HRW report exposes Sri Lankan government’s war crimes
By Sampath Perera
25 February 2009
wsws.org
A report released last Friday by the US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has provided a glimpse into the criminal character of the Sri Lankan government's war against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Entitled "End ‘War' on Civilians," it calls on the government to "immediately cease its indiscriminate artillery attacks on civilians in the northern Wanni region and its policy of detaining displaced persons in internment camps".
The HRW is no friend of the LTTE. The report criticises the LTTE's failure to allow civilians to leave its small remaining territory and its shooting at those who try. It also calls on the LTTE to stop placing its fighters near population centres. "With each battlefield defeat, the Tamil Tigers appear to be treating Tamil civilians with increased brutality," James Ross, HRW legal and policy director, said in a press release.
These allegations are routinely made by the Sri Lankan government to justify its war and repeatedly echoed in the local and international media. What the HRW report does, however, is to undermine the government's own lies, which are rarely challenged in the press. The government and the military have denied all responsibility for civilian casualties and where they have been proven, blamed them on the LTTE.
In its press release, the HRW is unequivocal: "The Sri Lankan government has indicated that the ethnic Tamil population trapped in the war zone can be presumed to be siding with the LTTE and treated as combatants, effectively sanctioning unlawful attacks. Sri Lankan forces have repeatedly and indiscriminately shelled areas crowded with displaced persons. This includes numerous reported bombardments of government-declared ‘safe zones' and of the remaining hospitals in the region."
According to the report, at least 2,000 civilians have been killed and another 5,000 wounded in the period since December 10. In response to growing international criticism, the government declared a safe area inside LTTE territory. Air force planes dropped leaflets appealing to civilians to move to this 35-square kilometre area. But as the report documents, the safe zones have been subjected to repeated artillery shelling by the Sri Lankan army.
A relief agency worker told the HRW of the text messages she had received from colleagues inside the zone. "From the evening of January 22 there was non-stop shelling until January 29. Our colleagues sent SMS-messages saying that they were seeing eight to 22 people killed every day. That was only what they saw," she said.
An eyewitness described the aftermath of one attack: "A woman was lying on her back with two infants, one of which apparently survived. A baby was hanging in the tree under which the family had sheltered. Another baby, decapitated, had been flung into the wire fence surrounding the playground. Lying face down next to the woman was her husband." Other eyewitness accounts confirm that the shelling came from army positions.
The government and military maintain a complete media blackout on any independent first-hand reporting on the war. Journalists and human rights groups are barred from the war zone and surrounding areas. The HRW compiled its information covertly over a two-week period in northern Sri Lanka. Its reporters interviewed members of local and international aid organisations, including UN agencies, medical personnel and civilians.
HRW was able to collect a list of patients received between January 1 and January 26 at the makeshift Puthukkudiyiruppu hospital inside LTTE-held territory. Over that period, 573 patients were admitted with "conflict injuries" and 75 of those died. The list provides one indication of the scale of civilian casualties in the current fighting.
Hospitals have also been shelled. The report lists 20 incidents in which hospitals came under attack from 15 December to 10 February. The shelling of the Puthukkudiyiruppu hospital finally forced its transfer to a school and community centre in the coastal village of Putumattalan. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has reported that this facility has also repeatedly come under artillery attack.
T. Satyamurthy, a doctor working at Putumattalan, provided a detailed account to HRW: "[O]n Friday [February 13], nearly 100 civilians were admitted for injuries; on Thursday [February 12] 87 [were] admitted. They have injuries from shells, burn marks, but we don't have basic medicine to treat them," he said.
The military has largely prevented relief supplies entering LTTE-held territory despite the fact that for weeks tens of thousands of refugees have been struggling to survive without adequate food, shelter, clothing and medical supplies. According to one aid agency, "One of the main reasons for the difficulty in organising convoys in and out of the Wanni was that the SLA [Sri Lankan army] and the LTTE were unable to agree on the route to be used."
The HRW recorded the accounts of eyewitnesses who described how the army had used food convoys to advance on LTTE positions. As a result, a convoy was fired on and delayed. The following day, a driver was injured in crossfire.
The report also focussed on the fate of civilians who, after fleeing LTTE territory, are incarcerated in "welfare camps" by the Sri Lankan security forces. HRW spokesman Ross explained: "All civilians who manage to escape the Tamil Tigers are held by the government in squalid government-controlled camps and hospitals with little access to the outside world. The government seems to be trying its best to keep its role in their ordeal away from public scrutiny."
The report detailed the screening process and warned of "fears of possible enforced disappearances and extra judicial killings," since the arbitrary detention of LTTE suspects is frequent. The screening involved three stages. "Very little information is available regarding the first two stages of screening and it is not possible to verify whether and to what extent detentions occur in these locations."
At Omanthai, the last checkpoint before refugees are dispatched to detention camps in Vavuniya, many men and women aged between 18-35 years, as well as several teenage children, have been detained by the security forces. The only observer allowed at the checkpoint, an ICRC official, was told to leave on February 7. The HRW explained that attempts by UN agencies to obtain lists of detainees and their whereabouts from Sri Lankan authorities had so far proved futile.
The situation at Vavuniya hospital was appalling. Several sources reported: "Patients were being discharged—and sent straight to the camps—long before their injuries were healed." In one case, a woman had been injured by shelling, had one of her feet amputated and had given birth by Caesarean section. She was discharged four days later.
The HRW press release explained: "The hospital in Vavuniya mirrors the town's internment centres. When Human Rights Watch visited, it lacked even the most basic necessities: many of the hospital beds had no sheets, blankets, or pillows. Despite the obvious lack of capacity to attend to the needs of the wounded, the hospital personnel reportedly were instructed by the authorities not to ask for any assistance from the international agencies, and very few agencies were allowed access. Relatives have had difficulty seeing patients, and some have later been visited by the security forces.
"The hospital is essentially run by the military and guarded even more closely than the camps. Uniformed servicemen patrol every ward of the hospital, the corridors, and the hospital yard." An aid agency worker told HRW that he was aware of three incidents in which the relatives of patients "had gone missing" after visiting the hospital.
The government detains all refugees in the so-called welfare camps without exception. Several sources reported on the "presence of plainclothes military intelligence and paramilitaries" in these detention camps. Local staff members have recognised members of the Peoples Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE)—a Tamil paramilitary that operates closely with the military and is notorious for human rights abuses.
The response of the Sri Lankan government and media to the HRW report has been predictable. Government spokesmen and newspaper commentators accused the human rights body of having "tarnished the image of the government." In fact, the report confirms what has been evident for many months—that President Mahinda Rajapakse and his government are waging a vicious communal war against the country's Tamil minority and are guilty of war crimes.
New Today
* In address to Congress
Obama pledges bigger Wall Street bailout
* The debate over the nationalization of the banks
* HRW report exposes Sri Lankan government's war crimes
* Latvian government resigns as crisis deepens in Eastern Europe
* Iraqi elections underscore fragility of US occupation
more articles »
Sri Lanka
* HRW report exposes Sri Lankan government’s war crimes
* Human tragedy continues in northern Sri Lanka
* Indian government offers full support for Sri Lankan war
* Sri Lanka: War refugees to be detained in huge “welfare camps”
* A tribute to the SEP election campaign in Sri Lanka
more articles »
Southern Asia
* HRW report exposes Sri Lankan government’s war crimes
* Obama expands US military intervention in Pakistan
* Indian government offers full support for Sri Lankan war
* India: Supreme Court judge advocates “animal rights” for alleged terrorists
* Sri Lanka: War refugees to be detained in huge “welfare camps”
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Sri Lanka rupee falls in bizarre trade
Sri Lanka rupee falls in bizarre trade:
Feb 25, 2009 (LBO) - The Sri Lanka rupee fell to a new low of 114.80 against the US dollar in value tomorrow trade with buying from a state bank, while spot dollars continued to be offered at 113.85 also by a state bank, dealers said.
Sri Lanka's foreign exchange markets have taken a bizarre turn in the past few weeks with the gap between spot trading (deals settled after two days) and tom (value tomorrow or settlement one day later) widening.
Bizarre Trades
On Wednesday a state bank that represents the monetary authority continued to defend a peg with the US dollar on the spot market (value two days later) at 113.85, while on tom market the rupee fell to a low of 114.80 with also a state bank on the buy side.
The local currency was quoted around 114.80.85 in tom trade later in the day, dealer said, down from 114.50/55 levels a day earlier.
In a freely operating market, the price of tom dollar would be lower than spot as an extra day's interest would be incorporated in a spot deal. But in Sri Lanka now a spot dollar is almost a rupee cheaper than a tom dollar.
Sri Lanka's central bank started to defend a dollar peg (target the exchange rate) and also inject liquidity into the domestic monetary system to target interest rates and sterilized liquidity losses from peg defence in mid-September.
Such sterilized intervention, rapidly dissolves into a currency crisis, as it is not possible to print money (control interest rates) and target the exchange rate at the same time, without having exchange controls.
Suicidal Trinity
This process is recognized as the 'impossible trinity' of monetary policy.
Since September the Central Bank has lost more than half its foreign reserves. In December official reserves were down to 1.7 billion US dollars.
This week the Central Bank's T-bill stock jumped to 184 billion rupees from 165 billion rupees a week earlier indicating further losses in foreign monetary reserves.
The overnight reserve shortage in the banking system climbed to 22 billion rupees Wednesday, indicating the volume of recent dollar peg defence.
The central bank has cut the reserve ratio effective from February 27 by 75 basis points releasing 9 billion rupees to the banking system.
Economic analysts say this brings the country nearer to a free float of the currency and a break of a 'soft' or non-credible peg with the US dollar.
Sri Lanka had a 'credible' or 'hard' peg with the Sterling pound until 1950 when the mechanism was abandoned in favour of a money printing central bank, paving the way for currency crises and depreciation.
The weakness of the currency also triggered foreign selling on a 4-year bond, dealers said.
An easing of the exchange rate would also help restore macro-economic equilibrium and improve the competitiveness of exporters that has been eroded in recent years by inflation triggered by heavy money printing by the central bank.
Feb 25, 2009 (LBO) - The Sri Lanka rupee fell to a new low of 114.80 against the US dollar in value tomorrow trade with buying from a state bank, while spot dollars continued to be offered at 113.85 also by a state bank, dealers said.
Sri Lanka's foreign exchange markets have taken a bizarre turn in the past few weeks with the gap between spot trading (deals settled after two days) and tom (value tomorrow or settlement one day later) widening.
Bizarre Trades
On Wednesday a state bank that represents the monetary authority continued to defend a peg with the US dollar on the spot market (value two days later) at 113.85, while on tom market the rupee fell to a low of 114.80 with also a state bank on the buy side.
The local currency was quoted around 114.80.85 in tom trade later in the day, dealer said, down from 114.50/55 levels a day earlier.
In a freely operating market, the price of tom dollar would be lower than spot as an extra day's interest would be incorporated in a spot deal. But in Sri Lanka now a spot dollar is almost a rupee cheaper than a tom dollar.
Sri Lanka's central bank started to defend a dollar peg (target the exchange rate) and also inject liquidity into the domestic monetary system to target interest rates and sterilized liquidity losses from peg defence in mid-September.
Such sterilized intervention, rapidly dissolves into a currency crisis, as it is not possible to print money (control interest rates) and target the exchange rate at the same time, without having exchange controls.
Suicidal Trinity
This process is recognized as the 'impossible trinity' of monetary policy.
Since September the Central Bank has lost more than half its foreign reserves. In December official reserves were down to 1.7 billion US dollars.
This week the Central Bank's T-bill stock jumped to 184 billion rupees from 165 billion rupees a week earlier indicating further losses in foreign monetary reserves.
The overnight reserve shortage in the banking system climbed to 22 billion rupees Wednesday, indicating the volume of recent dollar peg defence.
The central bank has cut the reserve ratio effective from February 27 by 75 basis points releasing 9 billion rupees to the banking system.
Economic analysts say this brings the country nearer to a free float of the currency and a break of a 'soft' or non-credible peg with the US dollar.
Sri Lanka had a 'credible' or 'hard' peg with the Sterling pound until 1950 when the mechanism was abandoned in favour of a money printing central bank, paving the way for currency crises and depreciation.
The weakness of the currency also triggered foreign selling on a 4-year bond, dealers said.
An easing of the exchange rate would also help restore macro-economic equilibrium and improve the competitiveness of exporters that has been eroded in recent years by inflation triggered by heavy money printing by the central bank.
Sri Lankan refugees face open-ended detention in camps
Sri Lankan refugees face open-ended detention in camps
Relieved to be out of the fighting, they also chafe at strict rules and often grim conditions.
By Simon Montlake | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
from the February 25, 2009 edition
Correspondent Simon Montlake discusses conditions at a Sri Lankan refugee camp he recently visited.
VAVUNIYA, SRI LANKA - The camp's dry goods store opened only a day ago, but its windows are already greasy and smudged from the many faces pressed up against it. As workers stack bags of rice, lentils, and flour on crude wooden shelves, war-weary Tamil refugees stare longingly inside. None have money to spend here, only time to kill.
Behind them, a resettlement camp for 2,800 people is taking on an air of permanence. Classrooms are being built to house the children who study outside in crisp white uniforms. A post office, bank, clinic, and vocational training center have already opened.
Inside razor-wired fences, soldiers patrol the dusty lanes. And there is relief and joy among those who escaped the battlefield carnage. But there is also frustration and anguish over the strict rules and the prospect of open-ended detention.
On a 1,000-acre site nearby, a vast refugee town for as many as 200,000 people is planned, as authorities brace for an even larger exodus from what appears to be the final stand of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). So far, some 32,000 of those fleeing the fighting have been evacuated to Vavuniya. Most are crammed into schools and other public buildings until more camps are carved out of the red-dirt soil.
For those in the most makeshift facilities, conditions are grim. "It's so bad here, I want to go back to the Vanni. We're like prisoners here," says Mr. Balachandran, who sleeps with 47 others on the floor of a squalid classroom.
Once the fighting is over, the Tamils of the Vanni, the final stronghold of the LTTE, are supposed to return home. Sri Lanka's government says it must first de-mine the conflict zone, a process that will take many months, if not years. To guard against LTTE subversion, refugees aren't permitted to leave the camps. Nor are visitors allowed in.
"We're not detaining anyone. We're not separating anyone. We're keeping them in a safe place," P.S.M. Charles, a district administrator, told reporters on a visit organized by the military.
A need to improve conditions
Authorities say conditions will improve once more camps are built and international aid flows more freely. Sri Lanka has asked foreign donors to shoulder much of the cost. A cash economy should emerge once work initiatives start within the camp, bringing customers to the newly opened cooperative store, whose manager reckons that its sunflower-yellow concrete walls will still be standing in three years' time.
Officials say a faster timetable is possible, once the fighting ends. "The government is trying to think in terms of getting 80 percent of people back [to their homes] by the end of the year," says Rajiva Wijesinha, secretary general of the government's peace secretariat.
A darker fate may await suspected rebels who cross as civilians into government-held areas, where the military tries to weed out LTTE infiltrators. The government says it has detained 32 self-confessed militants and is monitoring another 218 people in camps. But aid workers and church groups have received reports of men being separated from families at Kilinochchi, the rebel capital seized last month.
Western diplomats say they are pressing Sri Lanka to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross to monitor the screening and to register those who arrive. Government officials have publicly rebuffed the idea, however. They insist that as a sovereign power fighting domestic insurgents there is no legal requirement for international observers.
Aid workers point out that war refugees can easily be separated in the chaos and that those reported as missing may simply have been sent to other camps. Although the ICRC had begun helping to trace relatives, its program is currently on hold pending further talks with the government.
But there is some trepidation over a repeat of the tactics of the 1990s, when Tamil men taken out of military-run camps joined the ranks of Sri Lanka's disappeared. Some were later traced to detention centers, but many never came back. Fed by LTTE propaganda, such fears die hard among Sri Lanka's Tamil minority.
Still, the most pressing crisis is in the jungles of the Vanni where at least 70,000 civilians are caught between the advancing Army and the cornered LTTE, which has menaced those who seek to flee. While Sri Lanka has insisted that its troops are doing their best to limit civilian casualties, aid groups say the toll of dead and injured is rising.
"My biggest concern is that people are dying … the real crisis is up there," says Annemarie Loof, the country head of Médicins Sans Frontières, a relief agency working in the camps.
Refugees in Vavuniya tell of desperate treks through no man's land, dodging bullets and artillery shells that fell "like monsoon rain," before being evacuated. All cited the constant bombardment and lack of food and water in the war zone as the reason for their escape. Many said they had moved several times due to the fighting.
A dash across a battlefield
Devi Segaram, an English teacher, joined around 1,000 others who waited till dawn on Feb. 7 before cutting across a field that lay between the two forces. On their way out, they ran into a group of five LTTE soldiers, who fired warning shots to stop them. When the refugees kept running, the shots came closer, and two young boys fell down, she says. But Ms. Segaram and her daughter, a high-school graduate, didn't hesitate.
"We came running. I held her hand, and we just kept running," she says. Within half an hour, they caught sight of soldiers who called them over with a megaphone. Within days, she was in the camp.
Now she says her hope is eventually to be reunited with a son who lives in the capital, Colombo, far from her war-torn homeland.
Related Stories
Sri Lanka nears victory in long war with Tamil Tigers 01/27/2009
Fighting threatens Sri Lankan civilians 01/22/2009
Sri Lanka claims it's closing in on Tamil Tiger stronghold 09/29/2008
Relieved to be out of the fighting, they also chafe at strict rules and often grim conditions.
By Simon Montlake | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
from the February 25, 2009 edition
Correspondent Simon Montlake discusses conditions at a Sri Lankan refugee camp he recently visited.
VAVUNIYA, SRI LANKA - The camp's dry goods store opened only a day ago, but its windows are already greasy and smudged from the many faces pressed up against it. As workers stack bags of rice, lentils, and flour on crude wooden shelves, war-weary Tamil refugees stare longingly inside. None have money to spend here, only time to kill.
Behind them, a resettlement camp for 2,800 people is taking on an air of permanence. Classrooms are being built to house the children who study outside in crisp white uniforms. A post office, bank, clinic, and vocational training center have already opened.
Inside razor-wired fences, soldiers patrol the dusty lanes. And there is relief and joy among those who escaped the battlefield carnage. But there is also frustration and anguish over the strict rules and the prospect of open-ended detention.
On a 1,000-acre site nearby, a vast refugee town for as many as 200,000 people is planned, as authorities brace for an even larger exodus from what appears to be the final stand of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). So far, some 32,000 of those fleeing the fighting have been evacuated to Vavuniya. Most are crammed into schools and other public buildings until more camps are carved out of the red-dirt soil.
For those in the most makeshift facilities, conditions are grim. "It's so bad here, I want to go back to the Vanni. We're like prisoners here," says Mr. Balachandran, who sleeps with 47 others on the floor of a squalid classroom.
Once the fighting is over, the Tamils of the Vanni, the final stronghold of the LTTE, are supposed to return home. Sri Lanka's government says it must first de-mine the conflict zone, a process that will take many months, if not years. To guard against LTTE subversion, refugees aren't permitted to leave the camps. Nor are visitors allowed in.
"We're not detaining anyone. We're not separating anyone. We're keeping them in a safe place," P.S.M. Charles, a district administrator, told reporters on a visit organized by the military.
A need to improve conditions
Authorities say conditions will improve once more camps are built and international aid flows more freely. Sri Lanka has asked foreign donors to shoulder much of the cost. A cash economy should emerge once work initiatives start within the camp, bringing customers to the newly opened cooperative store, whose manager reckons that its sunflower-yellow concrete walls will still be standing in three years' time.
Officials say a faster timetable is possible, once the fighting ends. "The government is trying to think in terms of getting 80 percent of people back [to their homes] by the end of the year," says Rajiva Wijesinha, secretary general of the government's peace secretariat.
A darker fate may await suspected rebels who cross as civilians into government-held areas, where the military tries to weed out LTTE infiltrators. The government says it has detained 32 self-confessed militants and is monitoring another 218 people in camps. But aid workers and church groups have received reports of men being separated from families at Kilinochchi, the rebel capital seized last month.
Western diplomats say they are pressing Sri Lanka to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross to monitor the screening and to register those who arrive. Government officials have publicly rebuffed the idea, however. They insist that as a sovereign power fighting domestic insurgents there is no legal requirement for international observers.
Aid workers point out that war refugees can easily be separated in the chaos and that those reported as missing may simply have been sent to other camps. Although the ICRC had begun helping to trace relatives, its program is currently on hold pending further talks with the government.
But there is some trepidation over a repeat of the tactics of the 1990s, when Tamil men taken out of military-run camps joined the ranks of Sri Lanka's disappeared. Some were later traced to detention centers, but many never came back. Fed by LTTE propaganda, such fears die hard among Sri Lanka's Tamil minority.
Still, the most pressing crisis is in the jungles of the Vanni where at least 70,000 civilians are caught between the advancing Army and the cornered LTTE, which has menaced those who seek to flee. While Sri Lanka has insisted that its troops are doing their best to limit civilian casualties, aid groups say the toll of dead and injured is rising.
"My biggest concern is that people are dying … the real crisis is up there," says Annemarie Loof, the country head of Médicins Sans Frontières, a relief agency working in the camps.
Refugees in Vavuniya tell of desperate treks through no man's land, dodging bullets and artillery shells that fell "like monsoon rain," before being evacuated. All cited the constant bombardment and lack of food and water in the war zone as the reason for their escape. Many said they had moved several times due to the fighting.
A dash across a battlefield
Devi Segaram, an English teacher, joined around 1,000 others who waited till dawn on Feb. 7 before cutting across a field that lay between the two forces. On their way out, they ran into a group of five LTTE soldiers, who fired warning shots to stop them. When the refugees kept running, the shots came closer, and two young boys fell down, she says. But Ms. Segaram and her daughter, a high-school graduate, didn't hesitate.
"We came running. I held her hand, and we just kept running," she says. Within half an hour, they caught sight of soldiers who called them over with a megaphone. Within days, she was in the camp.
Now she says her hope is eventually to be reunited with a son who lives in the capital, Colombo, far from her war-torn homeland.
Related Stories
Sri Lanka nears victory in long war with Tamil Tigers 01/27/2009
Fighting threatens Sri Lankan civilians 01/22/2009
Sri Lanka claims it's closing in on Tamil Tiger stronghold 09/29/2008
Sri Lanka’s war on several fronts By Emily Wax
With government troops nearing victory, social and political issues still simmer
Sri Lanka’s war on several fronts
A soldier stands guard at a
check point in the Wanni
By Emily Wax
VAVUNIYA — Sandya Kanthi and her husband were once rice farmers. They tended paddies among the lush coconut groves and banana palms just outside this town. Now they are warriors, rifles in hand and neatly pressed khaki uniforms on their backs.
They are among an estimated 45,000 largely Sinhalese villagers who have joined what is known here as the Civil Defence Force — Sri Lanka’s version of the National Guard, a paramilitary civilian group — whose job is to defend villages, often in areas that have been attacked by ethnic Tamil separatist rebels in Asia’s longest-running insurgency. After a few weeks of weapons training, the villagers are given uniforms, guns and a monthly salary of about $140.
"We know our roads. We know the jungle. And we are the most successful when it comes to saving our villages," said Kanthi, 36, wearing a uniform top over her skirt, a rifle slung across her chest. The mother of two is among 400 civilians in Periyaulukkulama, 15 miles west of Vavuniya, some of whom joined forces after their village was attacked on the Sinhalese New Year in April 2007, reportedly by rebels, who killed four female civilian officers. "We want to save our motherland and fight the terrorists," Kanthi added. "We also know the war will end soon."
Arming of civilians
The increased arming of civilians in rural areas illustrates how Sri Lanka’s government has been able to push the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, to the brink of defeat after more than a quarter-century of sporadic fighting, cease-fires and failed negotiations.
The group has been fighting for a separate Tamil homeland in the north of this Indian Ocean island since the 1980s, but in the past few months it has lost more than 2,160 square miles of territory, including its main lair in Killinochchi. It now controls a 34-square-mile patch of jungle.
"At a time when other insurgencies seem to be growing — especially in neighboring Afghanistan and Pakistan — Sri Lanka has made stunning gains," said retired Lt. Gen. A.S. Kalkat, who commanded an Indian peacekeeping force in Sri Lanka nearly 20 years ago. "Though they have suffered heavy casualties, what they have done, at least in the short term, is a major victory."
End drawing near
But as an end appears to be drawing near, the Tigers continue to practice their brazen, often innovative warfare, including an air raid on the capital Friday night — a flashy show of power that left at least three people dead and 48 wounded. The Tigers invented the suicide jacket, a bomb-laden vest, and the ongoing suicide and guerrilla attacks will persist in Sri Lanka until the Tamil minority is fully participating in society, analysts and diplomats said.
Still, the Sri Lankan government is winning the conventional war, according to military and political analysts, who note that officials took several hard-line steps: They marshalled public opinion to their cause by painting the conflict as a war against terrorism; courted China for weapons without restrictions on their use; and skirted dissent by journalists, aid workers and civil society groups whose public scrutiny of the government and its war efforts was denounced as treasonous, human rights groups have charged.
"In a post-9/11 scenario, ‘terrorist’ became a very dirty word. The government suddenly had an advantage in the international arena in fighting the Tamil Tigers, an organisation that the FBI called ‘the most ruthless and efficient terror organisation in the world,’" said Kusal Perera, head of an independent news web site, Lankadissent.com. "The world scenario changed in favour of the government."
The government of President Mahinda Rajapakse, which came to power in 2005 amidst a wave of Sinhalese nationalism, has had a free hand to crush the separatists, diplomats here said. The majority of Sri Lankans were apparently fed up with the war that has killed at least 70,000 people and seemed willing to give the new President any powers necessary to bring about its end.
Enlarged its military
In just two years, the country enlarged its military by 40 percent, adding as many as 7,000 recruits a month. Officials sent text messages to youths and put patriotic pop hits on the radio. Sri Lanka’s military now has about 300,000 troops, military officials said.
The country’s Defence Secretary, Gotabaya Rajapakse, a brother of the President who once lived in California, is seen as the main architect of the government’s new strategy.
"We gave clear instructions: no ceasefires, no negotiations until we defeat the LTTE completely," he said in an interview. "The LTTE would use ceasefires and peace talks to reorganise and resupply weapons. There have been five presidents, eight governments, different political parties and different personalities, dozens of negotiations and more than 10 ceasefires. Everything failed. After every period of negotiation, they came back stronger. We decided enough was enough."
Rajapakse said the turning point in the war occurred in the halls of government when his brother was elected, not on the battlefield.
"For the first time, we have a clear vision. We had to end this militarily," said the Defence Secretary, who survived an assassination attempt by the LTTE. His commitment is personal, those who know him said.
Tamil Tigers have grown weaker
Some say the Tamil Tigers, as the group is commonly known, has grown weaker and lost popularity among civilians for its practice of forcing every family to send at least one fighter, often a child, into battle.
Since the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, the American government also became more diligent about shutting down funding for overseas insurgent groups. This month, the U.S. Treasury Department froze the assets of a Maryland-based charity, the Tamil Foundation, that officials accuse of funneling money to the Tiger rebels.
At the same time, the Sri Lankan government forged new relationships with China and Pakistan after the United States cut off direct military aid last year, mainly because of alleged human rights abuses and the use of children by a breakaway rebel faction now under the control of the government in the east, according to a State Department human rights report.
China’s assistance has jumped fivefold in the past year to nearly $1 billion; it is now Sri Lanka’s biggest donor. In 2007, Pakistan increased its annual military assistance loan to Sri Lanka by $31 million, bringing its total annual assistance to $80 million.
Diplomats and political experts said it is also easier for the Sri Lankan government to have a unified vision when the three most powerful people in the country — the President, the Defence Secretary and the President’s top adviser — are brothers.
"It’s a family affair"
"It’s a family affair," said Suresh K. Premachandran, a Tamil Member of Parliament and a critic of the administration. "They might be able to win the war, but they must still address its root cause: discrimination against many in the Tamil community."
Controlling information has also become a weapon in the war. Questioning the lack of transparency in the military offensive is seen as treasonous and often mocked.
Last year, John Holmes, the U.N. Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, called Sri Lanka one of the most dangerous places in the world for aid workers after the still-unsolved killing of 17 people employed by a French aid group in August 2006. Soon after Holmes’s comment, a cabinet minister accused him of being on the rebels’ payroll. Holmes is visiting the country, urging both sides to protect civilians.
"We have senior government officials who came on national TV and called journalists and human rights workers terrorists," said Lal Wickrematunge, whose brother, Lasantha Wickrematunge, 52, a journalist and fierce critic of the government, was killed last month by unknown gunmen. "This is a way to win the war: Keep all outside eyes off the battlefields. Anyone who wants to know the truth will be called unpatriotic."
To defeat the Tigers
Still, many Sri Lankans in this Sinhala Buddhist-majority nation of 21 million people eagerly support the Rajapakse government and its push to defeat the Tigers. Given this support, the Sri Lankan army has become more ruthless, some military analysts said, adopting the guerrilla-style warfare of the Tigers. The military has also lured top rebel commanders away from the battlefield with offers of government jobs.
Meanwhile, the country has become increasingly mobilised. Armed troops and checkpoints are common in this former South Asian tourist haven, with its neon-lit Buddhist shrines and palm-fringed beaches.
More than 150 miles from Colombo, in this dusty frontier town of Vavuniya, thousands of Sri Lankan army forces patrol the streets. Schools and community centres have been turned into military-run camps, sheltering the tens of thousands of Tamil civilians fleeing the civil war’s front lines just 50 miles north.
The heavily guarded camps are sealed off from most outsiders, including foreign journalists, leaving the condition of those inside open to conjecture and rumour.
A 45-page Human Rights Watch report released Friday said the camps are "internment centres masquerading as ‘welfare villages’ . . . where entire families detained in these military-controlled, barbed-wire camps are denied their liberty and freedom of movement." The government has defended the camps, saying they are closed for the security of those inside because Tamil insurgents might be mixing with the population.
End to "terrorism"
Just across from the camps, bright pink bougainvillea flowers dangle over billboards proclaiming an end to "terrorism" and the dawn of a new, united Sri Lanka, with children of the island’s various cultures beaming in their native dress, hands clasped as doves soar over the President’s smiling face.
But those visions will remain only a slogan unless the government addresses deep anger and fear among Tamils, who cite decades of resentment over what they said are discriminatory policies, analysts here said.
Taking shelter at a Vavuniya Buddhist temple amid the wavy aboveground roots of a banyan tree was Gonapinuwala Sumanasara Thero, 76, a Sinhalese Buddhist monk who has fled his home in the north several times since the first rebel uprising in 1983.
"We have been here before," he said. "In 1983, in 1996 and now, I have had to leave my home because of fighting."
This time, he escaped on a tractor with seven others, including a young mixed Tamil and Sinhalese couple and their baby.
"The problem in Sri Lanka is not about ethnicity," he said, adding that he visited the Tamils in the camps, donating water and food gathered by a Buddhist youth association. "It is a political problem that needs a political solution. The military solution is necessary to fight the terrorists. This war might end. But I may be dead by then."
— Courtesy Washington Post
Sri Lanka’s war on several fronts
A soldier stands guard at a
check point in the Wanni
By Emily Wax
VAVUNIYA — Sandya Kanthi and her husband were once rice farmers. They tended paddies among the lush coconut groves and banana palms just outside this town. Now they are warriors, rifles in hand and neatly pressed khaki uniforms on their backs.
They are among an estimated 45,000 largely Sinhalese villagers who have joined what is known here as the Civil Defence Force — Sri Lanka’s version of the National Guard, a paramilitary civilian group — whose job is to defend villages, often in areas that have been attacked by ethnic Tamil separatist rebels in Asia’s longest-running insurgency. After a few weeks of weapons training, the villagers are given uniforms, guns and a monthly salary of about $140.
"We know our roads. We know the jungle. And we are the most successful when it comes to saving our villages," said Kanthi, 36, wearing a uniform top over her skirt, a rifle slung across her chest. The mother of two is among 400 civilians in Periyaulukkulama, 15 miles west of Vavuniya, some of whom joined forces after their village was attacked on the Sinhalese New Year in April 2007, reportedly by rebels, who killed four female civilian officers. "We want to save our motherland and fight the terrorists," Kanthi added. "We also know the war will end soon."
Arming of civilians
The increased arming of civilians in rural areas illustrates how Sri Lanka’s government has been able to push the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, to the brink of defeat after more than a quarter-century of sporadic fighting, cease-fires and failed negotiations.
The group has been fighting for a separate Tamil homeland in the north of this Indian Ocean island since the 1980s, but in the past few months it has lost more than 2,160 square miles of territory, including its main lair in Killinochchi. It now controls a 34-square-mile patch of jungle.
"At a time when other insurgencies seem to be growing — especially in neighboring Afghanistan and Pakistan — Sri Lanka has made stunning gains," said retired Lt. Gen. A.S. Kalkat, who commanded an Indian peacekeeping force in Sri Lanka nearly 20 years ago. "Though they have suffered heavy casualties, what they have done, at least in the short term, is a major victory."
End drawing near
But as an end appears to be drawing near, the Tigers continue to practice their brazen, often innovative warfare, including an air raid on the capital Friday night — a flashy show of power that left at least three people dead and 48 wounded. The Tigers invented the suicide jacket, a bomb-laden vest, and the ongoing suicide and guerrilla attacks will persist in Sri Lanka until the Tamil minority is fully participating in society, analysts and diplomats said.
Still, the Sri Lankan government is winning the conventional war, according to military and political analysts, who note that officials took several hard-line steps: They marshalled public opinion to their cause by painting the conflict as a war against terrorism; courted China for weapons without restrictions on their use; and skirted dissent by journalists, aid workers and civil society groups whose public scrutiny of the government and its war efforts was denounced as treasonous, human rights groups have charged.
"In a post-9/11 scenario, ‘terrorist’ became a very dirty word. The government suddenly had an advantage in the international arena in fighting the Tamil Tigers, an organisation that the FBI called ‘the most ruthless and efficient terror organisation in the world,’" said Kusal Perera, head of an independent news web site, Lankadissent.com. "The world scenario changed in favour of the government."
The government of President Mahinda Rajapakse, which came to power in 2005 amidst a wave of Sinhalese nationalism, has had a free hand to crush the separatists, diplomats here said. The majority of Sri Lankans were apparently fed up with the war that has killed at least 70,000 people and seemed willing to give the new President any powers necessary to bring about its end.
Enlarged its military
In just two years, the country enlarged its military by 40 percent, adding as many as 7,000 recruits a month. Officials sent text messages to youths and put patriotic pop hits on the radio. Sri Lanka’s military now has about 300,000 troops, military officials said.
The country’s Defence Secretary, Gotabaya Rajapakse, a brother of the President who once lived in California, is seen as the main architect of the government’s new strategy.
"We gave clear instructions: no ceasefires, no negotiations until we defeat the LTTE completely," he said in an interview. "The LTTE would use ceasefires and peace talks to reorganise and resupply weapons. There have been five presidents, eight governments, different political parties and different personalities, dozens of negotiations and more than 10 ceasefires. Everything failed. After every period of negotiation, they came back stronger. We decided enough was enough."
Rajapakse said the turning point in the war occurred in the halls of government when his brother was elected, not on the battlefield.
"For the first time, we have a clear vision. We had to end this militarily," said the Defence Secretary, who survived an assassination attempt by the LTTE. His commitment is personal, those who know him said.
Tamil Tigers have grown weaker
Some say the Tamil Tigers, as the group is commonly known, has grown weaker and lost popularity among civilians for its practice of forcing every family to send at least one fighter, often a child, into battle.
Since the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, the American government also became more diligent about shutting down funding for overseas insurgent groups. This month, the U.S. Treasury Department froze the assets of a Maryland-based charity, the Tamil Foundation, that officials accuse of funneling money to the Tiger rebels.
At the same time, the Sri Lankan government forged new relationships with China and Pakistan after the United States cut off direct military aid last year, mainly because of alleged human rights abuses and the use of children by a breakaway rebel faction now under the control of the government in the east, according to a State Department human rights report.
China’s assistance has jumped fivefold in the past year to nearly $1 billion; it is now Sri Lanka’s biggest donor. In 2007, Pakistan increased its annual military assistance loan to Sri Lanka by $31 million, bringing its total annual assistance to $80 million.
Diplomats and political experts said it is also easier for the Sri Lankan government to have a unified vision when the three most powerful people in the country — the President, the Defence Secretary and the President’s top adviser — are brothers.
"It’s a family affair"
"It’s a family affair," said Suresh K. Premachandran, a Tamil Member of Parliament and a critic of the administration. "They might be able to win the war, but they must still address its root cause: discrimination against many in the Tamil community."
Controlling information has also become a weapon in the war. Questioning the lack of transparency in the military offensive is seen as treasonous and often mocked.
Last year, John Holmes, the U.N. Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, called Sri Lanka one of the most dangerous places in the world for aid workers after the still-unsolved killing of 17 people employed by a French aid group in August 2006. Soon after Holmes’s comment, a cabinet minister accused him of being on the rebels’ payroll. Holmes is visiting the country, urging both sides to protect civilians.
"We have senior government officials who came on national TV and called journalists and human rights workers terrorists," said Lal Wickrematunge, whose brother, Lasantha Wickrematunge, 52, a journalist and fierce critic of the government, was killed last month by unknown gunmen. "This is a way to win the war: Keep all outside eyes off the battlefields. Anyone who wants to know the truth will be called unpatriotic."
To defeat the Tigers
Still, many Sri Lankans in this Sinhala Buddhist-majority nation of 21 million people eagerly support the Rajapakse government and its push to defeat the Tigers. Given this support, the Sri Lankan army has become more ruthless, some military analysts said, adopting the guerrilla-style warfare of the Tigers. The military has also lured top rebel commanders away from the battlefield with offers of government jobs.
Meanwhile, the country has become increasingly mobilised. Armed troops and checkpoints are common in this former South Asian tourist haven, with its neon-lit Buddhist shrines and palm-fringed beaches.
More than 150 miles from Colombo, in this dusty frontier town of Vavuniya, thousands of Sri Lankan army forces patrol the streets. Schools and community centres have been turned into military-run camps, sheltering the tens of thousands of Tamil civilians fleeing the civil war’s front lines just 50 miles north.
The heavily guarded camps are sealed off from most outsiders, including foreign journalists, leaving the condition of those inside open to conjecture and rumour.
A 45-page Human Rights Watch report released Friday said the camps are "internment centres masquerading as ‘welfare villages’ . . . where entire families detained in these military-controlled, barbed-wire camps are denied their liberty and freedom of movement." The government has defended the camps, saying they are closed for the security of those inside because Tamil insurgents might be mixing with the population.
End to "terrorism"
Just across from the camps, bright pink bougainvillea flowers dangle over billboards proclaiming an end to "terrorism" and the dawn of a new, united Sri Lanka, with children of the island’s various cultures beaming in their native dress, hands clasped as doves soar over the President’s smiling face.
But those visions will remain only a slogan unless the government addresses deep anger and fear among Tamils, who cite decades of resentment over what they said are discriminatory policies, analysts here said.
Taking shelter at a Vavuniya Buddhist temple amid the wavy aboveground roots of a banyan tree was Gonapinuwala Sumanasara Thero, 76, a Sinhalese Buddhist monk who has fled his home in the north several times since the first rebel uprising in 1983.
"We have been here before," he said. "In 1983, in 1996 and now, I have had to leave my home because of fighting."
This time, he escaped on a tractor with seven others, including a young mixed Tamil and Sinhalese couple and their baby.
"The problem in Sri Lanka is not about ethnicity," he said, adding that he visited the Tamils in the camps, donating water and food gathered by a Buddhist youth association. "It is a political problem that needs a political solution. The military solution is necessary to fight the terrorists. This war might end. But I may be dead by then."
— Courtesy Washington Post
Ranil under pressure to step down from leadership
Ranil under pressure to step down from leadership
By Dilrukshi Handunnetti
A group of UNP legislators are currently gathering signatures to urge the UNP leadership to summon a special parliamentary meeting to discus the UNP’s future and request the party leader to immediately step down from the position.
The group is now agitating that UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe should appoint a leader for an interim period and immediately step down allowing a new leadership to emerge.
One of the signatories to the letter told The Morning Leader that so far eight signatures have been placed including some UNP frontliners, and the leadership should now concede that the baton must be passed on prior to facing any other election.
The top UNP source confirmed that post Central and North Western Provincial Council elections, the majority of the members have reached a consensus that the present leader should not be allowed to lead the party at forthcoming elections.
They also fear that in the event a presidential election precedes a general election, Wickremesinghe will perform poorly against incumbent President Mahinda Rajapakse thereby further devastating the UNP that had steadily lost its parliamentary members to the government and crucial grassroots support.
Another signatory from the North Western Province (NWP) said the name of UNP Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya would be proposed as the interim leader until the party revamps itself and paves the way for young leaders to emerge.
The ginger group members also maintain that if the UNP leadership rejects the proposal, they would feel compelled to break ranks and sit as a separate opposition group in parliament.
The MPs feel confident that the beleaguered leadership may agree to an interim agreement given that the party may be split once again, if the proposal is rejected.
One ginger group member told The Morning Leader that the UNP had failed to stem the party’s erosion and a leadership change was necessary at the moment. He added that the party’s stance on the war and some members’ ridiculous approach to the military successes have caused a further erosion in public support at village level.
The ginger group members maintain that a major overhaul was necessary for the UNP before facing either a general or a presidential election and the party leader’s refusal to evolve, to accommodate views of others and the general lack of internal democracy has caused senior members to leave the party.
According to top UNP sources eight members have so far placed their signatures to the letter calling for a special parliamentary group meeting to discuss the party’s future. The only non-parliamentarian to have placed his signature is UNP National Organiser, S. B. Dissanayake who topped the preferential votes list at the recently conclude Central Provincial Council election.
Wickremesinghe when contacted by The Morning Leader did not wish to comment on the letter.
By Dilrukshi Handunnetti
A group of UNP legislators are currently gathering signatures to urge the UNP leadership to summon a special parliamentary meeting to discus the UNP’s future and request the party leader to immediately step down from the position.
The group is now agitating that UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe should appoint a leader for an interim period and immediately step down allowing a new leadership to emerge.
One of the signatories to the letter told The Morning Leader that so far eight signatures have been placed including some UNP frontliners, and the leadership should now concede that the baton must be passed on prior to facing any other election.
The top UNP source confirmed that post Central and North Western Provincial Council elections, the majority of the members have reached a consensus that the present leader should not be allowed to lead the party at forthcoming elections.
They also fear that in the event a presidential election precedes a general election, Wickremesinghe will perform poorly against incumbent President Mahinda Rajapakse thereby further devastating the UNP that had steadily lost its parliamentary members to the government and crucial grassroots support.
Another signatory from the North Western Province (NWP) said the name of UNP Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya would be proposed as the interim leader until the party revamps itself and paves the way for young leaders to emerge.
The ginger group members also maintain that if the UNP leadership rejects the proposal, they would feel compelled to break ranks and sit as a separate opposition group in parliament.
The MPs feel confident that the beleaguered leadership may agree to an interim agreement given that the party may be split once again, if the proposal is rejected.
One ginger group member told The Morning Leader that the UNP had failed to stem the party’s erosion and a leadership change was necessary at the moment. He added that the party’s stance on the war and some members’ ridiculous approach to the military successes have caused a further erosion in public support at village level.
The ginger group members maintain that a major overhaul was necessary for the UNP before facing either a general or a presidential election and the party leader’s refusal to evolve, to accommodate views of others and the general lack of internal democracy has caused senior members to leave the party.
According to top UNP sources eight members have so far placed their signatures to the letter calling for a special parliamentary group meeting to discuss the party’s future. The only non-parliamentarian to have placed his signature is UNP National Organiser, S. B. Dissanayake who topped the preferential votes list at the recently conclude Central Provincial Council election.
Wickremesinghe when contacted by The Morning Leader did not wish to comment on the letter.
HRW described a deplorable situation in the so-called safe zone, established by the government to protect refugees. AT SENATE HEARINGS:
Sri Lanka
A U.S. Senate committee Tuesday focused its attention on the situation in Sri Lanka, where the military is engaged in an intense battle with Tamil Tigers as the two sides struggle for control of what is believed to be the last of the rebel strongholds. Witnesses at the Senate hearing decried the actions of both sides in one of Asia's longest running wars.
Anna Neistat, senior researcher for Human Rights Watch, told a Senate Foreign Relations committee hearing that human rights violations are being committed by both sides in Sri Lanka's 25-year-old conflict.
She described a deplorable situation in the so-called safe zone, established by the government to protect refugees. "We received several detailed accounts from people who stayed within the safe zone, and these accounts suggest that the shelling by Sri Lankan forces killed dozens if not hundreds of people inside there," she said.
But Neistat is equally critical of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE. "The LTTE has deliberately prevented civilians under its control from fleeing into the government controlled areas. We have documented several incidents where LTTE forces fired at fleeing civilians, killing and injuring dozens. We also documented cases where the LTTE effectively used civilians as human shields to protect their positions from attack. This is a war crime," she said.
Other witnesses described what they called the Sri Lankan government's growing assault on dissent.
"Many Tamils have been abducted and have simply disappeared. It is sad to say that it is almost a certainty that these attacks have been carried out by elements of the government. Impunity seems total. Nobody has been prosecuted for any of these incidents," said Jeffrey Lunstead, a former U.S. ambassador to Sri Lanka.
Lunstead also noted that journalists have come under attack, a point echoed by Bob Dietz, Asia Program coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists. "Top journalists have been killed, attacked, threatened and harassed since the government began to pursue its all-out military victory against the LTTE. Many local and foreign journalists and members of the diplomatic community firmly believe the government is complicit in these attacks," he said.
Ambassador Lunstead said the world community could play an important role in shaping Sri Lanka's future. He recommends that international donors impose conditions on economic aid to the government of Sri Lanka. He says those conditions should include an improvement in the country's human rights record, the resettlement of displaced persons and a devolution of power from the capital, Colombo, to local areas to allow all Sri Lankans to have a greater say in how they are governed.
Anna Neistat of Human Rights Watch is urging the United Nations Security Council to hold a special session to address Sri Lanka's humanitarian catastrophe.
Senator Bob Casey, a Pennsylvania Democrat, chaired the hearing. He called for both sides in the conflict to come to a political settlement. "Should the war end and the broader Tamil population continue to face systemic discrimination by and inadequate representation in the Sri Lankan government, the Tamil Tigers may once again be driven underground to carry out acts of terror, perpetuating another go-around in this vicious cycle of violence. So far, there are few indications that a political deal is imminent. The government of Sri Lanka will not negotiate directly with the LTTE, but it does not appear the government has much interest in finding alternative Tamil interlocutors, nor have the Tamils presented credible alternatives to the LTTE," he said.
Sri Lanka's military says its forces advanced Tuesday into the last rebel stronghold in northeastern part of the country.
The LTTE has said it is open to a limited cease-fire and a political solution, but has rejected calls to disarm. The government has rejected anything short of the rebels' unconditional surrender.
http://foreign.senate.gov/hearings/2009/hrg090224p.html
A U.S. Senate committee Tuesday focused its attention on the situation in Sri Lanka, where the military is engaged in an intense battle with Tamil Tigers as the two sides struggle for control of what is believed to be the last of the rebel strongholds. Witnesses at the Senate hearing decried the actions of both sides in one of Asia's longest running wars.
Anna Neistat, senior researcher for Human Rights Watch, told a Senate Foreign Relations committee hearing that human rights violations are being committed by both sides in Sri Lanka's 25-year-old conflict.
She described a deplorable situation in the so-called safe zone, established by the government to protect refugees. "We received several detailed accounts from people who stayed within the safe zone, and these accounts suggest that the shelling by Sri Lankan forces killed dozens if not hundreds of people inside there," she said.
But Neistat is equally critical of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE. "The LTTE has deliberately prevented civilians under its control from fleeing into the government controlled areas. We have documented several incidents where LTTE forces fired at fleeing civilians, killing and injuring dozens. We also documented cases where the LTTE effectively used civilians as human shields to protect their positions from attack. This is a war crime," she said.
Other witnesses described what they called the Sri Lankan government's growing assault on dissent.
"Many Tamils have been abducted and have simply disappeared. It is sad to say that it is almost a certainty that these attacks have been carried out by elements of the government. Impunity seems total. Nobody has been prosecuted for any of these incidents," said Jeffrey Lunstead, a former U.S. ambassador to Sri Lanka.
Lunstead also noted that journalists have come under attack, a point echoed by Bob Dietz, Asia Program coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists. "Top journalists have been killed, attacked, threatened and harassed since the government began to pursue its all-out military victory against the LTTE. Many local and foreign journalists and members of the diplomatic community firmly believe the government is complicit in these attacks," he said.
Ambassador Lunstead said the world community could play an important role in shaping Sri Lanka's future. He recommends that international donors impose conditions on economic aid to the government of Sri Lanka. He says those conditions should include an improvement in the country's human rights record, the resettlement of displaced persons and a devolution of power from the capital, Colombo, to local areas to allow all Sri Lankans to have a greater say in how they are governed.
Anna Neistat of Human Rights Watch is urging the United Nations Security Council to hold a special session to address Sri Lanka's humanitarian catastrophe.
Senator Bob Casey, a Pennsylvania Democrat, chaired the hearing. He called for both sides in the conflict to come to a political settlement. "Should the war end and the broader Tamil population continue to face systemic discrimination by and inadequate representation in the Sri Lankan government, the Tamil Tigers may once again be driven underground to carry out acts of terror, perpetuating another go-around in this vicious cycle of violence. So far, there are few indications that a political deal is imminent. The government of Sri Lanka will not negotiate directly with the LTTE, but it does not appear the government has much interest in finding alternative Tamil interlocutors, nor have the Tamils presented credible alternatives to the LTTE," he said.
Sri Lanka's military says its forces advanced Tuesday into the last rebel stronghold in northeastern part of the country.
The LTTE has said it is open to a limited cease-fire and a political solution, but has rejected calls to disarm. The government has rejected anything short of the rebels' unconditional surrender.
http://foreign.senate.gov/hearings/2009/hrg090224p.html
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Canadian Aid to Sri Lanka denied for obvious reasons.
Canada limits main foreign aid recipients to 20 countries:>
>
> Aid to Sri Lanka denied for obvious reasons.>
> <http://www.brandonsun.com/images/thecanadianpress_logo.gif>
>
> OTTAWA - The Canadian government says it will steer its foreign aid toward a smaller pool of 20 countries or regions.
> The federal government has announced that 80 per cent of Canada's bilateral aid will go to 18 countries, along with the Caribbean and the West Bank and Gaza. The Tories say Canada's aid has been sprinkled around too thinly, to too many places, and has been ineffective.
> The Liberal government of Paul Martin announced in 2005 that it would target aid to 25 countries, but International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda says she has seen no evidence that the change was made.
> Countries dropped from Canada's recipient list include Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Nicaragua, Guyana, and eight African countries including Cameroon, Kenya, Senegal and Rwanda.
> Added to the list are Colombia, Haiti, Peru and Sudan, along with the West Bank-Gaza and Caribbean areas.>
>
>
> Aid to Sri Lanka denied for obvious reasons.>
> <http://www.brandonsun.com/images/thecanadianpress_logo.gif>
>
> OTTAWA - The Canadian government says it will steer its foreign aid toward a smaller pool of 20 countries or regions.
> The federal government has announced that 80 per cent of Canada's bilateral aid will go to 18 countries, along with the Caribbean and the West Bank and Gaza. The Tories say Canada's aid has been sprinkled around too thinly, to too many places, and has been ineffective.
> The Liberal government of Paul Martin announced in 2005 that it would target aid to 25 countries, but International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda says she has seen no evidence that the change was made.
> Countries dropped from Canada's recipient list include Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Nicaragua, Guyana, and eight African countries including Cameroon, Kenya, Senegal and Rwanda.
> Added to the list are Colombia, Haiti, Peru and Sudan, along with the West Bank-Gaza and Caribbean areas.>
>
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
