Minister Milinda Moragoda has become the latest actor to enter the scene in the drama over who should address the UN General Assembly session this year, as he was involved in informing the UN over who would address the assembly.

Minister Moragoda had informed the Secretary General that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe would address the UN General Assembly when he met him in April this year, Sri Lankan UN Ambassador Charlie Mahendran said in a letter to President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

It was against this background that the Secretary General of the UN had addressed the letter dated 23rd July 2003 to the Premier, the letter said adding that in this regard the suggestion that a name was inserted in the photocopy was "unworthy of reply."

In reply to the President's query concerning the fact that the person who should fill the post of Head of State and Government in addressing the Special Session, Mahendran pointed out that during the tenure of Shirley Amerasinghe as the UN Permanent Representative he had addressed the assembly for ten years. In addition he noted that during 1994 and 2001 the Foreign Minister and the Permanent Representative had addressed the General Assembly in "slots" listed under the title "Heads of States/ Governments."

Mahendran stated that his channels of communications were with the Foreign Affairs Ministry. In this regard he noted that it was "strange that you were not made aware of the procedure at the United Nations by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs."

Finally he refuted the assertion of President Chandrika Kumaratunga that his conduct was "unsatisfactory and unprofessional".

The President in her letter to Mahendran stated that her office had requested a speaking slot for her at the United Nations General Assembly after receiving the much delayed invitation for the HIV/AIDS Conference and questioned him on the reasons for not informing that such a slot was allotted to the Head of Government of Sri Lanka.

Her letter also questioned the delay in transmitting the missive addressed to the Head of State by 15 days, implying that it was "evidently urgent".