reports on time, or for spending on emergency flood relief (for instance) when the NGOs mandate is peacebuilding (as an example) with possible sanctions including deregistration and having to shut down. Civil society groups have warned that it would confer excessive discretion over their registration and operations. Officials in Sri Lanka have abused such powers in the past. Additional power without effective checks invites further abuse. Sound regulation would have clear criteria for registration, an independent registrar and a right of appeal to the courts. What cannot be justified is a regime in which registration becomes a licence to be withheld from organisations that scrutinise policy, expose abuses or advocate for the rights of citizens.

Democracy is based on checks and balances. Those who press for accountability are part of those checks. The contradiction is plain. A government that has pledged accountability, equality and the rule of law ought not to be preparing to weaken the very organisations that press for their fulfilment. The organisations most exposed are those working on disappearances, land, memorialisation and reconciliation in the North and East, where the State’s record is weakest and the need for independent witnesses greatest. Silencing them would not remove the grievances they document. It would remove the channel through which those grievances are addressed peacefully. The government appears to be relenting, which is welcome, but a pause is not a withdrawal. The bill should be withdrawn and any replacement drafted in genuine consultation with those it would govern.

Investment in peace as called for by the UN in its International Peace Day theme implies commitment over time, with returns that come slowly. Sri Lanka’s 30-place rise on the Global Peace Index is a first dividend and nothing more. It can be built upon only if the government matches its commitments with action: withdrawing or fundamentally redrafting the NGO law, repealing or suspending the Prevention of Terrorism Act, and bringing Muttur, Vantharamoolai and Mailaththamadu to resolution. A higher place in a global index is not a certificate of success. Sri Lanka’s higher ranking is an encouraging start, but it will endure only if the space in which citizens speak, question and organise is protected. Peace is built from below, and a government that is serious about it will treat civil society as a partner rather than a threat.

Features

Africa is buying: Sri Lanka must start selling

Published

12 hours ago

2026/09/22

Sahan Weerasooriya

A call to Sri Lankan exporters and agencies: Can Sri Lanka compete with China and India in Africa?

By Kana V. Kananathan
Former Ambassador

Sri Lanka has spent decades concentrating its exports on traditional markets in Europe, North America and Asia. Yet across the Indian Ocean lies a rapidly expanding market that remains significantly underdeveloped by Sri Lankan exporters: Africa.

The opportunity is not theoretical. Sri Lanka already exports packaging, textiles, rubber products, pharmaceuticals, paper, machinery and electrical goods to African markets. The question is whether these modest beginnings can be transformed into a serious export strategy—and whether Sri Lanka can compete against the enormous commercial presence of China and India.

The answer is yes—but Sri Lanka must compete differently.

Kenya: Gateway to East Africa

Kenya should be the starting point.

Sri Lanka exported approximately US$32.08 million to Kenya in 2025, while importing US$11.41 million. But US$32 million is tiny compared with the opportunity: Kenya imported more than US$24 billion in 2025. Even a 1% share of that market would represent nearly US$240 million in annual exports.

And the commercial base already exists. Sri Lanka’s 2025 exports to Kenya included approximately US$9.99 million in paper and paperboard products, US$9.73 million in knitted fabrics, US$3.64 million in pharmaceuticals, US$1.24 million in rubber products and US$1.20 million in machinery.

Kenya’s import structure is equally revealing. In the third quarter of 2025, industrial supplies represented 34.4% of imports, machinery and capital equipment 19.2%, food and beverages 9.0%, and consumer goods 7.3%. The opportunity for Sri Lanka, therefore, extends well beyond consumer goods—we can become a supplier to African industry.

But competition is fierce. Asia supplied around 70% of Kenya’s imports in 2025, with imports from China rising 16.5% and those from India 11.3%.

Sri Lanka cannot challenge China and India across every product category. Nor should it try. We must target sectors where quality, specialisation, reliability, technical capability, smaller production runs and flexibility matter more than simply offering the lowest price.

Where Can Sri Lanka Compete?

Packaging is an obvious starting point. Cartons, boxes, bags and labels are already among Sri Lanka’s exports to Kenya. Importantly, some Sri Lankan companies operating in Kenya are themselves importing these products from Sri Lanka. The market already exists; the challenge is to scale it.

As Africa’s food-processing, pharmaceutical, apparel and consumer-goods industries expand, demand for sophisticated packaging will grow with them. Sri Lanka already possesses the manufacturing capability and industry experience to capture a larger share.

Industrial rubber products, tyres, gloves and specialised rubber components offer another opportunity where Sri Lanka has established manufacturing expertise.

The apparel supply chain is equally promising. Rather than competing directly with African garment factories, Sri Lanka can supply fabrics, elastics, labels, packaging and specialised textile inputs.

Some Sri Lankan apparel manufacturing and export companies already established in Kenya, Togo, Ghana and Ethiopia are importing several of these inputs from Sri Lanka. The supply chain, therefore, already exists. The next step is to move beyond supplying Sri Lankan-owned factories and become a competitive input supplier to the wider African apparel industry.

Other sectors deserving systematic market development include pharmaceuticals and medical consumables, processed foods, biscuits and confectionery, coconut products, cinnamon and spices, electrical products and cables, industrial chemicals, ceramics, light engineering, agricultural equipment and food-processing machinery.

Sri Lanka should also look beyond physical goods. IT, fintech, banking technology, engineering, healthcare, hospitality management and professional services largely escape the freight disadvantage confronting merchandise exports.

The Tariff Problem Can Become an Opportunity

Market access cannot be discussed without tariffs.The East African Community applies a Common External Tariff with bands of 0%, 10%, 25% and 35%, while certain sensitive products attract still higher protection. Simply filling containers in Colombo with finished consumer goods will therefore not always be commercially competitive.

But that obstacle points towards a bigger opportunity: manufacture in Africa.

Sri Lankan businesses could export intermediate materials while undertaking final assembly, manufacturing, processing or packaging in Kenya. Packaging companies could establish converting plants; electrical manufacturers could assemble locally; pharmaceutical companies could explore manufacturing or packaging partnerships; and food companies could undertake final processing closer to consumers.

Kenya would then become more than an export destination. It could become Sri Lanka’s manufacturing and distribution gateway into East and Central Africa.

With the East African Community now comprising eight partner states and extending geographically from the Indian Ocean towards the Atlantic, establishing a regional presence is increasingly more important than viewing each African country in isolation.

West Africa Cannot Be Ignored

Sri Lanka simultaneously needs a West African strategy.

Ghana offers potential as an English-speaking commercial gateway and host of the AfCFTA Secretariat. Nigeria, with its enormous population and consumer economy, should be approached as a major market in its own right, despite its greater regulatory, currency and operational complexity.

ECOWAS tariff bands of 0%, 5%, 10%, 20% and 35% again make product selection critical. Sri Lanka should concentrate on products with sufficient differentiation and margins to absorb freight, tariffs and distributor costs.

Pharmaceuticals demonstrate both the opportunity and the challenge. Nigeria imported approximately US$766 million in pharmaceuticals in 2025, with India supplying roughly US$394 million and China US$131 million. Ghana imported approximately US$301 million, with India supplying about US$140 million.

Sri Lanka cannot simply offer another generic product and expect to beat India on price. We must identify specialised products, reliable supply arrangements, partnerships and, where commercially justified, local production or packaging.

Stop Promoting Sectors—Identify Products

Sri Lanka now needs an Africa Export Opportunity Study based on individual products, not broad sectors.

The Export Development Board, Foreign Ministry, chambers and private sector should jointly identify 15–20 priority products. For each product, Sri Lanka should calculate the HS code, African annual import demand, principal suppliers, Chinese and Indian market shares, applicable duties, freight from Colombo, regulatory requirements, distributor margins and final landed price.

That will tell us where Sri Lanka genuinely has a competitive advantage.

The Commercial Test

Before spending resources promoting a product, apply one simple test:

African import demand + Sri Lankan production capability + tariff + freight + distributor margin + regulatory cost = final landed competitiveness against China, India and local African production.

Only products that pass this test should receive concentrated export-promotion resources.

This would move Sri Lanka away from exhibitions, delegations and general discussions towards what ultimately matters: specific products, specific buyers, specific distributors and actual export orders.

Give Our Missions Targets

Commercial diplomacy must become results-driven. The Government should set clear annual trade and investment targets for every Sri Lankan mission in Africa.

Missions should be evaluated not merely on diplomatic activity, but on buyers and distributors identified, business introductions made, investments facilitated, market barriers resolved and measurable exports generated.

In a competitive Africa, our missions must become active economic frontlines not merely diplomatic outposts.

A practical strategy could operate through three commercial gateways: Nairobi for East and Central Africa, Accra for selected West African markets and Lagos for Nigeria.

Sri Lanka’s total exports of goods and services reached approximately US$17.25 billion in 2025. Capturing even a small additional share of Africa’s enormous import market could, therefore, make a meaningful contribution to export earnings, investment and foreign-exchange generation.

Africa Will Not Wait

Sri Lankan exporters must stop looking at Africa as a distant or difficult market and start treating it as a strategic growth market.

We cannot compete with China and India on scale, but we can compete on quality, specialisation, flexibility and reliability. Exporters must identify country-specific opportunities, establish strong local distributors, build partnerships with African businesses and use Sri Lankan companies already operating on the continent as gateways into regional supply chains.

Where freight and tariffs weaken competitiveness, businesses must be prepared to move towards local assembly, joint ventures and manufacturing in Africa. Exporters cannot do it alone. They need aggressive, measurable and results-driven commercial diplomacy from Sri Lanka’s missions.

Africa is buying. Its markets are being captured now. Sri Lanka must stop watching from the sidelines. We must enter, compete, build our presence and secure our share.

(Ambassador Kana Kananathan is a businessman, Diplomat, lobbyist and an expert in African affairs, with over four decades of experience on the African continent. A long-time resident of Africa, he served as Sri Lanka’s envoy to Uganda and Kenya, with concurrent accreditation to 22 African Nations, and was the permanent representative to UN Habitat and UN environmental Programme. Over the years, he has been the Elections Monitor across the continent, working closely with African governments, and built enduring partnerships with African leaders. He also served as Economic and Investments Advisor to former President Professor Alpha Condé of the Republic of Guinea)

Features

Memories and Midnight Magic: Recipe for a perfect 31st Night dance

Published

12 hours ago

2026/09/22

Sahan Weerasooriya

The heart of a great 31st Night dance is memory, and memories come rushing back when those 70s, 80s and 90s golden oldies begin to play — those timeless tunes that make revellers, young and old, rush to the floor and dance the night away.

A perfect 31st Night is not just a party. It is a journey. A journey through time.

The music should flow like a love story. Start slow, start soft. Let couples glide into a waltz for romance. Let the floor come alive with a twist, a rock ‘n’ roll, a jive. Let nostalgia build with beautiful sing-along oldies generally associated with a New Year’s Eve dance.

This is the art that many of our entertainers seem to have forgotten.

The final hour, before midnight, is sacred. It should be collective energy at its peak. The entire crowd, on the dance floor, linking arms, swaying together, singing, at the top of their voices, those sing-along favourites.

Yes, I’m referring to those immortal, nostalgic favourites that unite the world: ‘This Land Is Your Land,’ ‘You Are My Sunshine,’ ‘When The Saints Go Marching In,’ ‘Roll Out The Barrel,’ ‘Celebration,’ ‘She’ll Be Coming Round The Mountain,’ ‘Happy Days Are Here Again,’ and so many more.

One wonders if some of our modern entertainers have even heard of these nostalgia anthems that traditionally lead up to the dawning of the New Year! This is not just music; this is ritual.

Then comes THE moment: Lights dim. Music pauses. A hush falls. The countdown begins — 10, 9, 8… — hugs, wishes, tears of joy, and then … ‘Auld Lang Syne.’ Hands crossed, voices united, bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new. That moment makes or breaks the night.

Here is the truth that many genuine 31st Night revellers feel but hesitate to say — an overdose of baila music at New Year’s Eve events is NOT welcome.

Of course, baila is required. Baila is our Sri Lankan heartbeat! But a 31st Night dance is for everyone.

When it’s ONLY baila, the twist and rock n’ roll lovers, the waltz kings and queens feel left out. And they are the very people who MADE nostalgia! They are the die-hard revellers who have kept the 31st Night spirit alive for decades.

A family mentioned to me that they went along with friends for a 31st Night dance, in the city, to usher in 2026, and were thoroughly disappointed with the setup.

The bands in attendance, they said, failed to generate the excitement generally associated with a 31st Night event.

If given a free hand, the music at certain Colombo venues will be mostly baila, and that is going to disappoint many. Some are already worried that it will be just a baila scene this year, as well.

A memorable 31st Night respects all rhythms … yes, a waltz for romance, a twist and rock n’ roll for that 60s magic, a cha-cha, a slow foxtrot, and then the baila, after the countdown anthem.

That balance is what makes it inclusive, classy, and truly fun-filled.

Organisers, especially in Colombo, should keep this in mind: let it be 70% nostalgia – Western, and 30% baila, with the last hour left for pure baila madness, after the New Year is in!

Organisers must work out the programme for their 31st Night and instruct the entertainers to follow those instructions. The band should not dictate the night; the spirit of nostalgia should.

This New Year, let’s give Colombo what it truly wants — memories, midnight magic, and music for every soul on the floor.

Let’s dance into 2027 with class.