UN CLOSES COLOMBO OFFICE

BBC Sinhala
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The United Nations has closed its Colombo office as a result of what it calls unruly protests organized and led by a cabinet minister of the Government.

Farhan Haq, the spokesperson for the Secretary-General on Sri Lanka told BBC Sandeshaya that the Secretary-General finds it unacceptable that the Sri Lankan authorities have failed to prevent the disruption of the normal functioning of the United Nations offices in Colombo.

He also said that Ban Ki Moon has recalled the Resident Coordinator, Neil Buhne to New York for consultations.

© BBC Sinhala

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• Statement of the UN Spokesperson (www.un.org)

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China and Sri Lanka: Brotherly love, massive aid and no questions asked

The Economist
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Hitching up his clean white sarong, Basil Rajapaksa mounts a gleaming new motorcycle and has a breezy spin outside the office of his brother Mahinda, Sri Lanka’s president. As he brakes to a standstill by Yang Xiuping, China’s ambassador, both are wreathed in smiles. Mrs Yang has just presented more than 30 Chinese motorcycles to the younger Mr Rajapaksa, a minister in his brother’s cabinet, for use by officials in his constituency.

The bikes are just part of a huge infusion of donations, grants, investments and loans as China’s presence in Sri Lanka explodes. So often have they met over the past year that the Chinese ambassador and the president’s sibling, responsible for many of the government’s development initiatives, seem old chums.

There is no disguising China’s enthusiasm for good relations with Sri Lanka’s government, though the thinking behind it remains a topic of debate. One aspect is clearly commercial. Sri Lanka is a ready market for Chinese goods, services and labour, and runs a sizeable—and growing—bilateral trade deficit. But another is strategic. China is looking for a presence in the Indian Ocean—part of its “string of pearls” strategy of links with regional maritime nations, that it hopes may eventually help secure its supply routes. China also gains a staunch ally in international forums.

In Sri Lanka’s case, ties have historically been good—it was one of the first countries, in 1950, to recognise the People’s Republic. But as an article in the state-owned Sunday Observer newspaper noted in April, the “silky relationship” has reached new highs during the Rajapaksa era. From Sri Lanka’s point of view this is no mystery. As one government official puts it, China is “very generous”. It invests in big amounts and does not ask questions or impose conditions that are not directly related to the deals under discussion.

Last year, as Western nations harried Sri Lanka over the conduct of its brutal last-ditch battle with Tamil Tiger rebels, China moved in. Unlike the EU and America, it exerted no pressure on the government to stop the fighting. Indeed, by selling sophisticated weaponry, it helped Sri Lanka carry on. Military parades and exhibitions, of which there have been many since the victory in May 2009, are usually displays of towering Chinese battle tanks, armoured personnel-carriers and artillery.

The government often refers to China’s contribution towards the war, in contrast to the carping West. Gotabaya Rajapaksa, another sibling, who is the defence secretary, has noted that the president has visited China five times in office and three times before. Sometimes, he says, his brother speaks to China’s prime minister by telephone. “We have understood”, he boasts, “who is important to us.”

After starting with smaller undertakings, China is now financing nearly all of Sri Lanka’s biggest infrastructure projects. They include a new sea port at Hambantota, in the president’s constituency in the south, an oil-storage facility, a new airport, a coal-fired power plant and an expressway. China often provides cheap credit. It is also rebuilding the main roads in the war-shattered north and east, and is constructing a state-of-the-art performance-arts centre. It has sold diesel railway-engines and earthmoving equipment.

Government data show that in 2009 China was, in terms of commitments, Sri Lanka’s biggest aid donor, with $1.2 billion out of a total of $2.2 billion offered—hardly a huge amount for China. The Board of Investment reveals it is the biggest investor, too. Chinese companies have been investing in electronics, infrastructure projects, garment-making, and much else. The government has set up a free-trade zone for Chinese companies.

The blossoming of Sri Lanka’s relations with China comes as ties with some of her traditional trading partners have frayed over human-rights and labour concerns. The EU has just announced that Sri Lanka will not be eligible from August for preferential market access under the “GSP Plus” scheme, after the government rejected the EU’s conditions. America’s government has accepted a petition from an international trade union to review worker rights in Sri Lanka as part of its own GSP scheme.

This week hundreds of protesters laid siege to the United Nations’ compound in Colombo, trapping staff inside for eight hours. They were angered by a panel appointed by Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, to advise him on possible human-rights violations during the war. The government has rejected this as unwarranted interference. Backing it, naturally, is its friend China. On July 1st a foreign-ministry spokesman told a press conference that China believed the Sri Lankan government and people were capable of handling their own problems.

© The Economist

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Sri Lanka: Tamils registered again

By B.M. Murshideen | Daily Mirror
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The Police have begun registering Tamils in the Wellawatte area under the police ordinance, the police said. However, the Democratic People’s Front charged the police of registering Tamils under section 23 of the Emergency regulations.

The General Secretary of the Democratic People’s Front and Western Provincial Councilor, Dr. N. Kumaragurubaran told Daily Mirror online that he made his protest to the DIG Colombo, H.M.D Herath on this issue.

DIG Herath had reportedly told Dr. Kumaragurubaran that they were instructed by the higher authority to register all the people including Tamils living in the area. The DIG also informed that they have commenced the registration process from the Western Province, Wellawatte Police division.

© Daily Mirror

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Sri Lankan minister on hunger strike over UN probe

Agence France-Presse
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A Sri Lankan cabinet minister on Thursday began a hunger strike outside the UN office in Colombo to protest against a panel set up to probe allegations of war crimes during the island's civil war.

Housing Minister Wimal Weerawansa, who led protests outside the United Nations office earlier this week, said he was prepared to fast to death to protect the honour of the military.

"This (UN panel) is a plan by the UN to produce our military before a war crimes tribunal," Weerawansa said to dozens of cheering supporters.


"We won't let that happen," he added.

He also urged people to come in their thousands and take part in protests and demonstrations all over the island to pressure UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to dissolve the three-member panel.

Ban named the panel last month to advise on "accountability issues" during the war between government forces and the Tamil Tiger separatists, which ended in May last year.

On Tuesday, demonstrators led by Weerawansa surrounded the UN office in Colombo and kept staff under siege for several hours.

The entrance to the building was not blocked on Thursday, but staff were advised to remain at home for the second consecutive day.

In New York on Wednesday, the United Nations said it had "strong objections" to the protests.

The United Nations has said that at least 7,000 ethnic Tamil civilians were killed in the final stages of the fighting. The agency estimates some 100,000 people died during the 37-year-long conflict.

© AFP

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• Sri Lanka minister begins UN 'fast' (BBC News)
• Minister begins fast unto death against UN (Outlook India)

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Asylum seekers set sail in a sea of silence

By Dr Sam Pari | ABC Net
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With Labor and the Liberals announcing their respective asylum policies yesterday, the debate has again re-focussed on how to stop the boat people coming.

However, if both parties are serious about cutting down on asylum seekers from Sri Lanka, they need to look at the root cause of the problem and review their foreign policy in regards to Sri Lanka.

While our Western allies continue to publicly denounce Sri Lanka's appalling treatment of its civilians, Tamils in particular, Australia is yet to publicly condemn any of the country's current or past acts.

This week, the European Union (EU) announced its withdrawal of trade benefits to Sri Lanka, known as GSP Plus, blaming the country's appalling human rights record. Despite several months of discussions, the Sri Lankan government opted to place the EU's request "in the dustbin" rather than implement human rights conventions.

Earlier this year, the United States State Department released a report highlighting serious human rights violations in Sri Lanka. Stating that the "overwhelming majority of victims of human rights violations, such as extrajudicial killings and disappearances, were young male Tamils", it reported there were "secret government facilities where suspected LTTE sympathi[s]ers were taken, tortured, and often killed". It further reported that the "government required Tamils who wished to move within the country, especially those Tamils living in Jaffna, to obtain special passes issued by security forces" highlighting that Tamils regardless of whether in the North, East or in the capital, Colombo, faced harassment and lack of freedom of movement:

"Security forces at army checkpoints in Colombo frequently harassed Tamils. After the government assumed effective control of the east, both the government and the TMVP operated checkpoints that impeded the free movement of residents, especially Tamils" with "Tamils throughout the country, but especially in the conflict-affected north and east, reported frequent harassment of young and middle-aged Tamil men by security forces and paramilitary groups".

The response of the Sri Lankan government was to dismiss the credibility of the sources rather than investigate the claims.

In addition to human rights violations, evidence suggesting that war crimes may have taken place in Sri Lanka continues to mount. In May 2010, one year since Sri Lanka declared an end to the war, Human Rights Watch and the International Crisis Group released independent reports on alleged war crimes, consisting of eye witness testimonies and photographs. In addition to this, video footage of admissions by a Sri Lankan army commander and a frontline soldier have also been reported reinforcing these allegations.

Initial video footage suggestive of extra-judicial executions of Tamils at the hands of the Sri Lankan military surfaced in August 2009. The Sri Lankan government, as expected, dismissed the footage as doctored but the UN conducted its own independent investigations and deemed the video authentic with UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Philip Alston, adding his voice to calls for a war crimes probe.

This is in addition to existing evidence of Tamil civilians being targeted by the Sri Lankan military during the war through the bombing of Tamil civilian locations and shelling of hospitals in the Tamil areas. Satellite images have provided strong evidence. Evidence also exists of the use of cluster bombs and white phosphorous by the Sri Lankan military in its attacks on Tamil civilian targets - all in breach of international law.

Earlier this year, the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon announced his intention to appoint a panel of experts to advise him on Sri Lanka's human rights accountability. Sri Lanka rejected this, declaring it had no "moral justification". In June 2010, he finally announced the names of a three-member UN expert advisory panel. Sri Lanka was quick to respond. It blocked the members of the UN panel from visiting the island, announcing it would not issue them with visas to the country.

Such blatant acts of defiance by Sri Lanka, publicly rejecting any accusations of human rights violations and persecution of Tamil people, and openly denying visas for UN officials, makes one wonder how much liberty and freedom of access the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) officials in Sri Lanka really had and how accurate their assessment of the situation in Sri Lanka was in the latest report.

Sadly, as an international move to boycott Sri Lanka unfolds, as the EU withdraws trade benefits and the US openly states its support for the UN inquiry into Sri Lanka, Australia continues to remain silent enjoying diplomatic rapport with the government of a country responsible for a large number of those seeking asylum here. Australia's current policies will not address the root cause of the problem and as long as Tamils continue to get persecuted, boats will continue to arrive on our shores.

So, the next time you take a sip of Sri Lankan tea or you think of visiting Sri Lanka on a holiday, just remember, you too are supporting a regime that persecutes its civilians forcing them to jump on boats and "invade our borders".

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Dr Sam Pari is the spokesperson of the Australian Tamil Congress. She is also a panelist at the International Peace Research Association Conference 2010. She has previously volunteered in war and tsunami ravaged regions of Sri Lanka.

© ABC Net

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"Sri Lankan Tamil situation getting worse" says CPI Leader

Asian News International
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Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D. Raja on Wednesday claimed that Sri Lankan Tamils were living a life full of misery.

Talking to reporters after meeting with a Tamil delegation from Sri Lanka here, Raja said:"What I understood from my talks with them, the situation continues to be worse and Tamil people in Sri Lanka are undergoing very unimaginable miseries and sufferings.

"Whether they are in military camps or whether they are in transit camps, the situation is very bad, worse, and there is no political solution coming forward," he added. Raja urged the Indian government to pressurize the Sri Lankan government to take appropriate steps to rehabilitate the Tamils.

"I demand that government of India should recast its policies towards Sri Lanka. Government of India should pressurize the Sri Lankan government for an yearly political solution to the Sri Lankan Tamils and this issue will be raised in the Parliament when Parliament meets for the Monsoon session," said Raja.

Some 260,000 Tamil refugees who fled fighting in the waning months of the war are now being held in military-run camps in Sri Lanka.

© Asian News International

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Sri Lanka's feud with the UN turns acrimonious

Photo Courtesy of indi.ca

By Charles Haviland | BBC News
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On a leafy Colombo corner, surrounded by hundreds of his nationalist supporters and Buddhist monks, Sri Lankan cabinet minister Wimal Weerawansa burns an effigy of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.

The crowd shouts anti-UN slogans in Sinhala and jeers when cars leave the UN compound.

UN staff say they feel scared and besieged; the world body delivers a strong protest.

The government says the demonstration is peaceful and orders the police to leave.

Would-be hunger strikers lie on a mattress.

What is causing this unusual stand-off and why are Sri Lankan nationalists so angry with the UN?

This battle arises from Ban Ki-Moon's appointment of a three-member international panel to "advise him on accountability issues" relating to allegations of war crimes by both sides in the final stages of the civil conflict.

From the start, plans for the panel angered Colombo.

It denies allegations that it targeted and killed civilians, or shot surrendering Tamil Tigers.

It says Ban Ki-Moon's move is an unwarranted interference in its affairs and says he has no backing from the UN's Security Council or Human Rights Council.

'Excessively politicised'

An anti-UN protester told the BBC he used to see the world body as something which helped his country, but now he felt it was getting excessively politicised.

Cheered on by a largely supportive media, the government says the UN's action is hypocritical, alleging that no similar attention is paid to civilian deaths caused by Western powers in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan - the same powers that it often accuses of hounding it, chiefly the US and Britain.

The constant refrain is that Sri Lanka, a small country, "defeated terrorism" and that the rest of world is jealous as it has not enjoyed similar success.

And the Sri Lankan government says that, like other countries re-examining past deeds, it has set up its own perfectly adequate mechanism, namely the Commission on Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation which was announced in May.

The government says this should be given a chance to do its work and was gratified when Hillary Clinton gave it a cautious welcome.

Accountability

The backdrop is one of strong nationalism in which Colombo stresses its many Asian political allies and deprecates its critics.

It is a largely Sinhalese nationalism, not one which appears to have many Tamil or Muslim adherents.

"Why should I worry about others? If India and neighbours are good with me, that is enough for me," President Rajapaksa said last week.

On the other side sit the critics of the Sri Lankan government.

They list allegations that international humanitarian law was breached and say there is enough evidence to warrant an international inquiry.

There must be a process of accountability of Sri Lanka if it is to move forward, they say.

Prominent among them are the head of the UN Human Rights Council, Navi Pillay (although the council itself has refused to censure Colombo), and a UN special rapporteur, Philip Alston.

The top UN leadership points out that a joint statement by Mr Rajapaksa and Mr Ban last year guaranteed that Colombo would take measures to address human rights grievances thrown up by the war.

They say this must be followed through.

Isn't the Commission on Lessons Learnt good enough for that?

Off the record?

International human rights groups including Amnesty International say they doubt its efficacy and point to what they say is a string of failed commissions of inquiry in Sri Lanka's past, going back decades and achieving little or no justice.

Domestic and foreign critics say the mandate of the domestic commission appears to be quite narrow.

Its head this week told BBC Sinhala that it is centred around the failure of the ceasefire which was originally declared in 2002 - it does not appear to cover the controversial closing stages of the war in 2009.

Mr Alston has even thrown the charge of hypocrisy back at Colombo, as the Sri Lankan ambassador to the UN heads a UN committee looking into allegations of Israeli human rights violations.

But the demonstrators at the UN compound are sticking to their line and promising a hunger strike until Ban Ki-Moon withdraws his rights panel.

"If they don't like our own panel, why don't they just ask us to broaden its mandate?" an indignant associate of Mr Weerawansa asked the BBC on Wednesday morning.

In a sense, Mr Weerawansa is following through on the government's own repeatedly stated line.

The authorities seem quite happy with what is going on, at least as long as it does not get further out of hand.

But the UN (to which Sri Lanka, of course, belongs) has made its unhappiness known.

It regards events since Tuesday as excessive already. What it may be saying to the Colombo government off the record is anyone's guess.

© BBC News

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UN office siege: Govt says it has to respect the right to protest

By Don Asoka Wijewardena | The Island
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The government yesterday, commenting on Tuesday’s NFF demonstration outside the United Nations Office in Colombo, said that it understood that the demonstrators intended to continue with their protest until the UN disbanded the UNSG’s advisory panel on Sri Lanka. It said the UN workers would be able to move in and out of their Colombo office.

A statement issued by the government said: "The Government of Sri Lanka dealt with the protest outside the UN complex in Colombo in compliance with both domestic as well as international obligations. At the domestic level, Sri Lanka being a democratic society, the Government had to respect the entitlement to voice opinion, including through peaceful demonstrations. Accordingly, the Police permitted a peaceful gathering in front of the complex.

"The Government was also absolutely mindful of its international obligations and so the Police authorities deployed adequate strength and remained vigilant, to ensure the safety of the UN complex and of the personnel within it. At the end of the working day, the Police authorities provided reassurance to those within, that they could freely leave their work place. Once the bulk of the staff had left, a few senior personnel remained within the complex.

"The demonstrators had expressed the wish that they should be able to speak to a person in authority in the UN office, in order to convey their deeply felt reservations against the appointment of a Panel on Sri Lanka. The Secretary of the Ministry of External Affairs was accordingly instructed to proceed to the UN complex, so that a very limited number of demonstrators could meet the senior staff and express their sentiments. Once this was accomplished, the remaining UN staff too left the complex.

"The Government of Sri Lanka expects the UN complex in Colombo would continue to function as normal in the days ahead. The Government understands that those who are demonstrating intend to continue with their protest, until the UN system re-examine the matter of the Panel on Sri Lanka. At the same time, the freedom of entry and exit to and from the complex for authorized personnel will remain constant.

© The Island

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