Vijitha Herath UNGA Quotes Are Fake, and Anura Kumara Video Is Edited

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A fake News 1st news card and an edited video went viral while Sri Lanka took part in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York in September 2026. The card put explosive remarks in Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath’s mouth, including a vow to jail the Rajapaksas and a refusal to call Tamil fighters terrorists. The video claimed that President Anura Kumara Dissanayake had addressed the session. Neither claim was true. Here are the posts that carried them.

Social Media Posts:

Claim 1:

A social media post, designed as an official “News 1st” news card, claimed that Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath made the following statements at the United Nations summit:

1. “Our government provided financial assistance to all animals, including chickens, pigs and goats, that perished in Cyclone Ditwah.”

2. “We intend to enforce the law against opposition forces, including the Rajapaksas, and imprison every one of them. After that, we will try to enforce the law as far as possible against the thieves in our own party too.”

3. “The Tamil warriors who fought back then were also children of this very country. That is why we will never address them as terrorists.”

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Fact-Check:

Herath’s real UN speech contained none of these statements

The posts used a genuine frame from Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath’s official address representing Sri Lanka at the UN General Assembly in New York on September 28, 2026.

The full text of his address, published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka and the official UN website, confirmed that he made none of the statements in the posts.

He mainly spoke about:

• Climate change and the justice owed to developing nations.

• Debt restructuring and reform of the international financial system.

• The humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the rights of the Palestinian people.

• The new government’s steps to curb corruption in Sri Lanka and strengthen democracy.

News 1st never published the card

A check of News 1st’s official page found that it never published a news card with the statements attributed to the Minister. It published his actual remarks at the General Assembly here and here.

The posts were therefore fabricated by other parties who misused News 1st’s branding.

Claim 2:

A video also circulated on Facebook, purportedly showing President Anura Kumara Dissanayake speaking at this year’s UNGA session.

Facebook

Fact-Check:

The President did not attend the 2026 session

Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath, not President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, represented Sri Lanka at this year’s UNGA session. The posts and the video claiming that the President addressed the session are therefore false.

The video pairs his 2025 UN footage with audio from domestic political speeches

The visuals came from President Dissanayake’s genuine address representing Sri Lanka at the 80th UN General Assembly session in New York on September 24, 2025. The audio, however, was not his 2025 UN speech. It was a compilation of remarks he made at several political events in Sri Lanka, edited together as background audio. Three of these speeches are available here, here and here.

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Conclusion:

Our investigation found that the social media posts about the September 2026 UNGA session are false and misleading. The News 1st cards attributing statements to Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath are fabricated. His full address, published by Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the United Nations, contains none of those statements, and News 1st’s official page carries no such card.

The video of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake was deceptively edited. It combined footage of his 2025 UNGA address with audio from other political speeches he delivered in Sri Lanka. He did not attend this year’s session.