Deutsche Presse-Agentur | Monsters & Critics
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His comments at a military academy came less than two weeks after he cancelled an address at the Oxford Union in London because of protests by the Tamil ethnic minority in London
'Their latest weapon is to defame our country and throw allegations at our war heroes, accusing them of war crimes, Rajapaksa said in Diyatalawa, 160 kilometres east of Colombo.
'We have already commenced the battle against them in the international sphere and are committed to continue it,' he said.
Tamil groups in exile are calling for investigations into allegations of war crimes during the final stage of army operations that ended Sri Lanka's 26-year war against separatist Tamil rebels in May 2009.
The government on Friday granted permission for a United Nations panel to testify before a national commission investigating the war's final months.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon created the panel to advise him on human rights issues related to Sri Lanka's military offensive in the northern part of the country.
The government disputes a UN estimate that 7,500 civilians were killed during the final months of the conflict.
© Monsters & Critics
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Sri Lanka's President says "terrorists" defaming Sri Lanka from abroad
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
What's on the UN panels Sri Lanka visit agenda?
By Sutirtho Patranobis | Hindustan Times
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All arrangements will be made, the foreign ministry said, adding that the three-member panel could make a representation to the eight LLRC members. Though the meeting has all the makings of a warm one, it was not immediately clear which panel will give evidence to whom.
The UN panel was appointed in June by secretary-general Ban Ki-moon to advice him on human rights issues that came up during the end of the civil war in 2009. The government's reaction was swift, angry. It waved its immigration rights and said "no entry" to the panel. Always ready to put his life on the line for a cause, minister Wimal Weerawansa threw himself down in front of a few puzzled UN security guards and did not eat a morsel for two days. The panel stayed. Though it will always stay outside the Island, the government fumed.
Last week, the fumes lifted. First it was Ban Ki-moon who spoke about the visit. Then the government confirmed.
Continuous international pressure to investigate alleged war crimes, the loss of nearly $150 million in withdrawn trade concessions by the EU and a tardy rate of foreign investment could have quietly softened the government's indignation.
However, details about the panel's visit are sketchy: what will it do? Will they meet former army chief Sarath Fonseka? Questions remain about whether they will be allowed to move freely within the country. It's also unlikely that the public, say the displaced Tamils, will be allowed to meet them.
Ban Ki-moon's office is yet to share details. Reports said the members of the two panels could even meet outside the country.
Indeed, skepticism is already growing among critics that the exercise will be one in futility; a tight lipped-service to the calls for a war crimes probe where both the government and the UN would claim that they have done their bit. So what, if that's not enough.
© Hindustan Times
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Nambiar, UN, undermine war crimes investigation on Sri Lanka, Burma
Fleeing civilans | Photo courtesy: Burma Partnership
Tamil Net
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While major human rights organisations of the world have boycotted Colombo’s LLRC, there are reports that Ban Ki Moon’s advisory panel on Sri Lanka may have ‘meetings’ with it. According to SL government, since it has said that anyone could come up with submissions to the LLRC, on that basis the UN panel also could come to Colombo to meet the LLRC. This means that the UN panel is treated as a party submitting before the LLRC.
Informed circles say that the UN panel has plans to meet the LLRC behind the scene somewhere outside of the island, perhaps for exchanging notes.
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa has invited U.N. investigators to share evidence gathered with his own reconciliation commission. Associated Press cited Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella saying Saturday that "We resisted the panel saying we can't allow a U.N. investigation unilaterally. But in this case, the president has invited them not to undertake any investigation but to share the evidence."
The UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon praised the move, AP said.
After collecting sensitive and trusted evidence from the affected, the UN move of ‘sharing’ with LLRC is calculated to undermine the credibility of the panel which had been set half-heartedly and the modus operandi of which had already raised doubts, said human rights activists.
In Burma, Ban Ki Moon’s chief of staff, Vijay Nambiar sabotaged war crimes investigations against Burmese military at the behest of the Chinese, accuses the Mizzima article by Thomas Maung Shwe.
Indian and Chinese opposition to war crimes investigation in the island of Sri Lanka and their backing to the war crimes accused regime of Rajapaksa are well known.
The Chinese have told Nambiar that war crime inquiry in Burma would be dangerous and counterproductive, and should not be allowed to proceed. Nambiar appeared to have shared the view by omitting a proposal for war crime inquiry in his report to the UN, despite the fact that UN officials had earlier called for such an inquiry, Mizzima said.
The UN special rapporteur on human rights in Burma in his report in March said that abuses were a state policy that involved authorities at all levels of the executive, military and judiciary, and called for an inquiry by the UN Human Rights Council.
Ironically, Burmese military offensive in August-September targeted ethnic Chinese in the Kokang region that made thousands of them to flee to Yunnan of China. The Chinese came out only with verbal protest.
After meeting Aung Sun Suu Kyi in Burma, Nambiar commented that he found her “out of touch and somehow too hard-line”, reports Matthew Russell Lee of the Inner City Press.
Writing on the controversial role played by Nambiar in Sri Lanka, Mizzima said: “Ban sent the former Indian diplomat to Sri Lanka despite that his own brother, retired Indian army general Satish Nambiar, had served as an adviser to the Sri Lankan military for several years.”
Citing The Times, Mizzima said that Nambiar knowingly suppressed information to the public, despite UN staff briefing him in Colombo that at least 20,000 people had died in the final stages of the war.
But there are some other Indian names that not only suppressed information but came out with misleading information on the civilians in the killing zone, contributing to the ‘smooth progress’ of war crimes.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka connection is a key factor in the renewed ethnic war in the regions of Burma, bordering Thailand, India and China, says Simon Roughneen writing in The Irrawaddy, November 29.
According to the article, while Aung San Suu Kyi, released from her years-long house arrest, has called for discussions on federal model solutions, the Burmese military is gearing up for a military solution to the ethnic issue in the model of Rajapaksa’s Sri Lanka.
Rajapaksa’s first visit outside after the Vanni War was to Burma. The Burmese generals reciprocated in June 2009 by visiting Colombo and thanking Rajapaksa for his support in combating “illegal activities carried out by the LTTE in the past and in drug trafficking in the region."
But most of the poppy-growing areas in the Shan State of Burma are under the control of militia groups backed by the Burmese military, says Shan researcher and journalist Kheunsai Jaiyen, cited by The Irrawaddy.
The Burmese military is now eager to learn from Sri Lanka and to borrow methods from Sri Lanka’s COIN strategy used against the LTTE, The Irrawaddy article said, citing a recent report by researcher Kim Joliffe.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s army commander Jagath Jayasuriya said Wednesday that his military would be seeking UN ‘peace keeping’ missions abroad. Revealing that Colombo would be negotiating with Russia for armoured fighting vehicles, he said that his country was ready to take up foreign assignments at short notice.
In Burma, the Sri Lankan-style strategy appears primarily to target the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), The Irrawaddy said.
“In total, an estimated 446,000 people are thought to be displaced inside Burma and allegations that the army uses forced labour, forced displacement and rape as part of its campaign in ethnic minority regions are part of the campaign by rights groups to establish a Commission of Inquiry into war crimes in Burma,” The Irrawaddy further said.
According to Joliffe's report, more violence looms in Karen-populated regions in eastern Burma. The Sri Lanka-style strategy “would include the assassination of key leaders, the pinpointing of key bases and the herding of KNLA forces and civilians into kill zones using heli-borne forces.” Ominously, Joliffe suggests, “the final phase of these hammer and anvil tactics is the obliteration of everyone in kill zones using massed artillery.”
But it seems too much importance is given to the military of these terrorist states and their military ‘successes’ when the real problem lies in the attitudes of some powers and in the criminal mind of some individuals occupying establishments. The Sri Lankan state is increasingly proving itself as a crucial test case where the backbone of state terrorism should be crushed for the benefit of any fresh tide in world affairs.
© Tamil Net
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
UN Extends Sri Lanka Panel entry deadline to end of 2010 - trip before Jan 15?
By Matthew Russell Lee | Inner City Press
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In the run up to the initial December 15 deadline, Inner City Press asked Haq and his office about bounced e-mails and Federal Express overnight packages of evidence which the Panel refused or could not receive. Haq said that he thought an extension would be announced - but then did not announce one.
On December 20, having received more complaints about packages refused by the Panel, Inner City Press again asked Haq about the projected extension. Staring down at note, Haq said it is extended to the end of the year.
Inner City Press asked when the Panel will in fact travel to Sri Lanka. Haq said he had nothing to announced on that, while rephrasing the question to concern only the Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Commission.
This is appears to mean that the Panel will not even be asking to speak with, for example, ex General Sarath Fonseca, who has indicated his willingness to testify about war crimes he says were ordered.
As to whether Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will keep confidential the report of his Panel on Sri Lanka, Haq said Ban will decide once it is submitted. Inner City Press asked if the Panel's January 15 deadline is being extended. They are “on track,” Haq said. If so, the trip must be soon, and the list of people spoken with would be short.
© Inner City Press
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Tamil-Muslim joint front on the cards in Sri Lanka
By PK Balachandran | Express Buzz
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On Sunday, Hassan Ali, a top leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), had suggested that the Tamil parties should include the Muslim parties in the joint committee they had set up to formulate a political solution to the ethnic question.
When asked for a reaction to this suggestion, M.A.Sumanthiran, a Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP and a member of the joint committee, said that it was a “positive move” and added that any request for admission would be considered.
When the TNA met the SLMC earlier to discuss political cooperation on common issues, the SLMC had not made any such request. The Tamil parties would have to see how they could accommodate the Muslim parties in the committee, Sumanthiran told Express here on Monday.
COMMON PROBLEMS
Sri Lankan Muslims are Tamil-speaking, but consider themselves ethnically and also politically separate from the Tamils. However, like the Tamils, the Muslims too have inter-ethnic issues to be sorted out. Generally, these relate to land and the use of the Tamil language. The Muslims have problems with the Tamils as well as the Sinhalese. They have been asking for a separate Muslim unit in the South East, were they form a very significant proportion of the population.
Being minorities, the Muslims and Tamils face some common problems vis-à-vis the majority Sinhalese and the Lankan state dominated by the majority community.
PANEL ON CONSTITUTIONAL REFORMS
Last week, the TNA and the Tamil Parties Forum (TPF) had formed a six-man committee to go into the question of devolution and come up with joint set of demands to be presented to Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The members of the joint TNA-TPF committee are: Mavai Senathirajah, Suresh Premachandran and M.A.Sumanthiran (all from the TNA); V.Anandasangaree (Tamil United Liberation Front), D.Siddharthan (Peoples’ Liberation Organisation of Tamileelam) and A.Rasamanickam (Eelam Peoples’ Democratic Front).
While the TNA was pro-LTTE so long as the LTTE existed, most of the parties in the TPF have been pro-government or anti-LTTE. But all Tamil parties, whether pro or anti government, want devolution of power to the Tamil-speaking Northern and Eastern provinces. They have now seen the need for a united Tamil front.
INDIA’S ADVICE
India has been one of the catalysts for this move towards unity. New Delhi has been urging the Tamil parties to come together on a common programme on devolution and other questions agitating the Tamils. India has reportedly told the Tamil parties that they will have to negotiate a political deal with the Sri Lankan state and not depend on outside powers, which could, at best, give only moral support to any just demand.
© Express Buzz
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
UN team not sure of Sri Lankan visit
BBC Sinhala
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In an interview with the BBC's Sinhala service, a spokesman, for the UN secretary general, Farhan Haq said a team would meet members of the government's own commission of inquiry, but he said he wasn't sure where.
Referring to a statement made by the General Secretary, Farhan Haq said, "He said that he is pleased that the panel is now able to visit Sri Lanka to meet with the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliations Commission (LLRC)".
Contradictory statements
Government of Sri Lanka said last week that it would allow the UN team to visit the island, reversing its earlier refusal to grant them visas.
However, the UN spokesman refused to confirm or deny a visit to Sri Lanka. ."We can't confirm if the panel will travel to Sri Lanka or will meet the LLRC in some other location", Farhan Haq told the BBC Sandeshaya.
© BBC Sinhala
Monday, December 20, 2010
Sri Lanka: Ban Ki Moon praises the flexibility of President Mahinda Rajapaska
By Santhush Fernando | Asian Tribune
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United Nations’ Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, has praised President Mahinda Rajapaska for his flexibility shown in resolving the issue of the visit of United Nation Expert Panel on Sri Lanka.
In response to the UN Panel visiting Sri Lanka to meet the LLRC, the government said today that any requests made by the UN will be considered.
“ If a formal request is made by the UN Panel to visit Sri Lanka, the government will consider it”, External Affairs Ministry Public Communication Director General Bandula Jayasekara yesterday told the media.
Less than a month before its report on Sri Lanka is due, United Nations’ Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's Panel of Experts “is now able to visit Sri Lanka and meet with the Commission on Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation,” Moon told media on Friday.
The UN Panel of Experts was appointed by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Sri Lanka to look into alleged violations of international law during the war, although no such probe has been launched by the UN over the atrocities committed by United States and its allies in Iraq and in Afghanistan. Yesterday it was announced that the deadline for the submission of evidence to the Panel will be extended.
While dodging question posed by US media of whether he will make public his Panel's report, due on January 15, Ban praised “the flexibility of President Mahinda Rajapaska on this issue.”
But the Panel, Ban says, will travel to Sri Lanka, if only to speak with the Sri Lanka Government’s Commission on reconciliation - LLRC.
© Asian Tribune
Monday, December 20, 2010
Sri Lanka allows UN war crime visit
Al Jazeera
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Colombo had previously said that it would not allow a three-member UN panel appointed by Ban Ki Moon to enter Sri Lanka to look into the alleged war crimes. Instead Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka's president, set up the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), a national body to carry out investigations.
Doubts over the LLRC's impartiality prompted major human rights groups to refuse to work with it. But the foreign ministry on Sunday announced that it had reversed its position, saying that foreign investigators are welcome to take part in the inquiry.
"In the event of the panel of the Secretary-General wishing to present representations to the commission, the Ministry of External Affairs will make the arrangements that are necessary to enable the panel to do so," the ministry said in a statement.
"This position has already been conveyed through diplomatic channels, to the United Nations in New York," the ministry added, without giving any details.
Body criticised
The LLRC has been widely criticised by international human rights groups for lacking independence from the Sri Lankan government, which has been accused of violating the laws of war in its crushing defeat of the Tamil Tiger separatists after a quarter of a century of civil war.
After the conflict, the UN had hoped to send an "expert panel" to Sri Lanka to report back to the UN secretary-general, but the Sri Lankan government blocked it, saying that war crimes investigations were a national matter.
James Ross, a legal expert at Human Rights Watch, told Al Jazeera that the Sri Lankan government is not capable of carrying out credible investigations alone. "One hopes that they have now recognised that this expert panel is an important body," he said.
"The Sri Lankan commission does not really have credibility. It won't conduct impartial investigations. If the Sri Lankan commission could be of assistance to the expert panel that would be useful."
Fresh doubts
But in Sri Lanka, experts doubted that the UN investigators will be allowed to operate freely even if they are allowed into the country.
"There is no point in the UN panel coming here, if it is only allowed to meet only the LLRC and not allowed to meet the civil society and people affected by the war and to travel around the country," a political analyst told the Reuters news agency, asking not to be named fearing repercussions.
"The submissions the LLRC have got is mostly on reconciliation for the future and not what happened in the last day of the war. The U.N. panel is meant to see what happened in the last day of the war."
The expert panel is not be mandated to issue a formal report, but would instead present their findings to the UN secretary-general.
Sri Lanka has faced sanctions over its failure to set up an independent probe into alleged war crimes, with the European Union withdrawing trade concessions worth $150 million a year over the issue.
U.S. diplomatic cables, released by the Wikileaks website, also put the alleged human rights abuses in the spotlight, revealing that the United States believes there is little prospect Sri Lanka will hold anyone accountable for the bloody end of the war because top government figures are involved.
© Al Jazeera
Monday, December 20, 2010
Liam Fox cancels Sri Lanka trip amid claim in cables of Colombo's war crimes complicity
By Nicholas Watt, Mark Tran and Jason Burke | The Guardian
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Fox announced his change of heart as US embassy cables leaked tonight provided fresh allegations of the Sri Lankan government's complicity with paramilitary groups in last year's offensive against the Tamil Tigers.
Labour accused the government of adopting a "chaotic" approach to diplomacy when Fox announced that he would instead make an official visit to the country in the new year.
Fox's decision came after talks with Hague, the foreign secretary, and a warning by the British Tamils Forum that his trip would send mixed messages to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is facing strong international pressure for an investigation into allegations that Sri Lanka forces committed war crimes.
The Ministry of Defence blamed the delay on the need for Fox to extend a visit to the Gulf. A spokesman for the defence secretary said: "Dr Fox has postponed his private visit to Sri Lanka due to an extension to his scheduled official visit to the Gulf. He intends to carry out an official visit to Sri Lanka next year, during which he proposes to fulfil the speaking engagement that he had planned."
The move by Fox came as the latest batch of US embassy cables to be published by WikiLeaks show that:
• US officials expressed concerns that the Sri Lankan government was complicit with paramilitary groups. One cable, sent in May 2007 by the then US ambassador, Robert Blake, details abductions, extortion, forced prostitution and conscription of child soldiers.
• Five Sri Lankan doctors were coerced by the Sri Lankan government to recant on casualty figures they gave to journalists in the last months of the civil war.
• The Tamil Tigers (LTTE) were guilty of human rights abuses and demanded a cut of international NGOs' spending in the areas they controlled.
• The US ambassador to Colombo, Patricia Butenis, said on 15 January that one of the reasons there was such little progress towards a genuine Sri Lankan inquiry into the killings was that President Rajapaksa, and the former army commander, Sarath Fonseka, were largely responsible. "There are no examples we know of a regime undertaking wholesale investigations of its own troops or senior officials for war crimes while that regime or government remained in power," Butenis noted.
It is understood that Fox, who held a private meeting with the president in London two weeks ago, abandoned his private visit after intense pressure from Hague. Foreign Office sources said that Fox's private visit could have jeopardised Britain's nuanced approach to Sri Lanka, in which ministers put pressure on Colombo to agree to an investigation into last year's offensive against the Tamil Tigers while acknowledging the Tigers were responsible for terrorism.
One Whitehall source said: "William has said to Liam: 'This is the Foreign Office line, Liam.' In brackets William will have said: 'You have needed my support in the past.'"
Fox still plans to deliver the Lakshman Kadirgamar memorial lecture after being invited by the widow of the late foreign minister who was murdered by a Tamil Tiger sniper in 2005. But he will do this as part of his official visit next year.
Yvette Cooper, the shadow foreign secretary, said: "Chaotic diplomacy like this does no good for the government's standing on such a significant issue. It also raises serious questions about the defence secretary's judgment.
"What on earth has he been doing holding 'private' meetings with the Sri Lankan president while refusing to say if he has pressed for the war crimes investigation we need or supported the foreign secretary's position? William Hague must be spitting mad."
President Rajapaksa, who won a second term in January following the military victory over the separatists last year, has repeatedly denied any involvement in or knowledge of human rights abuses.
But the latest cables published by WikiLeaks highlight human rights abuses committed by the LTTE, against whom the paramilitaries and the government forces were engaged. Sources told representatives of the US embassy to Sri Lanka that the LTTE regularly demanded a cut of international NGOs' spending in the areas they controlled. Other sources described a harsh regime of compulsory conscription into fighting forces. "If they fail to report, they are taken forcibly, often at night," one said. Cables from early this year referred to "progress" by the Government of Sri Lanka on a range of human rights issues in recent months.
"There has been a dramatic improvement in the treatment of IDPs and their living conditions … [and] numbers of disappearances have experienced a steady and significant decline across the island since the end of the war," one dispatch said.
Another affirmed that "child soldiers affiliated with the [paramilitaries] have been significantly reduced over the past year, with just five reportedly remaining at the end of 2009."
One senior journalist had been released from detention, the cable added, and diplomats were "not aware of any additional physical attacks on journalists since June [2009]".
There was even some tentative steps" on "accountability" for human rights abuses during the civil war, Washington was told.
"Accountability for alleged crimes committed by [government of Sri lanka] troops and officials during the war is the most difficult issue on our bilateral agenda, and the one we believe has the lowest prospect for forward movement," a cable sent in late January said. "In Sri Lanka this is further complicated by the fact that responsibility for many of the alleged crimes rests with the country's senior civilian and military leadership, including President Rajapaksa and his brothers and opposition candidate [and former military commander] General Fonseka."
© The Guardian
Monday, December 20, 2010
Sri Lanka to receive enhanced World Bank support
The Island
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In recognition of the country's emergence as a growing economy she announced Sri Lanka 's new eligibility for financing from the IBRD, the World Bank's lending arm for middle-income countries in addition to the current assistance from the IDA. This development has the potential to more than double the amount of resources available to Sri Lanka from the World Bank each year, to close to half a billion dollars - $200 million from IDA, which it continues to access, and now up to an additional $265 million available from IBRD.
"Sri Lanka's remarkable rise from past challenges is a testament to the tenacity of the Sri Lankan people and the commitment of the country's leadership," said Dr. Okonjo-Iweala. "Eligibility for IBRD borrowing is an important recognition of Sri Lanka's middle income country status and signals an important step in the evolution of our relationship going forward - a relationship that is founded on knowledge and experience-sharing that complements the available financing."
Conveying the news on IBRD financing to President Rajapaksa, she reiterated the World Bank's commitment to Sri Lanka, especially in supporting programs designed to encourage inclusive growth throughout the country. She also noted the World Bank's willingness to increase support to complement the ambitious development aspirations of doubling per capita income and growth in excess of 8%, which will be aided by increasing private investment from both foreign and domestic sources as envisioned in the Mahinda Chintana, the Government's vision for future development.
President Rajapaksa conveyed his appreciation to the World Bank for providing support to complement the country's development goals and noted that he looks forward to working with the Bank on the implementation of the Mahinda Chintana.
In her speech to the Central Bank, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala also emphasized the importance of investment and innovation towards development and exchanged ideas from global perspectives that could help Sri Lanka reach its full potential as a growing middle income country. "The expansion of the knowledge economy and the search for innovative ideas by all Sri Lankans will be important to successfully accelerate growth and improve living standards," she said.
© The Island
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