TamilsForJustice

French Foreign Minister,Dr Bernard Kouchner arrives in Colombo next week.

2009-04-25T03:13:00.000-07:00

France to provide 100-bed field hospital for IDPs in the North
Sat, 2009-04-25 03:44

Colombo, 25 April, (Asiantribune.com): Responding to a call to the international community made yesterday by Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama for emergency relief assistance for the large number of civilians who have fled LTTE control and sought sanctuary in the cleared areas in recent days, the French Foreign Minister,Dr Bernard Kouchner telephoned his Sri Lankan counterpart today(24th April 2009) and informed that the Government of France will be providing a fully equipped 100-bed field hospital, backed by a 75 strong medical and support staff immediately.

In this regard,an advance team will arrive in Colombo tomorrow to make a field assessment to locate the hospital facility in the Vavuniya district.

As a further manifestation of the long-standing excellent bilateral relations between the two countries, Dr Kouchner accepted Minister Bogollagama's invitation to visit Sri Lanka. This visit is expected to take place as early as next week.

With 6432 Dead in Sri Lanka, UN Council Takes Over Press Room, UNHCR Funds Detention Camps, "Collective Punishment"

2009-04-25T00:47:00.000-07:00

With 6432 Dead in Sri Lanka, UN Council Takes Over Press Room, UNHCR Funds Detention Camps, "Collective Punishment"
Apr 25, 2009, 01:07 Digg this story!

UNITED NATIONS, April 24 -- The UN descended into chaos on Friday on the topic of Sri Lanka. In Colombo, the UN gave diplomats an updated chart of civilian casualties, with the death count having risen to 6432 since January 20, up from 2683 as of March 7. Inner City Press exclusively published the first report, and now places online this second one, here. In response to Inner City Press' questions on Friday, UN Deputy Spokesperson Marie Okabe said that these UN figures "may be a reasonable estimate." Video here, from Minute 10:29.

While the 3749 minimum additional civilians were being killed, the UN Security Council has held three informal meetings, the last on April 22 with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's envoy, Vijay Nambiar. Ban claimed the Nambiar had won a commitment from the government to a UN humanitarian assessment mission to the conflict zone. But the government of Sri Lanka has now said such a trip is not necessary or feasible.

Friday morning, Inner City Press asked a range of Council diplomats what they would do, given this new development. One senior diplomat from a Permanent Member of the Security Council opposed to adding Sri Lanka to the Council's formal agenda told Inner City Press that Ban had made a mistake by speaking publicly about what Nambiar said he had won. He said that his country, as supporter and funder of the government of Sri Lanka, believes that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam uses UN Council meetings to argue to civilians to stay with them in the conflict zone. Whether UN Webcasts can be seen there is not clear.

Nevertheless, even this Council member later on Friday agreed that Council president Claude Heller of Mexico could read out his second "remarks to the press" about Sri Lanka in three days, this time encouraging the government to cooperate with the UN to visit the conflict zone.

When Ambassador Heller read this out -- more below on how and where he did this -- Inner City Press asked, is the Council calling for a ceasefire? No, Heller said. Video here, from Minute 15:48.

Inner City Press asked if Heller or the Council had seen the UN's count of 6432 dead civilians. Heller replied that the Council on Wednesday had "no opportunity to discuss the casualties." Video here, from Minute 13:31. What then have they been discussing?

Amb. Heller in near-empty Council, run to near-empty press room described below

The manner of Heller's presentation was without precedent at the UN. In the UN's briefing room, UNHCR's representative in Sri Lanka Amin Awad was answering questions about his agency's work with the government on camps. Of the camps, he said the government was given an "aide memoire" which he would now try to make public, and that the camps "should not be collective punishment."

Midway through, after Inner City Press had asked about charges that the UN is working with and funding detention camps in violation of international humanitarian law, suddenly Ambassador Heller and his spokesman, UK Ambassador John Sawers and other Council staffers, burst into the room. They stood along the wall, as cell phone filmed by Inner City Press.

A note was handed to UN Deputy Spokesperson Marie Okabe, and she asked Amin Awad to leave the rostrum. Heller took his place, and read out his and the Council's "remarks to the press." He tried to immediately leave, but Inner City Press asked a question about the UN's casualty figures, and if the UN's Neil Buhne trip to Jaffna was the mission to the conflict zone that the UN is speaking of. Video here, from Minute 13:31.

Heller replied that now John Holmes of OCHA is going to "the region." Does this mean the conflict zone? Heller didn't answer. He was asked if this was a formal Council statement. He called it "remarks to the press," and said it was the "best way to agree." But agree on what?

Inner City Press is told that Heller and Sawers came out of the Security Council but found few to no journalists waiting to hear the remarks meant for them. Much of the UN press corps elsewhere, covering a committee meeting about listing companies which helped North Korea's recent launch.

Frustrated, Heller headed for the media briefing room, figuring he'd find reporters there to hear the Council's remarks. There were perhaps a half-dozen journalists in the room, listening to Amin Awad. In fact, at the beginning of the briefing Ms. Okabe had indirectly apologized, saying that many reporters would be "watching in their rooms."

Now the under-attended humanitarian briefing about refugees was converted into the forum for the full Council's scripted "remarks to the press." UK Ambassador Sawers showed himself -- he did not go to the rostrum or consent to taking questions -- while France's Ambassadors Ripert or LaCroix were nowhere to be seen. The U.S., it was said, was represented by Ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo, with Susan Rice being in Washington, most surmised.

Once Heller left the stage, Inner City Press asked Amin Awar about a comment Amb. DiCarlo had made, that IDP camps that do not comply with international humanitarian law should only be funded for so long. Amin Awar said that UNHCR has to be there, that there may be bilateral talks he is not privy to. Video here, from Minute 27:25.

On the elevator going down to the UN lobby, he told Inner City Press that in Washington earlier in the week he had met with Inter-Action and testified to Congress along with NGOs. Inner City Press asked him about reports that the government of Sri Lanka is funding DC-based firm Patton Boggs to represent its interests. I didn't know that, Amin Awar said. And so it goes at the UN.

Footnote: We continue to wait for the UK's formal answer to the first of the two questions which Inner City Press asked the UK Mission to the UN two questions on Sri Lanka early on April 15:

Does the UK believe that international law and the rights of UN humanitarian staff are being violated by the now-acknowledged detention of UN staff in the Sri Lankan government's “IDP” camps?

It has been reported this morning that Sri Lanka's “minister also told the British Foreign Secretary that there was concern that the LTTE would continue to consolidate its fortification of the No-Fire Zone.” Please confirm the accuracy of that, and of this and if so, does the UK interpret it as saying that an offensive on the No-Fire Zone and the civilians in it will begin? What did the UK Foreign Secretary say?
As of this press time nine days later, the formal answer has been referral to Minister Miliband's April 12 statement, and this. On April 21, Inner City Press put the question to U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice, whose spokesman the following day cleared this response: "UN personnel should have freedom of movement and be treated with respect." But they are still detained as of this writing. As more answers arrive or are released we will report them on this site.

The agony in Sri Lanka

2009-04-25T00:45:00.000-07:00

The agony in Sri Lanka
April 25, 2009

ONE OF THE WORLD'S longest, bloodiest conflicts is coming to a gruesome conclusion on the island nation of Sri Lanka. The United Nations estimates that some 6,500 civilians have died and 14,000 have been injured in the government's merciless offensive against the Tamil Tigers in the northeast of the country. The Obama administration and other governments, particularly India and China, should pressure both the Sri Lankan government and the Tigers to halt the fighting and permit trapped civilians to escape.
Discuss
COMMENTS (22)

This sort of humanitarian intervention would be more likely to succeed if the interveners make it clear that Sri Lankan government officials and Tiger leaders will be held responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Accounts from refugees leave little doubt that both sides have perpetrated such crimes. It was probably to hide those crimes that Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Defense Minister Gotabahaya Rajapaksa, his brother, banned international aid groups and independent journalists from the theater of war.

At a time when 100,000 refugees need medical care, food, and shelter, and another 50,000 are under shelling in a five-square-mile war zone, the international community has proved impotent to live up to the UN's 2005 adoption of a "right to protect" civilians who are not protected by their government. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon deserves credit for announcing Thursday that he was sending a humanitarian aid team to the war zone. "So many lives have been sacrificed," Ban said. "There is no time to lose." Welcome as the UN chief's humanitarian initiative must be, the sad truth is that it comes woefully late, after too much preventable human suffering.

The Rajapaksa brothers have been able to get away with their no-quarter assault on the Tigers, with all the collateral damage that entailed, because they dressed it up as a war against terrorists. Their propaganda has been effective because it is grounded in a half-truth. The Tigers have committed terrorist acts. But the overwhelming majority of the victims in the Rajapaksa brothers' war have been Tamil civilians. For more than a quarter century, successive Sri Lankan governments have refused to grant ethnic Tamils in the north and northeast of the country some form of autonomy or self-rule in a confederal state.

The Tigers may be crushed in the next few days. But the anger and alienation of the Tamil minority in Sri Lanka is more acute than ever. The ultimate solution for Sri Lanka's communal conflict can only be political, not military. If the Tamil populace sees no hope for autonomy within Sri Lanka, it may come to demand a separate state - after all, the secessionist goal of the Tigers.
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
READER COMMENTS (22)

ampanai wrote:
This is first "hell from earth" for Obama administration. Such individuals as Ms.Susan Rice and Ms.Samantha Powers have a responsibility to protect civilians from war crimes. If we do not act in the next few days, we may witness skyrocketing casualties.

Yes, separation is the only solution left!
4/24/2009 9:46 PM EDT
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Varathan wrote:
"I am not worried about the opinion of the Tamil people... now we cannot think of them, not about their lives or their opinion... the more you put pressure in the north, the happier the Sinhala people will be here... Really if I starve the Tamils out, the Sinhala people will be happy."
J.R.Jayawardene, Former President of Sri Lanka - Daily Telegraph, 11th July 1983
Whoever the president the message is same, It is Tamil Genocide. "We are witnessing an enormous human tragedy. People, who have done well in their professions, are as good as beggars today. There should be immediate efforts to stop the tragedy,'' Ravi Shankar said. SRI LANKA,S NO-FIRE ZONE IS, ZONE OF DEATH, NO-FOOD ZONE, NO-CARE ZONE, now NO-SAFETY ZONE, FIRE ONLY ZONE... World Watches Helplessly Genocide of Eelam Tamils in Vanni by Sinhalese
http://www.tamilcanadian.com/page.php?cat=145&id=5729
Sri Lanka used Chemical weapons, Cluster bombs, dropped over 5000 bombs per day. Tigers are not the root cause of the long conflict in Sri Lanka. Tigers are mere symptom of chauvinist and terror state of Sri Lanka to defend the rights of Tamils. The mother died while nursing the baby.The baby was still breastfeeding..." screams of the child when it was taken away from its dead mother http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=79&artid=28924, Has anyone seen a picture of a full term pregnant mother who was killed by a shell, which lacerated her womb exposing the leg of the fetus? Or the baby that was born with shrapnel embedded in its thigh? It is most disheartening to see thousand of our mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, brothers and sisters being brutally killed by the occupying Sri Lankan security forces in the North and the East and enduring long and immense sufferings in the hands of the Sinhalese chauvinism for more than six decades, but particularly during the last three years under the current regime, which is brutal and bloody to the Tamils. We are witnessing the barbaric slaughter of our race including indiscriminate bombings and torture of innocent civilians. Civilian casualties top 20,000 in Vanni: Leaked UN document,

Dark victory:But the imminent end of war offers an historic chance to make peace

2009-04-24T23:17:00.000-07:00

Dark victory

Apr 23rd 2009 | COLOMBO

But the imminent end of war offers an historic chance to make peace

Reuters

A DARK herd creeps across a grassy plain, wades a shallow lagoon and clambers to safety. Filmed from the air on April 20th, this was a scene Sri Lanka’s government had been dreaming of: the start of a mass breakout from the Tamil Tigers’ last sanctuary by, it claims, over 100,000 refugees—perhaps two-thirds of those being held hostage there. Having inspired the exodus, by breaching a sandy embankment around this “refuge”, a few kilometres of beach in north-eastern Sri Lanka, the army has encircled the surviving Tigers.

According to its private estimate, the Tigers may be reduced to 1,000 hardened fighters, plus a few thousand recently impressed refugees. The army believes Velupillai Prabhakaran, the Tiger chief, and his senior henchmen are among them—as was also claimed this week by a spokesman for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), as the rebels are properly known, after the Eelam, or Tamil homeland, for which they have waged a 26-year war. To bag these men, the last prize of a brutal two-year offensive, the army claims to be using stealthy tactics, with “deep-penetration” commandos and snipers. It has a history of over-egging its battlefield triumphs. But the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa seems genuinely to believe that one of Asia’s oldest wars could be over within days.

That would be momentous, and the island-nation’s Sinhalese majority will rush to celebrate it—and perhaps also give Mr Rajapaksa victory in an important regional election, in Western Province, on April 25th. Sri Lanka’s long war has probably cost over 100,000 lives, including 30,000 in the past two years.

Coinciding with a period of high economic growth outside the war-zone, in the west and south, the conflict has come to seem an increasingly anachronistic blot on a hopeful country. By rallying Sinhalese, who make up around three-quarters of the population, to support an all-out campaign against the Tigers, which his steely defence chief and brother, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, and General Sarath Fonseka, the army commander, have ably delivered, Mr Rajapaksa has almost erased this stain. Nor should Mr Prabhakaran and his crew be mourned. A well-organised and vicious terrorist group, expert in brainwashing and suicide-blasting, the LTTE has maintained its fief—which until late 2006 extended over almost a third of the country—by murder and fear. Moreover, having sabotaged a peace initiative of the previous government, and helped it lose an election by imposing a boycott on Tamil voters under its sway, Mr Prabhakaran has had the war he was asking for.

Yet, among Tamils, who may represent 18% of Sri Lanka’s population, including a community descended from 19th-century Indian immigrants which has played little part in the war, Mr Rajapaksa’s impending declaration of victory will be largely derided. And the congratulations of many foreign governments, especially Western ones, will be muted. The main reason is that the government’s apparent victory has come at an appalling cost. Hillary Clinton, America’s secretary of state, said this week that the entire world was disappointed that in its efforts to end the war, it was causing “such untold suffering”.

In its rush to exterminate the Tigers—partly in justified fear of their skill at manipulating foreign opinion—the army has shown a cruel disregard for Tamil civilians crowding the battlefield. Earlier this month the UN estimated that since early January, when the Tigers’ fled their northern capital, Kilinochchi, driving perhaps 200,000 civilians before them, some 4,500 had been killed and 12,000 wounded. The International Committee of the Red Cross, which has evacuated over 10,000 wounded civilians and their relatives from the no-fire zone, said on April 20th that hundreds more had been killed or wounded since the army made its breach.

Most appear to have been victims of shellfire inside the Tigers’ last refuge, though the government designated it a “no-fire zone” and claims to have shelled it only when civilians would not be harmed. It accuses the Tigers of bombarding the zone, to bolster international demands for a humanitarian ceasefire. But entrapped civilians, including doctors manning a makeshift hospital on the northern tip of the zone, say the army is to blame; and human-rights researchers believe them. More broadly, the government’s campaign has been marked by gross disregard for the rule of law, especially as it applies to Tamils. The defection in 2004 of a senior LTTE commander known as “Karuna”, now minister for national integration and reconciliation, enabled the army to capture the east rapidly, by mid-2007. Unfazed by the crimes allegedly committed by its proxy, including the forcible recruitment of children and many murders, the government has partly emulated them. In the east and elsewhere, especially Colombo, the country’s main city, it is alleged to have abducted and killed hundreds of young Tamils. Nor are Sinhalese entirely safe, especially journalists. Several have been mysteriously assassinated, and the rest terrorised. Reporters Without Borders, an NGO, considers Sri Lanka more hostile for journalists than any other democracy.

Asked whether he could not have prosecuted a just war more justly, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the defence chief, says the government had no choice but to use extraordinary tactics against a monstrous foe. Mr Rajapaksa denied they included extra-judicial killing. But he admitted that many Tamils had been detained and interrogated for extended periods. Most, he claimed, were operating as LTTE agents under false identities. “You can’t expect all the normal things that happen in a normal society because the LTTE are not like that.”
The American example

If this recalls the defence of water-boarding and other brutalities offered by America’s former government, it should. A former Sri Lankan army colonel, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa is also an American citizen; and the government has often likened its war against the LTTE to America’s zero-tolerance of Islamist terrorists. To an extent, America and its Western allies have encouraged the comparison, by proscribing the Tigers as a terrorist group. Yet the Western powers, which face no threat from the LTTE and whose politicians are susceptible to skilful lobbying by the expatriate Sri Lankan Tamils who bankroll it, have extended their sympathy only so far. They have lambasted the government for its human-rights abuses and, in the case of the EU, Sri Lanka’s biggest export market, threatened to cancel preferential trade terms. Making matters worse, the government has used such criticism, levelled, it claims, by Tiger-hugging imperialists, to stir up Sinhalese nationalism. This has hardened domestic support for the war, but alienated Sri Lanka’s foreign allies.

As a result, Sri Lanka, one of Asia’s oldest democracies, has been driven to seek other friends: Pakistan, its main arms-supplier; Iran, which has been providing 70% of its oil supply on tick; and Libya, from which it expects a soft loan of $500m to arrive soon. That cash would be welcome, but insufficient to avert a looming solvency crisis. The government’s profligacy, including defence spending that has ballooned as the army’s strength has been doubled within three years, to 200,000, has depleted the country’s foreign-currency reserves, which now cover barely six weeks of imports. The president, who is also the finance minister, this week dispatched emissaries to the IMF to negotiate terms for a $1.9 billion loan.

Undoing the damage its campaign has done to Sri Lanka’s economy, reputation and democratic institutions will take years. But the government’s abuses against Tamils may prove even costlier. Annihilating the LTTE will work only if, as the government claims, they do not represent the aspirations of their marginalised community. But its ethnically-guided “control measures”, in Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s phrase, have suggested to many innocent Tamils that the government considers them terrorists. The internment of almost every resident of Mr Prabhakaran’s former northern fief, including some 70,000 before this week’s flood, provides a relatively mild, yet pressing, example of this.

Given that many of these people have grown up under the LTTE, the government obviously must vet them. It also reasonably notes that their mine-strewn paddy-fields may be unsafe for some time. Yet the government’s original plan, to keep this population penned up for a year or more, was outrageous. In a rare concession to its critics, the government has somewhat relented: it now aims to resettle 20% of the interns by the end of this month and 80% by the end of the year. Yet to members of a proud minority, almost without exception, such blundering confirms the government as just the sort of diehard Sinhalese overlord that drove the LTTE to take up arms in the first place. And indeed, some members of Mr Rajapaksa’s regime, including General Fonseka, are avowed Sinhalese chauvinists. So even moderate Tamils, their ranks severely thinned by LTTE assassins, say they will be worse off without Mr Prabhakaran as their champion. Echoing the LTTE’s propagandists, a retired Tamil judge, an otherwise sensible pundit, accuses the government of genocide.
Winning the peace

For Mr Rajapaksa to win over many Tamils would be tough. Yet if he is to turn military triumph into enduring peace, he must try. And in some ways, he has an historic opportunity to succeed. Crowned with laurels, he is expected to hold parliamentary and presidential elections within a year, and win thumping majorities in both. That would give him—and his three brothers with ministerial status—unprecedented power to transform Sri Lanka. Having removed the obstructive LTTE, or (remembering the restorative powers of the Tamil diaspora) at least crippled it, Mr Rajapaksa could preside over the emergence of a liberal Tamil polity. By implementing a policy of regional devolution, that has existed on the statute for two decades but never in fact, he would go a long way to meeting the basic political demand of most Tamils. Such steps would win Mr Rajapaksa global acclaim. Yet there seems worryingly little chance he will take them.

As in the east, the government says it will quickly hold an election in the north for a provincial government. It also promises massive infrastructural development in the region. Yet Eastern Province is an unconvincing blueprint for healing Sri Lanka. Its election, won by a coalition led by Minister Karuna’s mob, was tainted by allegations of voter intimidation. Under the chief-ministership of Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, a former LTTE child-soldier and comrade of Minister Karuna (with whom he is now at war), it remains worryingly violent. According to the International Crisis Group, which this month released a discouraging report on progress in the east, Mr Chandrakanthan’s administration has minimal power.

Nor should the north count on even this modest reform. In the absence of a powerful local proxy, the government is mulling having another of its controversial Tamil allies, Douglas Devananda, elected as its chief minister. This might be difficult. Mr Devananda, the minister for social welfare, is said to be loathed in Jaffna, the capital of Northern Province. But if he, or some other enemy of the LTTE, cannot be assured of victory, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa says the election may not be held. Despite the supposed liberation of the region from the terrorists’ yoke the authorities seem strangely worried that northerners may yet vote in a pro-LTTE government.

White House says the government of Sri Lanka must stop shelling neutral areas and allow international aid groups to work

2009-04-24T19:13:00.000-07:00

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/24/AR2009042403516.html

WH: Sri Lanka must stop shelling neutral areas

The Associated Press
Friday, April 24, 2009; 8:04 PM
WASHINGTON -- The White House says the government of Sri Lanka must stop shelling neutral areas and allow international aid groups to work during the nation's civil war.
The White House on Friday said Washington is "deeply concerned about the plight of innocent civilians caught up in the conflict." The White House says civilians should be allowed to leave the combat zone, and journalists should be allowed to report on the violence.
Washington also called on both sides to adhere to humanitarian law and warned abuses would make reconciliation difficult.
The United Nations on Friday reported almost 6,500 ethnic Tamil civilians have been killed in the last three months. The south Asian island nation has endured a quarter-century of civil strife.

165,000 civilians face imminent starvation, LTTE urges IC to act

2009-04-24T17:07:00.000-07:00

165,000 civilians face imminent starvation, LTTE urges IC to act

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 April 2009, 23:52 GMT]
In a press statement titled 'UN and IC Need to Act Faster to Prevent Hunger' the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam Friday said 165,000 Tamil civilians belonging to 40,000 families within the LTTE controlled area in Mullaiththeevu coast are faced with serious crisis due to the deliberate denial of food and other humanitarian supplies by the Sri Lankan Government. "The LTTE urges the UN and other members of the international community to act promptly to ensure immediate and continuous supply of food to these people. We fear that further delay can result in a crisis similar to that faced in Darfur or even deadlier," the statement released from Vanni said.

Full text of the statement follows:

Media Release
24th April 2009

UN and IC Need to Act Faster to Prevent Hunger

The civilian population in the LTTE controlled Mullitivu coastal areas are faced with serious crisis due to the deliberate denial of food and other humanitarian supplies by the Sri Lankan Government. The dwindling stocks coupled with the deliberate withholding of fresh supplies has made starvation imminent over 165 000 civilians belonging to 40, 000 families now living in this area. Food supplies have been withheld since 2nd April, local authorities have been seeking dry rations since 11th April in an attempt to minimize the spectre of starvation that looms ahead. According to the District Secretariat for the month of March just 1050 Metric Tons of food was received whereas the minimum requires was 4950 MT.

In addition to preventing international humanitarian agencies into the Vanni region, the World food organization has been purposely delayed and frequently denied access, since the escalation of this phase of offensive operation by the Sri Lankan armed forces. Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan government has continued to deny access to international media to report on the humanitarian catastrophy that is unfolding.

In the last few months, the Sri Lankan regime has blocked the food supplies through land and sea. The supply routes have been deliberately targeted by artillery and mortars. The occupation of Puthukdiyerupu and surrounding areas has made impossible food supplies by land. Delivery by sea the only option for supplies to the people living in the LTTE controlled areas.

This systematic and deliberate denial of food, medicine and other medical supplies in serious breach to the international humanitarian law is a war crime and falls within the international crime of genocide.

The LTTE urges the UN and other members of the international community to act promptly to ensure immediate and continuous supply of food to these people. We fear that further delay can result in a crisis similar to that faced in Darfur or even deadlier.

The LTTE welcomes the announcement of the UNSG on sending humanitarian monitoring team to this part of the Island. We are prepared to engage in a constructive dialogue to address the humanitarian crisis in Vanni.

Political Head Quarters
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
Tamil Eelam

UNHCR starting emergency airlift of relief to Sri Lanka

2009-04-24T14:36:00.000-07:00

UNHCR starting emergency airlift of relief to Sri Lanka
2009-04-24 22:42:47

GENEVA, Friday (Reuters) - The United Nations refugee agency said on Friday that it was starting an emergency airlift of tents and other supplies to Sri Lanka, where tens of thousands of people have fled fighting in the northeast.

The airlift, which could begin as early as this weekend, will carry 5,000 tents suitable for families and other items from the agency's stockpile in Dubai to the capital Colombo.

"The decision follows a dramatic escalation in fighting between government forces and Tamil rebels in recent days as the government attempts to flush out the remaining rebel stronghold," the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a statement.

Indian envoys met Sri Lanka's president on Friday after New Delhi demanded a truce in the closing phase of a 25-year war against Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam which U.N. data says may have killed almost 6,500 people in the last three months.

The Sri Lankan military said more than 108,000 people had poured out of the dwindling rebel-held area since Monday.

The tents will be used to shelter families who have fled the conflict zone now gathered in some 38 camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) around the towns of Vavuniya, Jaffna and Trincomalee, the UNHCR said.

"Overcrowding at the camps is becoming a major worry...Many IDPs in the camps have no shelter from the sweltering heat."

The Geneva-based agency urged the government to allocate more land to build emergency shelter and water and sanitation infrastructure and make public buildings available for shelter.

"Aid workers also cite growing problems of malnourishment, lack of transport to move the sick to hospitals and a shortage of medical personnel," it said. "Some of the displaced have not eaten for days."

SITUATION CATASTROPHIC

The International Committee of the Red Cross said that the situation in northeastern Sri Lanka remained "catastrophic".

"Several tens of thousands of people are still trapped in the conflict area with very little access to medical care, food and water. Sanitation is deplorable," ICRC spokesman Simon Schorno told a news briefing in Geneva.

The ICRC managed to evacuate 900 wounded and sick people since Monday and plans to evacuate another 300-400 people.

Sri Lankan authorities were preventing the neutral humanitarian agency from bringing life-saving surgical and medical supplies into the conflict zone, the spokesman said.

"The couple of doctors still operating within the conflict zone work with absolutely nothing. They have no blood supplies, no antibiotics and a very limited amount of bandages," he said.

"We are continuing to negotiate this delivery of medical material in the zone with the authorities but with no success for the moment," Schorno added.

UNICEF spokeswoman Veronique Taveau warned that risks were growing for civilians, especially children, caught in the crossfire. "The risk of seeing more and more children killed is considerable and unacceptable," she told reporters in Geneva.

Washington Lobbyists (Patton Boggs) Cash In On War in Sri Lanka

2009-04-24T14:14:00.000-07:00

http://harpers.org/archive/2009/04/hbc-90004852

Washington Lobbyists Cash In On War in Sri Lanka
By Ken Silverstein
It’s hard to know who bears more responsibility for the bloodshed in Sri Lanka, the government or the Tamil Tigers, but it’s clear that huge numbers of civilians are being killed in the crossfire. “The United Nations asserts that at least 4,500 civilians have been killed since January as the government has sought to decisively end a bloody rebellion that has lasted for a quarter-century,” said a Washington Post op-ed on Wednesday. “The army is said to be preparing a final assault that, according to U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes, could produce a ‘bloodbath.”‘

This is a situation of armed conflict in which both parties are acting in ways that pose a grave risk to innocent civilians. The party that is perhaps more culpable — the rebels — answers to no one. And the Sri Lankan government has been able to operate with virtual impunity because it is fighting “terrorists.” Even Western states that usually condemn violations of international law have given the situation a wide berth.

The leader of the government’s military campaign is Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the Sri Lankan Secretary of Defense, brother of the President and an American citizen. (He lived in the U.S. until 2005, when he returned to Sri Lanka and helped get his brother elected. He still has a residence in San Dimas, California valued at around $1 million, according to Bruce Fein, general counsel of Tamils Against Genocide, an organization funded by ethnic Tamils living abroad.) Sarath Fonseka, the Commander of the Sri Lankan army, also has U.S. ties, being a green card holder.
Predictably, Washington lobbyists are making out quite well from the war. In January, the firm of Patton Boggs was retained by the Embassy of Sri Lanka, with “a fixed fee of $35,000 per month, payable quarterly in advance,” according to the contract. Democratic lobbyist Tommy Boggs is helping run the account, which calls on Patton Boggs to “provide guidance and counsel to the Embassy of Sri Lanka regarding its relations with the Executive and Legislative Branches of the U.S. Government.” In other words, to sanitize the government’s conduct of the war and make it look good with the Obama administration.
After producing a “white paper” on Sri Lanka and the ongoing civil war, Patton Boggs organized a series of officia l meetings for its client. In late-March, the Sri Lankan ambassador to the U.S., Jaliya Wickramasuriya, met separately with Senator Richard Lugar. He briefed him on the conflict, stressing “the care taken to protect displaced civilians,” according to an Embassy press release.
Despite Patton Boggs’ best efforts, the government’s PR offensive has fallen flat. “I think that the Sri Lankan government knows that the entire world is very disappointed that in its efforts to end what it sees as 25 years of conflict, it is causing such untold suffering,” Secretary of State Clinton said Wednesday.
Meanwhile, in February Fein filed a 1,000-page report with the U.S. Justice Department against Rajapaksa and Fonseka, charging violations of the Genocide Accountability Act of 2007. “Derived from affidavits, court documents, and contemporaneous media reporting, the indictment chronicles a grisly 61-year tale of Sinhalese Buddhists attempting to make Sri Lanka ‘Tamil free’,” he wrote recently in the Boston Globe.

Trapped in 'catastrophic' war zone

2009-04-22T17:58:00.001-07:00

Trapped in 'catastrophic' war zone

Thousands have fled but thousands more civilians remain trapped in the war zone [AFP]

Tens of thousands of civilians are stranded under "catastrophic" conditions in Sri Lanka's conflict zone, the International Committee of the Red Cross says.

Fighting between the Sri Lankan military and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has killed and wounded hundreds of other civilians, Pierre Kraehenbuehl, the director of operations for the ICRC, said in Geneva on Wednesday.

"What we are seeing is intense fighting in a very small area overcrowded with civilians who have fled there," he said.

"I honestly cannot recall a situation as painful and extreme as the one affecting civilians in the Vanni currently."

Kraehenbuehl said the situation is "nothing short of catastrophic".

The ICRC has said up to 50,000 people are trapped on a small strip of territory in the conflict zone in Sri Lanka's north.

It called on the LTTE to allow civilians to flee the area, and it urged the government to distinguish between military targets and civilians.

"It is imperative that independent humanitarian organisations also be allowed to provide desperately needed services and relief for civilians still trapped in the 'no-fire zone'," Kraehenbuehl said.

Both sides criticised

In video

Sri Lankan civilians 'escape' rebel stronghold
Sri Lankan fighting exacts grim civilian toll

The US also expressed concern for the condition of Sri Lankan civilians on Wednesday.

Testifying before congress, Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, criticised both the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE.

"I think that the Sri Lankan government knows that the entire world is very disappointed, that in its efforts to end what it sees as 25 years of conflict, it is causing such untold suffering," she said.

As for the LTTE, Clinton said: "There seems to be very little openness on the part of the Tamil Tiger leadership to cease their efforts so that we could try to get in and help the people."

'Hellish' conditions

Earlier, Sri Lankan refugees escaping the last remaining stronghold of the LTTE described to Al Jazeera the "hellish" conditions they endured.

Focus: Sri Lanka

Q&A: Sri Lanka's civil war
The history of the Tamil Tigers
Timeline: Conflict in Sri Lanka
'High cost' of victory over Tigers
Caught in the middle
Talking to Al Jazeera's David Chater at a reception centre in Pulmudai just south of the narrow strip of land held by the LTTE, some refugees said that they had been held on a beach and shot as they tried to flee.

"A lot of them are in a very distressed state. They are suffering from heat exhaustion, dehydration and all sorts of illnesses," our correspondent said on Wednesday.

"I've been talking to the Tamils about the conditions they have been in - they described them as 'hellish'."

Hugues Robert, the head of the mission for Medecins Sans Frontieres which is treating the wounded in Sri Lanka, told Al Jazeera on Wednesday that medical teams in Sri Lanka are "reaching the limit".

"What we are seeing inside the hospital is over 400 freshly wounded people coming to us. The cases are that more than three-fourths of them were injured due to a mine blast or bombshell."

'Rescue operations'

The Sri Lankan military says its so-called hostage-rescue operations are continuing.

Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, a Sri Lankan military spokesman, told Al Jazeera that the army "rescued" 40,000 civilians from the northern conflict zone on Wednesday alone.

"We are conducting hostage rescue operations, and up till now 100,000 hostages have been rescued by army troops since the 20th of this month," he said.

"They have been evacuated to welfare camps located in one area."

Officials also said Velayutham Dayanithi, the LTTE's former media spokesman, whose nom de guerre is Daya Master, and an interpreter for group's political wing, known only as George, turned themselves over to government forces on Wednesday.

The war zone of about 21sq km has been split into two sections by the army, our correspondent said.

A Tamil website reported on Wednesday that the Sri Lankan military fired cannons towards a coastal area where the ICRC was preparing to take injured civilians away from the conflict zone.

The LTTE defied a government ultimatum that expired at noon (06:30 GMT) on Tuesday to give up or face a "final assault", saying they will not surrender.

The warning forced tens of thousands of civilians to escape from the conflict zone.

Blast injuries

Mahinda Samarasinghe, Sri Lanka's minister for disaster management and human rights, told Al Jazeera that the civilians are being checked for weapons and are then handed over to a government agency that looks after them in the various camps.

Dr Ghana Gunalan, the director of health services, at Trincomalee on the northeast coast, told Al Jazeera: "Most of these [refugees] have been transported under ICRC flags to Trincomalee. Most people have blast injuries, including to their limbs and abdomens.

"Admittedly, it is not five-star accommodation, but we are trying very hard. There are areas for improvement and we are working on them very consciously," he said.

The UN, which estimates that more than 4,500 civilians have been killed in the past three months, has been one of a number of voices calling for a negotiated truce to allow civilians to leave the rebel-held coastal strip.

The Sri Lankan government has barred independent journalists from entering the war zone.

The LTTE has been fighting for a separate homeland in the north for the country's Tamil minority for 26 years.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Clinton says Sri Lanka is causing 'untold suffering'

2009-04-22T14:25:00.001-07:00

Clinton says Sri Lanka is causing 'untold suffering'

22 Apr 2009 16:08:26 GMT
Source: Reuters
WASHINGTON, April 22 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka has caused "untold suffering" as it fights Tamil Tiger rebels in what is believed to be the endgame of Asia's longest-running war, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday.

"I think that the Sri Lankan government knows that the entire world is very disappointed that in its efforts to end what it sees as 25 years of conflict, it is causing such untold suffering," Clinton told lawmakers, referring to the thousands of civilians trapped in the war zone.

UN's and Ban's Backing-Down to Sri Lanka Questioned by NGOs, IMF Delay Praised

2009-04-22T13:07:00.000-07:00

UN's and Ban's Backing-Down to Sri Lanka Questioned by NGOs, IMF Delay Praised
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, April 22 -- The lead-up to the "bloodbath on the beach" in Sri Lanka was the barring from the northern part of the country of not only journalists but also non-governmental organizations. Wednesday several prominent NGOs had a briefing at the UN, and they were asked why not only the UN but also they had not said more. Joseph Cornelius Donnelly of CARITAS International replied that fear of losing all access to the country, as with the UN, weighed on the side of keeping quiet.

Nimmi Gowrinathan of Operation USA pointed out that as an American NGO, the Patriot Act and the Material Support of Terrorism Act problematized some of their activities in north and east Sri Lanka. The group's president, she said, went to Colombo to meet with U.S. Ambassador Robert O. Blake, but a decision was made not to speak up in such a way as to "bring in Homeless Security" to see what they were doing. Video here, from Minute 50:21.

Inner City Press asked the groups to assess the UN's performance, in withholding casualty figures and refusing to call for a cease-fire. Anna Neistat from Human Rights Watch said that more journalists should have pushed the UN to give out the figures. She referred to the March 2009 document which Inner City Press obtained and published: at that time, 2683 dead, now risen past 4500.

The UN played scared, said Robert Templer of the International Crisis Group, and ended up with the worst of both worlds: no full access to the camps, and complicity in not speaking up about casualties caused by the government. The UN "should have been more forthright," he said. Video here, from Minute 29:55.

Annan biographer Traub, UN's "Best Intentions" on Sri Lanka not shown

Also taking questions on the panel was James Traub, policy director of the Global Center for the Responsibility to Protect and biographer of -- some say apologist for -- Kofi Annan. After Traub had praised Annan's successor Ban Ki-moon for "very intense telephone" advocacy leading to the government's call for a two day holiday lull, Inner City Press asked him to comment on Ban's refusal to call for a cease-fire, and failure to speak out about the detention of UN staff without freedom of movement in government IDP camps.

"I can give a very satisfactory answer," Traub said, because "I don't know the underlying facts you cited to me." He went on to muse that Ban's failure to call for a cease-fire might have been a question of "nomenclature," that he was willing to call for a pause but not a cease-fire. But why? While appropriately also laying blame at the feet of member states, Traub conceded that the UN "is too institutionally inclined to say yes to retaining access, and no to speaking out publicly." Video here, from Minute 53.

But the problem is not only institutional. Even Kofi Annan, one surmises, would have said more in this case, when the UN's own reports showed 2,683 civilians killed between January 20 and March 7. HRW's Anna Neistat posed a question that remains to be answered: how could Sri Lanka so intimidate the UN, when it has so little leverage? She said she doubts Sri Lanka can even afford to throw out humanitarian groups. Why did the UN back down so cravenly? This remains to be answered.

One development was praised at Wednesday's session, the delay at the International Monetary Fund of Sri Lanka's request for a $1.9 billion loan. It was supposed to be approved weeks ago, HRW's Anna Neistat said when asked by a correspondent from Xinhua. Video here from Minute 49:09. In mid-March, when Inner City Press asked the IMF's spokesman if any conditions would be attached, he said it was still being negotiated.

While Neistat said that human rights conditions can't be attached to loans, early in the the week at the UN, Jo-Marie Griesgraber from New Rules for Global Finance responded to Inner City Press' question about Sri Lanka's loan request by noting that under Michel Camdessus, military over-expenditure can be to considered a "non productive expenditure." Video here, from Minute 33:14.

And is the building of detention camps, now being funded by the UN, a legitimate "humanitarian" expenditure? To be continued.

Footnote: We continue to wait for the UK's formal answer to the first of the two questions which Inner City Press asked the UK Mission to the UN two questions on Sri Lanka early on April 15:

Does the UK believe that international law and the rights of UN humanitarian staff are being violated by the now-acknowledged detention of UN staff in the Sri Lankan government's “IDP” camps?

It has been reported this morning that Sri Lanka's “minister also told the British Foreign Secretary that there was concern that the LTTE would continue to consolidate its fortification of the No-Fire Zone.” Please confirm the accuracy of that, and of this and if so, does the UK interpret it as saying that an offensive on the No-Fire Zone and the civilians in it will begin? What did the UK Foreign Secretary say?
As of this press time a week later, the formal answer has been referral to Minister Miliband's April 12 statement, and this. Tuesday, Inner City Press put the question to U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice, whose spokesman on Wednesday cleared this response:
As more answers arrive or are released we will report them on this site.

Click here for an Inner City Press YouTube channel video, mostly UN Headquarters footage, about civilian deaths in Sri Lanka.

Click here for Inner City Press' March 27 UN debate

Click here for Inner City Press March 12 UN (and AIG bailout) debate

Click here for Inner City Press' Feb 26 UN debate

Click here for Feb. 12 debate on Sri Lanka http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/17772?in=11:33&out=32:56

Click here for Inner City Press' Jan. 16, 2009 debate about Gaza

Click here for Inner City Press' review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate

Click here for Inner City Press' December 24 debate on UN budget, Niger

Click here from Inner City Press' December 12 debate on UN double standards

Click here for Inner City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics

and this October 17 debate, on Security Council and Obama and the UN.

* * *

On Sri Lanka, UN's Nambiar Resists Briefing the Council on His "Confidential" Trip: Is a USG Subpoena Needed?

2009-04-22T02:35:00.000-07:00

On Sri Lanka, UN's Nambiar Resists Briefing the Council on His "Confidential" Trip: Is a USG Subpoena Needed?

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, April 21 -- Despite having been sent as the UN's envoy to the "bloodbath on the beach" in Sri Lanka, Ban Ki-moon's chief of staff Vijay Nambiar is now reluctant to give the Security Council even a closed door briefing on the crisis, sources told Inner City Press late Tuesday.

One well-placed Council diplomat said that despite all 15 members, including China and Russia, agreeing to an "informal interactive dialogue" with Mr. Nambiar, who has just returned via India from three days in Sri Lanka, they were told that Nambiar views the matter as "too sensitive" even for discussion behind closed doors. Nambiar argued that as a "mediator," what he discussed with Sri Lanka's president Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brothers was "confidential," even from the Security Council.

One Permanent Five member of the Council, in this account, has protested Nambiar's refusal, which will be transmitted to Nambiar and the Secretariat by Council President Claude Heller on Mexico. At press time late Tuesday, the projected Wednesday afternoon briefing of the Council, at least by Nambiar, is in doubt. Nambiar has argued that "it is mostly a humanitarian and not a political situation," as Council source, and China before that, have put it.

UN's Nambiar at right re Myanmar, reluctance to brief not shown

Thus, Nambiar argues, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs should give the briefing, not him. But it is Nambiar who with such fanfare flew to Colombo. And OCHA chief John Holmes, who has not been in Sri Lanka for weeks, is now in China. The only other option would be Hitoki Den, below director level in the UN Department of Political Affairs, who accompanied Nambiar on his trip.

Even regarding Myanmar, Under Secretary General Ibrahim Gambari briefs the Council, and then takes questions from the media.

Council and other UN sources expressed amazement that in this Sri Lanka case a UN Under Secretary General would attempt to rebuff a request to brief the Council, on one of his few pieces of public work during Ban Ki-moon's administration. Perhaps the Security Council needs to serve Nambiar a subpoena... Watch this site.

Footnote: We continue to wait for the UK's formal answer to the first of the two questions which Inner City Press asked the UK Mission to the UN two questions on Sri Lanka early on April 15:

Does the UK believe that international law and the rights of UN humanitarian staff are being violated by the now-acknowledged detention of UN staff in the Sri Lankan government's “IDP” camps?

It has been reported this morning that Sri Lanka's “minister also told the British Foreign Secretary that there was concern that the LTTE would continue to consolidate its fortification of the No-Fire Zone.” Please confirm the accuracy of that, and of this and if so, does the UK interpret it as saying that an offensive on the No-Fire Zone and the civilians in it will begin? What did the UK Foreign Secretary say?
As of this press time more than six and a half days later, the formal answer has been referral to Minister Miliband's April 12 statement, and this. Now, the same question has been posed to another Permanent Five member's Permanent Representative. As more answers arrive or are released we will report them on this site.

Click here for an Inner City Press YouTube channel video, mostly UN Headquarters footage, about civilian deaths in Sri Lanka.

SLA shells Church in Valaignarmadam, Fr. James Pathinathar wounded

2009-04-22T02:31:00.000-07:00

SLA shells Church in Valaignarmadam, Fr. James Pathinathar wounded

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 April 2009, 08:07 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) stepped up artillery and mortar barrage on Valaignarmadam Wednesday killing and maiming civilians who have sought refuge at several locations. Rev Father James Pathinathar, a prominent Catholic priest was injured in SLA shelling that hit the Church in Valaignarmadam Wednesday noon, initial reports said.

The SLA shelling on Tuesday killed a doctor and seven persons including medical staff at a makeshift medical centre in the same area.

As SLA was continuing to monitor civilian movement and directs attacks on fleeing civilians towards LTTE areas, immediate transport for wounded towards the RDHS run makeshift hospital in Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal was severely disturbed, reports TamilNet correspondent from Vanni.

Exact casualty figures are yet to emerge.

Attempt to ‘Sinhalize’ Muslim areas in East – Hakeem

2009-04-22T01:25:00.001-07:00

Attempt to ‘Sinhalize’ Muslim areas in East – Hakeem

SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem told Parliament yesterday (21), that there was an attempt to ‘Sinhalize’ Muslim areas in the East by naming these areas with Sinhala names.

"I have received complaints from the people living in several places in the East including from those who are in North of Kokilai that the Navy had begun to name places with Sinhala names instead of their former Muslim names. Now there are no Jinna Nagar and Akbar Town but Mihindu Pura, Pubudu Mawatha and Vihara Mawatha. When residents had objected, Navy officers had told them that the re-naming was done for the convenience of Sinhala service personnel, as it was difficult for them to remember Muslim names," MP Hakeem said during the adjourned debate of the Local Government (Special Provisions) Amendment Bill.

He said that the local authorities in the areas had intervened to stop the re-naming but shortly afterwards archaeologists had been sent from Colombo to excavate the area in search for ruins to establish the fact that Sinhalese people had resided in these areas in pre-historic times. Then the re-naming of areas resumed again, he said. "There is an attempt to change the demography of the area," he said.

UN Misspeaks on Sri Lanka Complaints

2009-04-20T01:04:00.000-07:00

UN Misspeaks on Sri Lanka Complaints and Skanska Suit, Kosovo Runaround, Fiji Connections

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, April 19 – In last week’s UN answers to questions asked at noon, there were at least two seeming misstatements, and one near-comical runaround. On Sri Lanka, Associate Spokesman Farhan Haq told Inner City Press on both April 13 and April 14 that the UN had “repeated” urged the government to release UN staff members detained in internally displaced people’s camps. But by week’s end, Sri Lankan “Resettlement” Minister Rishad Baduideen replied that the first the government heard from the UN about the issue was on April 15 -- two days after Inner City Press wrote and asked about it, and Mr. Haq’s answer.

On April 17, Inner City Press asked and Haq responded

Inner City Press: Just on this asbestos, first can you either confirm or respond to the seeming fact in the public record that Skanska is a named defendant in an ongoing civil suit about mishandling asbestos in the Monterey Courthouse in California, and that it had paid a fine in connection with that case earlier on? And also that ATC has been issued an order of non-compliance from the Clean Air Act by the EPA, and why they were selected.

Associate Spokesperson Haq: You know, I have something for you on that, but I don’t know whether I have it here. So many papers, but that one is still upstairs. I’ll have to tell about that on afterwards.

[The Associate Spokesperson later said regarding the lawsuit in California concerning Skanska and asbestos abatement: Skanska had made the United Nations aware of this lawsuit before they were selected, in the 2007 Request for Proposal process. Neither Skanska nor Skanska subcontractors performed any asbestos abatement on the referenced project and all charges were dismissed in 2007 and permanently removed from the record by the State of California.]

There is only one problem with this answer: it is false to say that the lawsuit is dismissed, because the civil suit continues, as Skanska and CMP personnel below the level of Michael Adlerstein admit. Adlerstein has misspoken, and the Spokesperson’s office has repeated it, in writing. (Similarly, it is possible that OCHA or the UN Country Team in Sri Lanka are the origin of Haq's statements that the Sri Lankan government has denied.) Now what?

Of the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary General, sources tell Inner City Press that it is filing complaints with DPI chief Kiyosaka Akasaka and others that the Office is under-staffed, particularly with Ban Ki-moon's near constant travel. Despite Sri Lanka directly contradicting with Haq and John Holmes said, it is of course possible that it is the UN telling the truth. But then one expects the UN to publicly take issue with Sri Lanka's denials, just as the UN and OSSG have with Sudan, Zimbabwe and other member states. We'll see.

Sri Lanka Denies UN's Claimed Advocacy for Detained Staff, UK's Des Browne Said on Way to NYC

2009-04-20T01:03:00.001-07:00

Sri Lanka Denies UN's Claimed Advocacy for Detained Staff, UK's Des Browne Said on Way to NYC

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, April 18, 1:36 pm, updated -- As in Sri Lanka the “bloodbath on the beach” progresses, the United Kingdom is proclaiming its own diplomatic push at the UN. Sources tell Inner City Press that Gordon Brown's envoy to Sri Lanka, whom the government rejected, is headed to New York to “to visit the UN to speak both with UN spokespersons, whose public statements have been very much in step with ours, as well as with those who do not share all of our views.”

The latter group includes Security Council veto-wielding members China and Russia, both of which have fought to not have Sri Lanka put on the Council's agenda, and confined the last “informational” briefing by top UN humanitarian John Holmes to the basement of the UN, not the Council chamber or consultation room. Diplomatic protocol being what it is, one would at least expect the Permanent Representatives of the two countries to meet with Mr. Browne and hear him out. Some wonder if it is Des Browne who might finally get the US Obama administration's mass crimes expert Samantha Power involved.

[Update: four hours after this report went online, the UK issued a statement announcing Des Browne's trip, here.]

If it is true that the UN through its spokespersons are “in step” with the UK, then the UK is not asking for a cease-fire. Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon if he was making such a call, and he did not. On April 17, Ban's Associate Spokesperson Farhan Haq responded to Inner City Press' question if Ban's envoy Vijay Nambiar was asking for a cease-fire by saying that the UN is only asking that heavy weapons not be used.

The UN has also dissembled, it seems, on its advocacy with the Sri Lankan government for its own staff members. On April 13, Inner City Press began asking why the UN had not spoken up about its staff members detained without freedom of movement in the government's camps. Both Haq and then Holmes said that they had been pushing hard with the government.

But now Sri Lankan “Resettlement” Minister Rishad Baduideen has said that the first the government heard from the UN about the issue was on April 15 -- two days after Inner City Press wrote and asked about it.

UK's Browne and UN's Ban, cease-fire call not shown, nor answers on detentions

Then, UN resident and humanitarian coordinator Neil Buhne finally wrote a letter to the government, and his office admitted that 11 UN staff members and their families are being detained in camps in Vavuniya.

Until then, “Minister Baduideen said he had not received a letter from the UN and unless they receive a formal complaint that they cannot look into it, and as and when they do they will discuss it with the military officials.... Meanwhile [the spokesman for] UNCEF director Ann Veneman was quoted by the Inner City Press as saying the UNICEF and UN systems staff visiting the area were in contact with their staff in the camps and that they have been prevented from leaving the camps.”

So the government denies that the UN raised the issue until April 15. Who is to be believed? Watch this site.

Footnote: We continue to wait for the UK's formal answer to the first of the two questions which Inner City Press asked the UK Mission to the UN two questions on Sri Lanka early on April 15:

Does the UK believe that international law and the rights of UN humanitarian staff are being violated by the now-acknowledged detention of UN staff in the Sri Lankan government's “IDP” camps?

It has been reported this morning that Sri Lanka's “minister also told the British Foreign Secretary that there was concern that the LTTE would continue to consolidate its fortification of the No-Fire Zone.” Please confirm the accuracy of that, and of this and if so, does the UK interpret it as saying that an offensive on the No-Fire Zone and the civilians in it will begin? What did the UK Foreign Secretary say?

As of this press time more than 72 hours later, the formal answer has been referral to Minister Miliband's April 12 statement, and this. As more answers arrive we will report them on this site.

Click here for a new YouTube video, mostly UN Headquarters footage, about civilian deaths in Sri Lanka.

Click here for Inner City Press' March 27 UN debate

Click here for Inner City Press March 12 UN (and AIG bailout) debate

Click here for Inner City Press' Feb 26 UN debate

Click here for Feb. 12 debate on Sri Lanka http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/17772?in=11:33&out=32:56

Click here for Inner City Press' Jan. 16, 2009 debate about Gaza

Click here for Inner City Press' review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate

Click here for Inner City Press' December 24 debate on UN budget, Niger

Click here from Inner City Press' December 12 debate on UN double standards

Click here for Inner City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics

and this October 17 debate, on Security Council and Obama and the UN.

Costs of policing Tamil protests raises concerns

2009-04-20T00:58:00.000-07:00

Costs of policing Tamil protests raises concerns

By Pauline Tam , Canwest News ServiceApril 19, 2009

Ottawa police move in to remove picket signs from protesting Sri Lankan Canadians in support of the Tamil Tigers as they continue the third day of protests in front of Parliament Hill on April 9.

Ottawa police move in to remove picket signs from protesting Sri Lankan Canadians in support of the Tamil Tigers as they continue the third day of protests in front of Parliament Hill on April 9.
Photograph by: Wayne Cuddington, Ottawa Citizen

OTTAWA — As the Tamil-Canadian vigil on Parliament Hill enters its third week, with a fresh wave of demonstrators expected on Tuesday, area politicians are calling on the federal government to cover the extra costs of patrolling the protest.

“As a clear and pragmatic point, the federal government should be paying for these services that are provided from the City of Ottawa,” Ottawa Centre MP Paul Dewar said Sunday.

The price tag for the Ottawa police’s involvement has not yet been tallied, but councillor Eli El-Chantiry, chairman of the Ottawa Police Services Board, said he has asked for a breakdown of expenses to be presented later this month.

“I have asked staff to get a detailed report for every dime and nickel spent from Day 1, and I can imagine the number is not going to be pretty,” said El-Chantiry. “But I can assure you I will be requesting assistance from the federal government whenever we have the number.”

Protest organizers have indicated that as many as 25,000 Tamil supporters are expected on the Hill Tuesday. While police say they are prepared to handle a large crowd, they don’t expect a repeat of what happened during the early days of the demonstration, when downtown traffic was ensnared and buses were rerouted, creating commuter havoc.

“The flavour of the protest has changed and it has been very co-operative in nature,” said Ottawa police Insp. Mark Ford. “The protesters are trying to minimize the impact and work with us in doing our job.”

For two weeks, Tamil supporters have gathered around Parliament Hill to protest the civil war in the South Asian country and urge the Canadian government to intervene.

Many say they fear for the safety of family members caught in the violence. The protesters are angry about what they view as hostilities by the Sri Lankan military, which has moved onto land historically held by the country’s Tamil minority.

For nearly four decades, the Tamils have been fighting for an independent homeland. Over the weekend, nearly 3,000 civilians were reported to have escaped from Sri Lanka’s northeast war zone and sought shelter with government forces. The United Nations estimates up to 100,000 civilians are trapped in the area in “dire humanitarian conditions.”

The developments have reverberated in this country, which is home to an estimated 140,000 Tamil Canadians.

In addition to calling for a ceasefire, Tamil Canadians have asked the federal government to impose political sanctions as well as trade and arms embargoes.

Yet federal politicians — nervous about the optics of being associated with protesters waving a flag identified with the Tamil Tigers, labelled a terrorist group in Canada — have so far kept their distance.

The protest could become harder to ignore as MPs return to Parliament Monday after a two-week break.

Over the weekend, Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae joined a growing chorus of world leaders in urging the Sri Lankan government to allow humanitarian aid for civilians caught in the war zone.

The Tamil protesters, who had been starving themselves to pressure the Canadian government to call for a ceasefire in Sri Lanka, temporarily suspended their hunger strike Saturday evening amid calls from the Tamil community that they nourish themselves before doing permanent damage to their health. But three of the original six hunger strikers say they may resume their strike Tuesday.

Ottawa Citizen

UK envoy in Sri Lanka peace talks

2009-04-20T00:57:00.001-07:00

UK envoy in Sri Lanka peace talks
Des Browne
The MP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun is a former defence minister

Gordon Brown has sent a special envoy to the United Nations in New York for "urgent" talks on the war in Sri Lanka.

Special Representative, MP Des Browne, will try to secure a ceasefire between government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels fighting in the north.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband said he was "gravely concerned" that 100,000 civilians remained trapped in the area.

Earlier this month, hundreds of Tamils demonstrated outside Parliament in London calling for Britain's help.

'Disrespectful intrusion'

At least 28 civilians have been killed in the last two days of fighting, health officials in Sri Lanka estimate.

However, the United Nations puts the figure at 2,800 dead and 7,000 injured in the past two months.

Mr Miliband said: "The British government maintains its calls for an immediate ceasefire in Sri Lanka and for civilians to be allowed to leave the conflict area.

We are committed to do all we can to bring this terrible conflict to an end

David Miliband

"We have been joined by many other governments, including France and the United States, in making similar calls."

"The Tamil community are a community we value and they make an important contribution to British society. They have seen friends and relatives perish and their loved ones are still at grave risk from the fighting.

"We have heard their voice and will keep listening. We are committed to do all we can to bring this terrible conflict to an end."

The Sri Lankan government has rejected calls for a ceasefire, arguing it would give Tamil Tiger rebels time to regroup.

The Tigers - or Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) - are fighting for a separatist state in the north and east of the island.

They are a proscribed terrorist group in many countries, including the UK.

The rebels have recently pushed into an area declared a safety zone for civilians fleeing the fighting.

The rebels deny they are holding civilians as hostages, saying people do not want to leave the zone because they fear the military.

Earlier this month, 100,000 protesters marched through central London to draw attention to alleged human rights abuses from the 25-year conflict which has claimed 70,000 lives.

Sri Lanka recently rejected Mr Browne's appointment as a special envoy, saying it was a "disrespectful intrusion".

The MP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun is a former defence minister.

Speech at United Nations Rally by V. Rudrakumaran

2009-04-20T00:55:00.000-07:00

Speech at United Nations Rally

by V. Rudrakumaran, April 17, 2009

What’s happening in Sri Lanka is not a civil war, it’s not a war on terror, but an act of genocide, pure and simple...

We have gathered here today in front of the U.N. to ensure that the U.N. doesn’t repeat the Rwanda genocide in the island of Sri Lanka...

The U.N. was able to bring about a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas within 22 days. Why can’t the U.N. bring about a similar ceasefire on the island of Sri Lanka? Why this double standard? Are Tamils children of a lesser god? When the Bashir expelled the international NGOs from Darfur, the U.N. issued warnings. But when the GoSL orders international NGOs to leave, they meekly left the Tamil areas the next day. Why this double standard?...

We are told that since the LTTE is a “terrorist” organization, the GoSL’s military offensive is legal. If that is so, what about the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which is also designated as a “terrorist organization?” Such a statement also raises the question whether the international community is willing to accept Genocide as collateral damage in its “war on terror.” If that is so, they should say so openly.

Brothers and sisters, we are here to answer the call of history. We are here to answer the answer the call of humanity. We are here to awaken the conscience of the international community.

Presently, more than 300,000 Tamil civilians have been internally displaced by the GoSL, that is dominated permanently and overwhelmingly by the Sinhala nation. Presently, the Tamil people in the Vanni area are subject to indiscriminate bombing and shelling solely on account of their Tamil ethnicity-- a genocidal act that shocks the conscience of mankind. In September 2008, the GoSL expelled the INGOs, who had been providing food, shelter and medicine to the Tamil areas. This is a calculated effort on the part of the GoSL to bring about the physical destruction of the Tamil nation, in whole or in part—a Genocidal Act. A couple of weeks ago we also learned from credible local sources that the GoSL employed chemical weapons against combatants' as well as against noncombatants.
New York Tamil American rally in front of UN April 17 2009

Rally in front of UN, April 17, 2009. Photo: TamilNet

Child injured in 'Safe zone' by Sri Lankan army shelling April 17, 2009
Child injured in 'Safe Zone' by Sri Lankan army shelling, April 17, 2009

In order to ascertain the intent of the GoSL’s military onslaught, the GoSL’s present military response should be compared with her response in the 1970s when the Sinhala youths took up arms. When the Sinhala youths took up arms, the GoSL did not engage in indiscriminant bombing or shelling. When the Sinhala youths took up arms, the GoSL did not ask the Sinhala villagers to leave their habitat and livelihood, and did not herd them into concentration camps. The glaring disparity demonstrates that the intent of the GoSL is to destroy the Tamil Nation, in whole or in part.

In addition, the press statements by the Defense Secretary and the Army Commander that Sri Lanka is a Sinhala nation and Tamil nationalism — not the Tigers — are the problem demonstrate that the intent of the GoSL is to engage in genocide. It is also brought to the attention of the International Community again, that when 8,000 Muslim were massacred in Srebrenica on account of their ethnicity, the International Court of Justice held that that fact constitutes genocide.

On December 9, 2008, the New-York Based Genocide Prevention Project issued a red alert against eight countries where genocide is happening or is likely to happen. Needless to say, Sri Lanka was one of those countries. On February 4, 2009, the UK Foreign Minister, Hon. David Milliband endorsed a view of a Member of the House of Commons that the signals coming from Sri Lanka indicate that the government is prepared to go ahead with an act of genocide. Along this line, 38 members of the US Congress sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton stating that there can be no doubt that ethnic-based violence is widespread in Sri Lanka, and that Tamil non-combatants are deliberately victimized by the GoSL. What’s happening in Sri Lanka is not a civil war, it’s not a war on terror, but an act of genocide, pure and simple.

This ultimate crime, which the GoSL is brazenly committing against our brethren back home, compels us to come out on their behalf. For the last two months, the Tamil Diaspora around the world in one voice has taken the Tamil genocide to the streets of the capitals of various countries. Being outside the clutches of the genocidal GoSL, we are in a unique position to contribute to halt this genocide. Being members of the political communities in various countries, we are also in a position to influence the foreign policy of our respective countries. In other situations, such as the overthrow of the Marcos regime in the Philippines and the successful completion of the nuclear deal between the US and India, their diasporas played a pivotal role.

New York Tamil American rally April 17 2009 Times Square
Rally at Times Square after UN rally, April 17, 2009

Through our Awareness rallies with Tamil Eelam flags and pictures of the Tamil national leader, Hon. Vellupillai Pirabaharan, we have demonstrated to the GoSL that their zeal to quell the Tamils’ thirst for the realization of the right to self-determination or their dream of wiping out the LTTE will be a futile one. The more they bomb, the more the Tamil diaspora is resolved to protect their brethren. The more they shell, the more the Tamils are resolved to realize their right of self-determination. The more they brag about their military adventurism, the more the Tamil people rally under the leadership of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

Our efforts, our rallies, are starting to have a creeping influence on the international community. For the international community’s muted call for a ceasefire or for its call for a “humanitarian pause,” the determination, the sacrifice, the passion, the unity demonstrated by the Tamil diaspora has played a significant role. However, we have not seen the light at the end of the tunnel yet. We have to continue to perform our moral obligation in a peaceful and sustained manner until a ceasefire is enforced and a process for political resolution is initiated.

We have gathered here today in front of the U.N. to ensure that the U.N. doesn’t repeat the Rwanda genocide in the island of Sri Lanka. We have gathered here today in front of the U.N., so that another Srebrenica doesn’t take place in the island of Sri Lanka. We have come in front of the U.N. in thousands because we still believe that the U.N. is not only a club of states, but also a temple of justice. We have come here today in the belief that even though the U.N. can be paralyzed in terms of taking tangible action, it still has the moral courage to speak the truth.

However, the U.N.’s response has been shameful to the current crisis on the island of Sri Lanka. The U.N.’s answers to the GoSL’s genocide of Tamils are ethnic cleansing and concentration camps. Rather than sanctioning or calling for the GoSL to immediately stop the genocide, the U.N. Secretary General’s office’s response is to uproot the people from their areas of habitation and livelihood and to place them in internment camps under the control of the GoSL’s mono-ethnic armed forces. The Secretary General’s office attempts to justify this abuse on the grounds that they are acting in accordance with humanitarian laws. We respectfully point out the Secretary General is wrong in his reading of humanitarian law. Article 21 of the Guiding Principles of Internal Displacement mandates that “prior to any decision requiring displacement, all feasible attention should be employed in order to avoid displacement altogether.” We are here to say that a ceasefire is the feasible alternative.

The U.N. was able to bring about a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas within 22 days. Why can’t the U.N. bring about a similar ceasefire on the island of Sri Lanka? Why this double standard? Are Tamils children of a lesser god? When the Bashir expelled the international NGOs from Darfur, the U.N. issued warnings. But when the GoSL orders international NGOs to leave, they meekly left the Tamil areas the next day. Why this double standard? Are Tamils children of a lesser god? While the U.N. brought the issue of Darfur to the Security Council, it refused to do so in connection with the genocide of Tamils. Why this double standard? Are Tamils children of a lesser god?

The U.N.’s double standard is not only appalling, but also undermines the integrity of the U.N. itself.

We have been told that the GoSL will not agree to a ceasefire. It is hard to believe that if the international community could stand up to Saddam Hussein and enforce a no-fly zone and safe haven to protect the Kurds, that it does not have the moral courage to stand up to the GoSL, a tiny fascist. It is hard to believe that if the international community could stand up to Milosevic, that it does not have the moral conviction to confront the evil in the island of Sri Lanka. The U.N.’s inhumanitarian inaction raises the question whether there is U.N. acquiescence for a military solution to the Tamil national question.

We are told that since the LTTE is a “terrorist” organization, the GoSL’s military offensive is legal. If that is so, what about the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which is also designated as a “terrorist organization?” Such a statement also raises the question whether the international community is willing to accept Genocide as collateral damage in its “war on terror.” If that is so, they should say so openly. But we know that they won’t because international law, specifically Article 1 of the Genocide Convention, prohibits genocide not only in time of peace but also in times of war.

The GoSL’s alibi that its military onslaught is part of its war on terror raises the issue of the designation of the LTTE as a “terrorist organization.” This is not the time or the forum to dwell on the issue of whether the designation of the LTTE as a terrorist organization is legal in terms of international law or morality. However, it is a time to take stock and analyze what the designation of the LTTE as a terrorist organization has achieved. Has it reduced the loss of innocent lives? Has it contributed to the peace process? Has it contributed to create a single polity that upholds liberal values and where both the Sinhalese and Tamils feel that they are legitimate stakeholders? The answer to the above questions is a big NO.

As the Christian Science Monitor aptly stated, the “war on terror” policy emboldened the GoSL. The designation disrupts the balance of power, the power equilibrium that functioned as a deterrent, and now enables the GoSL to engage in a military onslaught. The GoSL’s military onslaught not only shrinks the conflict area, but also shrinks the political space for any kind of reconciliation between the Sinhalese and Tamils. In the future, when historians and jurists make an objective study of the current situation, they will find that the designation of the LTTE as a terrorist organization contributed to Genocide. They will also find Tamil blood not only on the hands of the GoSL, but on the hands of the International Community.

The ongoing genocide, coupled with the international community’s inhumanitarian inaction, reinforce the Tamils belief, expressed through the 1977 General Elections, based on the International Law concept of self-preservation, that the Tamils very physical survival can only be guaranteed in an independent state.

We call upon the international community to act immediately and put an end to the Genocide. An unconditional permanent ceasefire is a first step in that direction.

Published: April 18, 2009

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Largest UN, New York rally fills Times Square

2009-04-20T00:54:00.000-07:00

Largest UN, New York rally fills Times Square
[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 April 2009, 11:04 GMT]
In one of the largest rallies held by the American Tamils in New York, more than 5000 protesters from different parts of the United States and Canada converged in New York in the park on 47th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues near the UN, and a smaller group in the permitted area 43rd Street park directly across from the Secretariat Building between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Friday, and urged the UN to take urgent steps to stop the carnage unfolding in the coastal villages of Mullaiththeevu where the Government of Sri Lanka is slaughtering hundreds of Tamil civilians daily under the pretext of cornering the LTTE leadership. The protesters then marched westward to the Times Square, one mile from the UN, and continued the protest until 5:00 p.m., according to the organizers.

* Text of Rudrakumaran's speech

Ellyn Shandler, a physician who worked in Vanni during post-tsunami recovery period, Rudrakumaran, legal advisor, and several others spoke at the rally.

Matthew Lee of Inner City Press talking to protesters
Matthew Lee of Inner City Press talking to protesters
Ellyn Shandler, speaking at the rally
Ellyn Shandler, speaking at the rally
Mathew Lee, the UN correspondent to the local non-profit, Inner City Press, who has been covering the UN activity related to Sri Lanka, and providing Tamil readers a rare insight into the inner-working and politics behind UN actions, witnessed the rally and spoke to several protesters.

Organizers brought own generators and high power audio systems to facilitate speeches to be heard by the protesters who stood along three long blocks along the 7th avenue. New York metropolitan Police assisted by more than 100 marshalls from the Tamil diaspora maintained smooth crowd control throughout the afternoon, according to participants.

Police had marked a full traffic lane and two thirds of the sidewalk along the three blocks for the protesters. Speeches were given from a well equipped flat-bed truck the organizers have brought to support the rally.

A press desk manned by several volunteers and an 60" LCD TV next to the desk repeated played videos on the ground situation, organizers said.

"UN has told diplomats in Colombo that the civilian death count in North Sri Lanka since January 20 has risen from 2683 to 4500, in New York UN Associate Spokesman Farhan Haq on Friday declined to confirm the UN's figures or their release," Innercity press said. More than 10,000 have been injured during the same period according to estimates from Vanni health officials.

Tamils will never forget what they received when asked for justice: LTTE

2009-04-20T00:51:00.000-07:00

Tamils will never forget what they received when asked for justice: LTTE
[TamilNet, Monday, 20 April 2009, 07:35 GMT]

The LTTE on Monday, in a significant statement, recognized and welcomed a refreshing attitude in US, different from the other countries. It pleaded the Sri Lanka government to listen to international opinion, to stop the war and enter into negotiations. But at the same time it warned Colombo of dire consequences if the war is continued. "The LTTE and the fight for our freedom will also continue. The methods may vary but Sri Lanka will never be able to live in peace as it imagines a military victory will bring. However, for the record, the LTTE would like to emphasize again that it is always ready to explore peaceful means to resolve the conflict”, the LTTE statement issued from the political headquarters in Vanni, read.

"The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam appreciates the genuine concerns expressed by the United States Government's statement dated 16th April 2009, on the escalating humanitarian catastrophe in the Vanni/Mullaitivu region."

"So far, while the rest of the world has concentrated on apportioning blame, the United States has stressed the importance of finding solutions to put an immediate end to the plight of the Tamil civilians being lured and attacked in the safe zone by the Sri Lankan Government."

"The community that has been fighting for justice over its treatment and unequal status will now never forget the deep wounds left by the innumerable deaths of their kith and kin directly caused by the actions of the Sri Lankan Government."

"The LTTE urges the Sri Lankan government to stop its military actions, including shelling and bombing civilian areas and accept the call of the United States and other members of the International community for a ceasefire, which we believe will create a conducive atmosphere for talks on all relevant issues."

Full text of the statement issued by LTTE Political Head Quarters in Vanni follows:

20th April 2009

The LTTE Welcomes The US State Department’s Statement

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam appreciates the genuine concerns expressed by the United States Government’s statement dated 16th April 2009, on the escalating humanitarian catastrophe in the Vanni/Mullaitivu region. This is an important step towards meaningful international action to actually protect and provide relief to the forlorn Tamil civilian population incurring daily causalities and unspeakable tragedies from the offensive military operations of the Sri Lankan armed forces towards the safe zone where they were asked to go into, by the same Sri Lankan Government.

Apart from the plight of the civilian population in the safe zone, the Tamil people in other parts of the Tamil homeland are facing severe military oppression, countless indignities and denial of basic human rights. The people detained by the Sri Lankan Government at military controlled detention camps in Vavuniya are subjected to incessant persecution and torture by the Sri Lankan state forces. The Tamil people in Jaffna peninsula, Mannar, Vavuniya, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Amparai are subject to atrocities of the Sri Lanka ’s military, police and paramilitary rulers on a daily basis. The IDPs in North and East of the Island are subject to indefinite military control without any effective mechanisms to facilitate their safety and return to their own homes and villages.

So far, while the rest of the world has concentrated on apportioning blame, the United States has stressed the importance of finding solutions to put an immediate end to the plight of the Tamil civilians being lured and attacked in the safe zone by the Sri Lankan Government. USA has also been openly acknowledge the need to address the basic discrimination, inequality and racism towards the Tamil people by the Sinhalese Sri Lankan Government that was and is the root cause for our fight for freedom. The community that has been fighting for justice over its treatment and unequal status will now never forget the deep wounds left by the innumerable deaths of their kith and kin directly caused by the actions of the Sri Lankan Government. A military solution will never lay this problem to rest, as the Sri Lankan Government envisages and constantly promises everyone.

The LTTE would like reiterate its commitment to a ceasefire without any preconditions, as urged by the US and other members of the international community. The LTTE is also ready for a meaningful negotiation on all issues related to humanitarian access, security, movement and welfare of the Tamil civilian population.

The LTTE urges the Sri Lankan government to stop its military actions, including shelling and bombing civilian areas and accept the call of the United States and other members of the International community for a ceasefire, which we believe will create a conducive atmosphere for talks on all relevant issues.

We note the Sri Lankan Government’s recent statements that we are not in a position to ask for any preconditions. We would like to make it clear that while the basic rights of the Tamils continue to be denied, while successive Sri Lankan Governments always consider that the way to address our grievances is through military action and not constitutional changes, while the injustices against the Tamils now also includes daily shelling and killing of Tamil men, women, children and even unborn babies (for all of which we have pictorial evidence), while the international community watches on in deafening silence, the LTTE and the fight for our freedom will also continue. The methods may vary but Sri Lanka will never be able to live in peace, as it imagines a military victory will bring.

However, for the record, the LTTE would like to emphasise again that it is always ready to explore peaceful means to resolve the conflict.

Political Head Quarters
Liberation Tigers of TamilEelam
TamilEelam

Sri Lanka rupee hits new low of 116.65/75 vs dollar

2009-04-19T22:24:00.000-07:00

Sri Lanka rupee hits new low of 116.65/75 vs dollar
Mon Apr 20, 2009 10:36am IST

COLOMBO, April 20 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's rupee hit a new life low of 116.65/75 versus the dollar on Monday on import demand for the U.S. currency, dealers said.

"The rupee hit 116.65/75 due to importer demand. The highest trade was done at 116.73," said a currency dealer, who asked not to be named. Other dealers confirmed the fall.

The rupee has fallen 0.56 percent from Friday's close of 116.00/10, Reuters data showed. (Reporting by Shihar Aneez, Editing by Bryson Hull)

On Sri Lanka, UN Speak of Siege, Calls Cease-Fire Unrealistic, Only Private Diplomacy

2009-04-16T02:44:00.000-07:00

On Sri Lanka, UN Speak of Siege, Calls Cease-Fire Unrealistic, Only Private Diplomacy
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis:

Sir Holmes is also questioned on chemical weapons usage by the SLA.
(What a surprise when he said he had no information?) (Check Video)

UNITED NATIONS, April 15 -- As military action recommences in northern Sri Lanka, the UN's top humanitarian John Holmes on Wednesday repeated government assurances that it would be in "siege mode." Inner City Press asked Holmes, given his estimate of 100,000 civilians trapped in 17 square kilometers, if the UN is asking for a cease-fire. Holmes said that "a cease-fire is not available, we are trying to achieve something realistic." Video here, from Minute 23:14.

Holmes acknowledged that UN staff members -- who he pointed out are "local" or "Sri Lankan national" staff -- are held without freedom of movement in the camps set up by the government. Inner City Press asked him why he and the UN did not speak publicly about these detentions until being asked about it. Holmes said that the UN chose "private diplomacy." Asked twice if there are other countries in which UN staff are being similarly held but the UN is saying nothing, Holmes said "I can't think of a similar possibility at the moment." Video here, from Minute 6:26.

Left unexplained is why the UN is treating Sri Lanka's government different than, for example, those of Sudan or Israel, condemned by the UN for harming civilians while fighting armed opponents and for any detentions no matter how short in duration.

John Holmes of the UN, speaking of siege but not cease-fire

While the UN expends significant time and diplomatic capital seeking political solutions in Darfur and the Middle East, it is unclear what if anything is being done in the case of Sri Lanka. Inner City Press asked Holmes to comment on Sri Lanka's loud ouster of Norway from a mediating role. "I don't think it's a very helpful step," Holmes said, adding that Norway like anyone else if free to contract the LTTE Tamil Tigers if they wish. Video here, from Minute 17:58.

But it is for precisely such contact, combined with damage to a Sri Lankan embassy in Oslo, that Norway was denounced by Colombo. It is such denunciations which seemed to have worked to make the UN much quieter about abuse of civilians and even UN staff in Sri Lanka than the UN would be in any other country.

Inner City Press asked Holmes if the lack of media coverage has made his humanitarian coordination job more difficult with respect to Sri Lanka. He acknowledged that it has, saying that the lack of press access and of images from "major press outlets" limits knowledge and concern, but it's "beyond our control." The UN can presumably control what it says, for example speaking out about the detention of its staff and the exclusion of the press, much less control its funding of detention camps that violate international humanitarian law. We will continue to follow this.

Footnote: Inner City Press asked the UK Mission to the UN two questions on Sri Lanka early on Wednesday:

Does the UK believe that international law and the rights of UN humanitarian staff are being violated by the now-acknowledged detention of UN staff in the Sri Lankan government's “IDP” camps?

It has been reported this morning that Sri Lanka's “minister also told the British Foreign Secretary that there was concern that the LTTE would continue to consolidate its fortification of the No-Fire Zone.” Please confirm the accuracy of that, and of this and if so, does the UK interpret it as saying that an offensive on the No-Fire Zone and the civilians in it will begin? What did the UK Foreign Secretary say?

As of press time five hours later, the answer has been referral to Minister Miliband's April 12 statement. As more answers arrive we will report them on this site.

Click here for a new YouTube video, mostly UN Headquarters footage, about civilian deaths in Sri Lanka.

Click here for Inner City Press' March 27 UN debate

Sri Lanka central bank makes Rs22bn forex loss:

2009-04-15T21:17:00.000-07:00

Negative Seigniorage
16 Apr, 2009 07:36:26
Sri Lanka central bank makes Rs22bn forex loss

Apr 16, 2009 (LBO) - Sri Lanka's central bank, which has a monopoly on money issue in the island, has made a 5.04 bullion rupee loss in 2008, badly hit by a 22.8 billion rupee forex loss, despite running a dollar peg which has to be backed by US assets.
In 2007, the central bank made a profit of 29.8 billion rupees.

Monopoly Rents

A central bank, which has a state monopoly on money issue, has a captive opportunity to sit back and rake in profits or seigniorage as the cost of issuing fiat paper money is always lower than its face value.

A central banking monetary regime essentially makes profits by financing governments and inflating the economy using the mechanism of legal tender laws which eliminates competition in money.

If mis-used, the state money monopoly can easily lead to economic collapse, as has happened in the case of the US Federal Reserve and more disastrously in the case of Zimbabwe and other hyper-inflating economies.

After going through a bout of hyper-inflation, Zimbabwe has now allowed central bank competition and several foreign currencies have been made legal, giving citizens the economic freedom to choose.

In Sri Lanka, foreign currency banking units have started to dent the money monopoly.

In 2008, Sri Lanka's central bank earned 7.0 billion rupees on interest from its Treasury bills bought with printed money. Until September 2008, the central bank sold down its treasury bills portfolio and collected foreign reserves.

The process reversed thereafter, as the monetary authority engaged in an ill-fated peg defence exercise, which eventually put it at doors of the International Monetary Fund.

From August to December 2008 the central bank's net reserves fell from 3.0 billion US dollars to 1.4 billion dollars.

Foreign Earnings

In monetary authorities that have pegged exchange rates, the yield from investing foreign reserves outside the economy, form a large percentage of profits.

Sri Lanka's central bank reported 19.9 billion rupees as earnings from foreign reserves in 2008, (19.8 billion rupees in 2007) including interest and capital gains, as global market interest rates fell.

A pegged central bank would normally invest the majority of its foreign reserves on government securities of the anchor currency country, which is used as the intervention currency in the domestic forex market.

Sri Lanka's intervention currency is the US dollar.

But in 2008, Sri Lanka's central bank has reported a record 22.8 billion forex loss, indicating that it has had significant investments in assets which were not denominated in the anchor US dollar currency.

In 2007 the central bank made an exchange gain of 8.8 billion rupees. A Third World pegged central bank that inflates the economy and depreciates the currency, can usually make gains every year as the exchange rate moves only in one direction. However they are usually passed through the balance sheet instead of the profit and loss account via an asset fluctuation reserve.

In the latter part of 2008, the US dollar zoomed as banks refused to lend to each other and to customers and money was parked in the Federal Reserves as excess reserves.

Meanwhile other floating rate central banks, which were not suffering from central bank impotence, were able to push down their currencies by cutting rates.

Sri Lanka's central bank says the reserve fall in the latter part of 2008 was accelerated by global currency movements against the dollar, to which the rupee is pegged.

"That is because other currencies also went down in price," governor Nivard Cabraal told reporters last week.

"If the pound which was trading at two dollars comes down to one dollar forty something, you take a hit."

Its liabilities to countries in the Asian clearing union, which include Iran and India, also increased to 91.3 billion rupees from 48.4 billion rupees during the year.

Yield Chase

In recent years many pegged central banks in the world increased Euro reserve assets as well as other currencies which were stronger than the dollar due to stricter inflation targeting, far beyond precautionary liquidity needs, forgetting that they were not actually pegged to such currencies.

In doing so, pegged central banks engaged in currency speculation instead of focusing on the responsibility of backing the convertibility of its domestic monetary base and giving confidence to foreign exchange markets.

Discarding lessons earned through the centuries, central banks also shifted from liquid anchor currency government securities, to higher yielding private investments.

Sri Lanka's central bank had disclosed earlier that it had moved money out in the nick of time, before banks such as Lehman collapsed.

The Chinese central bank went so far as to buy equity, and suffered billions in losses as the value of investments such as Blackstone capital tanked. The losses are isolated through a separate agency.

Pegged central banks that amassed massive reserves by sterilizing inflows at interest rates higher than that of the anchor currency country were also caught in a negative yield trap and were looking hither and thither to increase the yields on foreign assets.

Such pegged central banks have also forgotten another old lesson from the currency board era - that foreign reserves far above the domestic monetary base, serve no practical purpose and is costly to itself and to the domestic economy.

Meanwhile in another twist, a part of the domestic assets of Sri Lanka's central bank known as 'provisional advances' which is made up of money printed and given interest free to the Treasury, climbed to 76.3 billion rupees from 60.7 billion rupees.

The central bank has to either sell down interest bearing Treasury bills, or issue its own interest bearing securities to sterilize such advances if it wants to keep inflation low, putting additional costs on the bank.

Though it is a short term 'revolving credit', provisional advances have not been repaid for decades, and critics have pointed out that for all intents and purposes the advance is behaving like the biggest and longest running 'non-performing loan' in the country.

Critics have said the auditor general, who passes the central bank accounts, has so far failed to comment on the issue.

Analysts have called for Sri Lanka's monetary law to be changed to stop provisional advances.

Converting existing advances to interest bearing marketable securities which can be sold down, would also help prevent the issue of fresh central bank securities.

The Central Bank's equity meanwhile fell to 120.9 billion rupees in 2008 from 131.3 billion rupees in 2007. It has made an 8.0 billion rupee transfer to the government during the year.

Updated. Corrected financial year

World Watches Helplessly Genocide of Eelam Tamils in Vanni by Sinhalese

2009-04-15T00:58:00.000-07:00

World Watches Helplessly Genocide of Eelam Tamils in Vanni by Sinhalese

By: Dr C P Thiagarajah
Courtesy: TamilCanadian - April 15, 2009

Having cornered about 200000 homeless, half starved IDP (civilians) by herding them with the help of rocket launching gunships and multibarrel guns into a narrow stretch of land in the East near Puthumathalan called the safety zone, Sri Lanka Army (SLA) had now embarked upon intense attack on the 'safety zone'. It all started in the early hours of 12 April Sunday, targeting a place called Pachchaip-pulmoaddai, aiming for bifurcating and capturing the northern part of the 'safety zone' ignoring the international calls for a ceasefire to avoid genocide of the Tamils, a distinctive ethnic minority.

The Tamil community had been facing the brunt of all Sinhala government anti-Tamil discrimination, Human rights violations and genocide since independence in 1948. All the Sinhala Sri-lanka Government’s (GSL) violence against the Tamils had been well documented. Please refer www.genocide.org.uk, Asian Human Rights Watch website and US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) website. The million dollar question is how come all successive Sri-Lankan government commit this crime on its minorities under the watchful eyes of the democratic world that created the UN to protect against such atrocities.

The core aim of The United Nations (UN) an international organization made up of countries of the world was to maintain international peace and security and international economic and social cooperation. Incidentally it was founded on October 24, 1945 in San Francisco, California and only 192 States are members of the United Nations. Can the situation in Sri-lanka be attributed to UN failure to implement or help to implement the various instruments drafted under its charter?

The UN established many treaties to implement its main duties. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was adopted by Resolution 260 (III) A of the U.N. General Assembly on 9 December 1948. It came into force on 12 January 1951. The word 'genocide' was coined in 1944 to name a particularly shocking and horrific crime of violence. Genocide is the deliberate extermination of a racial, religious or ethnic group. Genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in time of war, is a crime under international law. Many countries signed the Convention, some of whom have since been party to genocide. Only a few people have been charged with genocide or complicity in it.

In a more detailed sense, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethical, racial or religious group as such: killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group, forcible transferring children of the group to another group etc.

Genocide is mass murder deliberately planned and carried out by individuals, all of whom are responsible whether they made the plan, gave the order or carried out the killings, whatever its scale. In Sri-lanka there are mainly three who are immediately responsible for genocide both in words and deeds at the moment. They are President Mahinda Rajapakse who is always seen in native dress (probably borrowed from Tamils because it is the cultural dress of the Tamils) and a shawl, his brother Gothabaya Rajapakse and the odd one out with a Portuguese name military head Fonseka.

It was believed at that time when the Genocide Act was passed that genocide could never happen again. Contrarily, that it had been put into practice so many times in one century was even more shocking.

The following were some of the worst genocide of the last century.

1904 NAMIBIA, 1915 ARMENIA, 1932 UKRAINE 1941-45 the HOLOCAUST, 1975 CAMBODIA, 1982 GUATEMALA, 1994 RWANDA, 1995 BOSNIA

In 2009 at the beginning of the early new century and millennium Sri-Lanka is committing unimaginable genocide of Tamils in front of the whole world.

The worst deceit of GSL is to use weapons of mass destructions (WMD) in contravention of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) adopted by the General Assembly at its forty-seventh session, on 30 November 1992, and signed and ratified by Sri-Lanka in 1993/94. It had used cluster bombs boldly in the presence of diplomats of all countries in Colombo a distance of 80 miles from the war zone. US diplomat Mr Rob Blake who always defended the Sinhalese government against all odds should have known of this horror and still remained silent without informing the new President Barack Obama.

The NGO, War Without Witnesses criticised Sri-Lanka for the clandestine use of chemical weapons in this war against LTTE with photographic proof. Concerned South Asian Citizens, a forum formed to support ethnic Lankan Tamils stated “it was feared that the Sinhalese Army was continuously using thermobaric bomb, which uses a fuel-air explosive capable of creating pressure equal to that an atom bomb, for mass killings”.

In addition, there are concerns over the use of cluster munitions by the Sri-Lankan air force in this war because its remnants kill or maim civilians, including women and children, obstruct economic and social development, including through the loss of livelihood, impede post-conflict rehabilitation and reconstruction, delay or prevent the return of refugees and internally displaced persons, can negatively impact on national and international peace-building and humanitarian assistance efforts, and have other severe consequences that can persist for many years after use,

Because of the serious drawback and grave consequences of the use of cluster bombs the UN stressed the duties of a state thus “with respect to cluster munition victims in areas under its jurisdiction or control shall, in accordance with applicable international humanitarian and human rights law, adequately provide age- and gender-sensitive assistance, including medical care, rehabilitation and psychological support, as well as provide for their social and economic inclusion. Each State Party shall make every effort to collect reliable relevant data with respect to cluster munitions victims”. Sri-Lanka cared the least to provide any relief or medical aid to the victims as complained by NGOs and the state government medical services. Instead the GSL had imposed a press censorship and media blackout to hide this macabre scene for the world. Intelligently Tamils are exposing these atrocities in ‘YouTube’ videos.

Arrogantly, GSL is violating all six human rights treaties based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that Sri-Lanka signed on 11/09/80. They are:- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT),

Barbarity is the fore runner of genocide. The brute force directed towards the civilians revealed this. Impunity to the perpetrators was another hallmark of genocide. The annihilation of the Armenians began on the orders Ottoman Turkish leader Taloat Pasha who gave impunity in his orders “Kill every Armenian, woman, child and man without concern for anything”. The Tamil Centre for Human Rights based in Paris estimated that 83982 civilians including women, children and elderly were killed in the current conflict which the government says were cross fire casualties. Ethnic cleansing is the main modus operandi of every Sinhalese head of state from 1948 to establish Sinhala domination all over Sri-Lanka including the TH. They matched their words that they spelt out to foreign journalist and diplomats with action.

On 11th July 1983during the 1983 pogrom J.R.Jayawardene, Sinhala Buddhist President of Sri Lanka then told a Daily Telegraph journalist, "I am not worried about the opinion of the Tamil people... now we cannot think of them, not about their lives or their opinion... the more you put pressure in the north (TH of Tamils), the happier the Sinhala people will be here... Really if I starve the Tamils out, the Sinhala people will be happy.” In fact he did more than that. He committed genocide of the Tamils culturally, economically and racially. Sinhala leaders had continuously denied that the Tamil People were original to sri-lanka and have used that as a reason for denying them equal rights. Ex president Chandrika Kumaratunge told Sunday Times (South African newspaper) on October 1998 “only a minority group (referring to Tamils) is fighting for a separate homeland, who are not even originals to this country", Therefore they racially discriminated the Tamils contrary to UN principles. This is the bone of contention for the Tamils.

State induced pogroms and riots saw many Tamils displaced one or more times since 1983. The number of Tamils displaced one or more times reached 100%. One third of the population had fled overseas. Many villages had been completely erased to the ground and High security zones were established. The citizens of these areas were sent into IDP camps. The world watched this silently without raising any protest. Only Miss Karen Parker HR worker and some NGOs raised their voices with no good result.

The Sri-Lankan government like Joseph Stalin who caused the Ukraine holocaust of famine, colonized the rice bowl of the East with Sinhalese after killing and driving out Tamils residents. They emulated Stalin and conducted stage managed tour of journalist to show that nothing undemocratic took place in the East homeland of the Tamils.

The Soviets bolstered their famine denial by duping members of the foreign press and international celebrities through carefully staged photo opportunities in the Soviet Union and the Ukraine. The writer George Bernard Shaw, along with a group of British socialites, visited the Soviet Union and came away with a favorable impression which he disseminated to the world. Former French Premier Edouard Herriot was given a five-day stage-managed tour of the Ukraine, viewing spruced-up streets in Kiev and inspecting a 'model' collective farm. He also came away with a favorable impression and even declared there was indeed no famine. Even intelligent world leaders could not identify the real situation when well stage managed by unscrupulous dictators.

In Sri-Lanka the technique of genocide represented a concentrated and co-coordinated attack upon all the elements of Tamil nationhood. Not only physical genocide but also acts aimed at destroying the group’s culture and livelihood. The Sinhalese had blocked the main A9 highway with embargo on some vital items needed for development such as cement and building materials, to starve and inconvenience the Tamil race in the North and the citizen there are in virtual open prisons. Over 2000 Hindu temples and 300 churches were destroyed by aerial bombing or tank fire. Children education had been affected for the last two decades. One third of the children are drop outs. There is malnutrition and the infant mortality rate had quadrupled since before the war. &0% of the people in the TH are below poverty line as their regular employment and occupation had been curtailed by army curfew, fights and other hazards.

The Tamil race had come to their low ebb of their endurance. The TH is scorched earth now. Unless this genocide is stopped immediately under power vested under UN charter 39-42 military measures the genocide will be another blot on the current century. Historians will blame those in power now. Discretion is the better part of Valour.

Published: Apr 15, 2009 3:44:07 GMT

Unprecedented carnage, SLA turns firepower on civilian zone

2009-04-15T00:43:00.001-07:00

Unprecedented carnage, SLA turns firepower on civilian zone

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 April 2009, 05:42 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Wednesday morning turned its artillery, mortar, 40 mm cannon, Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) and gunfire ranging from 50 caliber machine guns to LMG fire into the so-called safety zone, causing a carnage within a short period of time between 7:40 and 10:40 a.m. killing and maiming hundreds of civilians, according to the latest update by TamilNet correspondent in Vanni reporting from the area under attack. Civilians were struggling to transport the wounded to the hospital and many of the injured were lying along the roadside as gunfire and artillery barrage by the SLA continues. "It is impossible to assess casualty details, but at least 180 civilians are feared killed within 3 hours in the area between Mu'l'livaaykkaal to Pokka'nai."

The wounded civilians who attempt to move towards the hospital whenever they sense a break between the attacks, are getting blocked by targeted gunfire from SLA positions from the outer perimeter of the so-called No-Fire / Safety zone.

"The seriously wounded civilians are dying as their transport has been blocked by the SLA firing on medical transport carrying white flags. The casualty figures are expected to rise," said TamilNet correspondent. As he was filing this report, SLA gunners shot a man who was trying to transport a wounded victim while holding a white flag. "He was badly injured in his head."

"On another incident, 9 wounded civilians who were being transported in tractor from Mu'l'livaaykkaal, carrying white flag, were killed when a shell fired by the SLA landed on the tractor."

"Many wounded civilians are lying along the sides of the road, awaiting help." The dead were being buried on the spot.

"There are civilians lying dead and wounded inside their tarpaulin shelters, said civilians arriving from Valaignarmadam," TamilNet correspondent said, reporting amidst shelling and gunfire.

"Thousands of civilians are lying on open terrain, as there are not enough bunkers in the area between Valignarmadam and Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal, that has come under SLA barrage."

"Almost all the bunkers are open bunkers and those who remain inside them are experiencing untold trauma as the 'no fire zone' has been turned into 'fire zone' by the SLA."

The SLA was firing artillery from all the corners, from Mu'l'liyavazhai, Nedungkea'ni, Oddichuddaan, Puthukkudiyiruppu, Theavipuram and Chaalai.

RPGs, 40 mm cannons and 50 caliber guns were targeting the road from Puthumaaththa'lan hospital to Mu'l'livaaykkaal.

The confrontation between the LTTE and the SLA was taking place in the outer perimeter and at one of the last bunds close to the gateway to the so-called safety zone. After heavy fighting along the frontiers, the SLA turned its firepower onto the civilians.

People have not eaten anything since Tuesday evening.

"There are no words to describe the plight of the children," concluded TamilNet correspondent in his update filed at 10:40 a.m. local time.

Meanwhile, medical sources at Puthumaaththa'lan makeshift hospital said they only received 38 wounded and said 12 more wounded were dead when their relatives managed to bring them to the hospital.

Does Britain have a right to intervene in Sri Lanka? by Prof. M Sornarajah

2009-04-15T00:30:00.000-07:00

An opinion: Does Britain have a right to intervene in Sri Lanka?

by Prof. M Sornarajah

I have been asked by some British citizens of Tamil origin to give an opinion on the status of the British Government to intervene in the present humanitarian crisis caused in Sri Lanka by the shelling of safety zones declared by the Government of Sri Lanka by the Sri Lanka armed forces and the indiscriminate bombing of Tamil civilians. This shelling, as well as other indiscriminate targeting of objects, has resulted in massive civilian casualties. The extent of the duty to protect the civilians caught up in the hostilities and the competence of the British Government to provide such protection through intervention are the subjects of this opinion...

UKTC0411.jpg

[April 11th, march in London]

The British Government has not traditionally subscribed to the notion that a state may intervene in order to prevent humanitarian catastrophes in other states. But, the British Government reversed this policy in 1998 just before the NATO intervention in Kosovo and participated in the NATO intervention. A lachrymose Mr Blair, then Prime Minister, in justifying this change of policy, apologized for not having made a similar intervention in Rwanda to prevent the massacres that took place in that country. After the NATO intervention, the Secretary of State for Defence, justifying the intervention, stated that “in international law, in exceptional circumstances and to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe, military action can be taken and it is on that legal basis that military action was taken” (Statement reproduced at 1999, Vol.70, British Yearbook of International Law, p.586).

The next year, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs made a statement (19th July 2002) stating that “no one can claim any longer that massive violation of humanitarian law or crimes against humanity fall solely within a state’s domestic jurisdiction.” Mr Robin Cook, the then Secretary at the FCO indicated that Britain had submitted clear principles to the United Nations to guide intervention by the international community. There were six principles in the guidelines. Among the principles he stated, was that “when faced with overwhelming humanitarian catastrophe, which a government has shown it is unwilling or unable to prevent or is actively promoting, the international community should intervene.” At the present moment, there is a humanitarian catastrophe entirely caused by the Government of Sri Lanka. Britain and the international community have a duty to act to prevent the loss of lives as a result of the actions of the Sri Lankan Government.

There is nothing to indicate that the policy of the British Government has changed since this time. It must be taken that since then the UK policy has been to accept the right of humanitarian intervention, even through forcible means, to put an end to internal civilian suffering caused by a state intent on massacring a part of its population identifiable on the basis of race, language or religion.

There are obvious objections to forcible unilateral humanitarian intervention. The dilemma is that the doctrine could be abused by strong states which would use it to influence political courses in states but, at the same time, it becomes necessary that states not stand by when harrowing incidents of genocidal killings take place. In Bangladesh, Cambodia and Uganda, unilateral interventions took place which the world condoned because the killings in Bangladesh by the Pakistani forces, the massacres of Pol Pot in Cambodia and the ruthlessness of Idi Amin in Uganda had to be brought to an end. The forcible interventions in these incidents by India, Vietnam and Tanzania were silently applauded by the international community. None of these governments sought to justify their actions on the basis of humanitarian intervention. The NATO intervention in Kosovo, however, was justified by the UK and other NATO members on the basis of a principle of humanitarian intervention. The intervention in Kosovo by NATO was necessary because two members of the United Nations Security Council (China and Russia) vetoed United Nations action. Such a veto is to be expected whenever internal massacres are discussed, as both China and Russia have minority problems in Chechnya and Tibet which they do not want to hold out to international scrutiny. Neither do they want to contemplate the future possibility of an intervention to deal with such issues. Collective exercise of forcible humanitarian intervention under United Nations auspices, therefore, remains remote.

It is in the light of the dilemma presented that the international community came up with the idea of the duty to protect. The duty to protect was promoted largely by Canada and Australia. Two former foreign ministers of these two states, Mr Lloyd Axworthy (Canada) and Mr Gareth Evans (Australia) were instrumental in pushing the idea. A commission set up by the Canadian Government issued a report on the scope of this right. The idea was to ensure that, whatever the international law position on the principle of humanitarian intervention is, there is a right recognized by the international community to provide assistance to a civilian people who are caught up in the hostilities between the armed forces and insurgents.

The Responsibility to Protect is now well recognized in international law. It results from an international instrument which the General Assembly of the United Nations approved in 2005 at the World Summit. The Responsibility to Protect is a duty every state owes its minorities. The Responsibility requires that the minority not be subjected to atrocities involving genocide or crimes against humanity like torture. Where this duty is violated by the state, it is incumbent on other members of the international community to intervene and ensure that the persecuted group is protected. Such intervention is legitimate in international law. It is opposed only by a few states like China, Russia, Sudan and Zimbabwe, fellow travelers with the government of Sri Lanka and persistent violators of the rights of their own citizens.

It is the duty of the international community to ensure that the devices that it has created are meaningful. In the case of the British Government, its duty is clear in this regard. It, now, subscribes to a principle of humanitarian intervention, which justifies even the use of unilateral armed force in order to achieve humanitarian ends, such as the protection of the civilians caught up in the hostilities in the North of Sri Lanka. Failing the use of this doctrine, it has the duty to ensure their protection as a result of the new doctrine relating to the Responsibility to Protect.

In the case of Britain, its exercise of this duty arises not from its membership of the international community or from a moral duty alone. It bears a historical responsibility in the problem that affects Sri Lanka. The distinguished British political scientist, Bertram Hughes Farmer detailed in his book, Ceylon: a Divided Nation (Institute of Race Relations, Oxford, 1963), nearly half century ago, how the British had brought under one rule an island divided on the basis of ethnicity into three kingdoms for the sake of their administrative convenience. They left behind the same system of a single government for an island that had contained three separate kingdoms. He predicted that the constitutional arrangement that the British created on granting independence to Sri Lanka had to break down as it did not give the minorities in Sri Lanka sufficient protection. Much of the blame can be placed at the doors of Britain. Events unfolded exactly as Farmer had predicted.

The unitary government of Sri Lanka came under Sinhala chauvinists, who outdid each other in their racial and religious fanaticism against the minorities, declaring Sinhala the only official language and the peaceful religion of Gautama Buddha, the renouncer of his own kingdom, the state religion. They adopted a national flag of violence, which symbolized the creation myth of the Sinhala race, a lion holding a sword, symbolizing violence against those who opposed Sinhala supremacy. All minorities were excluded from participation in government and as the head of the armed forces declared without being contradicted, Sri Lanka belongs to the Sinhalese and others live in it only upon tolerance. Several pogroms have been unleashed against the Tamils, resulting in a flood of refugees accounting for a large Tamil diaspora in the capitals of the world. Unfortunately, this was a result that the Sinhala chauvinists did not anticipate. While they kept their own people mired in a blinkered existence of hatred, the minorities in Sri Lanka have been well received in the capitals of the West where they have prospered and grown in influence.

In the light of the terror that has been unleashed on the Tamils by successive governments, a right to self-determination has arisen in them. The modern scope of that right has been discussed authoritatively by the Canadian Supreme Court in Attorney Generals Reference on the Quebec Secession (1998) and by the Badinter Commission set up by the European Union to consider the issues relating to Kosovo and Yugoslavia. Essentially, such a right is held in abeyance where the right to equality is recognized in a plural state held in good balance through its political structure, as it is in Canada, where four successive Prime Ministers were French Canadians. But, whereas in Sri Lanka, there is not only the persistent violation of the right to equality of the Tamils but a course of violence unleashed by government forces on the civilian population, a right of secession arises in them. Such a right can be asserted through violence. It is inapposite to describe such violence as involving terrorism. Right down history from the American War of Independence to the struggle of Mandela against apartheid, violence has been used for the assertion of lawful rights. Though it is obviously preferable that, as in the case of Mahatma Gandhi, peaceful methods should be used in the pursuit of rights, such peaceful methods of protest used by early Tamil leaders in Sri Lanka failed miserably. It is only after the peaceful methods of protest had failed that violent means were adopted by Tamil youth. It is evident that the Tamil diaspora supports their struggle.

The present situation arises because of the hostilities between the two contending forces. The Tamil Tigers are fighting a war of secession in a lawful manner as combatants wearing recognizable uniforms. The civilians have sought refuge in zones designated as safe zones by the Government of Sri Lanka, but are still being massacred by government troops. Those who have escaped the war zone are kept in detention camps in reportedly miserable conditions of captivity for the simple reason that they are Tamils.

In this context, a clear duty of protection arises and this duty, for reasons explained, is the greater in the case of the British Government. It is a duty enhanced by the fact that the relatives of many of its citizens are caught up in the war zone. Though the British government owes a special historical responsibility, this responsibility attaches to the whole international community. The NATO members in particular, having set a precedent in Kosovo, have, at least, the duty to take the lesser route of intervening to protect the Tamil civilians.

Today, we try the henchman of Pol Pot. Fujimori of Peru has just been convicted. Tomorrow, the international criminals in the present Government of Sri Lanka responsible for the atrocities against the Tamils in Sri Lanka will surely be tried for their callous massacre of thousands of Tamil civilians. But, it is today that is relevant. It is today that the hundreds of thousands of Tamil civilian lives under the threat of massacre by the Sri Lankan Government must be saved.

Posted by transCurrents on April 14, 2009 08:36 PM | Permalink transCurrents.com Contact Email: editor@transcurrents.com

UN confirms GOSL bombing of NO Fire Zones. See UN Video.

2009-04-14T17:59:00.000-07:00

In Sri Lanka, UN Staff Detained in IDP Camps, Names Provided to UNICEF and OCHA, Double Standard Alleged
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, April 13 -- As the Sri Lankan government's detention camps for those leaving the northern conflict zone have become the subject of international controversy, quietly staff members of the United Nations and their families have themselves been interred in the camps, with the UN saying nothing until asked, it emerged on Monday. Inner City Press at the April 13 UN noon briefing asked spokesman Farhan Haq, video here from Minute 13:36 --

Inner City Press: This is on Sri Lanka. There have been some reports that in the camps that have been set up outside the conflict zone from which people can’t leave and can’t receive visitors, that there are some UN staff in these camps -- from OCHA [the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs] and some of the specialized funds programs and agencies. Is the UN aware of any of its staff members that are either held incommunicado or are in camps that they can’t leave from? And if they’re aware, what’s the UN doing about securing their freedom of movement and release from these camps?

Associate Spokesperson Haq: I am not aware of that one, but we’ll check with OCHA and see what they have to say on that.

Inner City Press then e-mailed the spokespeople for OCHA and UNICEF, repeating the question. OCHA spokeswoman Stephanie Bunker replied first:

Subj: Re: Q if there are UN system staff / family in Sri Lankan government's "IDP" camps, and if so...
From: [OCHA at] un.org
To: Inner City Press
Sent: 4/13/2009 3:17:39 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time

Among those tens of thousands of people who have managed to flee the No Fire Zone in northern Sri Lanka, we are aware that some UN and NGO staff and their dependents have managed to flee as well. As far as we know, they are still in the camps for displaced people set up in the area, and we have repeatedly asked the Government of Sri Lanka to allow them freedom of movement so that they can eventually resume their role as aid workers. While the Government has repeatedly assured us that this request would be met, the staff still remain in the camps. [Inserted into UN transcript here.]

Inner City Press' sources in Sri Lanka say that OCHA chief John Holmes was informed of these people while he was in Sri Lanka, that local staff dissatisfaction with his public silence about it has been growing.

UN OCHA's Holmes in IDP camp, still-detailed UN and OCHA staff not shown

Some there ask, if the government of Sudan for example interred UN staff members, OCHA and Ban Ki-moon, to say nothing of the U.S., France and UK on the Security Council, would surely loudly scream. Why not in Sri Lanka?

Inner City Press has been provided by local sources with names of staff on information and belief detained in the Sri Lankan government camps including in Vavuniya, even an assistant field coordinator. Inner City Press has put these names to OCHA's Ms. Bunker and to UNICEF's spokesman, who replied

"I am not aware of any UNICEF staff in this situation, but I have been away from the office for a few days. I have asked my colleagues in Sri Lanka and will respond when I get a response from them, hopefully tomorrow."

He has been supplied for four UNICEF staff names. Watch this site.

Click here for a new YouTube video, mostly UN Headquarters footage, about civilian deaths in Sri Lanka.

Click here for Inner City Press' March 27 UN debate

Click here for Inner City Press March 12 UN (and AIG bailout) debate

Click here for Inner City Press' Feb 26 UN debate

Click here for Feb. 12 debate on Sri Lanka http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/17772?in=11:33&out=32:56

Click here for Inner City Press' Jan. 16, 2009 debate about Gaza

Click here for Inner City Press' review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate

Click here for Inner City Press' December 24 debate on UN budget, Niger

Click here from Inner City Press' December 12 debate on UN double standards

Click here for Inner City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics

and this October 17 debate, on Security Council and Obama and the UN.

* * *

These reports are usually also available through Google News and on Lexis-Nexis.

Click here for a Reuters AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click here for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund. Video Analysis here

Feedback: Editorial [at] innercitypress.com

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The Commonwealth and its members should use their combined diplomatic influence

2009-04-14T17:13:00.000-07:00

Use International Clout to Press Both Sides to End Humanitarian Disaster
April 14, 2009

Related Materials:
Joint Letter to CMAG on Follow-Up Action on the Deepening Crisis in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka: Stop Shelling ‘No-Fire Zone’

(London) - The Commonwealth and its members should use their combined diplomatic influence to press the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to cease attacks that violate the laws of war and end the humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka's northern Vanni region, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) and Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG). A two-day holiday pause in military operations was not long enough to address the desperate situation of trapped civilians.

Fighting reportedly has resumed in the tiny government-declared "no-fire zone" still in the control of LTTE forces, where the approximately 100,000 civilians remaining are at grave risk. LTTE forces have prevented civilians from leaving the area, while government forces have repeatedly and indiscriminately shelled the no-fire zone. More than 3,000 civilians have reportedly been killed and many more wounded during the fighting since January.

"With the United Nations warning that there could be a potential ‘bloodbath,' the CMAG needs to assert itself to protect the civilians trapped in the fighting in a member country," said Maja Daruwalla, executive director of CHRI. "It should not stay silent during this mounting tragedy."

Both the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE deny they are violating the laws of war. However, there is credible information that the LTTE is preventing civilians from leaving the conflict area and shooting at those that try to escape. Displaced persons who have managed to flee the fighting have been placed in detention camps by the Sri Lankan government, where they are denied freedom of movement. The government has said that it will improve access to the camps by relatives and allow some to leave after screening for LTTE combatants, but to date only a few hundred elderly have been allowed to leave. There are allegations that an unknown number of people with alleged LTTE ties have been taken into government custody, leading to fears of enforced disappearances.

The Sri Lankan government has refused to allow independent observers and journalists into conflict zones so that there is a lack of accurate and timely information about the situation of the trapped civilians. It has also barred most humanitarian agencies from the conflict area in northern Sri Lanka, citing security concerns, leading to severe shortfalls in humanitarian assistance. There have been repeated allegations of threats and intimidation against Sri Lankan journalists and human rights workers.

"The Commonwealth harms itself when it stays silent during a crisis in a member state," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Abuses by the Tamil Tigers should not deter it from pressing the Sri Lankan government to uphold the Commonwealth's fundamental principles."

In the Harare Commonwealth Declaration, 1991, Commonwealth Heads of Government pledged to protect and promote fundamental human rights and to support "the United Nations and other international institutions in the world's search for peace."

Calling upon CMAG to protect the fundamental principles of the Commonwealth, CHRI and Human Rights Watch urged it to:

* Seek assurances that civilians are given the highest protections, and that international humanitarian law is being complied with in full.
* Call upon the Sri Lankan government to cease attacks that violate the laws of war, including artillery bombardment and aerial bombing that does not discriminate between military targets and civilians, or that causes expected harm to civilians and civilian objects disproportionate to the anticipated military gain. Violations of the laws of war by the LTTE do not justify attacks by government security forces in violation of the law.
* Call upon the LTTE to stop using civilians as "human shields," take all feasible steps to avoid placing military targets near civilians, stop preventing civilians from leaving areas under its control, respect and facilitate the right to freedom of movement of civilians, including their right to move to government-controlled territory for safety, and end all deliberate attacks on civilians, such as those seeking to flee LTTE-controlled areas.
* State its concern for the trapped civilians, call upon both parties to facilitate the immediate creation of humanitarian corridors to allow trapped civilians to escape and offer neutral assistance to ensure safe evacuation of civilians, as well as to provide aid for humanitarian camps for relocated civilians.
* Consistent with the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, ensure that camps for displaced personsrespect the basic rights of residents.The camps should be under civilian authority, residents shouldhave thefreedom of movement due all Sri Lankan citizens, and impartial humanitarian agencies should have access to the centers without unnecessary restrictions.
* Call upon the Sri Lankan government to allow independent observers, including journalists, access to conflict zones so that accurate and timely information about the situation of civilians in such areas is publicly available.
* Call upon the government to lift immediately the September 2008 order barring humanitarian agencies from the conflict area in northern Sri Lanka and allow humanitarian agencies to return to assist at-risk individuals and reach all civilians in need. Restrictions on relief should be made on a case-by-case basis and only when there is a specific and justifiable security reason for the restriction. Refusals for valid security reasons should only be for as long as necessary and should not block legitimate humanitarian assistance.
* Call upon the government to ensure that nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are able to perform their work without arbitrary government interference. Regulation of NGO activities should comply with international standards, be transparent, and follow clearly defined procedures. Registration should ultimately facilitate the work of NGOs and should neither disrupt legitimate NGO activities nor put NGO workers at risk.
* Strongly urge all CMAG members to act on the crisis in Sri Lanka collectively as a positive way to engage the crisis and such situations in the future, while also giving full adherence to the Harare Declaration among the Commonwealth's membership.

To read the letter from Human Rights Watch and the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative to the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, please visit:
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/04/14/joint-letter-cmag-follow-action-deepening-crisis-sri-lanka

US should intervene directly with GoSL, LTTE to protect civilians - Professor Boyle

2009-04-14T12:44:00.001-07:00

US should intervene directly with GoSL, LTTE to protect civilians - Professor Boyle
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 April 2009, 16:42 GMT]

With Norway's ouster as a third-party engaging with the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE), the role of the United States in having direct access with the Liberation Tigers has become critical to negotiating a ceasefire and bring relief to the more than 250,000 Tamil civilians caught in the war. Ambassador Lunstead points out that legal restrictions imposed by US domestic laws do not prevent the U.S. taking that role, and Professor Boyle further asserts that Geneva Conventions of 1949 makes it an obligation for the U.S. to intervene directly with both the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the LTTE in order to protect these innocent Tamil civilians.

Prof. Francis Boyle
Professor Boyle, professor of International Law at the University of Illinois College of Law, in a note sent to TamilNet said: "Both the United States and Sri Lanka are contracting parties to the Four Geneva Conventions of 1949. Common article 1 thereof provides: 'The High Contracting Parties undertake to respect and to ensure respect for the present Convention in all circumstances.' The United States government has an absolute obligation 'to ensure respect' for the Geneva Conventions 'in all circumstances.' With respect to the current situation in Vanni where the lives and well-being of 250,000 Tamils are at risk and in grave danger, the United States government has an absolute obligation to intervene directly with both the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the LTTE in order to protect these innocent Tamil civilians and to terminate the massive war crimes that are currently being inflicted upon them by the GOSL in violation of the Geneva Conventions. The same arguments apply to every state that is a contracting party to the Geneva Conventions, which includes almost every state in the world. In other words, almost every state in the world has both the right, the standing, and the obligation to intervene directly with both the GOSL and the LTTE in order to terminate war crimes from being inflicted upon the completely innocent Tamil civilians currently living in Vanni."

Jeffrey Lunstead, former US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, had earlier traced the legal and policy implications of the U.S. officials engaging directly with the LTTE. He makes the following point, "the legal restrictions were clear: the U.S. government could not provide material assistance to the LTTE, and had to block LTTE funds. LTTE officials could not obtain visas to visit the U.S. unless a waiver was granted by the Attorney General based on a recommendation by the Secretary of State. It should be noted that there is no legal proscription against meeting with LTTE officials. A decision not to meet with LTTE officials is a policy decision, not a legal one," indicating that the US's domestic laws do not bar the US officials from engaging directly with the LTTE.

On the question if "direct U.S. contact with the LTTE have made this [U.S.] position clearer and perhaps induced a change in behavior [of the LTTE]," Ambassador responds: "This question is of course unanswerable. As many participants have noted, direct U.S. contact with the LTTE, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), was difficult in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. One potential advantage of direct U.S. communication with the LTTE, had it occurred, would have been the ability of the U.S. to hear LTTE."

Chronology:
14.04.09 US should intervene directly with GoSL, LTTE to pr..
14.04.09 IC should engage LTTE directly - Diaspora activist..
13.04.09 LTTE reiterates need for permanent ceasefire
13.04.09 US engagement irks Colombo, Norway ousted from Sri..
12.04.09 'Three insults to Tamils for the traditional New Y..

Krishna Ambalavanar, Leading Swiss Tamil in protest fast

2009-04-14T12:28:00.000-07:00

Leading Swiss Tamil in protest fast
Several hundred Tamils started an open-ended demonstration in Bern on Tuesday to draw attention to what they describe as "genocide" in Sri Lanka.

The coordinator of Tamil organisations in Switzerland, Krishna Ambalavanar, has written an open letter to the Swiss foreign minister Micheline Calmy-Rey, warning that he will fast to the death unless their demands are met.

The demonstrators gathered outside the offices of the foreign ministry to back their demands that Switzerland should intervene "to stop the genocide". They want medical and other humanitarian supplies to be sent to people trapped by fighting in the northern Vanni region.

They also want a special session of the United Nations Security Council to discuss the situation and to call on the Sri Lankan government to allow the Tamils to vote on partition.

Foreign ministry officials received a delegation in the late afternoon to hear their demands. The officials repeated Switzerland's policies over the issue.

Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka have been fighting for a separate state in the north and east of the island since the 1970s. Earlier this year government forces launched a widescale offensive against the Tigers, in the hope of bringing the conflict to an end.

Tens of thousands of civilians have been trapped by the fighting or forced to flee their homes.

Both the government forces and the Tamil Tigers have been regularly accused of gross human rights abuses.

Sri Lankan Tamils are one of the biggest migrant groups in Switzerland.
swissinfo with agencies
Comments

On Sri Lanka, Mexico Invokes Responsibility to Protect, Rebukes Colombo's "Inaccuracies"

2009-04-13T18:58:00.000-07:00

On Sri Lanka, Mexico Invokes Responsibility to Protect, Rebukes Colombo's "Inaccuracies"
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, April 13 -- In the midst of a military offensive in Northern Sri Lanka in which over 3000 civilians have been killed, Sri Lanka's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has put out a statement that the government of Mexico, which requested UN Security Council briefings on the issue, has now committed to keep it off the Council's agenda.

Citing the statement, Inner City Press on April 13 asked Mexican Ambassador Claude Heller if the Sri Lankan government is accurate that its Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona was told by Mexican vice minister Gomez-Robledo that "they do not have any intention of permitting the Sri Lankan situation to be placed on the Security Council agenda" and that "the Mexican authorities saw the parallels between their own experience in Chiapas and the negative impact of a cleverly manipulated propaganda machine." Statement here, video here from Minute 8:42.

"It is not an accurate statement," Ambassador Heller replied. "We were very clear that in the case of Sri Lanka there is a concern of the responsibility to protect the population." Video here, from Minute 9. The Responsibility to Protect is a doctrine, accepted in the UN General Assembly, that if a country cannot or does not protect its population from harm, the international community can intervene to do so.

Sri Lanka's and Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona's now rebuked mis-summary of their meeting with Mexican officials is not the first case of cognitive dissonance. It has happened regarding telephone calls with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

The Sri Lanka - Mexico meeting, R2P not shown

Inner City Press asked at the UN noon briefing on March 25:

Inner City Press: There was a statement by the Foreign Secretary of Sri Lanka that the country has received no criticism from the UN of how it’s conducting its conflict in the north. He says that Ms. [Navi] Pillay, the Human Rights Commissioner, “is not the UN”, and apparently implies that, in the discussions between the President and the Secretary-General, there’s been no criticism whatsoever of any action of the Government. I wanted to know, is that consistent with your understanding of those calls?

Spokesperson Michele Montas: As far as I know, a number of issues were raised. Humanitarian issues were also raised.

It should again be noted that Sri Lanka's foreign secretary Palitha Kohona, who said the UN High Commission for Human rights "is not the UN" and now blatantly mis-summarizes his meetings in Mexico himself served in and led the UN's Treaty Section. "He knows better," one official told Inner City Press. After a call by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to President Rajapaksa and his brother(s), Sri Lanka summarized that "Mrs. Clinton appreciated the assurances given by the Secretary of Defense that civilians would not be subjected to any attacks by the military, stating the U.S. looked forward to working with Sri Lanka once the current conflict ends.”

The US State Department, to the contrary, said that “The Secretary stated that the Sri Lanka Army should not fire into the civilian areas of the conflict zone... She urged the President to give international humanitarian relief organizations full access to the conflict area and displaced persons camps, including screening centers."

We are preparing a new report on these camps and centers, watch this site.

Inner City Press also asked Ambassador Heller about the wording of the Council's North Korea Presidential Statement, video here from Minute 6:06, article here.

Click here for a new YouTube video, mostly UN Headquarters footage, about civilian deaths in Sri Lanka.

Click here for Inner City Press' March 27 UN debate

Click here for Inner City Press March 12 UN (and AIG bailout) debate

Click here for Inner City Press' Feb 26 UN debate

Click here for Feb. 12 debate on Sri Lanka http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/17772?in=11:33&out=32:56

Click here for Inner City Press' Jan. 16, 2009 debate about Gaza

Click here for Inner City Press' review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate

Click here for Inner City Press' December 24 debate on UN budget, Niger

Click here from Inner City Press' December 12 debate on UN double standards

Click here for Inner City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics

and this October 17 debate, on Security Council and Obama and the UN.

* * *
These reports are usually also available through Google News and on Lexis-Nexis.

Click here for a Reuters AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click here for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund. Video Analysis here

Feedback: Editorial [at] innercitypress.com

UN Office: S-453A, UN, NY 10017 USA Tel: 212-963-1439

Reporter's mobile (and weekends): 718-716-3540

Bruce Fein debunks Patton-Boggs "white paper" on Sri Lanka

2009-04-12T01:45:00.000-07:00

Fein debunks Patton-Boggs "white paper" on Sri Lanka
[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 April 2009, 21:52 GMT]

Bruce Fein, former Associate Deputy Attorney General and counsel for a Washington-based Tamil activist group, responding to a "white paper" on the current situation in Sri Lanka written and distributed to the media by Patton Boggs LLP, the Washington Law firm retained by the Government of Sri Lanka for advocacy work in the U.S., said, the "[p]aper is a collection of lies or misrepresentations calculated to conceal the ongoing genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes perpetrated against Tamil civilians by Sri Lanka’s armed forces," and "fails to discredit a single one of the more than 1,000 genocidal incidents marshaled in the model genocide indictment."

* Patton Boggs: White paper on Sri Lanka

* Bruce Fein responds

Fein adds that Patton Boggs paper "omits any reference to the ongoing Srebrenica-like genocidal Tamil killings, maimings, and concentration camps by the GOSL in the northeast, and adds, "[i]ts sophomoric deceits challenge the Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda’s most favorable spin on Auschwitz."

Fein identifies the "10 most blatant lies or misrepresentations" in his lengthy critique, a summary of which is given below.

A Ten-point Response

No

Patton-Boggs

Fein's Comment

1

The 26-year conflict with the terrorist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is about to end

The Sinhalese Buddhist GOSL has been employing violence and intimidation amount to genocide against its Tamil civilian population since its birth in 1948, a span of 61 years. The GOSL-Patton Boggs boast about the imminent defeat of the LTTE is reminiscent of President George W. Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” in Iraq speech on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln on May 1, 2003. Six years later, the United States military mission remains unaccomplished in Iraq. Similarly, the Sinhalese Buddhist conflict with the Tamils is unlikely to end even if the Sri Lankan Army runs victory laps around the so-called “safe zone.” The conflict will assume a new form because the underlying savage oppression of the Tamil people will have remained unaddressed. Indeed, the Tamil diaspora is now at its high water mark of unity against the GOSL.

2

The Sri Lankan government is beginning the process of reconciliation

The GOSL is detaining 50,000 Tamil civilians in barbed-wire, militarily controlled concentration camps with no freedom of movement or access to the ICRC and vulnerable to rape, disappearances, and murder by the Sri Lankan Army. The ongoing genocide of Tamils by the GOSL as amplified hereafter is compounding the difficulties of reconciliation.

3

Its 170,000 strong army will soon become available for more UN peace-keeping missions around the world and to help to maintain regional security.

On November 2, 2007, the United Nations ejected 108 of Sri Lanka’s 950 purported peacekeepers from Haiti for sexual exploitation. The GOSL lied to the United Nations about prosecuting the sexual predators in its armed forces.

4

The State Department reports that there have been human rights abuses on both sides, but there has been no genocide, as Tamils in leadership positions in their community will attest

The evidence of genocide is overwhelming. A sample of the grisly proof is provided as Exhibit 1. It includes some of the following statements from neutral, independent observers, including United Nations officials, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and Sri Lanka’s U.S. citizen and Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

5

On February 12th, the government declared a 10-mile ‘safe zone’ for civilians.

: The ‘safe zone’ is an Orwellian euphemism for a Tamil killing field. According to the best independent and impartial reporting, the GOSL is daily bombing and shelling the zone. Since January 2009, approximately 3,500-4,000 have been killed, and 10,000 seriously wounded.

6

The government has permitted access to the zone for UN officials and representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) so that they may assist in providing essential services to displaced persons

The GOSL is blocking access to Tamil civilians to deny them humanitarian assistance. Not only does it refuse to grant humanitarian aid workers access to the conflict zone, there are reports that it also shells civilians and hospitals in the so-called “safe zone” for Tamil citizens. Descriptions of government camps for civilians fortunate enough to leave the conflict zone reminded us of detention centers, rather than safe havens for refugees.

7

“[President Rajapaksa] said every restraint is being maintained by the military, with clear orders given against firing heavy weapons at areas with civilians, including the areas held by the LTTE. He reiterated that no firing whatsoever was being carried out in the safe zone.

President Rajapaksa has directed the Sri Lankan military to commit war crimes against Tamil civilians in the safe zone or otherwise. "The Sri Lankan forces have committed numerous indiscriminate and perhaps disproportionate attacks consisting of artillery bombardment and aerial bombing. These include attacks on the government-proclaimed “safe zones” and on clearly marked hospitals. Statements by senior officials indicating that civilians who do not leave LTTE-controlled areas are subject to attack are indicative of an intent to commit war crimes.” Dr. Anna Neistat, HRW

8

Many Tamils are in the present government

There are no Tamils in the military or security forces, just as Adolph Hitler’s Waffen SS and Gestapo were purged of Jews. The GOSL has assassinated 4 Tamil MPs in recent years. Under the Sri Lankan Constitution, it would be criminal for a Tamil politician to discuss the idea of a separate Tamil state. The Tamils who serve in the GOSL are quislings.

9

Allegations by American lawyer Bruce Fein that the government has committed genocide are flatly denied by Tamil leaders themselves, including the Army’s senior legal adviser for humanitarian law and human rights, Major-General Mohanti Peiris, a Tamil woman

None of the more than 1,000 genocidal incidents compiled by Bruce Fein in a 1,000-page, 12-count, model genocide indictment of United States citizen and GOSL Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and United States permanent resident and GOSL Army Commander Sarath Fonseka, which has been presented to the United States Attorney General and the United States Secretary of State, have been refuted by Ms. Mohanti Peiris, other Tamils, or any representative or agent of the GOSL, including Patton Boggs.

10

The government has already recruited Tamil leaders to help the Tamil population integrate into the general society

The Tamil recruits, Karuna and Pillayan, headed paramilitary units acting as agents of the GOSL to perpetrate countless war crimes and genocidal killings of Tamils, including the recruitment of Tamil child soldiers. Karuna has served prison time in Great Britain for the lesser crime of document fraud. The two Tamils are the very definition of quisling.

end:

How naive can Patton Boggs be to claim that 170,000 army will be available for UN Peace Keeping duties.
This is a blatant lie.

SLA is busy recruiting tens of thousands of new teenage recruits to replace the dead and injured army soldiers. Even if they win the conventional war, the army has to be getting ready for a massive guerrilla war nationwide.
Despite the Jaffna peninsula being under army control for 14 years the SLA has 50,000 stationed permanently there. In the Vanni they would need 100,000 soldiers, for the 4 districts on a permanent basis to face the guerrilla war fare as well as continue the repression and oppression. - T4J

Uncle Sam(Blake) negotiates for ceasefire with Tigers - LAKBIMA

2009-04-11T14:59:00.000-07:00

Uncle Sam negotiates for ceasefire with Tigers

* GOVT. READY FOR 48 HOUR PAUSE, NOT TWO WEEKS

By Ranga Jayasuriya

Powerful countries were exerting pressure on the government to initiate a ceasefire at week’s end. Meanwhile, the government has agreed to halt military operations for a period of 48 hours if the LTTE will release trapped civilians in the ‘No Fire Zone’.
The ambassador for the United States in Sri Lanka, Robert O. Blake has told the government that the US had contacted the LTTE leadership through a third party and that the Tiger leadership was demanding a seven- day ceasefire if it was to release civilians.
However, the government has told Blake that if the US could guarantee that the LTTE would release civilians, government would halt military operations for a period of 48 hours only. “The LTTE is designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the US thereby preventing direct contact with the Tigers. Hence a third party was a requirement for negotiations. However, it is not known who the third party was, though some sources suggest that it may have been the peace facilitator, Norway”, military sources said. However, the Commander of the Army, Lt General Sarath Fonseka had vehemently protested against the ceasefire proposal warning that it is a ruse by the guerrilla leadership to flee the country, sources said.

The Commander had said “Escape by the LTTE leadership would mean the relocation of the command structure of the LTTE out of the country for the reorganization in the future, as most of the middle ranking leaders of the LTTE were killed in the recent military operations leaving its top rung leadership still functional”.

The five seniormost leaders of the guerrilla hierarchy- Prabhakaran, Pottu Amman, Nadeshan, Soosai and Swarnam were still operating from the ‘No Fire Zone’. In addition, Jeyam, Lawrence and Banu are surviving; the latter escaped with injuries during pitched battles in Pachcha Pulmudai in the first four days of this month.
(Please see Defence Diary for details).

MORE SINGHALA PROPAGANDA - AND COVER UP FOR THE USE OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS: -T4J

* Tigers ask for a week’s ceasefire through the US --- Govt. offers 48 hours

By Ranga Jayasuriya

Our page 1 story today reports the overture by the Ambassador of the United State in Colombo, Robert Blake to institute a one week ceasefire between the security forces and the Tiger guerrillas in order to facilitate the safe passage of civilians trapped in the ‘No Fire Zone.’ These developments are taking place in the backdrop of intense lobbying by the Diaspora Tamils representing not so covert front organizations of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. A series of protests in Europe and North America and Australia have posed a public relations dilemma to the Sri Lankan government.

However, the government arrogant and unresponsive has shown scant regard; that is perhaps the best strategy to deal with a people, nothing more than the caricatured modern day Shylocks insisting on the dismemberment of this country from one way or the other, one would argue. Is that the right strategy? The jury is still out. However, it would not be long before, that the centre of gravity of the Sri Lankan conflict would move from the No Fire Zone to Canada and Europe. Should Prabhakaran survive the current military onslaught, cash cows of the LTTE would continue to bankroll the guerillas’ armoury of artillery, missiles and suicide bombers. If the command structure of the guerrillas is destroyed, Diaspora Tamils would launch the next phase of Eelam war through a diplomatic offensive. What they could achieve is too early to forecast; but going by their past during which they helped build the LTTE’s war machine from scratch to a conventional army and their well coordinated protests all over the developed world at present they have proved their mettle.

That is why the appeasement of the Diaspora is important in the long term as much as the annihilation of the LTTE is. On the surface, the two goals don’t go together. But, it is a gross generalization to view every Tamil living abroad in the prism of bunch of Sri Lankan haters waving the flag of roaring Tigers.

Indeed the government is coaxing the Diaspora funding to rebuild the North-East. Last week, a delegation of Tamil Diaspora visited Colombo and held talks with the government officials.

However, it would be long before the two parties reconcile. What the third party through which the United States contacted the LTTE is not known, some sources told this newspaper it was the peace facilitator Norway. Indeed, Norway is in regular contact with the LTTE leadership.
Earlier in the week, the pro LTTE website, TamilNet reported that Norwegian International Development Minister Erik Solheim contacted LTTE political leader P Nadesan over the phone.

TamilNet reported that Solheim “conveyed the recent developments in the International arena regarding the Tamil conflict, especially with regard to the latest briefings at the UN Security Council”. “Solheim was briefed on the grave humanitarian catastrophe caused by the military aggression of the Sri Lankan armed forces.”

Ambassador Blake also spoke via video conferencing at a meeting also attended by Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher to a delegation of Diaspora Tamils demanding an immediate ceasefire.

Plight of civilians

A media communique‚ on the meeting issued by the US Embassy in Colombo stated that “Assistant Secretary Boucher and Ambassador Blake emphasized U.S. concern about the plight of civilians trapped in the “no fire zone” in northern Sri Lanka. They called on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to release the civilians”. “They reiterated that both the Tamil Tigers and the Government of Sri Lanka should stop firing into and from the no fire zone. They outlined the steps the U.S. has taken to support the civilians in the no fire zone”.

Following is an excerpt from the Pro-LTTE TamilNet website report on the meeting between the Diaspora representatives and Mr. Boucher and Ambassador Blake: “Tamil Americans asked for the support of the US administration to obtain clearance to any Diaspora initiative to take direct medical aid to the crisis zone. Ambassador Blake informed that the government of Sri Lanka now plans to resettle 80% of the IDPs within one year, and after clearing mines. Tamil Americans cautioned that the over emphasis of mine clearing operations can be a ruse by Sri Lanka to delay the resettlement while they engage on creating high security zones and colonization of Sinhalese in the Wanni area.”

“Tamil Americans continued to press for an immediate ceasefire. Ambassador Blake asked the Tamil Americans whether they can ask the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to let the Tamil civilians leave. APSL responded that the Tamil civilians are given a Hobson’s choice, and appealed for expanding the current safety zone and creating a demilitarized zone under the protection of the UN agencies. Only then the Tamil civilians can be asked to choose between staying with the LTTE, or leave for protected zone or distant IDP camps. Assistant Secretary Boucher then emphasized the need for a political solution to end the conflict.”

An incident which took place last week reinforced the government’s concern that the guerrilla leadership would flee the country. Military intelligence officers probing whether Charles Anthony, son of the Tiger leader fled to Malaysia on April 5 after a confession made by the guerrilla cadre, arrested during an aborted sea borne attack by the guerrillas in Kokkuthuduwai on April 5.

"There will not be a post-LTTE scenario" - Nadesan LTTE

2009-04-11T01:00:00.000-07:00

"There will not be a post-LTTE scenario"

PC Vinoj Kumar interviews LTTE Political Head, B.Nadesan
Tehelka Magazine, Vol 6, Issue 15, Dated Apr 18, 2009

"...We insist on a ceasefire because Sri Lanka keeps accelerating its genocidal war [against the Tamils]. A ceasefire is needed to address the humanitarian crisis and for people to get essential relief supplies right where they live... Let me make one thing very clear here: There will not be a post-LTTE scenario... in a war, setbacks and advancements are unavoidable. What matters most is what we achieve in the end... If Prabakaran didn’t believe he can achieve Tamil Eelam, he would have given up long ago."

Even as the Sri Lankan army claims it is close to wiping out the LTTE, the rebel group’s political head, B Nadesan, rejects the assertion that the Tigers are about to be made extinct.

Many observers have already started talking about a post-LTTE, post- Prabakaran scenario in Sri Lanka.

Let me make one thing very clear here: There will not be a post-LTTE scenario. Look around the world, and you will see the desire for freedom and dignity in the hearts and minds of all Tamils. The LTTE is seen as the way to achieve the political aspirations of the Tamil people. We have achieved this status by spearheading Tamils’ quest for self-determination over the past 35 years without compromising our responsibilities as their freedom fighters.

On the military aspect, in a war, setbacks and advancements are unavoidable. What matters most is what we achieve in the end. I want to tell the international community and India that they should focus on fulfilling the political aspirations of the Tamil people by recognising their struggle for self-determination and a homeland, instead of wasting time, effort and lives while waiting for a post-LTTE scenario, which is never going to come.

What is your reaction to reports that Prabakaran’s son, Charles Antony, has been injured in the fighting?

This is false propaganda from the Sri Lankan government. He is not injured.

Where is Prabakaran? Is he in the battle zone or in a safe place?

He is here with our people, leading our freedom struggle as our national leader, and guiding the war as our Commanderin- Chief.

What are the chances he will flee the country?

Zero percent.

What is Prabakaran’s reaction to reports that the Sri Lankan army is trying to capture him alive?

He laughs [at such reports].

How does Prabakaran react to the Sri Lankan government’s charge that he is a coward who does not lead from the front?

Again, he laughs. Let me point out that this is being said by a government that is anticipating the capitulation of the Tamil people because of the embargo on food, medicine and essentials that they have enforced against Tamil areas over the past two-and-a-half decades. They still continue to use food as weapon.

Does Prabakaran still believe he can achieve Eelam?

If he didn’t, he would have given up long ago.

Are Indian soldiers on the battleground fighting the LTTE along side the Sri Lankan army?

I can say that a very high level of military cooperation exists between the Sri Lankan and Indian governments.

What is your response to allegations that the LTTE is using civilians as human shields?

The Tamil people are aware of the repeated aggression against them by the Sri Lankan state under various guises. Calling the people here “trapped” or “human shield” is inappropriate, as they do not want to go into the hands of the aggressor state. Sri Lanka should give a safe passage to independent humanitarian officials to come here and find out the will of the people.

You have repeatedly announced that you are ready for a ceasefire. Is this a sign of weakness?

We insist on a ceasefire because Sri Lanka keeps accelerating its genocidal war [against the Tamils]. A ceasefire is needed to address the humanitarian crisis and for people to get essential relief supplies right where they live.

What is your appeal to the international community?

Innocent children, mothers and elders are being massacred by the Sri Lankan armed forces everyday. Therefore, there is an urgent need to push the Sri Lankan government towards a ceasefire. We urge the international community not to go along with Sri Lanka’s uprooting of Tamils, being carried out in the guise of “fighting terrorism”. We appeal to the international community to halt this war immediately and facilitate a negotiation for a permanent political settlement based on the Tamils’ right to self-determination

Humanity, not legality, is the process of Buddhism and Shaivism.-Respected Indian Jurist , Krishna Iyer

2009-04-10T22:19:00.000-07:00

Colombo cannot survive by brute force says Krishna Iyer

Respected Indian Jurist , Krishna Iyer has issued a special message pertaining to the Sri Lankan situation. It is reproduced below:

“I do not take sides in this message with the LTTE or the Srilankan Government although there have been violent excesses on both sides resulting huge loss of life, property and tremendous suffering which I hate as one who stands for human rights. I pity the beautiful island of Srilanka which has now been a criminal field of carnage and butchery and savagery.

Day after day, the Srilankan Government since the days of its Independence been guilty of discrimination against Tamils as a class and the fuel for this fury and extremism and terrorism by the LTTE was the terrible discrimination in many dimensions against the Tamil Minority.

A fair federal system would have been perhaps the finest political, solution where justice, social, economic and political evenly managed, would have created a highly developed and prosperous island but that was not to be. Even now statesmanship of Srilankan Government should have declared a glorious federal state unilaterally. Currently claiming victory the State Government in Colombo is inflicting untold slaughter tragedies, killing daily bleeding lives and indescribable human suffering. International law, so far as the Tamils are concerned, is the vanishing point of humanist jurisprudence.

Sovereignty does not authorize internal atrocity and incalculable casualty. I plead with moral indignation with the Buddhist Colombo Cabinet in power that militarized torture of a minority in Jafna will never be lasting if Rome and Greece and London have fallen, Colombo cannot survive by brute force. Please declare immediate cessation of military operation under international supervision. Humanity, not legality, is the process of Buddhism and Shaivism. The world around should intervene to see that justice is done.

The most satisfactory ideal I have ever been able to form of justice is embodied in the picture of a judge courageous enough “to give the devil his due,” whether he be in the right or in the wrong. - (John F. Dillon)

Posted by transCurrents on April 10, 2009 10:38 PM | Permalink transCurrents.com Contact Email: editor@transcurrents.com

MASSIVE PROTEST MARCH on 11th April 2009 at 1PM

2009-04-05T22:58:00.000-07:00

MASSIVE PROTEST MARCH on 11th April 2009 at 1PM

SLA intensifies attacks on Safe Zone, 71 civilians killed, 143 wounded (http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=28950)

1. Please attend urgent protest tomorrow against the killing of Tamils by the GoSL:
Date: Monday, 6th April 2009
Place: Parliament square, nearest Tube: Westminster
Time: 12noon - 6pm

2. International Day of Action (See Flyer attached)
Date: Wednesday 8th April 2009
Place: India House, Aldwych, London, WC2B 4NA
Time: 4pm - 5:30pm

3. STOP SRI LANKA'S GENOCIDE OF TAMILS!

MASSIVE PROTEST MARCH
Calling for an Immediate & Permanent Ceasefire!
on
Saturday, 11th April 2009
in Central London
1pm-4:30pm
Starts at 1pm from Embankment
to Hyde Park
( Nearest stations: Embankment, Temple, Westminster)

Let us urge the International Community to ACT NOW to STOP Sri Lanka's GENOCIDE of Tamils.

Please join the march to show your support.
PLEASE INFORM AND BRING ALONG EVERYONE OF ALL AGES

125,000 attended last time and continuous campaigning to raise awareness has followed since, hence each Tamil person must be able to bring AT LEAST one non-Tamil to the protest to show what our efforts have achieved!

You don't need to be Tamil to know that what is happening to the Tamils in Sri Lanka is WRONG!

Both sides share blame for Sri Lankan troubles: Bob Rae from Toronto.

2009-04-04T15:06:00.000-07:00

Both sides share blame for Sri Lankan troubles: Rae

Layton Seeks Ceasefire

Matthew Coutts, National Post Published: Saturday, April 04, 2009
Related Topics
A conference on Sri Lanka's humanitarian crisis that was harshly critical of that country's government heard a somewhat different message yesterday when Liberal MP Bob Rae told delegates the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam must also be held culpable for the decades-long civil war that has led to hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties and displacements.

"What I have to say here today will not necessarily make everyone thrilled," Mr. Rae told about 100 Tamil Canadians attending the Human Rights and Sri Lanka Conference yesterday.

"There is irrefutable evidence of breaches of international humanitarian law and breaches of international obligations on the part of both the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) and the government of Sri Lanka. It has to be understood that the solution we have seen to conflicts like this around the world have involved ... a commitment from both the parties that a military solution is not the answer," he said.

The conference, organized by the Tamil community's Canadian Human Rights Voice, was intended to spawn discussion into the devastating humanitarian crisis in northeast Sri Lanka and highlight allegations of offences committed against the Tamil minority by the government, although it did little to address those caused by the LTTE, considered a terrorist organization by Canada.

"There are those that say all the blame, all the responsibility for the conflict, all the responsibility for the humanitarian atrocities ... are the fault of only one side," said Mr. Rae, the Liberal opposition's foreign affairs critic. "But that's not true."

Appeals for international pressure for a ceasefire have increased in recent months, as Sri Lankan government forces push into territory held by the Tamil Tigers, which for 26 years has said it is fighting to protect the country's Tamil ethnic minority.

Jack Layton, the NDP leader, who also spoke at the conference, demanded further international pressure for a ceasefire.

"There are very serious actions being taken by both sides that violate the human rights of civilians. What the global community has to do is intervene on behalf of those civilians," he said.

Mr. Layton spend much of the conference touting the success of a recent parliamentary motion that would stop Canada from deporting people to Sri Lanka until there is a safe environment. The motion is expected to receive support from all opposition parties when Parliament resumes in two weeks.

Paul Calandra, a Conservative MP for Oak Ridges-Markham, said he opposed the motion, saying that while it would ensure victims were not returned to the line of fire, it also meant those convicted of war crimes would remain in the country.

"If there are people in this country who are implicated in war crimes ... they will be here," he said. "Under Canadian law, you can't put someone in jail forever. At some point in time, they have to come out of jail. This motion would not allow us to deport this person."

Lanka faces economic war.

2009-04-04T15:04:00.000-07:00

Lanka faces economic war

* Cornered Tigers plead for ceasefire and Govt. faces more international pressure

By Our Political Editor -Times of Ceylon.

Slowly but surely the curtain is falling on the Wanni theatre of battle. The Army has confined the guerrillas to a mere 19 square kilometres, including the civilian safety zone, near the coast of the Mullaitivu district. Whilst a nation readies for the National New Year, the coming days will see heavier battles before the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), lose one of their proudly touted claims. For more than two and half decades the guerrillas had boasted of dominating one thirds of the country's land mass and the coastline from Wilpattu in the north-west to the north, and down the east to near Yala in the south-east.

This claim held despite losing ground on and off for more than quarter of a century. But President Mahinda Rajapaksa's relentless military campaign, casting aside domestic and local pressure, is to give him one major dividend. When the guerrillas lose their remaining terrain, minuscule compared to areas they dominated, Rajapaksa can boast, as he seems to be doing, quite justifiably that he has accomplished what his predecessors failed - deny to guerrillas even a toehold of terrain. However, as military leaders have taken pains to point out, the guerrilla threats will not only remain but manifest themselves in newer forms. But that is another issue - and it may be a tinge unfair for Rajapaksa to take all the glory when his predecessors did, in their own way, try to contain and defeat the Tigers during their time.

In the light of the new developments, there appears to be a rapid transformation both in the battle zones and outside it. At least two aspects are significant.
Yesterday's picture of wounded civilians at Puthumathalan awaiting evacuation by the ICRC

One is an exodus of middle and even senior level LTTE cadres from Mullaitivu area by boat to southern India. Repeatedly, the Sri Lanka Navy has denied reports that such activity was going on because of the security cordon they had been placed in the high seas. Yet, reports from Chennai this week tell a different story. One instance was when a group of civilians, some of them injured in the recent fighting between the Army and the guerrillas, had not only arrived on the Tamil Nadu coast but successfully gained access to a refugee camp there.

Fear of being found out in the State of Tamil Nadu, reports say, had prompted guerrillas to move to the adjoining State of Kerala. This week Indian Police commandos locked down a stretch of the coast and launched a house-to-house search for guerrilla suspects. Kerala's Police Chief Jacob Punnoose told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram that the search in the village of Thykkal, near the coastal city of Kochi, followed reports that Sri Lankan guerrillas were infiltrating. "The area is thickly populated. We are not allowing any person or vehicle from the village to move out," Punnoose was quoted as saying. However, so far, he said, the Police have not found any trace of fishing boats that have landed or persons who had infiltrated.

Yet, security authorities in Colombo have received independent reports that some guerrillas had reached hideouts in Kerala.

These reports have naturally turned the spotlight on LTTE leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran and his son, Charles Anthony. Whilst Prabhakaran is known to be still in the shrinking battle zone, as reported first in The Sunday Times Political Commentary of last week, son Anthony sustained minor injuries due to Army artillery fire. Anthony is known to have at one time left Sri Lanka for a European destination with a message from his father, but later returned to join him. However, either for reasons of secrecy or otherwise, the LTTE's European lobbies who are in the know of developments in Sri Lanka, have denied his travel. He is now reported to be actively helping guerrilla cadres and taking part in military activity.

Causing some concern for the security establishment in this backdrop are reported new shipments of military hardware reaching the guerrillas. As reported last week, the guerrillas used Surface-to-Air Missiles in a bid to bring down two helicopters ferrying injured soldiers from the battle zone. It has become known that these were fresh acquisitions. Heightening these concerns was the outcome of a raid in Vavuniya. Among other items, it led to the discovery of a stock of brand new grenades, again suspected to be from recent shipments.

The other aspect, the nuances of which have gone largely unnoticed, is the new posturing of the LTTE. Coming under heavy pressure militarily, the guerrillas have intensified their efforts to force the Government to agree to a ceasefire. This time, unlike on previous occasions, it could not only have been perceived as a move to re-arm, re-train and return for battle. The added element this time is to buy time for survival, at least in the 19 square kilometre area. The Tamilnet web site, which has been reflecting LTTE viewpoints, had been used in this intensified political thrust. A few examples are relevant:

* A report that Norway's International Development Minister Erik Solheim had made a 30 minute satellite telephone call to LTTE political wing chief B. Nadesan. "Our political head categorically told Mr. Solheim that a serious responsibility rests on the International Community to put an immediate stop to the attacks on the Tamil civilians," Tamilnet quoted LTTE's S. Puleedevan as saying. The report added: LTTE's Political Head reiterated the Tiger position on immediate ceasefire and resumption of negotiations to achieve a lasting solution to the conflict. The topmost priority now is an immediate ceasefire to put a stop to the massacre being carried out by the Sri Lankan forces, Nadesan has told Solheim."

It is questionable, to say the least, when Nadesan calls upon the international community to "put a stop to the attacks on Tamil civilians." The reality, acknowledged by the international community including the United Nations is the fact that the LTTE is preventing the civilians from leaving the area. The reason is no secret. If it does, the Army could easily single out the guerrillas and the military campaign would be over sooner than later. It is therefore very clear, and Nadesan admits that, when he says "the topmost priority now is an immediate ceasefire…."

* Kumaran Pathmanathan (KP) who now styles himself as S.Pathmanathan, told Tamilnet: "The LTTE's insistence of a ceasefire is purely from a humanitarian perspective, to give relief and respite for the people caught in the conflict. It is a myth that the LTTE had built up its military capacity during the ceasefire. Looking at it carefully it will become evident that the Sri Lankan government was the one that militarily strengthened itself during the six-year ceasefire between 2002 and 2008 and not the LTTE." The remarks came during a Q & A posted on the website. Pathmanathan adds: "If you observe the history of the conflict, the LTTE was strong during periods of conflict. The battles for Mullaitivu, Killinochchi, Elephant Pass and the Sri Lankan Operation Jayasikuru were all fought and reversed when the Sri Lankan Government had an upper hand.

"It is wrong to assume that the LTTE is in a weakened position. LTTE is a versatile and resilient movement. Control of territory has constantly changed hands during the past thirty years of war. Several examples of reversals have been witnessed in the past. To believe that the LTTE is a spent force is not correct."

Pathmanathan, now dubbed as head of LTTE's 'international relations' is no ordinary man. He is one of those most wanted in the world. The Interpol has issued a red notice on him. The LTTE has been able to sustain a military campaign all these years only because Pathmanathan was able to procure its military requirements. And now, it is the same Pathmanathan who is claiming that the LTTE is asking for a ceasefire from a "humanitarian perspective to give relief to the people caught in the conflict." The question is whether such relief would not come to the people if the civilians were let off - as simple as that. But, if that happens there would clearly be no relief to the LTTE.

It is in this backdrop that the Government expressed its strong displeasure to Norway's Ambassador Tore Hatrem. He had paved the way for a telephone conversation between Pathmanathan and Sir John Holmes, the United Nations Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs. It was on the subject of civilian evacuation. However, the Government's position was that Pathamanthan was an internationally sought fugitive who was evading the law, and that the least Norway could have done was to have had the courtesy of informing the Sri Lankan Government of the move arguing that it was being done for the benefit of the civilians. Hatrem is also reported to have earlier had a meeting with Pathmanathan in an Asian capital, and Norway is under heavy suspicion in the corridors of power in Colombo for instigating Mexico and Costa Rica in particular to move the United Nations Security Council to hold a 'discussion' on the Sri Lankan situation. The Government's position on the contacting of Pathmanathan had been explained to Oslo's Ambassador after he was summoned to the Foreign Ministry.

But there is another version to this story. The Norwegian ambassador Hatrem, had in fact, briefed top government leaders before he met Pathmanathan -- a meeting that led to the LTTE’s international relations chief’s meeting with John Holmes. As for the LTTE, it was another opportunity to market its newly-appointed International Relations chief to the international community. When the meeting eventually took place, the Norwegian envoy in conveying the strong views of the international players involved in conflict resolution moves in Sri Lanka, said that the LTTE had lost whatever little sympathy it had in the West, by continuing to hold civilians hostage and the only way out was for the LTTE to surrender and go for talks with the government. He had suggested that the All-Party Representative Committee (APRC) recommendations could be expanded at the talks and a solution could be worked out.
Diplomatic sources say that Pathmanathan failed to impress upon the Norwegian the LTTE’s position or present a valid argument as to why the LTTE was still a force to reckon with and why the blame should be placed on the Sri Lankan government for the plight of the civilians.

The meeting ended inconclusively. The protests that followed the meeting helped the Norwegians to drop Pathmanathan and get Solheim to speak to Nadesan and convey the same message which the international players wanted carried to the LTTE. It now appears that Pathmanathan may not have briefed his masters on the points conveyed by Hatrem.

As these diplomatic moves continued, the government also seemed to have played its usual double game. It has become the practice of this government to seemingly give a nod to a move by one country or another and then to get the Foreign Office to protest after giving it negative publicity in the 'friendly' media. This happened when Britain wanted to appoint Des Brown as special envoy. As evident in the statement British Foreign Secretary David Miliband made to House of Commons on Thursday, Britain still insists that it spoke to President Rajapaksa before it announced the appointment of a special envoy.

Later, Hatrem, Government sources said, met with President Rajapaksa to explain the reasons for his conduct. Norway, which still remains the peace facilitator, had intervened on behalf of the civilians trapped in the battle zone and have been trying to persuade the LTTE to allow them to leave. However, the guerrillas had remained adamant that there should be a ceasefire. Another reason, according to Colombo-based diplomats, is a move by the Donor Co-chairs to form a US-backed 'coalition humanitarian task force' to evacuate the civilians. This was exclusively reported in The Sunday Times. The task of obtaining LTTE's concurrence had been placed in the hands of Norway, a member of the Co-chairs. "The matter has now been resolved after Hatrem met President Rajapaksa," the sources said.

With the impending re-capture of the remaining 19 square kilometres of terrain, the Government's attention has already turned to 'post war' development. In this regard, the Government, cash-strapped as it already is, is pinning its hope on a massive US$ 1.9 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the footing that the money is partly for re-construction of the war-ravaged North and East.
The IMF delegation which concluded talks with the Government this week has left leaving behind questions on whether the loan would materialize.

Economists believe the IMF will not take into consideration political issues but base its assessment on other criteria, mainly economic and good governance factors. Sri Lanka, they say, has not committed any sovereign default barring one exception - the oil hedging issue involving the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation.

However, one important fact emerged during the IMF team's talks in Colombo. Among those the delegation met with was the United National Party (UNP) and Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe. The Sunday Times learnt that delegation members made clear that the loans would be subject to conditions the IMF would lay down. This contradicted claims by Government leaders and Central Bank officials that the Government will not agree to any conditions in obtaining the IMF loan. Minister Sarath Amunugama went on record saying that the IMF of today is different to the IMF of yesteryear, a financial institution that had been discredited by third world countries because of its insensitivity and inflexibility to the realities of such countries. One such condition the IMF may impose, it is learnt, is a realistic exchange rate. Already this week, the rupee equivalent of a dollar dropped to over Rs. 116.

The looming economic war might be an even more daunting task for Rajapaksa to handle compared to the battle with the LTTE. This week he kept the spirits of the Armed Forces high by saying that "no power on earth" can ask him to stop the war against the LTTE. Western powers were still going at him asking him for a ceasefire, a 'humanitarian pause', and what not to stop the assault on the LTTE almost as if they did not wish to see the LTTE totally vanquished.

UN Secretary General Ban-ki Moon issued a statement asking the LTTE to allow the civilians to escape the firing. He might be the first person surprised to know that the LTTE will listen to him. David Miliband, the British Foreign Secretary, made a statement on Thursday in the House of Commons saying that "the over-riding need is for an immediate end to the tragic humanitarian crisis". Miliband seems to have got it wrong. The over-riding need is for an immediate end to this separatist insurgency that has ravaged Sri Lanka for the past 25 years and more.

Probably exasperated by these calls from overseas on the plight of the civilians trapped in the fighting, the Sri Lanka Government also issued a statement yesterday joining the chorus expressing its own concerns. For Rajapaksa, a new war is however opening - the economic war - while, hopefully, an old one gets extinguished.

On Sri Lanka, UN's Secretary General Drops Call for Suspension of Fighting, Vague on Aerial Bombing

2009-04-04T12:32:00.000-07:00

On Sri Lanka, UN's Ban Drops Call for Suspension of Fighting, Vague on Aerial Bombing

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, April 3 -- Weeks after UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for a suspension of fighting in Sri Lanka, his Office's follow-up statement on April 3 omitted the request. Rather, apparently implementing the UN's new strategy of putting more pressure on the Tamil Tiger rebels than the government, Ban's Associate Spokesman Farhan Haq read out a statement that the Tamil Tigers are violating international humanitarian law, while the government is merely "reminded of its obligations."

Inner City Press asked, what happened to the call for a suspension of fighting? Video here, from Minute 15:45. Mr. Haq pointed to the statement he had just read out, which did not refer to a suspension of cessation of fighting, much less to a ceasefire. When Inner City Press first asked Ban about the killing in Sri Lanka, Ban said he could not call for a ceasefire because Sri Lanka was not on the Security Council's agenda.

After then-President of the Council Yukio Takasu told Inner City Press that Ban's statement is not what the UN Charter says, Ban called for a suspension of fighting. But Sri Lanka's president has said he will not give in to international pressure and that the fighting will continue. Inner City Press asked for a reply from Ban, but none was given. Then on April 3 there issued a prepared statement omitting any call for a suspension of fighting.

Ban Ki-moon in car on phone, call for suspension of fighting not shown

Ironically, Haq then read out a statement by the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs which described "aerial bombing of the No-Fire Zone" in northern Sri Lanka. Particularly given the reports that the Tamil Tigers' rag-tag air force has been destroyed, to say "aerial bombing" is to say "Sri Lankan government," but to omit saying those words. Why? To jibe with Ban's new strategy of accusing the Tigers of law-breaking and merely reminding the government of obligations?

A senior UN official has told Inner City Press that this is the UN's strategy, since the government of Sri Lanka has so openly ignored Ban's calls: to pressure instead the Tamil Tigers and their supporters overseas, threatening prosecutions, and to "lay off" the government. Given the number of deaths that have been caused by shelling and aerial bombing by the government, to "lay off" is to be complicit.

Click here for a new YouTube video, mostly UN Headquarters footage, about civilian deaths in Sri Lanka.

Click here for Inner City Press' March 27 UN debate

Click here for Inner City Press March 12 UN (and AIG bailout) debate

Click here for Inner City Press' Feb 26 UN debate

Click here for Feb. 12 debate on Sri Lanka http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/17772?in=11:33&out=32:56

Click here for Inner City Press' Jan. 16, 2009 debate about Gaza

Click here for Inner City Press' review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate

Click here for Inner City Press' December 24 debate on UN budget, Niger

Click here from Inner City Press' December 12 debate on UN double standards

Click here for Inner City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics

and this October 17 debate, on Security Council and Obama and the UN.

* * *

These reports are usually also available through Google News and on Lexis-Nexis.

Click here for a Reuters AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click here for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund. Video Analysis here

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PRESIDENT RAJAPAKSE CONFUSED WITH MODEL INDICTMENTIN THE USA ?

2009-04-04T03:05:00.000-07:00

* Framing charges against Sri Lanka would never succeed, Sri Lanka President says
Saturday, April 4, 2009, 5:50 GMT, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

Apr 04, Colombo: Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday said that some foreign and local elements' attempt to tarnish the image of Sri Lanka by framing charges of 'war crimes' and human rights violations against the country, would never succeed.

"That would never succeed as long as the Sri Lankan government getting support from the people of the country," the President said addressing some 4,000 former UNP supporters from the Kalutara District, who joined the Sri Lanka Freedom Party yesterday at the Temple Trees in Colombo.

"I am ready to go to gallows or the gas chamber for more than ten times to save the motherland," the President said adding that "if voters took a wrong decision at the last Presidential election, the cancer of LTTE terrorism would have spread from Chillaw to Walawe Ganga passing Hambantota."

He said that on daily basis the people can watch on the TV the amount of weapons LTTE had in their military stocks.

"If the government did not launch the humanitarian operation to liberate the country, the terrorists would have totally devastated the country by now," he said.

He also charged the then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe for signing the Ceasefire Agreement with the LTTE leader Prabhakaran.

"Our armed forces have almost won the war and the government is prosecuting a war against terrorism while engaging in a huge development drive," the President added.

Copyright © 2000, 2009 by LankaPage.com (LLC) :

An interesting report and analysis from Vanni:

2009-04-03T23:00:00.000-07:00

With the LTTE losing ground and men at a so called "steady" rate, many agree that the Tamil struggle is at it's lowest point. However, I have done an analysis on the LTTE's capability and the results were surprising. It may seem that the Tigers are gone for good, but that's not the case.

**********************************************************
The Srilankan defense ministry claims to be killing 30-50 cadres daily, but how true are these figures? What about their own casualties?

This link proves that individual people write so called "battlefield stories" for the defense ministry and put up any number of casualties they want to:

http://puligal.blogspot.com/2009/03/defencelk-is-41-more-lethal-than-armylk.html
This shows that the real number of causualties they claim to inflict are untrue.
What about the dead bodies the collect once in a while? This link will prove:
http://puligal.blogspot.com/2009/03/sri-lankan-government-caught-posting.html
And the large amount of weapons they uncover?:
http://puligal.blogspot.com/2009/03/sri-lankan-army-caught-fabricating-fake.html
http://puligal.blogspot.com/2009/03/defencelk-caught-with-more-fake.html

The war raging in the Vanni now is as intensive as never before. The struggle has never seen so many divisions consisting of thousands of soldiers, using such a large array of arsenal (including banned weapons like cluster bombs) with so much international backing, in battle. The army's secret to sucess is its arsenal, not its skill (Note that Jayasikurui troops were American trained, as were Agni Kheela and those which lost several battles recently). The Multi Barrel Rocket Launchers and Heavy Artillery can completely destroy a certain amont of land.

Further, the DPU was largely active in the East, and Karuna group Cadres knew where LTTE hideouts were. East was captured by LTTE without firing a single bullet (when camps were closed for Jayaskurui, LTTE moved in), plus holding land is a heavy cost as the numerically larger Army started a war of attrittion. But the problem for LTTE was army opened up several fronts. In Jayasikurui, movement was only from Vavuniya, so Tigers took 500 soldiers from North 500 from Mullaitivu 500 From East etc. and deployed 3000 men at the front lines. This demoralised and "scared" the army.

With Karuna giving the near exact numbers in East, the army could march forward with peace of mind. When several fronts were opened together, cadres had to remain in their position. One notorious thing is that LTTE did not launch many offensives (the only ones they launched were to practise battle strategies, not to capture lost land, like in Mandaitheevu). LTTE was forced to be on the defensive, as army was exerting constant pressure amidst heavy losses. With some strategic gains, army has been able to "corner" the LTTE. However, the bulk of weapons are safely in the LTTE's hands.

In Kilinochchi battles, over 3000 army was killed. New LTTE strategy seems to be killing the army and withdrawing. When LTTE came to this point, north was very favourable terrain (Puthumattalan) which is very flat so army's numbers dont have an impact, and its narrower than the killing field of Muhamalai and Kilali, so the SLA can expect some serious casualties there. The open ground does not favour tanks or heavy weapons, so the army is going to stay there and die for a few more months.

Several divisions were taken out of battle, because the LTTE area was too small to advance into. Most of the borders are waterlogged and forested. LTTE guerrilla units are becoming more and more active, infiltrating behind enemy defenses and wiping out Karuna group and STF slowly in the East, and attacking SLA units as far as the forests West of the A9. Government thinks Karuna is no need anymore, since LTTE is "defeated", he will meet Lasantha's fate soon. LTTE has effectively slashed the number of soldiers it is facing, while killing several thousands in the process.

This will continue until all or most of the 50 000 army in Mullaitivu are killed or wounded. Also, army is very concentrated now, making them very vulnerable to potential LTTE chemical attacks or "tank blasting" (SLDF have no method of patrolling tanks and identifying divers. Iranamadu tank can be blasted if conditions get severe, but it's of historic importance, so the LTTE will not likely destroy it, but there are many more tanks.LTTE divers are well trained and cane even blast ships in Trinco harbour like what happened to Ranasuru and Sooryaya). Vanni offensive has now met a stalemate. How long can army stay in Vanni?

Already 59th division wiped out, and soldiers from Mannar have been brought to cover up the story. 58th division and 53rd division are also very weak numerically and can be wiped out at any time. Soon soldiers from East will be brough to make up for losses. LTTE guerilla units kill many soldiers regularly. The cost of holding land is high. No more DPU in the jungles to ambush LTTE leaders, while Jagath's death can come any time through claymores or suicide bombers!

If LTTE is not wiped out within 6 months, a turmoil will start in south (After defence.lk killed 10,000 LTTE cadres!). Army was born in Hambantota, Gampaha and Galle and went to fight in Vanni. LTTE cadres were born and grew in Vanni. Army will be tired of fighting in 6 months. They will start to desert. LTTE is believed to have 10,000- 40,000 cadres trained during CFA. They can effectively carry out an attack like Unceasing Waves 3 to capture vast areas in a short period of time.

We have to look at the past before we talk about the present. When army begs for a ceasefire, there will be no answer. The final battle will be bloody. It is true that the LTTE has lost area, but the defense ministry's claims today are exaggerated. They don't really capture so many bodies, the arms the claim nor are they pushing back the LTTE at the rate they claim. They need the news to keep Sinhalese in south and Sinhala diaspora's morale up. Army is really having a hard time in Vanni, because they do not have much battle experience (most joined in the past 2 years for the money, and several soldiers are deceived to make them go to the battlefield.

Commanders are promoted before going to battle so their families get more pension, and so they agree, hoping they survive. But most don't!) and LTTE is on the home turf.Fighting and taking the East will be another challenge, but soon army from East will be sent to the North to make up for dead soldiers, reducing the concentration, so when LTTE finally reaches Pulmoddai, it can advance easily if it breaks through Trincomalee defenses. It still has powerful weaponry never used in battle, and possibly further air power. Thousands of cadres are standing ready to fight. Victory is ours! Continue fighting in the streets with your protests!

Sri Lanka on State Department's radar

2009-04-03T22:50:00.001-07:00

Sri Lanka on State Department's radar
By Bob Dietz/Asia Program Coordinator

The dire situation for journalists in Sri Lanka who have fallen out of favor with the government has not gone unnoticed at the U.S. State Department. On March 23, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent a letter to Senator Robert Casey, who chaired the Senate Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing on Sri Lanka on February 24. Seven senators had written to her about their concerns in Sri Lanka after the meeting.

Clinton addresses the full range of human rights abuses in the country, and at the end of her letter she specifically tackles the issue of attacks on journalists. A pdf of the letter is here, but here's also an excerpt:

"I share your concerns about the need to protect Sri Lankan journalists and freedom of speech and the State Department has taken steps to assist those who have been threatened. Our latest Country report on Human Rights documents a broad decline in fundamental human rights and the failure of the government to prosecute abusers. However, because it is based on the 2008 calendar year, the report does not document the targeting of journalists since January 2009. Our embassy in Colombo continues to raise publicly and privately--with the government of Sri Lanka--the need for media freedom and the end to human rights abuses."

The U.S. Embassy and many other diplomatic missions have been leaning on the government about the treatment of journalists, but the effect is hard to measure. There have been no more hit motorcycle-mounted hit squads attacking journalists in their cars, and no other bomb attacks on broadcasters, so maybe the message has been heard. But the government hasn't backed off from its anti-media strategy.
Wickramatunga
Wickramatunga
On April 2, the magistrate hearing evidence in the pre-trial hearing for Lasantha Wickramatunga's murder on January 8 continued the case until April 16. There has been little movement, despite the government's claims that it's moving ahead with due diligence.

The suspect said to have stolen Wickramatunga's phone was remanded into custody until April 16. A friend messaged me from Colombo, saying that the Mount Lavinia police told the court that "their investigations were not over and they were still probing the telephone numbers recorded in Wickramatunga's mobile phone." However, it's interesting that Moratuwa University--Sri Lanka's best engineering university--said the police have not bothered to collect its telephone data report, which was nearly completed in early March. The police had earlier asked Moratuwa's lab to extract as much information as it could from Wickramatunga's SIM card and phone memory.

And, for the record, there has been no movement in the investigation into the January 23 attack on Upali Tennakoon either. Police have said they are at a dead end.

Meanwhile, Sri Lankan journalists who have come under attack or faced harsh criticism have stepped back for fear of their lives. We know of about nine Sri Lankan journalists who have withdrawn from public life and their careers. Some have fled Sri Lanka, others are still in the country. Many of the Sri Lankan journalists who have been silenced have asked that their names not be mentioned--requests we are continuing to honor.

Sonali Samarasinghe Wickramatunga, Lasantha Wickramatunga's wife, who has been keeping a very low profile, told me earlier this week after I asked her why she wasn't playing a more public role these days:

"On the morning of Feb 13, our neighbor alerted my sister that two persons on a motorbike very like that which had followed Lasantha on the day of the murder was seen watching our house for quite some time. The neighbors also revealed that, on the morning of the murder, they had seen a black motorbike and two persons leaving our premises one wearing a black bandana on his head, 'as worn by the army security personnel guarding VIPs.' They said it was only later that they connected that with the murder. Of course Lasantha and I also saw a black motorbike with two persons in black wearing black helmets whiz past our car as we stopped in the driveway [on the morning Lasantha was killed]."

And my friend in Colombo friend said yesterday, when I asked about the ongoing situation overall:

"[T]he government offensive against journalists seems to be continuing. It has appointed a Parliamentary Select Committee to probe the writings and the contributions of pro-LTTE Sri Lankan journalists who have been contributing articles to foreign non-governmental organizations, which might be deemed detrimental to the interests of Sri Lanka."

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Boycott Sri Lankan Products & Services campaign gathers speed.

2009-03-31T12:53:00.000-07:00

Boycott Sri Lankan Products & Services
please join facebook http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=44298440269

One examle of embargo is to avoid using Sri Lankan banking services for foreign currency transaction. The remittance of foreign currency benefits Sri Lanka tremendously. Money is being sent as direct investment or as drafts into that country. The money thus earned by the state never reaches the Tamils or for the develoment of Tamil areas. Instead this money received by the state, through Tamils living in foreign countries, exclusively goes to urchase arms and in the develoment of Sinhalese areas

Boycott Sri Lankan Products & Services and Save Tamil Lives!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLvwi0vqdg0&feature=email

"Allow citizens to remain where they wish to, instead of detentions camps"

2009-03-30T12:56:00.000-07:00

"Allow citizens to remain where they wish to, instead of detentions camps"
Monday, March 30, 2009 Leave a Comment

(March 31, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) Allow citizens to remain where they wish to, instead of detentions camps says Former Attorney General of Sri Lanka & Chairman of Australians for Human Rights of the Voiceless , Shiva Pasupati in an appeal to Navi Pillai, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Full Text;
APPEAL TO THE UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

We are Australian citizens who share a deep concern about the escalating civilian crisis in Sri Lanka. We appeal to you to bring about an immediate cease-fire between the Sri Lankan Forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and to induct a United Nations Peace-Keeping Force, to ensure a cessation of hostilities. We also urge that, in the meantime, diplomatic personnel, non-government agencies and independent journalists, be allowed access to the affected areas, so that urgent relief could be provided and there could be a true and independent disclosure and assessment of the prevailing situation.

Foreign and local media have been banned from entering the conflict zones since January 2008, when the government unilaterally withdrew from the Cease-fire Agreement and commenced its military offensive. In fact, the local media have been banned from publishing reports adverse to the government and media persons not complying have been killed or subject to assaults and threats. In the absence of independent reporting, it has not been possible to distinguish between facts and propaganda, disseminated by the parties to the conflict.

We are deeply concerned about the lack of medical staff and personnel of aid agencies, serving the estimated around 300,000 civilians trapped in the conflict zones. In September 2008, the Sri Lankan government evicted United Nations and international aid agencies from these areas.

The departure of the only international and independent witnesses from the conflict areas, has removed the accountability of the parties to the conflict. The Sri Lankan government has also issued orders to doctors and other health staff to leave the conflict areas immediately. We appeal to you to take steps to allow international monitoring and to allow medical and aid agencies unrestricted access to the conflict zones immediately.

In direct violation of the Geneva Convention, civilian hospitals in the conflict zones have repeatedly come under aerial bombing and shelling. Furthermore, on 2 February 2009 the Sri Lankan Defence Secretary, Mr Gotabaya Rajapakse, stated that every place outside a government declared “safe-zone” is a military target and no exception will be given to any places providing medical facilities. We urge you to require the Sri Lankan government to stop the aerial bombing of hospitals and that both parties ensure the safety of the civilians, until a cease-fire becomes operational.

As you are aware, the detentions centres setup by the government, have been described by recognised human rights organizations as concentration camps, in view of the ban on person interned to leave the camps and access to the camps being denied to relatives, media and international organizations. Further statements made by internees who are subject to intense pressure by the armed forces, have been disseminated as voluntary and credible statements.

We, therefore , appeal to you to take such steps as you deem appropriate, to allow citizens to remain where they wish to, instead of compelling them to enter detentions camps and to allow access to them by the United Nations representatives, international aid agencies and the media.

Tamil journalists applaud “Women of Courage” award to Srinithy Nandasekaran

2009-03-30T11:44:00.001-07:00

Tamil journalists applaud “Women of Courage” award to Srinithy Nandasekaran
[TamilNet, Monday, 30 March 2009, 11:46 GMT]
Magistrate Srinithy Nandasekaran, who had served earlier in the courts of Vavuniyaa, Jaffna, and Oorkaavattu'rai (Kayts), and currently a Magistrate in the Colombo Juvenile Court, was recognized as a South Asia Regional Finalist for the US Secretary of State's Women of Courage Award by the U.S. Ambassador Blake in Colombo on 24th March. Commenting on the award, a senior journalist said: "Ms Nandasekaran took strong, legally admissible steps to reign in on the Sri Lankan military's attempts to encroach into basic freedom of movement and rights of Jaffna residents. She ruled that the military cannot wear black masks during duty, and was a staunch critic of the road blocks the military forces set up that created hardship to the normal life of civilians."

Srinithy Nandasekaran
Srinithy Nandasekaran
Ms Nandasekaran served as Vavuniyaa district Magistrate and District Judge from 15 October 2002. She was then appointed as the Magistrate for the Oorkaavattu'rai (Kayts) Court on 16 June 2003.

After serving for three months, Judge Nandasekaran was appointed as the Magistrate and Additional District Judge for the Jaffna High Court.

"Ms Nandasekaran earned the admiration of the Jaffna district residents for her impartial dispensation of justice, and established her reputation as a courageous upholder of human rights in a difficult environment. During her Jaffna tenure nearly 50,000 members of Sri Lanka Security forces were deployed to maintain security in the district with 500,000 residents. Paramilitary groups working with the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) added further difficulties to law enforcement in Jaffna," commented an exiled journalist who earlier worked for TamilNet.

After serving nearly three years and six months in Jaffna, she was transferred to Colombo to function from February 2007 as a Magistrate in the Juvenile Magistrate Court in Colombo. Civil society sources in Jaffna believe that Ms Nandasekaran's judicial independence was increasingly becoming an irritant to Colombo, and the transfer was planned to silence her voice.

During the Allaippiddi massacre where 8 civilians were massacred and 3 were seriously injured in Mandaitheevu islet in May 2006, allegedly carried out the soldiers of Sri Lanka Navy (SLN), Ms Nandasekaran was instrumental in promptly attending to the welfare of the victims. She worked closely with the Sri Lanka Red Cross to facilitate immediate medical attention to the injured, and worked to recover expeditiously the bodies of those killed.

Later in August 2006, when Rev.Fr. Thiruchelvam Nihal Jim Brown, 34, Parish Priest Allaippiddi, was reported missing, Ms Nandasekaran entered the SLN camp and conducted investigations, directing the Commander of the SLN to appear before the Court. SLN was widely suspected of complicity in the disappearance and murder of Fr. Jim Brown. The Judge's actions helped internationalize the case and help to expose the ferocity of crimes being perpetrated against civilians in Jaffna.

"Ms Nandasekaran took strong, legally admissible, steps to reign in on the Sri Lankan military's attempts to encroach into basic freedom of movement and rights of Jaffna residents. She ruled that the military cannot wear black masks during duty, and was a staunch critic of the road blocks the military forces set up that created hardship to the normal life of civilians," said a senior journalist in Jaffna.

"When Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers threatened her with death along Jaffna Palaali Road near Thirunelveali Ms Nandasekaran exposed the incident, and earned the ire of Colombo," he adds.

"She has been a strong advocate for child rights, and has worked with child welfare organizations to institute safeguards to prevent children from sexual abuse."

Ms Nandasekaran is a strong believer in Media Freedom, and she has earned a good reputation among the journalists. When two Uthayan staffers were shot dead and two seriously injured by attackers in May 2006, she rushed to the scene to facilitate speedy attention to the injured, and directed the law enforcement authorities to provide police protection to Uthayan premises. Police presence near the premises still continues.

“Women of Courage” is an honour bestowed by the U.S. Department of State on women who demonstrate exceptional courage and leadership.

Secretary Clinton paid tribute to eight honourees representing Afghanistan, Guatemala, Iraq, Malaysia, Niger, Russia, Uzbekistan, and Yemen on March 11 during a ceremony at the Benjamin Franklin Room in the White House. The eight are among over 80 exceptional women nominated by U.S. Embassies worldwide for their extraordinary work in advancing human rights.

Srinithy Nandasekaran
Srinithy Nandasekaran receiving award from the US Ambassador

Full text of the press release issued by the U.S. Embassy in Colombo follows:

U.S. Ambassador Blake recognized Magistrate Srinithy Nandasekaran on 24 March as a South Asian Regional Finalist for the Secretary of State's Women of Courage Award. “Women of Courage” is an honor bestowed by the U.S. Department of State on women who demonstrate exceptional courage and leadership. In recognizing Ms. Nandasekaran, Ambassador Blake said, “Throughout her career as an attorney and magistrate, Srinithy has shown exemplary commitment and courage in the dispensation of justice to Sri Lankans of all ethnic groups, often while serving in the country’s most difficult conflict-torn areas.” Ambassador Blake noted especially Magistrate Nandasekeran's tireless efforts on behalf of Sri Lanka's children.

U.S. Embassies around the world annually select outstanding women leaders to receive “Women of Courage” recognition. This year, U.S. Embassies worldwide nominated over 80 exceptional women by for their extraordinary work in areas such as advancing human rights and advocating for the promotion of women’s issues. Srinithy Nandasekeran was a Regional Finalist for South Asia. The Secretary of State selected eight recipients to receive International Women of Courage Awards at the Department of State in Washington, including women from Niger, Russia, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, Guatamela, Uzbekistan, and Malaysia.

A new NGO in UK - ACT NOW

2009-03-30T03:03:00.000-07:00

The Sri Lankan Government is currently engaged in the ethnic cleansing of the Tamil minority and the International Community is just turning a blind eye. A war that most people don’t even know about , a war not so different to Vietnam, the bombing of innocent civilians, schools, temples, orphanages, refugee camps and hospitals.

Since the beginning of 2009, according to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and Human Rights Watch, over 2800 Tamil civilians have been killed and 7000 injured in a so called “safe zone” due to bombing and shelling by the Sri Lanka Armed Forces.

The Government of Sri Lanka has removed all International Volunteer Organizations (INGOs) out of northern region where the conflict is taking place. And as the Government does not allow any International Media into the area there are NO WITNESSES of the ongoing Genocide and the unfolding Humanitarian crisis and the world is mostly oblivious. The Sri Lankan Government is currently using food, water and medicine as a weapon of war against the Tamils.

Over 250 000 Tamil civilians have been squeezed into a very small area, due to the recent government military offensive, the last few years of heavy fighting many people are without shelter, food, water and inadequate medical supplies. But regardless of the humanitarian disaster the government of Sri Lanka continues to bomb their own people on a daily basis.

Many people including a large number of children even babies are having to have limbs amputated as the government will not allow antibiotics into the region. Many of their wounds even those with minor injuries become septic and the doctors are left with no choice but amputation, sometimes without even any anesthetics

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has strongly deplored the mounting civilian death toll - which he said included many children. Speaking in Geneva, the ICRC's head of operations for South Asia, Jacques de Maio, said the civilian population was paying the price for the conflict.

Unicef Sri Lanka spokesman James Elder said" the reports we are receiving show an increasing number of children have been injured and killed in the past week".

"I have seen some of these injuries - babies with shrapnel wounds, gun shot injuries and blast wounds; children whose mothers' last act was to cover their bodies and take the force of the shelling."

"The (government-designated) no-fire zone is believed to be very squalid and overcrowded and the UN has received information that people are dying from lack of food.

"The conditions there could lead to outbreaks of malaria, dengue fever and measles, and a chicken pox outbreak has already been reported."

James Ross, legal and policy director at Human Rights Watch, said: "This 'war' against civilians must stop. Sri Lankan forces are shelling hospitals and so-called safe zones and slaughtering the civilians there."

James Ross, legal and policy director at Human Rights Watch, said: "This 'war' against civilians must stop. Sri Lankan forces are shelling hospitals and so-called safe zones and slaughtering the civilians there."

For more information, please contact:info.actnow.

The Sri Lankan Government is using medicine,food and water as a weapon of war.

Please help us get these life saving humanitarian supplies to northern Sri Lanka.
The situation in Gaza caught the attention of the International Community yet with Sri Lanka the world is just looking the other way.

PLEASE ACT NOW DONT LOOK THE OTHER WAY !

PLEASE DONATE / http://vannimission.org/

Today, 3:02 AM
Sri Lanka: Arundhati Roy: "Colossal humanitarian tragedy"
Pointing an accusing finger at the Indian Government for silence on the unfolding tragedy in Sri Lanka, Arundhati Roy, writer and activisit, in an article appearing in Times of India says, "while the killing continues, while tens of thousands of people are being barricaded into concentration camps, while more than 200,000 face starvation, and a genocide waits to happen, there is dead silence from...
Today, 3:02 AM
Sri Lanka: Elderly detainee in SLA detention centre dies in Jaffna
An elderly civilian held in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) detention centre in Mirusuvil in Thenmaraadchi died Saturday night in Jaffna Teaching Hospital (JTH) due to delayed medical treatment, sources in Jaffna said. Regional Health Service sources said that there is an acute scarcity for ambulances to transport patients in need of urgent treatment from the SLA detention centres to hospitals. Besides, SLA...
Today, 3:02 AM
Sri Lanka: Youth shot, injured in Jaffna
Two unidentified men on motorcycle shot and seriously injured a youth Sunday around 9:30 a.m in front of his house in Church Lane, Kokkuvil West in Jaffna as he was returning home on his motorcycle, sources in Jaffna said. The youth is admitted to the Intensive Care Unit in Jaffna Teaching Hospital.
Today, 3:02 AM
Sri Lanka: 7th SLA detention centre opened in Jaffna
In addition to the existing six Sri Lanka Army (SLA) detention centres in Jaffna district SLA has established another in Kaithadi in Thenmaraadchi where there are already four centres, to detain civilians fleeing war in Vanni. Saturday alone more than 200 families arrived in Thenmaraadchi and were placed in temporary makeshift sheds erected in the building complex of Palmyra Development Board...
Today, 3:02 AM
Sri Lanka: 6 STF commandos killed, 8 injured in 3 separate LTTE attacks in Batticaloa
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) launched attacks on Special Task Force (STF) commandos at three separate locations Friday and Saturday in Batticaloa district killing a commando and seriously injuring three in the first attack while killing two commandos and seriously injuring one in the second attack. The third attack was on the STF sentry post in Karadiyanaa’ru police division in which...
TamilNet Newswire

Given the scale of what is happening in Sri Lanka, the silence is inexcusable. -Arundhati Roy

2009-03-30T02:44:00.001-07:00

Given the scale of what is happening in Sri Lanka, the silence is inexcusable. -Arundhati Roy
30 Mar 2009, 0027 hrs IST, Arundhati Roy

More so because of the Indian government’s long history of irresponsible dabbling in the conflict, first taking one side and then the other. Several of us including myself, who should have spoken out much earlier, have not done so, simply because of a lack of information about the war. So while the killing continues, while tens of thousands of people are being barricaded into concentration camps, while more than 200,000 face starvation, and a genocide waits to happen, there is dead silence from this great country.

It’s a colossal humanitarian tragedy. The world must step in. Now. Before it’s too late.

The horror that is unfolding in Sri Lanka becomes possible because of the silence that surrounds it. There is almost no reporting in the

mainstream Indian media — or indeed in the international press — about what is happening there. Why this should be so is a matter of serious concern.

From the little information that is filtering through it looks as though the Sri Lankan government is using the propaganda of the ‘war on terror’ as a fig leaf to dismantle any semblance of democracy in the country, and commit unspeakable crimes against the Tamil people. Working on the principle that every Tamil is a terrorist unless he or she can prove otherwise, civilian areas, hospitals and shelters are being bombed and turned into a war zone. Reliable estimates put the number of civilians trapped at over 200,000. The Sri Lankan Army is advancing, armed with tanks and aircraft.

Meanwhile, there are official reports that several ‘‘welfare villages’’ have been established to house displaced
Tamils in Vavuniya and Mannar districts. According to a report in The Daily Telegraph (Feb 14, 2009), these villages ‘‘will be compulsory holding centres for all civilians fleeing the fighting’’. Is this a euphemism for concentration camps? The former foreign minister of Sri Lanka, Mangala Samaraveera, told The Daily Telegraph:
‘‘A few months ago the government started registering all Tamils in Colombo on the grounds that they could be a security threat, but this could be exploited for other purposes like the Nazis in the 1930s. They’re basically going to label the whole civilian Tamil population as potential terrorists.’’

Given its stated objective of ‘‘wiping out’’ the LTTE, this malevolent collapse of civilians and ‘‘terrorists’’ does seem to signal that the government of Sri Lanka is on the verge of committing what could end up being genocide. According to a UN estimate several thousand people have already been killed. Thousands more are critically wounded. The few eyewitness reports that have come out are descriptions of a nightmare from hell. What we are witnessing, or should we say, what is happening in Sri Lanka and is being so effectively hidden from public scrutiny, is a brazen, openly racist war. The impunity with which the Sri Lankan government is being able to commit these crimes actually unveils the deeply ingrained racist prejudice, which is precisely what led to the marginalization and alienation of the Tamils of Sri Lanka in the first place. That racism has a long history, of social ostracisation, economic blockades, pogroms and torture. The brutal nature of the decades-long civil war, which started as a peaceful, non-violent protest, has its roots in this.

Why the silence? In another interview Mangala Samaraveera says, ‘‘A free media is virtually non-existent in Sri Lanka today.’’

Samaraveera goes on to talk about death squads and ‘white van abductions’, which have made society ‘‘freeze with fear’’. Voices of dissent, including those of several journalists, have been abducted and assassinated. The International Federation of Journalists accuses the government of Sri Lanka of using a combination of anti-terrorism laws, disappearances and assassinations to silence journalists.

There are disturbing but unconfirmed reports that the Indian government is lending material and logistical support to the Sri Lankan government in these crimes against humanity. If this is true, it is outrageous. What of the governments of other countries? Pakistan? China? What are they doing to help, or harm the situation?

In Tamil Nadu the war in Sri Lanka has fuelled passions that have led to more than 10 people immolating themselves. The public anger and anguish, much of it genuine, some of it obviously cynical political manipulation, has become an election issue.

It is extraordinary that this concern has not travelled to the rest of India. Why is there silence here? There are no ‘white van abductions’ — at least not on this issue. Given the scale of what is happening in Sri Lanka, the silence is inexcusable. More so because of the Indian government’s long history of irresponsible dabbling in the conflict, first taking one side and then the other. Several of us including myself, who should have spoken out much earlier, have not done so, simply because of a lack of information about the war. So while the killing continues, while tens of thousands of people are being barricaded into concentration camps, while more than 200,000 face starvation, and a genocide waits to happen, there is dead silence from this great country.
It’s a colossal humanitarian tragedy. The world must step in. Now. Before it’s too late.

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Supported by Sri Lankan Tamil singer MIA, and other celebrities, Tamils collect medicines and food for Vanni Tamils in London.

2009-03-30T02:40:00.000-07:00

Supported by Sri Lankan Tamil singer MIA, and other celebrities, Tamils collect medicines and food for Vanni Tamils in London.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sei-eEjy4g
35 million viewers for MIA's Paper Planes.
Four Hundred Tons of Medical Aid Sets Sail for Sri Lanka

British celebrities, MPs and health professionals gather for launch and signing ceremony in central London, Tuesday 31 March, 2009

Act Now 5
Act Now 5
March 27, 2009 - Press Dispensary - As a major humanitarian crisis unfolds in northern Sri Lanka, campaign group Act Now and a number of other charities are preparing to send 400 tons of food and medicine, to help the country’s internal refugees, on Tuesday 31 March, 2009. Supported by Sri Lankan singer MIA, plus other celebrities, MPs and MEPs, the mission will provide desperately needed medical supplies for thousands of sick and injured people, and raise awareness of the suffering of civilians trapped in the conflict zone.

According to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, bombing and shelling by the Sri Lanka Armed Forces in the so called safe zone has killed 2,800 Tamil civilians and left 7,000 more injured since the beginning of 2009. Furthermore, the UN and aid agencies have been denied access to the region, leaving many without adequate food, water or medical assistance. Agencies fear that the cramped conditions and lack of sanitation will lead to outbreaks of malaria, dengue fever and measles.

Dr T. Varatharaja, a senior Sri Lankan health official in the region where the conflict is taking place, says that the last major medical facility in Tamil-held territory has almost stopped functioning due to a medicine shortage. Surgeons already have to perform operations including amputations without anaesthetics, but the closure of the hospital would put the lives of thousands of sick and injured people at risk.

The Act Now supported mission will deliver a wide range of medicines, from pain-killers, antibiotics and anaesthetic drugs and food supplies to the designated 'Safe-Zone' in northern Sri Lanka, where a quarter of a million people are trapped by the fighting. A professional medical team hopes to join the mission at some point. The supplies are being donated at various collection centres throughout London* and from other British cities, and the trip is being funded by the generosity of British supporters.

Graham Williamson, a director of Act Now, says: “The international community is turning a blind eye to the escalating crisis in Sri Lanka, a war not so different to Vietnam, as innocent Tamil civilians and their schools, temples, refugee camps and hospitals are bombed, in what many human rights groups are calling a form of ethnic cleansing.”

“Now, the Sri Lankan Government is withholding food, water and medicine as a weapon of war against the Tamils. The Act Now boat will bring life saving supplies into the region, but our work doesn’t stop there, we will continue to call attention to the situation in Sri Lanka until this war against its own civilians is stopped.”

The first leg of the journey is planned to leave the UK on Tuesday 31 March, 2009, bound for the 'safe-zone' in northern Sri Lanka.

The launch event will take place on Tuesday 31 March, 2009, from 1:00pm at The Royal Horse Guards, 1 Whitehall Place, 2 Whitehall Court, London SW1A 2EJ. To view, please visit http://www.theroyalhorseguards.co.uk/index.html).

A global appeal to the Sri Lankan Government to let the aid into the affected region and to call a ceasefire will be launched on the same day. A launch event has been organised to allow celebrities and politicians to sign a special letter (scroll) of appeal. This mission is supported by Grammy and Academy nominated singer M.I.A.

A celebrity committee will be held under the leadership of British models, Jade Parfitt and Jasmine Guinness.

Invited guests are, Claudia Schiffer, Pixie Geldof, Alexa Chung, Daisy Lowe, Nicholas Holts, Fearne Cotton (BBC presenter), Lilly Cole (Storm), Denise Van Outen (singer and presenter), Jodie Kidd (model), Lilly Allen (singer), Duffy (singer), Dawn Porter, Sian Evans (singer of Kosheen), Alex Parks and more. Some guests have already confirmed.

Members of the media wishing to take pictures/film of the event should contact Act Now ASAP.

- Ends -
Notes for editors
Act Now is a UK based organisation set up by a group of British former humanitarian aid workers. Act Now has set up campaign groups across the UK working to lobby their MPs. It currently has the support of 45 MPs and a number of Members of the European Parliament.

Act Now is working with a number of charities, including White Pigeon, Tamil Health Organisation, Tamil Aid, Technical Association of Tamils and the Tamil Support Foundation, to send the medical and food supplies to Sri Lanka.

* A list of collection sites can obtained by request, it includes addresses in Edmonton, Ilford, East Ham, Lewisham, Bromley and Woolwich.
For further information, please contact:
Tim Martin, director, Act Now
Tel: 07817 504227
Email: info.actnow@gmail.com
Site: www.act-now.info

Graham Williamson, director, Act Now
Tel: 07970455445
Email: info.actnow@gmail.com
Site: http://www.act-now.info

PSYCHO SOCIAL CO-ORDINATING COMMITTEE WANNI REGION

2009-03-28T19:56:00.001-07:00

Global order' experiments with body and mind of Vanni civilians
[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 March 2009, 01:17 GMT]
To what extent human beings can survive under extreme conditions was a Nazi research on the ‘dispensable Jews’ of the concentration camps, to find out the levels of extremity the human body and mind can withstand. Academic and professional circles raise an alarm that the Colombo government and the abetting powers, in experimenting political cum military effectiveness of their local and global order through a no-witness genocidal war, are probably at such a research with the Eezham Tamils. "Whether a humanitarian catastrophe faced by them is deliberately ignored by the international community and whether the instruments of humanitarian intervention have given up Vanni people for good," ask Dr. J. Sivamanoharan and S. Edmond Reginold, professionals of mental health working in Vanni.

The professionals of the Psycho Social Co-ordinating Committee of the Vanni Region have come out with a first hand report, Friday, on the alarming mental health conditions of the civilians in the so-called safe zone in Vanni.

Recently a British parliamentarian said that she had never heard of the need of bunkers in a ‘safe zone’.

The report of the professionals is a true story of the trauma of a people, who are forced to live day and night in the bunkers, amidst torrents of SLA shelling and hundreds becoming casualty everyday. All forms of religious rituals to the deceased are abandoned, the report said.

“Many are losing their zest for life and suicidal ideations are widely found”, the report said on the situation, where patients lack medical care and people see their beloved ones pathetically killed in front of their eyes.

“Children seem to have outgrown their youth state. The games they play have military connotations and this is a very unhealthy symptom”, the report said touching a significant point on the mental condition of children.

Scores of children are killed everyday in government shelling, witnessed by these children.

The most dangerous phase of the experiment is the use of terror at a 'safe zone' by a government abetted by powers, in order to imprison the civilians and send them to internment camps for further experiments, said an academic specialized in refugee studies.

The academic also hinted at the connotations behind India starting a military hospital instead of a civilian one at Pulmoaddai. It shows the angle from which they want to experiment with the civilian issue of Vanni, he said.

Full text of the report follows:

PSYCHO SOCIAL CO-ORDINATING COMMITTEE WANNI REGION

Maththalan,
Mullaitheevu
Sri Lanka

27th March, 2009

THE PSYCHOSOCIAL SITUATION OF CIVILIANS
LIVING IN THE WAR ZONE IN WANNI, SRI LANKA

A very intensive and fierce war is currently being fought between the government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Thamil Eelam, in Wanni in the North of Sri Lanka. As a result of this intense war more than 330,000 internally displaced people are forced to live in a very narrow coastal stretch which is roughly twelve kilometers long and one and a half kilometers wide. This coastal area, stretching from Maththalan to Mullivaikkal, has been unilaterally declared by the Sri Lankan Government as a ‘no fire zone’.

More than 3000 people have already been killed and more than seven thousand have been injured as a result of shelling which includes artillery, multi barrel, cluster and mortar shells and long range gun fire carried out by the forces of the Sri Lankan Government into the so called ‘no fire zone’. The number of casualties caused by the shelling is quite high since a population which is more than 330,000 is forced to live in a very small area which is less than 30 square kilo meters. It is admitted that this coastal belt is inhospitable and quite unfit for human habitation.

The situation of the civilians living in this war-torn area is further affected by the acute shortage of food prevailing in the same area. The people living here depend totally on food items brought into this area by the ICRC. Sixteen civilian deaths caused by starvation have already been reported by the hospital at Maththalan. The medical institutions functioning in this area are unable to treat the hundreds of civilians who are injured by shelling which takes place within the no fire zone daily as hardly any medicine is available at this makeshift hospital.

It is a very challenging task to assess and to articulate the psychological and the psychosocial impact of the war on the civilians living currently in Wanni. Many families have already lost one or more of their loved ones due to shelling and air attacks. Thousands of civilians have been wounded by shelling and more than five thousand wounded civilians have already been transferred to hospitals in Government controlled areas for further treatment.

Since indiscriminate shelling is carried out within the ‘no fire zone’, the civilians here live with continuous fear of being either killed or being injured by the explosion of artillery and other type of shells. Most of the people spend their days and nights in safety bunkers in order to protect themselves from the horrifying shelling carried out in this area.

State of Children
Sixty five thousand school going children are being affected by this prolonged war as 288 schools failed to reopen in Wanni from the beginning of the current year. Roughly 7800 children who should have been admitted to grade one this year have lost the chance of beginning their education while 13,000 pre-school children have lost the opportunity of gaining pre-school education.

Parents who are affected by the present war situation tend to vent their stress on their children. Spanking of children has increased since many children have become restless due to lack of educational facilities and play activities. Leaving behind their homes, schools and friends has deeply affected these children. Children seem to have outgrown their youth state. The games they play have military connotations and this is a very unhealthy symptom.

Due to scarcity of food and especially due to lack of nutritious food normal physical and mental development of children are affected. Because of the traumatic experiences that mothers go through as a result of the war there is the danger of many children being born in the future with many physical and mental deficiencies. It is recorded that infant mortality rate is high in Wanni. As far as the hospital records are aware of, number of children admitted and dismissed as dead in the period between 1st January, 2009 to date is 128. But the fact remains that many children have not been admitted to hospital and have met their deaths in their own homes and have been quietly buried. In a sense the hospital records are incomplete.

Many children are traumatized by witnessing their loved ones either being killed or being injured by shelling. Many families and children were not able to express their grief normally when their loved ones were killed by shelling since they had to hurriedly leave those places in order protect their own lives. It is important to remember that the Tamil society has elaborate rituals to help people grieve the loss of their loved ones. The most remarkable observation is that all forms of religious burial services have been given up totally.

Care of the elderly and people with special needs
The elderly have become very vulnerable to disease because of the acute shortage of food and lack of medical facilities. Due to the intense war many elderly people have been abandoned by their children and many families are separated permanently resulting in social chaos.

There are several institutions in Wanni that care for children, the elderly, unwed mothers, people with learning disabilities and the mentally ill. In spite of the ongoing war these institutions were doing their best in taking care of their members. But Currently those who manage these institutions are struggling to provide adequate food and other necessities to those in their care. Even these institutions are undergoing military attack indiscriminately.

It is quite important to take into consideration that we are dealing with a society which has already been affected by a three decade long war and the Tsunami which devastated the coastal belt of South Asia and Sri Lanka in December 2004. People who had their own houses are now forced to live a subhuman life under tarpaulin sheets, exposed to extreme heat, in an area that is not at all conducive for the existence of a large number of people.

Having gone through multiple displacements in a short period of time, the people in Wanni are left with depleted financial resources. The people here pass each moment fearing the explosions of destructive shells. They are forced to witness their loved ones being killed and injured. There is no medicine and no medical facilities to treat the injured. Due to acute scarcity of food the prices of food items have skyrocketed and finding food has become a very challenging task. This is a looming starvation situation.

The unending war, indiscriminate shelling, acute shortage of food, lack of medicine and medical facilities and the inability to fulfill the basic needs of life such as having proper toilette facilities have deeply affected the physical and psychological wellbeing of civilians now living in this war zone. A strong sense of frustration has crept in among the people living in Wanni as they are forced to face an extremely trying situation.

Due to stressors caused by this ongoing war, the people have become quite anxious and impatient and manifestation of mutual anger and irritation are easily observed on the roads, in public places and in family relationships. Many civilians have been treated for clinical depression and for anxiety disorders at the mental health unit at Maththalan hospital. Many are losing their zest for life and suicidal ideations are widely found among these patients. Since many are going through traumatic experiences, there is the danger of more patients to be identified with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder).

In addition to the untold hardships faced by the Tamil civilians living in the war zone, what is most painful for these people is the failure of the international community to intervene effectively in this conflict and the failure to bring an end to their suffering. The question that haunts the minds of these 330.000 people facing the brunt of war is “ whether a humanitarian catastrophe faced by them is deliberately ignored by the international community and whether the instruments of humanitarian intervention have given up Wanni people for good?

Dr.J.Sivamanoharan
Acting Doctor in charge
Mental Health Unit
Maththalan Hospital

S.Edmund Reginald o.m.i.
Co-ordinator
Psychosocial Co-ordinating Committee
Wanni Region

Related Articles:
28.03.09 179 civilians including 76 children killed within 3 days ins..

Veil of secrecy over IMF talks with Sri Lanka

2009-03-28T17:14:00.001-07:00

Veil of secrecy over IMF talks with Sri Lanka

A veil of secrecy has been cast over 'serious' talks an IMF mission started this week with the Sri Lankan government on the latter's request for a standby facility of $1.9 billion, senior Central Bank (CB) officials said.

At the same time, the CB was preparing to meet with the Board of Investment (BOI), the Labour Ministry, the Finance Ministry and other connected institutions on Wednesday to discuss the situation facing small and medium enterprises (SME) industries arising out of the global financial crisis and local uncertainty.

The CB was tight-lipped about the discussions with the IMF. "We have agreed with the IMF not to make any statement (unless jointly agreed to)," CB Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal said yesterday, when asked for details of what was happening.
CB Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal

Mr. Cabraal returned to Colombo on Monday after talks in Washington with IMF officials on the standby facility. Senior Presidential Advisor Basil Rajapaksa was also 'informally' involved in some of the discussions, the sources said.

The six-member IMF team led by Kalpana Kochar, Deputy Director of the Asia Division, arrived last Sunday and began discussions on Monday with the CB and Finance Ministry officials. The visiting delegation is expected to be here next week too and will then report to the IMF board by around early April on the loan requirement.

The IMF is returning to the Sri Lankan stage after it closed its Colombo office in 2007. The government two weeks ago requested support from the IMF, saying it would come under a new window available for countries caught up in the global crisis – a facility which did not have too many harsh conditions as in the past.

The IMF, in a March 24 statement about revamping its lending procedures to help countries at risk, said a key element in the new reforms was in 'modernizing conditionality'.

It said the fund aimed to ensure that conditions linked to IMF loan disbursements were focused and adequately tailored to the varying strengths of members' policies and fundamentals (there have been criticisms in the past that some IMF loans had too many conditions that were insufficiently focused on core objectives).

"This modernization is to be achieved by relying more on pre-set qualification criteria (ex-ante conditionality) rather than on traditional (ex post) conditionality. In addition, structural reforms will from now on be monitored in the context of program reviews, rather than through the use of structural performance criteria, which will be discontinued in all Fund arrangements, including those with low-income countries," the statement said.

An economist, who declined to be named, said this provided a hint about what conditions would be seen in the loan to Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile, the President was not present or did not host a dinner meeting as reported in The Sunday Times on March 8 at which a group of business leaders briefed an earlier IMF team on the Sri Lankan situation. The meeting was held at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel.

Opposition politicians and some economists have said there will be the normal stiff IMF conditions with the facility that the government hopes to get. The government has disagreed with these views. Yesterday Mr Cabraal declined to comment on these issues.

However, discussing next week's meeting on the issues faced by SMEs, he said that there were various issues faced by small and medium industrialists. "They have a variety of problems and different issues -- some relating to the crisis and some not. Some say they have a problem; some don't. We want to first study the problems and issues and then consider what kind of support is needed," he added.

Small industry experts say some small business units have closed and staff laid off or in other cases, work reduced and wages cut or overtime suspended in view of rising costs and lower business connected in many ways to the global crisis.

The garment industry for example has sought a 5-day working week to reduce costs of working on a Saturday as export orders are drying up. In some cases, factories are planning to give an extended April holiday to staff.

Govt. seeks Rs. 150 b. for spending

A parliamentary request to increase the borrowings limit on Treasury Bills by an additional Rs 150 billion, from the current limit of Rs 600 billion, is essentially to fund rising government spending, economists said.

Listed as a motion in the Parliamentary order paper for April 7, the Prime Minister is seeking authorization to borrow an additional Rs 150 billion through the issue of Treasury Bills in addition to what has already been issued. Any increase in Treasury Bills limits must be approved by the legislature.
Economists said government spending was increasing on many fronts including the war -- not keeping pace with revenue returns.

US Group notifies IMF, US Treasury of filing complaint

2009-03-28T12:38:00.000-07:00

US Group notifies IMF, US Treasury of filing complaint

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 March 2009, 13:42 GMT]
Counsel for the US-based activist group, Tamils Against Genocide (TAG), in a letter addressed to Secretary of the US Treasury, Timothy Geithner, and to the US Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Meg Lundsager, Friday, said that TAG will be filing a complaint Monday in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia "to obtain a declaratory judgment that a failure of the United States to oppose Sri Lanka’s pending $1.9 billion IMF loan application would constitute a violation of 22 U.S.C. 262d."

* Letter to the IMF, US Treasury

The letter further said: "[t]he lawsuit will be withdrawn at any time the Plaintiff receives a written commitment from you that the United States will oppose Sri Lanka’s pending $1.9 billion IMF loan request."

The complaint asserts: "[i]f Sri Lanka is denied its $1.9 billion loan request by the IMF, it is reasonably likely that its pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights will diminish or end in order to qualify for IMF funding under section 262d; or, the GOSL would be financially disabled from continuing its pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights. The GOSL is especially vulnerable to economic sanctions at present because its economy is severely ailing."

"The IMF team would present a report on its review mission to the board of the Fund by the middle of next month [April] and, once approved, the first tranche would be released on the same day," Sri Lanka's weekly Sunday Times said last week, quoting a senior Central Bank official.

But, Inner City Press in a report said Sri Lanka officials have requested the IMF to make the decision on the loan by the 31st of March.

end:

T4J sources have confirmed the IMF funds would be available only after the 15th of May, because the process is going to be long drawn.
The loan will be conditioned upon stringent conditions which has not been finalized or negotiated. There is severe resistance by the GOSL on the conditions that are being discussed.

"In conclusion " Beggars cannot be choosers" is the message of the day.

Chronology:
28.03.09 US Group notifies IMF, US Treasury of filing compl..
22.03.09 US Group to file court action against US vote on I..
14.03.09 Fein invites Patton Boggs for debate at Press Club
06.02.09 Fonseka, Gotabaya Genocide charges filed with US J..
24.01.09 Intent of Genocide provable in Sri Lanka - Fein
16.12.08 Fein responds: Professorial Nonsense on Stilts
14.12.08 Fein: Genocide charges against Sri Lanka officials..
20.08.08 Sri Lanka officials complicit in Tamil Genocide? -..
20.06.08 Fein seeks action against Sri Lanka officials
08.06.08 Fein seeks SL Defence Ministry approval to visit S..
03.06.08 "Plucked peace flower"- Washington Times
26.05.08 Fein: Hold referendum to test support for Tamil St..
20.05.08 International Law, Human Rights will salute Tamil ..
26.03.08 U.S. Rights report fortifies moral, legal entitlem..
28.02.08 Bruce Fein: Independence promotes stability
23.02.08 Fein challenges SL Ambassador on "right to secessi..
16.02.08 Justification for Tamil statehood compelling under..
29.01.08 Bruce Fein: U.S. Declaration of Independence valid..

Related Articles:
21.03.09 US Tamils protest against IMF loan to Sri Lanka
19.03.09 US support to IMF's Sri Lanka loan illegal – Prof. Boyle
24.02.09 US Subcommittee to hear genocide charges against Sri Lanka
19.01.09 Sri Lanka denies FX crisis, banks on 'patriotic Diaspora'
10.10.08 Sri Lanka fiscally vulnerable, says World Bank

External Links:
BBC: Sri Lanka plays hardball with IMF
ICP: On Sri Lanka, UN Official Describes "Nightmare Scenario," Treaty Official "Knows Better"
ICP: Sri Lanka Set for Security Council Dialogue in UN Basement, Beslan Analogy
ICP: At Sri Lanka Dialogue of UN Council, Photos on Wall, Press in the Hall
HRW: Letter to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Sri Lanka's Emergency Support Loan Request
ICP: At UN, Sri Lanka Accused of Shelling Civilians, "Friendly Censure," LTTE Condemned

Asia media forum honours late Lasantha

2009-03-28T02:40:00.001-07:00

Asia media forum honours late Lasantha
Saturday, March 28, 2009 Leave a Comment

(March 28, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Lasantha Wickremathunga, the slain editor in chief of the Leader Publications, was posthumously presented a special award by the Asia Media Forum.

The award was presented for 'A brave Asian journalist from Sri Lanka for sacrificing his life for the freedom of the press'.

Sonali Wickremathunga, widow of Lasantha Wickremathunga, in a statement said that Lasantha, in addition to being outspoken on human rights issues, espoused a peaceful negotiated resolution to the conflict between the Sinhalese and Tamil communities and was strongly critical of corruption within the government.

While thanking the Asia Media Fourm for honouring Lasantha with the special award, Sonali Wickremathunga noted that for those who continue to fight for freedom, the road ahead would be steep but stated that 'We have to move on'.

She went on to say that it should be done to all journalists killed in the line of duty, for ourselves and the future of our children.

Sonali Wickremathunga further stated that Lasantha had many dreams including the emergence of a classless society, media that existed in the public interest, politicians that worked for the public interest and a peaceful and negotiated solution to the conflict.

In her statement, the widow of Mr. Wickremathunga added that her husband had died in the pursuit of his dream and so did Martin Luther King.

IMF Loan to Sri Lanka Should Not Serve "Quasi Military" Purpose, UN Official Says

2009-03-27T22:50:00.000-07:00

IMF Loan to Sri Lanka Should Not Serve "Quasi Military" Purpose, UN Official Says

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, March 27 -- A day after the Sri Lankan government's as well as the Tamil Tigers' killing of civilians was criticized in a session of the Security Council, the purpose of its $1.9 billion loan request to the UN-affiliated International Monetary Fund was questioned at the UN.

Two weeks ago in Washington, Inner City Press asked IMF spokesman David Hawley to describe any safeguards that the loan proceeds wouldn't be used in connection with the government's military actions in north Sri Lanka or its detention camps for internally displaced people. Mr. Hawley said that negotiations were continuing.

Since then, the IMF has received extensive written opposition to the loan request as made, most of it quoting the Sri Lankan Central Bank's statement that the aim of the IMF loan is to "continue with the resettlement, rehabilitation and reconstruction work in the Northern Province, and the continued rapid development of the Eastern Province," which it deems key "not only to uplift the living standards of the people in the areas affected by the decades long conflict, but also to successfully implement the government's efforts to bring a sustainable solution to the conflict."

UN's Jomo Kwame Sundaram, use of Sri Lanka's IMF loan not shown

On March 27, Inner City Press asked the UN's Jomo Kwame Sundaram, Assistant Secretary-General on Economic Development at the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, about Sri Lanka's application for an emergency loan from the IMF and the resulting controversy. He replied that IMF loans generally shouldn't be used for "military or quasi-military purposes." It seems clear that the government's "resettlement" camps serve a quasi military purpose. What then will happen on the loan request? Watch this site.

Footnotes: Inner City Press asked asked Jomo K.S., in the run-up to the G20 meeting in London, for his views on the different proposals of the Stiglitz Panel on which he serves and of Ban Ki-moon, whom as an ASG he also serves. His answer was a model of diplomacy, that the reason Ban would not repeat his $1 trillion call while at Wednesday's stakeout interview with Gordon Brown was that Ban was being "a gracious host."

Some opine that it's Gordon Brown that wants to be seen as saving the world. At Friday's noon briefing, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesperson if it is true that the World Bank's Bob Zoellick, who for more than a month has been promoting his own proposal that 0.7% of rich countries' stimulus packages be devoted to poor countries, called Ban to ask him to not come out with the trillion-dollar request. Ban's spokesperson said they had spoken, and that she would try to get a read-out. For now, an Inner City Press debate on these topic will appear over the weekend here.

Click here for Inner City Press March 12 UN (and AIG bailout) debate

Click here for Inner City Press' Feb 26 UN debate

Click here for Feb. 12 debate on Sri Lanka http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/17772?in=11:33&out=32:56

Diaspora conference in London calls for immediate ceasefire with Des Browne participating.

2009-03-27T17:31:00.000-07:00

Diaspora conference in London calls for immediate ceasefire
[TamilNet, Friday, 27 March 2009, 22:27 GMT]
45 Tamil dignitaries from 21 countries gathered in London on Wednesday and Thursday to resolve that an immediate ceasefire in Sri Lanka was essential and that humanitarian access to the Vanni should be permitted immediately. The delegates also said that the Eezham Tamils should determine their own destiny and emphasized that the people of the traditional Tamil homeland had not only given their democratic mandate to the homeland concept, but they also have reiterated that mandate at every juncture of their political discourse.

London Conference 26 March 2009
Des Browne sitting on the far right, with Sen Kandiah (British Tamil Forum), Mike Griffith (Union official) and Lord Falconer

Wednesday saw the delegates take part in an internal session, addressing issues such as the humanitarian tragedy, the genocidal war and the right to defend, the political processes of establishing legitimacy and the role of international actors in the conflict. Based on discussion papers, the delegates established their position on each of the four issues and shared them with the group.

At the end of Wednesday, a resolution was drafted that covered the main points the conference participants wished to be stressed. This resolution was then unanimously affirmed by a show of hands on Thursday.

London Conference 26 March 2009
Lord Falconer speaking at the diaspora conference in London
On Thursday, the delegates were addressed by distinguished speakers including American civil rights campaigner Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rt. Hon. Des Browne MP, the British Special Envoy to Sri Lanka. Other guests included Lord Falconer, Siobhan McDonagh MP, Simon Hughes MP, Keith Vaz MP and Sir Jimmy Saville.

Rev. Jackson spoke of the moral obligation to stop the killing and the need to bring “resolution and visibility” to the conflict in Sri Lanka.

Des Browne spoke of the numbers killed, saying that 70,000 was probably an understatement. He focused on the pressing need, which he identified as the humanitarian crisis, and the hundreds of thousands of Tamil caught in the conflict zone.

Stating that civilians must have the freedom to leave the conflict zone, Mr. Browne said the situation was made worse by the largest number of casualties occurring in the safe zones. He condemned “these acts of violence” and said that he expected the Sri Lankan government to investigate every death.

Siobhan McDonaugh MP
Siobhan McDonaugh MP addressing the delegates of the diaspora conference
The British government is doing everything it can to bring about a ceasefire since Prime Minister Gordon Brown mentioned it in January this year, he said.

Nothing that the intention in appointing the special envoy was to focus on the final solution and the humanitarian crisis, he expressed the disappointment of the UK government that Sri Lanka had turned down the appointment. He mentioned that he would be reaching out to Diaspora groups in order to continue his role as Special Envoy.

Stating that the UK does not wish to impose a solution – “that is for the Sri Lankans to decide” – Mr. Browne said that like Northern Ireland, the only viable solution is a political one, not a military one.

London Conference 26 March 2009
[L-R] Rev. Fr. S. J. Emmanuel, Jan Jananayagam and Ana Pararajasingham, addressing the press conference.
The conference ended with a press conference on Thursday afternoon, attended by many London based Tamil and international media representatives.

The conference resolution is reproduced in full below:

World Tamils Forum: London Conference, 26 March 2009
Conference Resolution

London Conference 26 March 2009
We, the 45 delegates from 21 countries at the Conference of World Tamils, having met and deliberated in London on the 25th and 26th day of March 2009:

* Are severely shocked and deeply concerned by the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in the Vanni and lack of any substantive reaction by the international community;

* Recognise that the Sri Lankan state is engaged in a genocide of the Tamil people of the island;

* Recognise that the Tamil people have the inalienable right to determine their own destiny;

* Recognise that the Tamil people have mandated the establishment of a free, sovereign state of Tamil Eelam as the only enduring solution;

* Recognise that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are the authentic representatives of the Tamil people;

And hereby we resolve that:

1. All killings and attacks of Tamil civilians by the Sri Lankan state must cease immediately;
2. Unimpeded humanitarian assistance to those in need in the Vanni must be allowed;
3. The United Nations, International Non-Governmental Organisations, and the ICRC must have unfettered humanitarian access to the Tamil population and be permitted to re-establish a permanent presence in the Vanni;
4. There must be an immediate ceasefire; and
5. Negotiations for a political solution to the conflict must begin immediately after the ceasefire, based on the principle of self determination of the Tamil people.
Chronology:
27.03.09 Jesse Jackson calls for ceasefire
27.03.09 Diaspora conference in London calls for immediate ..

Jesse Jackson calls for ceasefire

2009-03-27T17:04:00.000-07:00

Jesse Jackson calls for ceasefire
[TamilNet, Friday, 27 March 2009, 23:13 GMT]
Veteran American civil rights campaigner The Reverend Jesse Jackson, who addressed the diaspora Tamil conference in London on Thursday said that "we [the global community] have a moral obligation to stop the killings" in Sri Lanka. The American civil rights activist also raised the need to increase the international awareness of the crisis and asked what his organisation, the Rainbow Push Coalition could do to help. Rev. Jackson stated that the crisis can only be resolved by "thinking it out, and not by shooting it out." He called for a commitment to a ceasefire because “we cannot negotiate to the sound of bullets whizzing over our heads.”

“We know that there has to be a cessation of violence to get back to the table to resolve the conflict,” Rev Jackson said.

Rev Jesse Jackson
Rev Jesse Jackson
“Whenever there is human misery, whenever there is fear, we have a moral obligation,” he said. Saying that he was aware of the crisis in Sri Lanka, Rev Jackson asked “what can we do to help”.

Referring to the political accommodation that has been achieved in Northern Ireland, Rev. Jackson spoke about the achievements of the civil rights movement, including marches calling for an end to segregation and to free (Nelson) Mandela.

"I am convinced we have never lost a battle we fought, and never won a battle unless we fought," Rev Jackson said.

“There are those who still think that violence is a solution,” he said. “I believe it is not.”

Rev. Jackson said he was convinced that non-violence was strength, not weakness, because it required the use of the mind, not just missiles.

“I think our choices remain non-violence and co-existence,” he said. Referring to the increasingly connected world, Rev. Jackson said “if people know our story they will gravitate to the rightness of our cause.”

Rev Jesse Jackson
Rev Jesse Jackson

The Tamil family must seek some way of reconciliation over elimination, he said, “some plan to co-exist and not co-annihilate.”

Asking what his organisation can do to help, Rev Jackson said one reason for being at the conference was to get the Tamil story told. “Your witnesses must be able to testify,” he said, “and not be drowned out by the sound of bullets and the quiver of fear.”

He called on Tamils to define the help that they seek, saying that US Secretary of State Clinton had spoken and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown had called for a ceasefire.

“What can the world do to get you back to the table and away from the battle field?” he asked, stressing the urgency about the matter.

When we fight these battles, there are some rules of the game, he said. “We must affirm international law, human rights, self-determination and economic justice.” With that fight comes the faith to fight on until the morning cometh, he said. “We must not give up.”

In our own country, not long ago, it was almost state-sanctioned terrorism, Rev Jackson said. It is not long ago that we made apartheid in our own country illegal. “We walked behind the caskets of the martyrs, the murdered and the marginalised.”

The reason America is where it is today is “because we didn’t give up; because we turned to each other, not on each other; because we kept reaching out; because we kept building coalitions; because we kept the faith; because we kept out hope alive.” This long process, of each victory leading to another victory and each struggle leading to another struggle, led to Barak Obama becoming the 44th President.

In Sri Lanka also, we need affirmation of respect for international law, human rights, self-determination and economic justice, he said.

“Let us choose negotiation. Let us work it out and not fight it out,” he said. “If the cause is right, you will prevail.”

“It means co-existence not co-annihilation. It means talking with both the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil people. It means convincing all involved that beyond the pain on war is a peace that’s possible.”

“We must believe that peace with justice is possible,” Rev. Jackson said.

“We are interested in trying to bring visibility and resolution to this crisis,” Rev Jackson said, and volunteered that his organisation, Rainbow Coalition, would help in any way to achieve this.

“Hope matters, because if you can see beyond the situation, you can get where you see,” Rev Jackson said. “You must conceive it, believe it, achieve it.”

“We have a moral obligation to work together to stop the killing, to end the fear, to provide the hope,” he said.

Rev. Jesse Jackson concluded his speech by stating that “We must live to see the end of the crisis in Sri Lanka as another victory in our quest to make the world a better place in which to live.”

Chronology:
27.03.09 Jesse Jackson calls for ceasefire
27.03.09 Diaspora conference in London calls for immediate ..

TAMIL EELAM STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM

2009-03-27T14:41:00.001-07:00

TAMIL EELAM STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM

US, China, War in Sri Lanka & Diplomatic Posturing

Peter Symonds in World Socialist Website

24 March 2009

"Last week UN Security Council members Austria, Mexico and Costa Rica, backed by the US and Britain, called for an informal briefing on the humanitarian crisis facing tens of thousands of people trapped by the war in northern Sri Lanka. China, supported by Russia, blocked the move declaring that it was "an internal matter" for Sri Lanka and was not a threat to international security. None of this diplomatic posturing should be taken at face value. All of a sudden Washington has begun to express concern about the plight of tens of thousands of civilians caught in fighting as the Sri Lankan army closes ... The US media is now peddling a similar line.. Until recently, however, the US has quietly backed President Rajapakse, the war and the military's gross abuse of democratic rights. But as the army made rapid advances into the LTTE's remaining territory from early January and the defeat of the LTTE appeared likely, the US made a tactical shift. It began to call for a "political solution" to the conflict - a deal, not with the LTTE, but with sections of the Tamil elite.. The "humanitarian" issue has been raised as a means of pressuring the Rajapakse regime to make concessions... India and the US share another common concern - the growing influence of China in Sri Lanka.. Like the US, China's manoeuvring in the UN is guided by self-interest "

[see also International Dimensions of the Conflict in Sri Lanka - Nadesan Satyendra, 2 October 2007 quoting Adam Wolfe, Yevgeny Bendersky, Dr. Federico Bordonaro - India's Project Seabird and Indian Ocean's Balance of Power, PINR, 20 July 2005 “…the dynamics of the region calls for a balance of power approach rather than a straight alliance…. The rise of India as a major power, coupled with the better-known - and frequently analyzed - Chinese rise, is changing the structure of the world system. Not only is U.S. ‘unipolar’ hegemony in the Indian Ocean facing a challenge, but the strategic triad U.S.-Western Europe-Japan, which has ruled the international political economy for the past few decades, is now also under question…We can expect the South Asian region to be one of the system's key areas to be watched in the next decade.”

Diplomatic skirmishing in the UN Security Council between the US and China over the war in Sri Lanka underscores their growing rivalry in every corner of the globe. Both powers are intent on staking out their claims in Colombo as the 25-year conflict on the island reaches its climax.

Last week UN Security Council members Austria, Mexico and Costa Rica, backed by the US and Britain, called for an informal briefing on the humanitarian crisis facing tens of thousands of people trapped by the war in northern Sri Lanka. China, supported by Russia, blocked the move declaring that it was "an internal matter" for Sri Lanka and was not a threat to international security.

None of this diplomatic posturing should be taken at face value. All of a sudden Washington has begun to express concern about the plight of tens of thousands of civilians caught in fighting as the Sri Lankan army closes in on the remaining pocket of territory held by the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The US media is now peddling a similar line. The New York Times, for instance, published an article on Sunday about the plight of refugees and the "challenges of peace". American ambassador to Sri Lanka Robert Blake declared he was worried that the government was dominated by "certain hard-line Sinhalese elements" and appealed to President Mahinda Rajapakse to "reach out to the Tamil and Muslim communities".

The article described the "cold peace" in the island's eastern province, which has been firmly under army control since mid-2007. In Batticaloa, there are "army checkpoints in the town centre, armed thugs prowling back streets and continuing reports of abductions and disappearances."

Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse, the president's brother, justified such police state measures, saying: "The war is like a cancer. Even after curing a cancer, there is a period for radiation treatment. It is the same with the war on terrorism."

Until recently, however, the US has quietly backed President Rajapakse, the war and the military's gross abuse of democratic rights. But as the army made rapid advances into the LTTE's remaining territory from early January and the defeat of the LTTE appeared likely, the US made a tactical shift. It began to call for a "political solution" to the conflict—a deal, not with the LTTE, but with sections of the Tamil elite to temper the decades of anti-Tamil discrimination that gave rise to the war.

Washington's concern is that ongoing communal tensions will not only destabilise Sri Lanka, but neighbouring India, which has become America's key economic and strategic partner in the South Asia. New Delhi is worried about the potential for political unrest to spill over in southern state of Tamil Nadu where Tamils have historic ties with Sri Lanka. The "humanitarian issue has been raised as a means of pressuring the Rajapakse regime to make concessions.

India and the US share another common concern—the growing influence of China in Sri Lanka. While India has had to be cautious in its support for the Sri Lankan war, China has provided military and financial aid to Colombo with no questions asked. Chinese sales of arms including fighter jets, sophisticated radar, anti-aircraft guns and other military hardware and munitions have helped tip the balance in the country's protracted civil war. Visiting last month, Defence Secretary Rajapakse thanked China for its "steadfast support" in strengthening the "war on terrorism".

China's decision to block a UN Security Council discussion was also welcomed by the Sri Lankan political establishment. An editorial in last weekend's Sunday Times denounced the mounting pressure "from the Western countries where there has been heavy lobbying by Sri Lankan expatriates and a group of international ‘bleeding hearts'. These moves in the UN, it declared, "have been shot down by Sri Lanka's steadfast ally in its war on terrorism—China."

Like the US, China's manoeuvring in the UN is guided by self-interest. Beijing conveniently forgot about its principle of "non-interference in internal affairs" when it came to the US interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq. In the case of Sri Lanka, it has used the argument to curry favour in Colombo by blocking a UN debate and to defend its unconditional support for the government and its criminal war.

The pay-off for Beijing has been a $US1 billion deal with Colombo in 2007 to construct a major port facility in the southern town of Hambantota. The first stage of the project, being built by Chinese corporations and largely with Chinese finance, is due to be completed at the end of 2010. When completed it will include a container port, a bunkering system, an oil refinery, an airport and other facilities that are expected to transform Hambantota into a major transshipment hub.

The importance of the project for China is obvious. Hambantota on the southern tip of Sri Lanka is just six nautical miles from the main east-west trade route across the Indian Ocean. Around 70 percent of China's oil imports is shipped via this sea lane from the Middle East through the Strait of Malacca to Chinese ports. Acutely aware that its shipping would be vulnerable in the event of any conflict, especially with the US, Beijing has been expanding its navy and developing a "chain of pearls"—port facilities along this trade route. Hambantota, like the Chinese-built port of Gwadar in Pakistan, is one such pearl.

The US and India are intent on countering China's strategy. Thus under the guise of humanitarian concern, India has sent a military medical team to Sri Lanka. Earlier this month the US proposed to send a Marine Expeditionary Brigade to northern Sri Lanka to evacuate refugees—an offer that appears to have been turned down.

Like the diplomatic posturing in the UN Security Council, none of these moves—by either side—is motivated by concern for working people in Sri Lanka who have born the brunt of 25 years of war. Rather the small South Asian island, like other parts of the world, is being drawn into the international rivalry that is intensifying as the global economic crisis deepens and foreshadows far more catastrophic conflicts.

Peter Symonds

UN envoy to Sri Lanka. possible? UN Peacekeeping chief Jean-Marie Guehenno might be a name being considered.

2009-03-27T12:38:00.000-07:00

Sri Lanka Set for Security Council Dialogue in UN Basement, Beslan Analogy

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, March 26 -- The UN Security Council will meet about plight of civilians in Sri Lanka this afternoon. After weeks of negotiating about whether and how to hold the meeting, it will take place in the UN's basement, not the Council chamber. The Sri Lankan Mission to the UN will be present; sources tell Inner City Press they will show photographs. Top UN humanitarian John Holmes will also brief.

A senior diplomat of one of the countries most vehemently opposed to holding the meeting in the Council repeated to Inner City Press the Sri Lankan government's arguments, that the previous Council briefing was "misused by the Tamil Tigers to convince civilians not to leave" the conflict zone. He analogized the situation to what Russia faced in Beslan, where school children were killed during a government attempt to re-take a terrorist-held school. In that case, Russia acted in the heat of the moment. The assault in northern Sri Lanka has gone on for more than two months.

The UK Mission, which on March 25 promised a read out of UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown's meeting with Ban Ki-moon, on March 26 summarized that Brown supported the Secretary General's efforts on Myanmar -- but nothing on Sri Lanka, despite Ban having listed it as one of four countries discussed. To be continued.

On Sri Lanka, UN Official Describes "Nightmare Scenario," Treaty Official "Knows Better"

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, March 25 -- While the UN allows Sri Lanka's government to claim that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, who said that both the Tamil Tigers and the government might be guilty of war crimes, "is not the UN," in New York on March 25 a senior UN official described to Inner City Press what the UN is trying to do about Sri Lanka. The trapped civilians, who the official said are being shot at by both the Tamil Tigers and the government, must be extracted. But how?

The official described a plan to convince both the Tamil Tigers and the government, which have so far refused, to accept a cessation of fighting and international observers to get the civilians out.

What we are afraid of, the UN official said, is a nightmare scenario in which in a final drive against the Tigers, tens of thousands of civilians are killed and the UN looks guilty, like in Srebrenica. This must be avoided.

The official said that Norway has been trying to talk with both sides, quietly, to broker such a deal. But the UN is growing dubious that Norway has the necessary connection. The US, he said, offered its military strength but was rejected.

US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice on March 20 told Inner City Press that the US favors the Security Council getting full information on the humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka. On March 25, Austria's Ambassador to the UN told Inner City Press that a way is being devised to let this happen.

The UN official also described what he called a strategy of letting "the Tamil diaspora" know that any support of the Tamil Tigers might subject them to war crimes prosecution. This gambit seems to ignore something that the Sri Lankan government and is supports brag about, that the country's refusal to join the International Criminal Court makes it -- and crimes on its territory -- unreachable by the International Criminal Court. The threat against Tamil Tiger supporters, then, must involve the War on Terror.

Recently long-time UN official Lakhdar Brahimi wrote an op-ed in the International Herald Tribune warning of the mounting dangers to civilians in Sri Lanka, and urging Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to demand access to the conflict zone and to appoint a special envoy.

The envoy named by the UK, Des Browne, has been denied entry to the country. Following Ban's meeting with the UK's Gordon Brown on March 25, Ban said that Sri Lanka was one of four country conflicts they discussed. The others were Sudan, Afghanistan and Myanmar. Brown offered some specifics on Sudan and Afghanistan, but nothing on Sri Lanka.

At right, then-UN Palitha
Kohona, now denies UN HCHR is UN

Inner City Press sought to ask for a read-out, but the two men took only four questions. Afterwards, Inner City Press asked both the UK Mission spokesman and Ban's spokesperson for a read out of the meeting, which will be reported on this site upon receipt, as well any response to the unanswered portion of the questions Inner City Press asked at the UN noon briefing on March 25:

Inner City Press: There was a statement by the Foreign Secretary of Sri Lanka that the country has received no criticism from the UN of how it’s conducting its conflict in the north. He says that Ms. [Navi] Pillay, the Human Rights Commissioner, “is not the UN”, and apparently implies that, in the discussions between the President and the Secretary-General, there’s been no criticism whatsoever of any action of the Government. I wanted to know, is that consistent with your understanding of those calls?

Spokesperson Michele Montas: As far as I know, a number of issues were raised. Humanitarian issues were also raised.

Inner City Press: And also, the Foreign Ministry of Sri Lanka has put out a statement condemning the OCHA document that says there were 2,683 deaths, saying it’s entirely unverified and asking the UN to retract it. Is the UN considering retracting its own document that’s that specific on numbers?

Spokesperson: As far as I know, OCHA is standing by its numbers.

Question: Okay. Neil Buhne was quoted as saying that he is not standing by it. He’s been quoted in Sri Lanka saying that he doesn’t stand by the number. Maybe he’s been misquoted. The Resident Coordinator, Neil Buhne, has been quoted as saying that he doesn’t stand by the number.

Spokesperson: So he is saying that it’s just an evaluation? That’s what I said earlier…

[The Spokesperson later said that the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is not in a position to verify numbers put out by local groups on deaths.]

Inner City Press: He’s saying it was a report for donor countries, not meant for public distribution, whatever that means.

Spokesperson: Okay. I can verify what those numbers meant.

Inner City Press: That would be great. Then just one factual thing is that the Voice of America has in a report said that the Government of Sri Lanka makes it such that international employees of NGOs as well as independent journalists are prohibited from travelling to the north. So I know in your report you’d said how the Red Cross and WFP are delivering this aid. Is it your understanding that, as in Darfur currently, that international staff of NGOs can’t go to that region?

Spokesperson: I can ask the people there for you. We can ask for more information.

[The Spokesperson later said that only national United Nations and non-governmental organization staff were in the conflict zone.]

Inner City Press: Okay, that’d be great. I’d appreciate it.

It should be noted that Sri Lanka's foreign secretary Palitha
Kohona, who said the UN High Commission for Human rights "is not the UN" himself served in and led the UN's Treaty Section. "He knows better," one official told Inner City Press. More than one officials questioned Neil Buhne's performance in Sri Lanka, one said that Buhne has been "captured." On that, Inner City Press has repeatedly asked the UN for more information about its staff member forcible recruited into the Tamil Tigers -- for the record, for those pro-government activists who claim that any question about civilians is support for the Tamil Tigers, such recruitment is to be condemned.

Footnote: By happenstance, Inner City Press ran into former UN Peacekeeping chief Jean-Marie Guehenno on March 25 in front of the UN and asked him about Sri Lanka and Brahimi's proposal, would Guehenno consider the post. Guehenno called the situation in Sri Lanka serious, and with a serious face said he would consider such an assignment, UN envoy to Sri Lanka. He said he has not been assigned any cases since taking up his post as Under Secretary General for Regional Cooperation. (Inner City Press joked that USG for Lost Causes might be a good title; Guehenno jokingly gave himself a promotion to Deputy SG for Lost Causes.) Many hope that northern Sri Lanka and the civilians trapped are not a lost cause. Watch this site.

Click here for Inner City Press March 12 UN debate

Click here for Inner City Press' Feb 26 UN debate

Click here for Feb. 12 debate on Sri Lanka http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/17772?in=11:33&out=32:56

Click here for Inner City Press' Jan. 16, 2009 debate about Gaza

Click here for Inner City Press' review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate

Click here for Inner City Press' December 24 debate on UN budget, Niger

Click here from Inner City Press' December 12 debate on UN double standards

Click here for Inner City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics

and this October 17 debate, on Security Council and Obama and the UN.

* * *

These reports are usually also available through Google News and on Lexis-Nexis.

Click here for a Reuters AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click here for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund. Video Analysis here

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Sri Lankan rupee volatility was partly due to the sale of a 1.9 billion rupee stock sale in listed John Keells Holdings by a foreign investor .

2009-03-27T11:56:00.000-07:00

27 Mar, 2009 18:25:34
Sri Lanka rupee weakens in volatile trade

Dealers say Friday's volatility was partly due to the sale of a 1.9 billion rupee stock sale in listed John Keells Holdings by a foreign investor to a local buyer this week.

Mar 27, 2009 (LBO) - Sri Lanka rupee fell to 115.35/50 levels against the greenback in intra-day trading Friday with heavy buying from foreign banks while the monetary authority briefly took the foot off peg defence, dealers said.
A state bank that usually represents the Central Bank has been in the market offering dollars to defend a peg at 114.25 rupee levels.

The rupee also fell below the peg defence level on Thursday.

An International Monetary Fund team is in Sri Lanka to discuss a bailout package. IMF packages are usually conditional on abandoning peg defence if the country does not have the institutional capacity to support a peg.

"We don't have any date as to the conclusion of those discussions or their likely bringing to the IMF Board, and we don’t have any information yet on how much Sri Lanka will be requiring from the Fund," Caroline Atkinson, head of the external relations department told reporters Thursday responding to a question from LBO.

The rupee opened at 114.35/50 levels Friday and closed around 114.80/115.20 rupees after spiking to 115.35/50 levels, dealers said.

It is not known whether the monetary authority has only temporarily withdrawn from peg defence or it is allowing the currency to be more flexible ahead of an IMF bailout.

A flexible currency is needed to break a peg defence cycle and end foreign reserve losses by the Central Bank.

The rupee hit a low of 115.75 against the greenback when peg defence was eased amidst heavy buying from state banks earlier this year. But peg defence resumed at 114.25 rupees later.

The bank's monetary reserves fell to about 1,142 million US dollars in January according to published data, while gross reserves of the country which includes fiscal reserve were about 1,482 million US dollars in the same month.

Dealers say Friday's volatility was partly due to the sale of a 1.9 billion rupee stock sale in listed John Keells Holdings by a foreign investor to a local buyer this week.

Lanka gets “friendly censure” at UN Security Council

2009-03-27T11:05:00.000-07:00

Lanka gets “friendly censure” at UN Security Council
2009-03-27 10:11:55

US accuses Sri Lanka of shelling civilian areas
2009-03-27 10:22:18

The United Nations Security Council meeting in a basement room – an arrangement seen as a diplomatic victory for Colombo – discussed the Sri Lanka crisis and delivered a “friendly censure” on the country, according to reports.

The UN-based Inner-City Press news website quoted Costa Rica’s ambassador Jorge Urbina as saying the council’s second session in a month on the conflict in Sri Lanka was a “friendsly censure” of the government. Costa Rica along with Austria and Mexico is one of the main players of the security council move.

Following a closed door session at which Sri Lanka's Mission to the UN showed pictures of the conflict zone, U.S. representative Rosemary DiCarlo said that Sri Lanka had been shelling areas with civilians, close hospitals. She said that the camps for internally displaced people, which she called internment camps, would only be funded by the UN for three months, the ICP report said.

According to the report, UN Humanitarian Chief John Holmes said he "wouldn't like to put a time" frame on how long the UN would fund these camps, from which IDPs cannot leave or receive visits, even from family members. He also declined again to confirm his own agency's figures of 2,683 civilians killed from January 20 to March 7, a number that only came out because the document was leaked to Inner City Press.

U.S. representative DiCarlo said the number of civilians trapped between the LTTE and the government number from 150,000 to 190,000. The UN's Holmes added the Sri Lankan government's figure, 70,000.

The Inner City Press said: We note that Holmes also wryly stated, on his way into basement Conference Room 7, that "this meeting doesn't exist," a reference to its strange location, title and format, a concession by the Council to its members who wanted no briefing at all. Holmes has to deal with politics. The question is, when must humanitarian principles unequivocally win out?

French Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert, who spoke as he rushed out of the meeting, said that "both sides must comply with international humanitarian law." He added that the Sri Lankan government is asking countries with Tamil diaspora populations to make sure money is not donated or exported from their soil to the Tamil Tigers. How this would be implemented by the UK is not clear. UK Ambassador Sawers spoke briefly to the Press, but not on this point.

US accuses Sri Lanka of shelling civilian areas
2009-03-27 10:22:18

UNITED NATIONS, March 26 (Reuters) - The United States accused Sri Lanka on Thursday of breaking promises to stop shelling a no-fire zone where thousands of civilians are trapped by fighting between separatists and government forces.

Sri Lanka rejected the allegation, saying the Sri Lankan military was not using heavy weapons to attack the separatist-held, no-fire zone in northern Sri Lanka.

"We are very concerned that the government of Sri Lanka continues its shelling of areas where there are large numbers of civilians, very close to hospitals, very close to civilian facilities," Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Rosemary DiCarlo told reporters.

"We have urged the government of Sri Lanka to cease the shelling near civilian areas," she said after the U.N. Security Council met informally behind closed doors to discuss Sri Lanka. "We've had promises, but we need to see results."

Sri Lanka's Ambassador H.M.G.S. Palihakkara rejected the accusation, though he acknowledged that the government was returning fire when attacked by Liberation Tamil Tiger Eelam (LTTE) forces from inside the no-fire zone.

"They (government forces) are not firing heavy weapons into the safe zone," he said. "Because (Sri Lanka's) forces have come so close to the military safe zone there is no sense in firing at short-range heavy weapons."

"As you know, the LTTE is firing from the no-fire zone," he said, adding that the automatic return fire might have resulted in some civilian casualties, but not deliberately.

As expected, the council took no action at Thursday's informal meeting on Sri Lanka.

HUMAN SHIELDS

U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes said dozens of civilians were dying every day and that about 150,000-190,000 remain trapped in the no-fire zone. He added that "forced recruitment" into the ranks of the Tamil Tigers continues.

DiCarlo and British Ambassador John Sawers were among the diplomats who expressed support for Holmes' appeal for a temporary ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid into the no-fire zone and civilians out of the enclave.

The Sri Lankan envoy said that was fine with his government, but not the Tamil Tigers. "The Sri Lankan government is ready to let the civilians go today," Palihakkara said. "The issue is the LTTE is not willing to let them go."

DiCarlo, Sawers and other council envoys criticized the Tamil Tigers, a group that Western governments have listed as a terrorist organization.

"We condemn the LTTE," DiCarlo said. "And we certainly condemn the fact that they use civilians as human shields."

U.N. diplomats said China and Russia are among those who oppose formal discussion of Sri Lanka, saying the fighting between Tamil Tigers and government forces represents no threat to international peace and security and was therefore no business of the council.

Sawers said it was not clear if the Security Council would take up the issue again, since it is not officially on its agenda.

The United Nations says the Tigers have forcibly kept people there as human shields or conscripts, and has warned the government against shelling the safe zone. It says 2,800 civilians have been killed since Jan. 20.

The government says it is not firing into the no-fire zone and that the U.N. numbers are unsubstantiated. The Tigers say people are choosing to stay with them.

Human Rights Watch has accused the government of indiscriminately shelling the no-fire zone where the civilians are. It also said the Tigers were forcing most civilians to stay.

Comments

In an interview with Al Jazeera, smuggled out last month.

2009-03-26T22:57:00.000-07:00

Tamil Tigers reject 'human shield' accusations - 27 March 09

Tamil Tigers rebels in Sri Lanka have denied accusations that they are using civilians as human shields. In an interview with Al Jazeera, smuggled out last month.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blYA_HDyztM&feature=channel

Rosemay DiCarlo US AMBASSADOR TO THE UN criticised the Colombo government for continuing to shell areas heavily populated by civilians :

2009-03-26T22:46:00.000-07:00

UN urges pause in S Lanka fighting
The UN says there are now 190,000 civilians caught in the crossfire in northern Sri Lanka [Reuters]
DiCarlo also criticised the Colombo government for continuing to shell areas heavily populated by civilians in its efforts to end a 25-year civil war by subduing the Tamil Tiger separatists.

Both sides in the Sri Lankan conflict have been urged to stop fighting and allow for a "humanitarian pause" as UN officials revised their estimate of civilians trapped in the war zone up to 190,000.

The UN, backed by the US and Britain, blamed Tamil separatists for the plight of civilians caught up in the conflict, with dozens believed killed in recent weeks and many more wounded and without medical treatment.

Speaking in New York on Thursday John Holmes, the UN humanitarian chief, said he was particularly concerned about civilians being prevented from leaving the combat area by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), also known as the Tamil Tigers.

Speaking after an informal UN Security Council briefing Holmes said he was pressing for urgent humanitarian access to the conflict zone in northern Sri Lanka.

'Humanitarian pause'

"We suggested the idea of some kind of humanitarian pause to allow that to happen and to allow the civilian population to leave," he said.

"This is an extremely worrying situation and therefore, our first appeal is to the LTTE to let the civilians out in a safe and orderly fashion."

On Thursday Rosemary DiCarlo, the US representative to UN for special political affairs, expressed "real concern" over the increasing death toll and condemned the Tigers' use of civilians as human shields.

"We call on them to lay down their arms, renounce violence and negotiate with the government."

DiCarlo also criticised the Colombo government for continuing to shell areas heavily populated by civilians in its efforts to end a 25-year civil war by subduing the Tamil Tiger separatists.

'Very concerned'

The LTTE has denied claims it is using civilians as human shields [Reuters]
"We are very concerned that the government of Sri Lanka continues its shelling in areas where there are large numbers of civilians, very close to hospitals and civilian facilities, we understand quite a number of civilians have perished because of these attacks," she told reporters on Thursday.

"We've had promises, but we need to see results."

The Sri Lankan government says troops have confined Tamil separatists to an area of about 21 square kilometres, most of which is a government-declared safe zone, on the island's northeastern coast near the town of Puthukudirippu.

Hews Palihakkara, Sri Lanka's ambassador to the UN, said his government shared concerns about the civilians saying that it had declared a 48-hour ceasefire period.

But he said the Tamil Tigers were preventing civilians from leaving.

"If the LTTE is ready to let the civilians go today, I will persuade my government to agree to any modality, you can call it a pause or something else," he said.

LTTE denial

A senior Tamil Tiger commander has denied using civilians as human shields and rejected government claims that they were being kept hostage in the combat zone.

In a statement smuggled out of the county to Al Jazeera, Lieutenant Colonel Ilampirathi in Puthukudirippu said they were not stopping the Tamils from leaving.

"It's a false allegation by our enemies. Our people are determined and continue to stay here despite the attacks from the enemies," responding to questions posed by Al Jazeera and filmed last month.

"Our people are helping the fighters in everyway possible to fight the Sri Lankan forces. They say they have to fight if they are to survive."

Media access to war zone is tightly controlled and claims by either the Sri Lanka government or the Tamil Tigers cannot be independently verified.

Sri Lanka: Heavy SF Shelling on 'Safe Zone' Kills 131 Civilians including 32 Children

2009-03-26T22:27:00.001-07:00

Sri Lanka: Heavy SF Shelling on 'Safe Zone' Kills 131 Civilians including 32 Children
Mar 27, 2009, 00:04 Digg this story!

G. Vickram - TNS

Mulaitivu: 131 civilians including 32 children were killed and 242 more were injured including 49 children when indiscriminate rain of shells including cluster types of shells , Sri Lankan Air Forces bombing and RPG attacks by the Sri Lankan Security Forces (SF) hit government announced new 'Safe Zone' in Puthumathalan, Mulivaaikal and Valaingaramadam in Mulaitivu area on Thursday.

The SF troopers also deployed extensively RPG shells, short range mortars and long distance gunfire on the safety zone during the daytime on Tuesday in addition to 12 air strikes in the settlements surrounding the Pachchaip-pulmoaddai junction within the safety zone.
Medical authorities reported that 185 wounded were admitted to the makeshift hospita in Maaththa'lan on Wednesday.
Multi Barrel Rocket Fire (MBRL) was also reported inside the safety zone at Pokkanai around 3:00 p.m. Wednesday. 16 civilians, including 4 children, were killed by a single MBRL rocket that hit an IDP hut in the coastal side of Pokkanai. 9 of the 27 wounded were children. Many of the dead succumbed to burn injuries caused by MBRL fire. 33 more civilians including 11 children were killed and 72 wounded included 27 children in Pokka'nai area in MBRL and artillery fire. Many tarpaulin shelters and properties were destroyed in MBRL fire. 3 shops were destoryed in Pokkanai.

Mortar attack was reported along the same stretch from 4:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. At least one mortar shell hit the area every 5 to 10 minutes, causing 23 deaths. Many of the wounded succumbed to their injuries due to the lack of medical transportation as the road was being continuously targeted by the SLA which used RPG rockets, gun and mortar fire to attack the road and the surrounding tarpaulin huts of the IDPs.

TRO and Tamileelam police officials were struggling to save the lives of the wounded.

Meanwhile, SLAF bombers attacked the area within the 'safety zone' at least 6 times. Two SLAF bombers attacked Pachchaip-pulmoaddai and Mu'l'livaaykkaal, dropping around 29 bombs, killing 27 civilians including 6 children, 12 females and 3 elderly on the spot. The attack destroyed 37 tarpaulin shelters. 85 tarpaulin huts with the properties were destroyed in the attacks inside the safety zone by the SLA and the SLAF on Wednesday.
Children dying in large numbers injuring in large numbers are sure to leave long time scars in their minds of the Tamil community at large and Sri Lanka has to live with the consequences for very many years and decades to come. It is so unfortunate, there is no statement ship emerges from Sri Lanka to guide the country to the lasting peace with the solution satisfying the minority Tamil community, said a local aid worker in Vanni.

SF troopers' indiscriminate aerial and shell attacks killed hundreds and many hundreds injured within past few months while displaced over 300,000 including 40,000 children who are living in subhuman conditions. UNHRC statement last week said, at least 2800 civilians were killed and over 7000 injured within past two months of shelling in the war zone in Vanni. Also, UNICEF said, hundreds of children were killed thousands more were injured within past two months.

Sri Lankan Tamil Party Calls for Cease-Fire in North

2009-03-26T22:25:00.000-07:00

Sri Lankan Tamil Party Calls for Cease-Fire in North (Update1)

By Paul Tighe and Jay Shankar

March 27 (Bloomberg) -- Sri Lanka’s main Tamil political party called on the government to declare a cease-fire to protect civilians in the north, as the army said the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam is facing “imminent” defeat.

“The Sri Lankan military must stop the offensive,” Mavai Senathirajah, a lawmaker from the Tamil National Alliance, said yesterday. “Humanitarian workers must be allowed in.”

The army’s drive against the LTTE has “confined” the last rebel units to a 21-square-kilometer (8-square-mile) area in the northeast, said Keheliya Rambukwella, the government’s defense spokesman.

The United Nations is leading calls for the government and LTTE to stop fighting to allow aid to reach between 150,000 and 190,000 civilians caught in the conflict zone. The government accuses the Tamil Tigers of preventing people from leaving while the LTTE says Tamils are facing “genocidal warfare” through artillery shelling and air attacks.

Thousands of civilians are sheltering in a 14-square- kilometer area near the northeastern port of Mullaitivu that has been declared a no-fire zone by the government, said John Holmes, the UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs.

He was speaking in New York late yesterday after briefing the Security Council on the Sri Lanka conflict.

First Appeal

“Our first appeal is to the LTTE to let the civilians out in safe and orderly fashion,” Holmes said, according to the UN. He called on the government to avoid using heavy weapons in the area and to prevent civilian casualties and said both sides should declare a “humanitarian pause” in the fighting.

“The government must listen to the calls by the international community,” Senathirajah, who represents the TNA in the northern Jaffna district, said in a phone interview from the capital, Colombo.

The TNA, which holds 22 seats in the 225-member parliament, rejected an invitation by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to join an all-party discussion on a political settlement to the issue of Tamil separatism. The political climate isn’t conducive to holding such discussions, Senathirajah said.

“We call for a cease-fire, loudly and clearly,” B. Nadesan, the head of the LTTE’s political wing, said in an interview with the U.K.’s Sunday Times last weekend. “Non-stop artillery and aerial attacks are creating an unbearable situation.”

Army Shelling

The U.S. has called on Sri Lanka’s government to stop army shelling of areas where civilians are gathered, the Associated Press cited Rosemary DiCarlo, the alternate representative to the UN for special political affairs, as saying in New York.

“We’ve had promises, but we need to see results,” she said late yesterday. “The government of Sri Lanka must pay more attention to civilians in this conflict.”

Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama yesterday issued a statement saying security forces aren’t directing any attacks on the no-fire zone, Sri Lanka’s UN mission in New York said.

The government is providing aid by land and sea for displaced people and the military is making every effort to avoid civilian casualties, Rajapaksa told UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a telephone conversation last week.

More than 55,000 people have fled into government- controlled areas in the north since January, the government said yesterday. Conditions in transit camps must meet international standards, Holmes said.

The Tamil Tigers say people are staying in LTTE-held territory of their own free will because they don’t want to be placed in government-run internment camps.

Death Toll

The UN said earlier this month as many as 2,800 people may have been killed and 7,000 injured since January, describing the casualties as “truly shocking.”

Sri Lanka’s government said the UN is using figures that can’t be verified, according to a statement on its Web site.

The last Tamil Tiger units are taking refuge in the safe zone near Mullaitivu, Rambukella said at his briefing. Only 1 kilometer of the territory in which they are operating is outside the zone, he added.

The LTTE has been fighting for a separate Tamil homeland in the north and east of the nation for 26 years and the conflict has claimed the lives of more than 70,000 people.

To contact the reporters on this story: Paul Tighe in Sydney at ptighe@bloomberg.net; Jay Shankar in Bangalore at jshankar1@bloomberg.net.

US accuses Sri Lanka of shelling civilian areas

2009-03-26T22:22:00.000-07:00

US accuses Sri Lanka of shelling civilian areas
26 Mar 2009 23:05:18 GMT
Source: Reuters
* Sri Lanka says it is not using heavy weapons

* U.N. says rebels hold civilians as human shields

* Sri Lanka says ready to let civilians leave (Recasts, adds U.S., Sri Lanka, British, U.N. comments)

By Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS, March 26 (Reuters) - The United States accused Sri Lanka on Thursday of breaking promises to stop shelling a no-fire zone where thousands of civilians are trapped by fighting between separatists and government forces.

Sri Lanka rejected the allegation, saying the Sri Lankan military was not using heavy weapons to attack the separatist-held, no-fire zone in northern Sri Lanka.

"We are very concerned that the government of Sri Lanka continues its shelling of areas where there are large numbers of civilians, very close to hospitals, very close to civilian facilities," Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Rosemary DiCarlo told reporters.

"We have urged the government of Sri Lanka to cease the shelling near civilian areas," she said after the U.N. Security Council met informally behind closed doors to discuss Sri Lanka. "We've had promises, but we need to see results."

Sri Lanka's Ambassador H.M.G.S. Palihakkara rejected the accusation, though he acknowledged that the government was returning fire when attacked by Liberation Tamil Tiger Eelam (LTTE) forces from inside the no-fire zone.

"They (government forces) are not firing heavy weapons into the safe zone," he said. "Because (Sri Lanka's) forces have come so close to the military safe zone there is no sense in firing at short-range heavy weapons."

"As you know, the LTTE is firing from the no-fire zone," he said, adding that the automatic return fire might have resulted in some civilian casualties, but not deliberately.

As expected, the council took no action at Thursday's informal meeting on Sri Lanka.

HUMAN SHIELDS

U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes said dozens of civilians were dying every day and that about 150,000-190,000 remain trapped in the no-fire zone. He added that "forced recruitment" into the ranks of the Tamil Tigers continues.

DiCarlo and British Ambassador John Sawers were among the diplomats who expressed support for Holmes' appeal for a temporary ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid into the no-fire zone and civilians out of the enclave.

The Sri Lankan envoy said that was fine with his government, but not the Tamil Tigers. "The Sri Lankan government is ready to let the civilians go today," Palihakkara said. "The issue is the LTTE is not willing to let them go."

DiCarlo, Sawers and other council envoys criticized the Tamil Tigers, a group that Western governments have listed as a terrorist organization.

"We condemn the LTTE," DiCarlo said. "And we certainly condemn the fact that they use civilians as human shields."

U.N. diplomats said China and Russia are among those who oppose formal discussion of Sri Lanka, saying the fighting between Tamil Tigers and government forces represents no threat to international peace and security and was therefore no business of the council.

Sawers said it was not clear if the Security Council would take up the issue again, since it is not officially on its agenda.

The United Nations says the Tigers have forcibly kept people there as human shields or conscripts, and has warned the government against shelling the safe zone. It says 2,800 civilians have been killed since Jan. 20.

The government says it is not firing into the no-fire zone and that the U.N. numbers are unsubstantiated. The Tigers say people are choosing to stay with them.

Human Rights Watch has accused the government of indiscriminately shelling the no-fire zone where the civilians are. It also said the Tigers were forcing most civilians to stay. (Reporting by Louis Charbonneau)

Asia AmeriCares Helps Innocent Victims Trapped in Sri Lanka's Civil War Source: AmeriCares (1 day ago)

Asia IDP Shelter Assessment for Civilian Safety Zone (CSZ) - Mulattivu District, Sri Lanka Source: UNOSAT (3 days ago)

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader R. Sampanthan speaks during a news conference in Colombo March 26, 2009. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam-allied TNA on Thursday told a news conference they ...

Sri Lanka: UN relief chief reiterates concerns over civilians trapped by fighting

2009-03-26T22:19:00.001-07:00

Sri Lanka: UN relief chief reiterates concerns over civilians trapped by fighting
[Civilians continue to flee fighting in the north of Sri Lanka]

Civilians continue to flee fighting in the north of Sri Lanka
26 March 2009 – The top United Nations relief official today repeated the world body’s concerns over the safety of civilians – numbering as high as 190,000 – trapped by fighting in northern Sri Lanka between Government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Addressing reporters after an interactive Security Council discussion on Sri Lanka, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, John Holmes, characterized the situation as “extremely worrying.”

Forced recruitment continues within the combat zone, and the LTTE is not allowing civilians out of the area, he said.

According to the UN, the conflict zone shrank from 300 square kilometres to nearly 58 square kilometres in February, with many civilians – Mr. Holmes today put the number between 150,000 and 190,000 – sheltering in a 14-square kilometre “no-fire” zone in the Vanni region.

“Our first appeal is to the LTTE to let the civilians out in a safe and orderly fashion,” Mr. Holmes said.

He also called on the Government to do all they can to avert civilian casualties and to not use heavy weapons in the area.

The official said he also reiterated a call for a “humanitarian pause” in fighting to allow much-needed relief in and to allow people to leave.

Those uprooted by fighting who are trapped in the no-fire zone have limited access to food, safe water, sanitation facilities and medical assistance, with the International Red Cross delivering a two-week supply of medicines aboard a ship to the zone and the World Food Programme (WFP) preparing to send 1,000 tons of food to the area by the end of the week.

Since January, over 40,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) have escaped the conflict zone into makeshift camps, located mostly in Vavuniya, as well as Mannar and Jaffna, and nearly 4,000 shelters have been constructed at various IDP sites in Vavuniya District, where the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is setting up a temporary medical facility.

“We have a separate set of concerns over the situation in the camps and transit centres,” Mr. Holmes said today, calling for conditions in these sites to meet international standards.

Following a visit to Sri Lanka, he told the Security Council last month that movement into and out of these camps is “currently highly and unacceptably restricted.”

Tamils Against Genocide is a part of Ilankai Tamil Sangam Human Rights Organization seeking legal remedies in US Courts against the Human Rights viol

2009-03-26T02:15:00.000-07:00

Tamils Against Genocide is a part of Ilankai Tamil Sangam Human Rights Organization working in the US. Their Attorneys Bruce Fein and Prof. Francis Boyle are seeking legal remedies in US Courts against the Human Rights violations of Gothabhaye Rajapakshe, Sri Lankan defense minister, a US citizen and General Sarath Fonseke, a US green card holder (Permanent resident).

Tamils Against Genocide Sounds Alarm on Human Catastrophe in Sri Lanka; Highlights Eye Witness Reports of Genocide
HOLLAND, PA -- 03/25/09 -- Human rights organization

Posted : Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:40:13 GMT
Author : Ilankai Tamil Sangam
Category : Press Release
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HOLLAND, PA -- 03/25/09 -- Human rights organization Tamils Against Genocide issued a strongly worded statement today condemning the Sri Lankan government for practicing ethnic cleansing under the guise of fighting terrorism and highlighting evidence and eye witness accounts backing their assertions.

Statement by Tamils Against Genocide:

Tamils in Sri Lanka are facing a "Final Solution." A human catastrophe is unfolding as the Sri Lankan government is declaring military victory over the Tamil Tigers. They are continuing their ethnic cleansing of the Tamil civilian population with a vengeance under the guise of fighting terrorism.

Contradicting prior claims by the UN that they "don't count bodies," documents acquired by Tamils Against Genocide show the UN has now involuntarily admitted that the "minimum number of documented civilian casualties since 20 January 2009, as of 7 March 2009 in the conflict area of Mullaitivu Region [is] 9,924 casualties including 2,683 deaths and 7,241 injuries."

Eleven members of British Parliament have signed a letter, stating, "The Sri Lankan government has pursued a brutal military campaign in which it has bombed and shelled its own citizens, including those in government-designated 'safe zones,' displacing, injuring and killing many thousands of innocent civilians."

On March 4, the BBC reported that The International Committee of the Red Cross warns of "an impending humanitarian catastrophe" in Sri Lanka.

Patients tell MSF (Doctors Without Borders) that, "People are being shelled for days on end, with the dead and wounded surrounding them." The NGO stated there is a severe lack of medical care and not enough food and drinking water.

Eye witness accounts of Tamil civilians running for their lives from the killing are abundant. TamilsAgainstGenocide.com has posted a chilling eye witness account from a woman who visited the camps, describing the carnage and human suffering in horrific detail.

The Sri Lankan government apologizes to no one. They openly say they will incarcerate Tamils for years in the camps. They do not claim that it is "collateral damage," nor do they apologize for shelling hospitals, using cluster and incendiary bombs on densely packed civilians, threatening doctors to leave, ordering the UN and all NGOS to quit and closing off the whole war zone from journalists, diplomats, NGOs or observers.

On 3/13 Sec. of State Clinton told Pres. Rajapkse that the Sri Lankan Army should not fire into the civilian areas of the conflict zone.

The international community has been insisting on ceasefire to no avail. The Government of Sri Lanka has been warned of committing war crimes. Opening the war zone to journalists, NGOs, humanitarian aid, medicine and monitors has been repeatedly advised. Tamils have long sought the right of self determination in their homeland. Must we witness a holocaust again and wring our hands later?

The group urges reporters and concerned parties to visit TamilsAgainstGenocide.com to view eye witness accounts and more details on the crisis in Sri Lanka.

About Tamils Against Genocide:

Tamils Against Genocide is a part of Ilankai Tamil Sangam Human Rights Organization working in the US. Their Attorneys Bruce Fein and Prof. Francis Boyle are seeking legal remedies in US Courts against the Human Rights violations of Gothabhaye Rajapakshe, Sri Lankan defense minister, a US citizen and General Sarath Fonseke, a US green card holder (Permanent resident).

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Contact and Donation Information:
Tamilsagainstgenocide.com
267 364 5322
www.sangam.org

Immediate ceasefire, humanitarian access before political engagement - TNA MP

2009-03-26T02:14:00.001-07:00

Immediate ceasefire, humanitarian access before political engagement - TNA MP
[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 March 2009, 07:48 GMT]
S. Jeyananthamoorthy, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian from Batticaloa district on Thursday said that the TNA had decided not to engage in talks with the Sri Lankan President or anyone representing the SL state before a conducive environment for such political engagement is created by an immediate ceasefire and unhindered humanitarian access to the suffering people of Vanni. The TNA would clarify the reasons in detail in a press meet in Colombo, he further said, condemning the abduction of the brother of Jaffna district MP Kajendran, barely 48 hours before the TNA was to decide its position on accepting an invitation for a meeting with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

S. Jeyananthamoorthy
The TNA was invited by the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to participate in a meeting to be chaired by him Thursday evening at 6:30 p.m. and the TNA had discussed the issue in an internal meeting on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the fate of Mr. Raveendran Selvarajah, a lecturer of the Jaffna University and the brother of MP Kajendran, was not known. Raveendran was abducted Tuesday night in the high security area behind the parliament.

Family members of TNA parliamentarians have earlier been harassed, especially during the time of budget voting.

Sri Lanka Shelling of No Fire Zone Noted at UN, Claims Pillay is Not UN

2009-03-24T18:44:00.000-07:00

Sri Lanka Shelling of No Fire Zone Noted at UN, Claims Pillay is Not UN

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, March 24 -- While in the UN Security Council the request of Mexico, the United States and the European Union members for a briefing on Sri Lanka remains pending, top UN Humanitarian John Holmes on Tuesday told the Press there is evidence of government shelling of the supposed No Fire Zone which, along with Tamil Tiger firing, "needs to stop." Video here, from Minute 49:45.

Inner City Press asked Holmes about the document leaked to Inner City Press from his Office describing 2,683 killings of civilians between January 20 and March 7. "You've seen that internal document," Holmes conceded, noting that the figures used by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay were "roughly comparable."

Ms. Pillay has said there is evidence of war crimes by both the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan government. Within the UN, surprise at some Security Council members' opposition to even hearing a briefing about the conflict and over 2,600 deaths continues to mount.

In Sri Lanka, Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona has been quoted in a pro-government newspaper that

"the UN has never come out with any allegations against the government on how it conducts the war. There are 193 countries in the UN and we haven’t heard any one of these members say anything to that effect either. It is wrong to make these statements as those reflective of the UN. Ms. Pillay is only the High Commissioner for Human Rights. She is not the UN."

Ban Ki-moon's spokespeople say he has told Sri Lanka's president, in telephone conversations, that the killing of civilians must stop. At the UN, when one asked the spokespeople for Secretary General Ban Ki-moon certain questions, they refer the question to their "colleagues" at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. As recently as March 23, Inner City Press asked Ban's Associate Spokesperson

Inner City Press: There are increasing reports that in the Gambia up to 1,000 people have been arrested and charged with witchcraft. Some of them disappeared. Amnesty International has issued a report about it. I haven’t seen this either from the Human Rights Commissioner or from the Secretariat. Has anyone from the UN system taken note of this development and had anything to say about it?

Associate Spokesperson: We’re aware of those developments. We don’t have any comment on that. If you want anything further, you might want to follow up with our colleagues in the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

So the claim that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights "is not the UN" is ludicrous.

UN's Ban and UN(HCHR) Pillay, Sri Lanka spin not shown

Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona further claims that as long as one of the five permanent members of the Security Council wants to block a briefing on Sri Lanka, a briefing cannot happen. This is not true, as the Council's proceedings on Zimbabwe for example show.

Minister Kohona has said that

"There is no way you can compare our situation to what happened in Zimbabwe, and the situation would have to be so dire and every other option eliminated before one would get to that. The main mandate of the UN is of international peace and security, and the member countries have expressed confidence that the situation in Sri Lanka doesn’t call for such concern. The situation in Sri Lanka is not anywhere near a threat to international peace and security. The only one posing such a threat is the LTTE."

On the civilian killed figures, Sri Lanka already surpasses Zimbabwe, which was deemed a threat to international peace and security. Much less deadly Haiti, too, is on the Security Council's agenda. It is the "situation" that is considered, and if even one party, as conceded above, is called such a threat, the legal threshold is met.

UNICEF, which Inner City Press asked last week about funding for government-run detention camps, has now responded:

Subj: Sri Lanka
From: UNICEF spokesman
To: Inner City Press
Sent: 3/24/2009 1:24:43 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time

In response to your oral questions about Sri Lanka late last week, UNICEF’s focus at present is on providing assistance to thousands of children who are in need of humanitarian support. UNICEF is working with partners to ensure that the 40,000 IDPs who have left the conflict zone have access to:

* safe water and proper sanitation;

* nutrition support for children and pregnant and lactating women;

* temporary learning spaces, so children can continue their schooling;

* psychosocial support for children who need it; and

* urgent assistance for unaccompanied or separated children.

Many of these children have been through very difficult experiences. Some have been displaced multiple times in the past 12 months. UNICEF currently has access to children in the camps.

The issue of freedom of movement was raised by USG Holmes last week and is being discussed with the Government by the UN's Country Team in Sri Lanka. Whilst these discussions continue, UNICEF will continue its efforts to meet the emergency needs of a growing number of children.

While understanding UNICEF's logic, the fact remains that the agency is participating in what many called internment camps. Watch this site.

Footnotes: from mail received, and for example Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona's above-quoted statements, one infers a blinding rage, not unlike from some in another recently conflict, that any focus on civilian deaths only helped a group called terrorist. It is ironic that some of those supporting the Sri Lankan government's attempt to block any UN Security Council hearing of the issue were loudly concerned with the other situation, and chided the UN for not doing enough.

Human Rights Watch, citing Inner City Press' publication of the leaked January 20-March 7 UN casualty figures, reported an updated that "a copy of the patient list from the makeshift hospital in Putumattalan on file with Human Rights Watch contains the names of 978 people brought to the hospital from March 1 to March 10. According to the list, 79 adults and 40 children died, while 646 adults and 213 children were injured."

Viewed through the prism of another conflict, while the UN due to pushing from the US and UK and others was quick to release casualty figures for Darfur, it has tried to withhold its Sri Lanka casualty figures, until they were leaked to Inner City Press. Does this mean that the UK and US are, despite public claims to the contrary, not pushing very hard? Watch this site, including on issues surrounding the proposed IMF loan to Sri Lanka, including to “continue with the resettlement, rehabilitation and reconstruction work in the Northern Province.” The Sri Lankan government has asked the IMF to finalize negotiations on the loan by March 31...

Click here for Inner City Press March 12 UN debate

Click here for Inner City Press' Feb 26 UN debate

Click here for Feb. 12 debate on Sri Lanka http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/17772?in=11:33&out=32:56

Click here for Inner City Press' Jan. 16, 2009 debate about Gaza

Click here for Inner City Press' review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate

Click here for Inner City Press' December 24 debate on UN budget, Niger

Click here from Inner City Press' December 12 debate on UN double standards

Click here for Inner City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics

and this October 17 debate, on Security Council and Obama and the UN.

* * *

These reports are usually also available through Google News and on Lexis-Nexis.

Click here for a Reuters AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click here for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund. Video Analysis here

Interesting story from a Tamil Canadian family:

2009-03-24T14:39:00.000-07:00

From: Ananthashankar Kandiah, Canada, 9 February 2009
In Tamil Nation:

I got this from a friend of mine. I thought it's very interesting. Please spend some time to read it and pass it on to your friends. I think everyone should hear this story.

Monday after hearing what was going on in Sri Lanka, I was so depressed and felt helpless. I didn't know what to do to help the suffering people there. I was so angry with the International Community for allowing the SL government to commit such atrocities. Despite all the protests and campaigning was done by Tamils in Canada, the Canadian Government kept a tight lip about the whole thing and did not want to intervene. All this really bothered me. I felt that I had to do something to make this country act, but didn't know how.

When I arrived home from work that evening, I saw my daughters in front of the TV enjoying one of their favorite sitcoms. Then it hit me hard, here I was blaming and complaining about Canada and the world not helping save the lives of millions of Tamils in Sri Lanka, while my own daughters didn't have a clue about the situation in Sri Lanka. So I turned off the TV and tried to tell them how our family and friends back home were suffering in a 30 years old bloody civil war. Their reaction at first was somewhat caught me by surprise. My daughters got upset at me for not letting them watch their show and sprinted off to their room upstairs rudely without listening to what I had to say.

This made my day ever more sad and depressing but little later I realized my mistake. I realized that no matter how hard I try, my daughters would never listen unless they wanted to. So I put a lot of thought into how I would make my daughters know about the genocide against Tamils back home. It's not that they are not compassionate girls; it was only a month ago when both of them cried while watching Hotel Rwanda and called the Christian children foundation and adopted a child in their mother's name.

What is happening in Sri Lanka is in no way shorter than what happened in Rwanda. But when ever I tried to tell them this, it didn't really grasp them as the movie did. How could I do this then, I couldn't make a movie as I can barely afford to have cable at our home. After a while, it came to me, I got an idea.

Yesterday, I stayed home and didn't go to work. After my daughters had gone to school, I went into the kitchen and started clearing out all the food items in the fridge and cabinets. I went through the whole house and made sure that there were no food items in the house. I put them all in a big box and took the box out and put it in my car. I knew with the cold temperature outside, none of the food would go bad. I came back and waited for my daughters to come from school.

My daughters are fourteen and twelve years old, they lost their mother 5 years ago to breast cancer. Since then, I become their mother and father by doing everything for them. My daughters come home very hungry after school everyday and eat what I have left for them in the fridge. Yesterday both of them came home from school around 3:45. As I expected, they went directly to the fridge. To their shock, there wasn't any food. In fact, they had never seen the fridge so empty, not even milk. Soon they were looking around in the kitchen and it didn't take them long before they realize that there was something very wrong.

My younger daughter came up to me and asked where her meal was. Her sister also joined her expecting a perfectly valid answer from me. Calmly I replied, "We won't be eating anything tonight". I gave one whole minute for their protest to settle down so I can make my point. Calmly I continued, I told them that we would not be eating because we wanted to feel the pain our relatives feel in Sri Lanka. My younger daughter continued with her usual nagging cry by demanding her food right away not wanted to listen to anything I had to say. I promised them that if they were willing to listen to me for 15 minutes, then they could have their meals. So they obeyed.

I started telling them about how thousands of kids younger than them were starving for many days now. First they were kind of reluctant to hear what I had to say, but after spotting tears in my eyes they were with me. I don't usually get emotional that easily, but as I started explaining the situation in Sri Lanka to them my voice was tumbling and I couldn't control the tears in my eyes. Every word that came out of my mouth was heartfelt. After good 10 minutes in to the speech, I think both of my girls saw what I wanted them to see. They came closer and hugged me as I continued with the story. As I finished telling them what had happened to the 300 innocent children and women and men in Sri Lanka I realized I wasn't the only one crying.

My youngest who wanted to listen to me for 15 minutes earlier so she could have her dinner, broke the pin drop silence of 5 minutes after I finished what I had to say and said she is skipping her meal that night. My eldest followed her and all three of us skipped our meals for that evening. Rest of the night we drank water and talked about lot of things, not just about the issues back home, but also about our family. We felt, or at least I did, that somehow we got even closer to each other. It seemed that by some magical spell or something they got matured all of a sudden. They showed a new kind of love and respect for me. It wasn't easy for me to watch them go to sleep in empty stomachs, specially the young one, but it helped us a lot as a family. Some invisible void that was there which I could never point to before was gone after that night.

The next day they woke up early and came right to the kitchen where I already had their breakfast ready. We all had our breakfast and as usual they left to school and I went to work. This even when I got home, I got a call from my older daughter's school teacher. She said that how my daughter explained to the class about what had happened in Sri Lanka and how she gave up her dinner the night before and how the entire class decided to skip lunch tomorrow for the Tamil people suffering in Sri Lanka. My eyes were watery and I was ready to break down into tears. Is this the beginning of a sign of hope for the lives of the Sri Lankan Tamils? Time will tell.

No Let-Up in Army Shelling of Civilians in Vanni.

2009-03-24T01:19:00.000-07:00

No Let-Up in Army Shelling of Civilians

HRWTC0324.jpg Tamil Tigers Unwilling to Release Their Hold on 150,000 People

(New York, March 23, 2009) – The Sri Lankan army, despite government denials, is indiscriminately shelling the “no-fire zone” in northern Sri Lanka where thousands of civilians are trapped by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Human Rights Watch said today, citing new information from the region. More than 2,700 civilians have reportedly been killed over the last two months, and the number of casualties rises daily.

“We receive reports of civilians being killed and wounded daily in the ‘no-fire zone, while the Sri Lankan government continues to deny the attacks,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The Tamil Tigers’ use of civilians as human shields adds to the bloodshed.”

A doctor at the makeshift hospital in Putumattalan, inside the government-declared “no-fire zone,” told Human Rights Watch over the phone early today that dozens of dead and wounded civilians were being brought to the hospital daily. The interview was interrupted by shelling, audible over the phone; the doctor later explained that an artillery shell had struck approximately 250 meters from the hospital, killing two civilians and wounding seven others. Another shell struck about a kilometer from the hospital, also killing and wounding civilians. (To view a map including the affected areas, please visit: http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/srilanka_hpsl/Files/Geographic%20Maps/Miscellaneous%20Maps/LKM0286_COL_Northern_SEC_Northern%20Area%20map_SEC_V4_16Feb09com.pdf )

When Human Rights Watch spoke to the doctor at about 5 p.m., he said the hospital had received 14 bodies and 98 wounded that day. He told Human Rights Watch that the shelling appeared to come from the direction of government positions three kilometers to the west.

The doctor described another artillery attack inside the no-fire zone on March 21, 2009:

“Between 10 and 11 a.m. on March 21, a shell hit a shelter about 200 meters from a church in Valayanmadam [three kilometers south of Putumattalan]. When I went to the site in the evening, two bodies were still lying at the site, while three bodies had already been buried. Nine people had been injured.”

The Sri Lankan government continues its official denials of any attacks in the no-fire zone, including in discussions with top international officials. For example, in his phone conversation with the United Nations secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, on March 17, President Mahinda Rajapaksa claimed that “no firing whatever was being carried out on the No Fire or Safe Zones declared by the security forces.” (For more information, please visit: http://www.slmfa.gov.lk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1663&Itemid=75 ).

Collecting accurate information from the conflict zone is extremely difficult, as the government continues to block access for media and independent observers.

Civilian casualties in the 25-year-old armed conflict with the LTTE have skyrocketed since January. According to a UN document reprinted in the media, the UN country team in Sri Lanka has documented 2,683 civilian deaths and 7,241 injuries in the six weeks from January 20 to March 7 (http://www.innercitypress.com/3832_001.pdf ). A copy of the patient list from the makeshift hospital in Putumattalan on file with Human Rights Watch contains the names of 978 people brought to the hospital from March 1 to March 10. According to the list, 79 adults and 40 children died, while 646 adults and 213 children were injured.

Human Rights Watch said that the LTTE continued to prevent 150,000 Tamil civilians from leaving the conflict zone and effectively used them as human shields. During the last two months LTTE only permitted about 4,000 injured civilians and their caretakers to be evacuated by ferryboat by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

In one incident reported to Human Rights Watch, a local employee of an international aid agency was wounded and several of his family members killed by a shell that hit a shelter in Putumattalan on March 21. According to information that the aid agency received from its staff on the ground, the employee sustained serious head wounds and his situation is considered critical unless he receives medical treatment. Despite several days of negotiation, however, the LTTE has refused to allow the ICRC to evacuate the man.

On March 17, another aid volunteer was wounded as a result of shelling in the no-fire zone. He did not get needed medical attention and died. (For more information, please visit: http://www.care.org/newsroom/articles/2009/03/srilanka-CARE-aid-worker-killed-20090318.asp?s_src=170960110000&s_subsrc= ).

The situation of the civilians trapped in the conflict zone is aggravated by the acute shortage of food, sanitary facilities, and medication, as international humanitarian agencies cannot deliver sufficient supplies to the conflict area.

A volunteer at the hospital today told Human Rights Watch: “It is really difficult for people to find food, and you can see that over the last four weeks people have lost weight and they get sick because of lack of nutritious food, [lack of adequate] bathing and toilet facilities, as well as lack of medicines in the hospital. We are in a very, very desperate situation. People are suffering.”

Top UN officials, including the secretary-general, the under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, and the high commissioner for human rights, as well as a number of concerned states, have called on the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE to make protecting civilians a top priority and to take all necessary measures to halt the spiraling humanitarian disaster.

“The Sri Lankan government has responded to broad international concerns with indignation and denials instead of action to address the humanitarian crisis,” said Adams.

Human Rights Watch called on the UN Security Council to put Sri Lanka on its agenda and to address urgently the deteriorating situation. It also called on Sri Lanka’s key bilateral partners, such as Japan, the United States and India, to make the safety of the trapped civilians a top priority in any discussions of financial assistance.

Last week, Human Rights Watch sent a letter to members of the board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) about the government’s request for a US$1.9 billion loan to address its financial crisis and, according to the Sri Lankan Central Bank’s request, to “continue with the resettlement, rehabilitation and reconstruction work in the Northern Province.” It has asked the IMF to finalize negotiations on the loan by March 31.

In its letter, Human Rights Watch emphasized that the government’s current policies and practices are counterproductive to the stated goal of the IMF loan and urged that IMF board members discuss concrete action the government needs to take to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in the north.

To read the February 2009 Human Rights Watch report, “War on the Displaced: Sri Lankan Army and LTTE Abuses against Civilians in the Vanni,” please visit:

http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2009/02/19/war-displaced

To listen to an audio recording of a telephone interview with Human Rights Watch that was interrupted by shelling near Putumattalan in Sri Lanka, please visit:

http://www.hrw.org/en/audio/2009/03/23/civilians-take-cover-sri-lanka

For photos of the aftermath of shelling in the vicinity of Putumattalan and Valayanmadam, Sri Lanka, please contact Ella Moran in New York: morane@hrw.org

For more information, please contact:

In New York, Anna Neistat (English, Russian): +1-212-377-9491; or +1-443-812-9640 (mobile)
In New York, James Ross (English): +1-212-216-1251; or +1-646-898-5487 (mobile)

Posted by transCurrents on March 23, 2009 08:03 PM | Permalink

HRW: Letter to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Sri Lanka's Emergency Support Loan Request

2009-03-24T01:18:00.001-07:00

HRW: Letter to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Sri Lanka's Emergency Support Loan Request

March 23, 2009

International Monetary Fund
700 19th Street NW
Washington, DC 20431

Re: Sri Lanka Emergency Support Loan

Dear Executive Directors:

We are writing regarding Sri Lanka's request to the International Monetary Fund for a US$1.9 billion emergency support loan to cover the costs of immediate government functions and to pay for post-conflict resettlement.

Based on our recent field research on the humanitarian situation in the northern Vanni area, we are deeply concerned that an emergency support loan for post-conflict resettlement will not achieve its intended objectives unless the Sri Lankan government takes serious steps to safeguard the rights of internally displaced persons and ensure an effective humanitarian response to the immediate conflict and post-conflict situations.

HRWTC0324SH.jpg

[Sri Lanka: Shelling of Civilians-click for more pictures on HRW.org]

As you may be aware, the current humanitarian situation in the Vanni is dire. Since early January 2009, civilian casualties in the fighting between government forces and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have skyrocketed. More than 2,800 civilians are believed to have been killed and another 7,000 wounded in the past two months alone. Approximately a quarter of a million people have been displaced by the recent fighting, of which some 35,000 are now at government centers.

According to a March 13 statement by the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights, Navi Pillay: "Certain actions being undertaken by the Sri Lankan military and by the LTTE may constitute violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. We need to know more about what is going on, but we know enough to be sure that the situation is absolutely desperate." On March 17 the Sri Lanka delegation head of the International Committee of the Red Cross stated: "The humanitarian situation is deteriorating by the day. Many of these people are forced to shelter in trenches. They are in considerable physical danger."

Human Rights Watch has reported extensively on laws of war violations by both government forces and the LTTE during the recent fighting. The LTTE has unlawfully prevented civilians from fleeing to safer areas and deployed their forces amid the population. Government forces continue to fire artillery indiscriminately into areas they have declared to be safe zones. Both sides have resisted calls from intergovernmental bodies and states to permit a humanitarian evacuation of the population.

We have also raised concerns regarding the treatment of internally displaced persons, which has direct relevance to the post-conflict resettlement for which the government is seeking funding. The plight of internally displaced persons has been exacerbated by the Sri Lankan government's decision in September 2008 to order most humanitarian agencies out of the Vanni. The government's own efforts to bring in food, medical supplies, and other relief with a minimal role for the United Nations have been insufficient. Internally displaced persons who escape LTTE territory to what they hope is safety within government-controlled areas have been placed in "welfare centers" that are effectively detention camps. All internally displaced persons who cross to the government side, including entire families, are sent to internment centers, which are military-controlled, barbed-wire camps where there are no rights to liberty and freedom of movement. Humanitarian agencies have tenuous access, but do so at the risk of supporting a long-term detention program for civilians fleeing a war.

We also have serious doubts that the government will honor its pledge to allow the vast majority of internally displaced persons to return to their homes by the end of the year, or to resettle in other areas of their choosing. Long-term displacement of civilians has been a major problem throughout the 25-year-long civil conflict in Sri Lanka. Besides the thousands who have remained refugees abroad, many internally displaced persons have simply not been permitted to return home or resettle; for instance, many Muslims forced to flee their homes to escape fighting in 1990 remain in "welfare centers" to this very day.

The Sri Lankan government says that the aim of the IMF loan is to "continue with the resettlement, rehabilitation and reconstruction work in the Northern Province, and the continued rapid development of the Eastern Province," which it considers essential "not only to uplift the living standards of the people in the areas affected by the decades long conflict, but also to successfully implement the government's efforts to bring a sustainable solution to the conflict."

Unfortunately, the government's current policies and practices are counterproductive to the intended goal of the IMF loan. First, the government's continuing disregard for the rights and well-being of civilians in the Vanni, who are almost entirely ethnic Tamil, erodes the trust of the Tamil population generally, making post-conflict stability and a lasting political settlement less likely. Manifestations of this disregard can be found in the government's preventing humanitarian access to the Vanni, continuing indiscriminate shelling of civilians trapped by the LTTE, and the indefinite detention civilians in camps.

Second, successful resettlement, reconstruction, and rehabilitation is conditioned upon the government respecting and facilitating the right of internally displaced persons to return to their homes. The government's apparent distrust of the displaced population, evidenced by the tight military control over camps and even hospitals, and past practices raise serious questions about the government's intentions with regards to returns.

Human Rights Watch believes that unless the government addresses these basic concerns, the emergency funds sought will not achieve their intended humanitarian purpose. To ensure that funds provided are not wasted or misapplied, appropriate safeguards should be put into place. These would include, as set out below, immediate steps to alleviate the humanitarian crisis, and longer term safeguards attached to the post-conflict reconstruction that this loan will support.

Human Rights Watch calls on both parties to the conflict in Sri Lanka to abide by international humanitarian law and take urgent measures to permit the humanitarian evacuation of civilians from the conflict area in the Vanni. Specifically, the Sri Lankan government should immediately take the following steps to alleviate the humanitarian crisis:

- Rescind the order of September 15, 2008, restricting international humanitarian agencies from conducting relief operations in the Vanni.

- Ensure that camps for displaced personsin the northrespect the basic rights of those residing there.The camps should be under civilian authority, residents shouldenjoy the right tofreedom of movement due all Sri Lankan citizens, and impartial humanitarian agencies should have access to the centers without unnecessary restrictions.

The Sri Lankan government should also adopt the following longer term measures to address post-conflict reconstruction. Consistent with the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, the Sri Lankan government should:

- Establish conditions that would allow internally displaced persons to return voluntarily, in safety and with dignity to their places of residence, or be allowed to resettle elsewhere in the country. The government should ensure the full participation of displaced persons in the planning and management of their return.

- Assist internally displaced persons in the recovery of their property and possessions, and, when this is not possible, assist in obtaining appropriate compensation or other redress.

- Grant and facilitate the participation of international humanitarian organizations in assisting internally displaced persons in their return or resettlement.

We appreciate your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Brad Adams

Executive Director
Asia Division

Rohitha Bogollagama and RAW - Indian Espionage Agency

2009-03-24T01:07:00.001-07:00

Rohitha Bogollagama and RAW - Indian Espionage Agency

Interesting information has been revealed in the Indian media about the “connection” between Sri Lankan Foreign affairs minister Rohitha Bogollagama and India’s espionage and intelligence agency the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).

According to an article written by Saikat Datta in the prestigious Indian newsmagazine “Outlook India” the Sri Lankan minister’s daughter was admitted to an Indian higher educational institution to pursue medical studies through the efforts of RAW.

Though RAW got Ms. Bogollagama admission through its influence it was unable to ensure high grades in examinations for the ministerial off – spring and hence her dismal academic record threatened her continuance there.

Bogollagama had also rented out his house in Colombo to a RAW agent , Ravi Nair with whom the minister quarrelled later due to disagreement over purchasing expensive furniture.

Bogollagama allegedly “fixed” the RAW official by framing him as having links with a Chinese spy. Ravi Nair was recalled to India and it was only later that a discovery was made about Bogollagama having orchestrated the entire episode.

There is also a reference in the article about Indian High Commissioner Alok Nath’s displeasure about a woman RAW official stationed in Colombo who is allegedly overstepping her limits.

The Indian envoy is demanding that New Delhi recall her immediately.

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[file pic-Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama]

The full article is reproduced here , courtesy of “Outlook India”:

There's A Spy In My Soup

The new RAW chief takes over at a time when morale is at an all-time low and 'recall' cases are rising by the day

by Saikat Datta

Foreign Locales, Phoren Attitudes

* Berlin: RAW officer asked to return due to poor quality of intelligence and differences with his Intelligence Bureau counterpart.
* Colombo: Ambassador wants officer out for breach of protocol and meeting senior Sri Lankan officials/leaders.
* Brussels: Officer recalled after allegations of financial bungling and misappropriation of funds. Inquiry pending.
* Beijing: RAW operative recalled for allegedly "mishandling" her junior and compromising security by using the office computer to surf the Net.

In February this year, K.C. Verma, a 1971 batch police officer from the Jharkhand cadre, took over as chief of India's external intelligence agency, Research & Analysis Wing (RAW), and with it inherited the problems that have plagued the organisation for years.

In the last year or so, RAW has seen some of the highest recall rates of its officers from foreign postings, causing much embarrassment. Now a few more Indian ambassadors/high commissioners have written to the government complaining about RAW officers posted at their embassies/high commissions and seeking their recall. Last year saw the return of P. Hanniman, a joint secretary-level officer, from Brussels after allegations of financial bunglings and siphoning of secret funds surfaced.

This year there are pending requests from the Indian ambassador to Germany, Meera Shankar, requesting that a RAW officer, K. Jha, be recalled. Similarly, the Indian high commissioner in Sri Lanka, Alok Prasad, has complained about P. Rao, a woman officer posted in Colombo. Prasad feels that Rao's meetings with senior Sri Lankan dignitaries were an embarrassment. A similar request has been received from the Indian ambassador to Afghanistan.

Last year saw the sudden return of two RAW officers from Sri Lanka and China. Ravi Nair came back home from Colombo under a cloud, while Uma Mishra, a director-level officer posted in Beijing, was recalled after allegations of an affair between her subordinate and a Chinese interpreter surfaced. Mishra was accused of mishandling the entire affair as well as compromising security with a senior visiting IB officer accusing her of using his computer to surf the Net.

For Verma, these are issues he'll have to resolve quickly. His appointment comes after a three-year hiatus for him: he spent it outside the Indian intelligence community for health reasons. In between, he had bypass surgery and had taken over as Narcotics Control Bureau chief where he worked with P. Chidambaram, then the finance minister.

The P. Hanniman case will now be top priority. Hanniman is currently posted in Delhi and the inquiry against him for siphoning off secret funds in Brussels has been completed. Strangely enough, Hanniman seems to have survived till now because the inquiry report was kept pending by Gurinder Singh, a special secretary with RAW who has been sent abroad now as special security advisor to the government of Mauritius. Singh sat on the inquiry file for almost a year before sending it back without taking any decision, days before he left for Mauritius. RAW officers allege that Singh did it to protect a fellow IPS officer.

Meanwhile, the Indian high commissioner to Lanka has demanded that the lady officer posted in Colombo be recalled immediately. According to several officers familiar with the case, the high commissioner took umbrage on protocol issues saying the lady officer was overstepping her brief by independently meeting senior Sri Lankan officials.

In Germany, differences between an IB and RAW officer have led to the latter facing the prospect of being sent home in the next few weeks.A similar fate awaits the RAW officer in Kabul with the Indian ambassador there reportedly unhappy with his performance. Incidentally, this isn't the first time that India's RAW station in Germany has come under a cloud. Another IPS cadre officer was accused of forging the letterhead of the Pakistani ambassador to Germany a few years ago and passing fake letters/memos as intelligence gathered. When detected, he was immediately repatriated to his parent cadre state, Uttarakhand. He is currently facing a cbi inquiry in a corruption case.

What irks officers within RAW is the way these "requests" for withdrawal are treated by the government. Last year, when Ravi Nair was pulled out of Colombo, there were allegations of him being associated with a "Chinese spy". However, a subsequent inquiry revealed that the charges were blatantly false. Instead, it came to light that Sri Lankan foreign minister Rohitha Bogollagama had orchestrated the whole episode.

Apparently, Nair was Bogollagama's tenant in Colombo and had refused to pay for expensive furniture that the minister had ordered for the house. This dispute became a full-blown crisis when Bogollagama's daughter's continuance in AIIMS, Delhi, was threatened due to her dismal academic performance. (RAW had organised her admission but couldn't ensure the medical degree.) As differences came out into the open, Nair was immediately recalled, only to be proved innocent of the charges later. A similar dispute between the RAW officer in Germany and his IB counterpart led to the present impasse. The Indian ambassador, unimpressed with the quality of reports the officer was generating, raised the issue with the MEA, leading to the officer's imminent recall.

For Verma, these are tricky issues since a similar episode last year led to the resignation of RAW's China expert, Jaidev Ranade. A career intelligence officer, he was literally hounded out by the earlier secretary, Ashok Chaturvedi, on grounds that Ranade had not sought permission for his wife's employment with the World Bank. Embarrassed by Ranade's resignation, the pmo stepped in and issued orders to promote him to the post of additional secretary even though his resignation had been accepted.

RAW has always been bogged down by experienced officers leaving, citing harassment and nepotism. Sandip Joshi, who had done extensive work to break up the Khalistan movement, quit two years ago, while Vijay Tewatia, a joint secretary, was forced to take voluntary retirement after his wife, a doctor, took up an assignment with the UN.

Simultaneously, RAW has failed to attract new talent. It has recruited only six officers in the last eight years and continues to depend on officers on deputation who leave soon after completing a lucrative foreign posting. This has led to a severe drought of expertise and has left the ras cadre, raised specially to man the agency in the 1970s, demoralised and languishing in ignominy.

(Some names have been changed to keep identities secret)

Posted by transCurrents on March 23, 2009 08:08 PM | Permalink