英国阻止斯里兰卡举办英联邦峰会

The UK will try to block Sri Lanka's bid to host the next Commonwealth summit over its handling of the recent war, a UK government source has said.

一条英国政府来源信息显示，英国将会设法阻止斯里兰卡举行下届英联邦峰会的请求，因对其处理近期战争的方法不满。

Tens of thousands of Sri Lankans are still displaced

Sri Lanka could not be "rewarded" for actions that had a "huge impact on civilians", the source said.

The current Commonwealth summit is about to get under way in Trinidad and Tobago.

Climate change and the controversial membership bid of Rwanda are also high on the agenda.

Rising sea levels

The 60th anniversary Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, being held in Port of Spain, begins on Friday.

One of the key issues will be the choice of the 2011 venue（地点，场所）.

The Downing Street source said that Prime Minister Gordon Brown had "real concerns about Sri Lanka's bid".

"We simply cannot be in a position where Sri Lanka - whose actions earlier this year had a huge impact on civilians, leading to thousands of displaced people without proper humanitarian access - is seen to be rewarded for its actions."

The UN estimates the conflict with Tamil Tiger（泰米尔猛虎组织） rebels left at least 7,000 civilians dead with 150,000 people still displaced and living in camps.

Climate change will also be high on the agenda, in the last major gathering of international leaders before the global summit on the subject starts in Copenhagen on 7 December.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Danish PM Lars Rasmussen are also attending the Port of Spain summit, to give weight to any statement on the issue.

About half of the Commonwealth's members are island states, many of them threatened by rising sea levels.

Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Patrick Manning, who is hosting the three-day meeting, said he hoped the summit could boost momentum for an agreement on carbon emissions at Copenhagen, amid "concerns about the way the negotiations were going".

"We hope to arrive at a political statement that can add value to the process that will culminate in（达到顶点） Copenhagen next month... what we can do is raise our voices politically," he said.

The Commonwealth's 53 nations comprise（包含） about two billion people, or one-third of the planet's population.

The leaders are meeting days after pledges by the US and China to limit their greenhouse gas emissions, amid concerns that the Copenhagen meeting could fail to agree substantial cuts.

Zimbabwe issue

The summit will also discuss Rwanda's entry into the English-speaking club.

The Francophone nation has been seeking membership following disagreements with France over events leading up to the 1994 genocide.

The issue is likely to be controversial. The nation's entry bid has received strong backing from some member states.

However, some rights activists are angry that entry would reward a nation they say is guilty of abuses dating back to the 1994 genocide.

BBC diplomatic correspondent James Robbins, in Trinidad, says the leaders are expected to admit Rwanda.

He says most of the leaders apparently believe that if Rwanda is admitted, then they will be able to apply peer pressure to improve the lives of its people.

Zimbabwe's possible re-entry could also be brought up at the meeting.