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Japan to keep up Sri Lanka aid despite rights concerns

Dec 12

Japan's Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said on Monday Tokyo would continue to offer economic assistance to Sri Lanka despite the suspension of some U.S. and British aid this year over human rights abuses in the continuing civil war.

Japan is the single largest donor to Sri Lanka, and provides nearly two thirds of all international aid to the island. It has contributed 63 percent of total bilateral
aid received by the country since 2003.

Fukuda was speaking to reporters alongside visiting Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa after the two leaders held talks.

Earlier in the day, Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura told Rajapaksa Japan would approve 1.9 billion yen ($17 million) in grants-in-aid to Sri Lanka this week, Kyodo news agency said.

"I conveyed to the president Japan's intention to cooperate for peace in Sri Lanka as well as economic development," Fukuda told reporters.

Last week Amnesty International criticised Sri Lanka's government for violating the human rights of thousands of Tamils who were arrested days after two bombs exploded in the capital Colombo in late November.

Japan has repeatedly said will it continue to give aid to Sri Lanka despite the country's
failure to address the spiraling human rights violations.

When asked about spiraling human rights violations, Mr Yasushi Akashi, Japan's special envoy, said on June 9 at the end of a four day visit to Sri Lanka that "these certainly did not accord with the "values of a civilized society", but it was natural that these values sometimes suffered and were likely to be given "second place" in a country fighting terrorism".

Last week the Japanese Prime Minister stated that already large scale development projects were seeing the light of day in Sri Lanka and Japan was happy about the cooperation between the two countries in this context.

The visit of the Sri Lankan President to Japan he felt was a step forward in strengthening the friendly ties between the two countries, he further observed.

Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa thanked Japan for standing steadfastly by Sri Lanka on achieving peace and the development of the country.

Sri Lanka in its turn was rejecting full-scale war but was combating terrorism and was on the look out for a peaceful settlement to the existing conflict, he said.

Sri Lanka is a country that has always safe guarded Human Rights and will remain so in the future protecting democracy and human rights unreservedly, President Rajapaksa said.
Indian academic doubts world’s understanding of LTTE

In his contribution to a recent publication, 'Sri Lanka: Search for Peace', by the New Delhi based Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis (IDSA), Professor P. Sahadevan, chairperson of the Centre for South Asian studies of the Jawaharlal Nehru University questioned the International Community's understanding of the nature and characteristics of the LTTE.

The decision to ban the LTTE by the European Union last year was a political mistake, Sahadevan writes while contending that the international community, playing a mediatory role, is the best bet to bring peace in Sri Lanka.

“Since its limited facilitation role, especially by the Norwegians, has proved to be a total failure, it is essential that the international community significantly expands its role and becomes pro-active by mediating between the parties,” he writes.

Prof. Sahadevan’s take was described in press reports as a “refreshing” and “a clear deviation” from the views of Indian defence analysis establishments and western analysis groups.

Excerpts of Sahadevan's views, cited from the Indo-Asian News Service, follow:

"Since its limited facilitation role, especially by the Norwegians, has proved to be a total failure, it is essential that the international community significantly expands its role and becomes pro-active by mediating between the parties."

"Such an involvement may evoke an internal political resistance which the mainstream democratic forces should be in a position to manage. This requires a bipartisan political approach - the much needed southern consensus on peace making."

"It is doubtful that the international community has developed a correct understanding of the LTTE in terms of its nature and characteristics. It is a complex organisation deeply committed to the cause of Tamil Eelam. Self-sacrifice and vengeance are the ingredients of its ideology. Compromise is hard to expect from the Tiger leadership."

"Pressurising a party in a peace process is acceptable but punishing it will tend to bring about negative results,' he said. 'The EU ban has cost the entire peace process; a total breakdown has now made some of the EU members feel that it was a hasty and avoidable decision."

One of the main reasons why the leverage of powerful countries over the LTTE was not working was the "unequal application of international pressure, meaning that the LTTE is coerced while the Sri Lankan government is spared."

"For leverage to become credible and workable, the international community has to target at both the combatants without tilting in position in favour of one or against another."
No safety for aid workers in Sri Lanka

The contrast is stark. A little more than a year ago Action Contre la Faim (ACF), a French charity, was one of the biggest relief agencies in Sri Lanka’s war-torn north and east with 200 employees on its rolls. Today there are only nine.

ACF operated in four districts in the Tamil-dominated conflict areas: Jaffna, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampara, but is now reduced to just an office in the capital city.

Everything changed for ACF on Aug. 4, 2006 when 17 of its local staff, working at its sub-office in Muttur town, Trincomalee, were ‘executed’ with bullets in the back of their heads in the charity's premises.

They were caught in a battle for control over the coastal town between Sri Lankan government troops and the militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Eye witnesses, who recovered the bodies three days after the massacre, said that the men, all ethnic Tamils, appeared to have been lined up outside the office and shot at close range.

The murders are the worst single attack against aid workers since 23 U.N. employees were killed in Baghdad in August 2003.

ACF was forced to close down all its district offices and only operate from Colombo soon after the murders. Though it did return to Batticaloa earlier this year, its office there had to be closed down due to security reasons.

"We have pulled out of Batticaloa for various reasons, security being one of them. The prevalent situation would not have allowed us to properly implement new programmes in resettlement areas," ACF country head for Sri Lanka Loan Tran-Thanh told IPS.

The situation is such that ACF has no immediate plans to return to areas of former operations or increase staff strength.

"Rights now there is no decision to move back into these areas. We are based in Colombo and following the judicial process (of the investigation) and the humanitarian situation in the country," Tran-Thanh said.

Investigations into the murders, including one by a Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry (CoI), assisted by a group of international eminent persons, have progressed painfully slow.

No suspects have been arrested or identified despite wide international condemnation.

"Despite the serious nature of these crimes and their repercussions, insufficient attempts have been made to hold the perpetrators accountable,” United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said in a recent report on protection of civilians in armed conflict.

“In Sri Lanka, there is still little progress in the work of the government-established commission investigating human rights abuses, including the murders of 17 staff of ACF who were killed in a single, abhorrent act in August 2006," he said.

The International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP), headed by former Indian chief justice P.N Bhagwati that is assisting the presidential commission, has criticised the slow pace of the investigation.

"The IIGEP remains concerned about the speed of the Commission’s investigation process. The first investigation into the ACF case commenced on May 14. Since that time only a few witnesses have been examined," it said in its latest public report.

Critics of the investigations also say that none of the civilians present in Muttur at the time of the massacre has been interviewed and that the lack of a witnesses protection programme has also prevented anyone from coming forward to give evidence.

Some witnesses who have been interviewed by the CoI were in fact threatened.

Rights activists in Colombo see the massacre as part of a wider deterioration in the rights environment in the country since December 2006.

The Law Society Trust (LST), a Colombo-based advocacy forum, says that in the first seven months of this year 662 persons have been killed and 540 disappeared.

LST counts nine local aid workers among the disappeared and said the total worked out to five victims per day in the first eight months of 2007.

The Colombo-based Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies said as of August over 30 local aid workers have been killed since January 2006.

"This is a continuing trend where we have seen abuses taking placing and no one held accountable. There needs to be some new mechanism for the situation to change, the continuation of the status quo will not help in any way," LST’s Rukshan Fernando told IPS.

LST analyses show that majority of the victims were young men from the Tamil minority in the northern Jaffna peninsula.

While most of the disappeared (84 percent) and killed (78 percent) were Tamils, LST data found that one in every five abductees was a young male from Jaffna.

"That itself should tell us something,’’ Fernando said.

Agencies which have seen local staff members fall victim to the rising wave of violence agree with Fernando that they had become victims of an environment of impunity. Last week an employee working with Halo Trust, a demining agency, was shot and killed in Jaffna.

"I think young men are a target here, much more than demining agencies," Steen Wetlesen, country manager for the Danish Demining Group, told IPS when one its own staff members was shot and killed in Jaffna in August.

In that incident the victim appeared to be specifically targeted by the assailants as he was riding on a motorcycle with a colleague. The colleague escaped with injuries and two others traveling on another motorbike were not harmed. The gunmen had fired and chased after the victim and shot him.

Even U.N. agencies have felt the dangers created by an environment of animosity against relief agencies, especially in the south of the country.

"The accusations levelled against UNICEF and its staff could seriously compromise our ability to carry out our work, and could endanger our safety and security," UNICEF said this month soon after a nationalist parliamentarian accused it of aiding the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO).

TRO funds were frozen in the United States this month over charges that it was a front for the LTTE, which is banned in that country as a terrorist organisation.

For the situation to change and for crimes like the ACF murders to be properly investigated, activists like Fernando say a drastic change, far more radical than anything the country’s human rights bodies have seen in the past, is required.

"One year after the appointment of the CoI and with an extension of another year, there is no tangible improvement in the human rights situation in Sri Lanka," Bhavani Fonseka of the Centre for Policy Alternatives said.

“If anything there is an increase in the number and nature of violations, with limited progress in investigations, indictments and convictions exacerbating the prevailing culture of impunity.”

The imperative change, according to Fernando, is the setting up of an international human rights mechanism in the country with a powerful mandate. "Past experience shows that local bodies are insufficient and inadequate."

President Mahinda Rajapakse’s nationalist government has, however, shut the door to any international intervention in the monitoring of human rights. It has repeatedly denied that its security forces are involved in human rights abuses and said it is only looking for technical assistance and capacity building from international bodies.

John Holmes, U.N. under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs, during a visit to Sri Lanka, in August, said there is concern about the safety of humanitarian workers and that ''the record here is one of the worst in the world from that point of view''.
Iran to supply cheap oil and fund Sri Lankan arms buys

Sri Lanka’s hardline government has approached Iran for a loan to replace aircraft destroyed by the Tamil Tigers in a daring raid last month. Colombo is also asking Tehran for the supply of oil and gas at concessional rates on credit, the reports said.

These requests are expected to be followed up personally by President Rajapakse during a planned visit to Iran shortly.

Iran supplied $150m worth of arms to Sri Lanka in 2005, barely weeks after the Indian Ocean tsunami devastated the island.

Indian security analyst B Raman, a former additional secretary to the Government of India, writing for the South Asia Analysis Group (SAAG) said last week Sri Lanka has requested Iran, through a Malaysian Muslim of Indian or Sri Lankan origin for an urgent loan at low interest.

The loan is to enable Colombo to purchase trainer and electronic surveillance aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles in replacement of those lost during the recent ground-cum-air attack launched by the LTTE on the Anuradhapura air force base, he said.

The report also said the Sri Lankan government has also requested Iran for the supply of oil and gas at concessional rates on credit.

According to the report, the Malaysian Muslim, who is acting as the intermediary, is a close personal friend of A. Q. Khan, the Pakistani nuclear scientist, and had come into contact with key Iranian officials in the past through A. Q. Khan.

In October this year, the Sri Lankan government extended its support for Iran’s ambitions to acquire nuclear technology.

The Islamic republic of Iran, labeled by US president George Bush as part of ‘an axis of evil’ is under intense pressure from US and European Union over its controversial nuclear programme.

The US and the EU believe that the Iran, a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), is working towards developing nuclear weapons.

The US has seemed to threatened military action against Iran.

However, interestingly, Muhammad Zuhair, Sri Lanka’s ambassador to Iran speaking to media in October this year dismissed rumors of a possible US attack against Iran and declared that the United Nations conventions allow Iran to conduct nuclear researches.

Ambassador Zuhair added that the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse’s meeting with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the sideline of the UN General Assembly in New York that month would pave the way for the further expansion of Iran-Sri Lanka ties.

At the time Zuhair also said that Sri Lanka opposed imposing any new sanctions against Iran. However, the US introduced further sanctions against Iran in November.

This is the second time Sri Lanka has turned to Iran for beef up its military capability. In January 2005, the Sunday Times newspaper reported the purchase of USD 150 million of arms from Iran.

"Sri Lanka will procure military hardware and oil on concessionary terms. The deal is said to be worth over US $ 150 million," the Sunday Times reported at the time.

"The delegation is to take a look at the wide variety of military hardware available. The Army has identified its requirements after a delegation visited Iran earlier. The Navy and the Air Force will check on requirements. Thereafter the tri services procurements are to be incorporated in an agreement," the paper reported.

"This is the first time the Government is turning to Iran for procuring a broader variety of military hardware on a government-to-government basis. A similar deal was finalised last month with China," the paper pointed out at the time.

The first arms deal with Iran was agreed when then president Kumaratunga visited Iran in November 2004.

The first arms deal between Iran and Sri Lanka was finalized when the then Sri Lankan president Chandrika Kumaratunga visited Iran in November 2004.

According Sri Lankan government sources President Mahinda Rajapakse is most likely visit Iran after the Commonwealth Heads of State and Government summit in Kampala, Uganda from November 23 to 25.

There were earlier reports in Sri Lanka that the US had requested President Rajapaksa not to travel to Iran.

However, Sri Lankan officials making clear their displeasure at the West for turning the heat on Colombo over rampant Human Rights abuses were quoted as saying: “We know our bread is from the East and that is the new reality.”

China, Pakistan and now Iran are amongst the biggest arms suppliers to Sri Lanka. The United States, Britain, Israel and India are amongst the others.

According to the Sunday Times the government sources they spoke to said that though there was a lot of thunder from the West there was very little rain.

In aid terms US gives about $5 million per year to Sri Lanka, while the EU extended about Euro 129 million for four years and Britain had given less than two million pounds per year. In comparison Japan gave about $900 million, China $600 million and India $250 million per year.

The US embassy told the newspaper that it “does not discuss private exchanges with other governments, including with our friends. However, our concerns about Iran are well known and with any sovereign government Sri Lanka will make its own decisions about how to conduct its foreign affairs.”

Meanwhile, SAAG also reported that Sri Lanka has also requested Pakistan for the replacement of the unmanned aerial vehicles destroyed by the LTTE. Some of the craft lost last month had been given in the past by Pakistan and some others by Israel.

Colombo has also requested China urgently for the latest radar and other air defence equipment, SAAG said.

Pakistani Commandoes from its Special Services Group (SSG) have been training Sri Lankan Commandoes and some anti-LTTE Tamils in secret training camps in Southern Sri Lanka as a prelude to the expected military offensive in the Vanni region in the north, SAAG also reported.

Some of the Sri Lankan commandoes had also been to Pakistan for training in the SSG training institutions.

The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF), with the help of Pakistani and Ukrainian pilots, has stepped up its efforts for a decapitation strike to kill LTTE leader Vellupillai Pirapaharan, SAAG also said.

“A monitoring station to locate the hide-out of Prabakaran has been set up at an unidentified location in the Eastern Province with the help of Pakistan's Directorate of Military Intelligence (DGMI) to identify [his] location,” the report said.

In an interview to the "Sunday Observer" of November 11, 2007, the SLAF Commander Air Marshal Roshan Goonatilleke said that “it was not a difficult task for the SLAF to get at [the LTTE leader] as he was confined to a very limited area.”
UNCHR ‘gravely’ concerned

UNHCR expressed its ‘grave concerns’ on the deteriorating security situation and various incidents reported from areas in the eastern Sri Lanka, including incidents of involuntary return of displaced people.

“UNHCR has received reports of a number of killings, abductions, incidents of harassment and general insecurity in these areas,” said UNHCR spokesperson, Jennifer Pagonis, at today's Palais des Nations press briefing in Geneva.

“We reiterate our call to the government to ensure that the returns are voluntary, safe and in line with international standards,” Pagonis said.

Around 250 displaced people, who returned to their villages of origin in the Trincomalee district a few weeks ago, after fleeing escalating violence in 2006, fled their homes again this week back to welfare centres in the Batticaloa district after serious security incidents in their villages.

UNHCR has received reports of a number of killings, abductions, incidents of harassment and general insecurity in these areas.

These incidents have made the returns unsustainable for these IDP families. Those who fled to Batticaloa have indicated that at the moment, they have no intention of returning to their villages of origin.

They said their homes had been looted and damaged, and they now have nothing to return to. Incidents such as these clearly affect the sustainability of returns. Security is one of the main prerequisites for return and it is the responsibility of the government to ensure the security of returnees. We urge the government to strengthen the return process and build confidence among the returnees. We warn against any further moves towards premature return until these issues are resolved.

UNHCR is also concerned about incidents of involuntary return during yesterday’s, (Thursday) returns to Chenkalady in Batticaloa West.

According to reports, displaced people, IDPs, who were unwilling to return, were informed by local authorities that their assistance would be withdrawn if they opted to stay behind UNHCR has received a petition from the group of 92 IDPs indicating their unwillingness to return. There are also reports of looting of shelter materials in the Batticaloa district.

We reiterate our call to the government to ensure that the returns are voluntary, safe and in line with international standards. UNHCR should be fully engaged in the process and we urge the government to work with experts in this field to ensure the rights of IDPs, as stated in international humanitarian law, are safeguarded at all times.
US actions without merit, will bring further misery to the Tamils

It is with dismay that Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) learns of the actions of the Untied States Department of the Treasury under Executive Order 13224.

TRO reiterates that we are a local NGO providing humanitarian relief, reconstruction, rehabilitation and development to tsunami and war affected persons and NOT a "front to facilitate fundraising and procurement for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)".

Since the signing of the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) in 2002, TRO has worked with all three communities in the NorthEast: Tamil, Muslim and Sinhalese and in the aftermath of the tsunami was praised by the international humanitarian community for the speed and quality of our humanitarian relief and emergency response and received an award from the President of Sri Lanka for our construction of Temporary Shelters.

Restricting Humanitarian Relief to the Tamil People

Despite the protestations of the U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka Robert Blake that, "…this designation is an action against the LTTE, not against the Tamil people," the actions of the U.S. Treasury Dept will in fact severely impact the Tamil people and cause further suffering to the most vulnerable sections of the Tamil population.

There seems to be an ongoing political witch hunt aimed at discrediting TRO and other national and international organizations working in LTTE held areas. It appears that the goal of this is to reduce humanitarian assistance provided to the Tamil civilian population in LTTE controlled areas as well as in GoSL war affected areas.

The freezing of the TRO bank accounts by the Government of Sri Lanka (4 September 2006) and the US Government (15 November 2007) will further exacerbate the humanitarian situation and cause untold suffering to the approximately 300,000 persons that rely on TRO assistance.

One therefore has to wonder what the goal of the US Government is since no proof of any wrongdoing has been presented that casts doubts on the work of TRO.

It seems that the GoSL has been given carte blanc by the U.S. and the international community as reflected in their continuing silence and/or weak public statements in the face of the escalating severity of human rights abuses against the Tamil people including: extra-judicial executions, disappearances, torture, rape, and the targeted bombing and shelling of Tamil civilians by the GoSL as well as the GoSL's restrictions on the delivery of humanitarian relief to the Tamil people and the use of food and medicine as a weapon of war.

Effect of the Freeze

The actions of the US Government are very distressing to the Tamil people on the island and the Tamil Diaspora.

The US Government currently does not provide any humanitarian relief to those in LTTE controlled areas and with the recent actions inevitably supports the GoSL's campaign to limit assistance to the Tamil people.

TRO is one of only a few organizations functioning in parts of the NorthEast and the actions of the US Government will lead to further suffering for the Tamil people.

The actions of the US against TRO are particularly worrying bearing in mind that the US Government is at the same time providing military assistance and training to the GoSL despite the GoSL's horrendous human rights record and its continuing violation of International Humanitarian Law.

Despite frequent attacks on TRO in the media and the freezing of TRO bank accounts in Sri Lanka and the USA, neither the GoSL nor the US government have shown any evidence of wrong doing.

While TRO-USA will immediately cease financial activities, as required by the laws of the United States, other TRO organizations throughout the world will continue to work for the benefit of the suffering war and tsunami affected persons. In the meantime, TRO-USA will appeal to the U.S. Treasury to review its decision and remove the proscription.

Unfortunately, the damage has been done and TRO's ability to fundraise and its work at the ground level will be severely impacted due to the actions of the US & GoSL and the dangers that TRO staff face in their efforts to provide humanitarian assistance will further increase.

Accountability & Transparency

TRO wishes to state categorically that all funds received are utilized according to the wishes of the donor, in line with the stated mission of TRO, to assist the tsunami and war affected populations of the NorthEast. None of these funds are, or have ever been found to have been, misappropriated for use by any other organization or used inappropriately by TRO itself. The GoSL, despite years of allegations, has never brought forth any credible evidence of wrongdoing by TRO.

TRO has placed a great deal of importance on always meeting international standards of transparency and accountability to our donors, beneficiaries and stakeholders. TRO has been audited each year by an independent Colombo based accounting firm as well as having had numerous individual projects and programs audited by, among others, the UK Charity Commission, ECHO, and a majority of its donors. None of these entities has ever accused TRO of providing funds to the LTTE or misappropriating funds for uses other than those they were intended for.

False Allegations

It is common knowledge that the GoSL has been on a world wide campaign to discredit TRO and it is unfortunate that the US Government has been influenced by the GoSL propaganda. Many of the false allegations and factual errors propagated by the GoSL appear in the US Governments statements.

There are many false allegations and factual errors in the Press Releases from the U.S. Embassy and Treasury Department some of which are listed below.

First amongst these is the statement/claim that: "TRO maintains a headquarters office in Kilinochchi, Sri Lanka and operates branch offices throughout Sri Lanka and in seventeen countries worldwide"

This is incorrect; TRO does not have or operate "branch offices" any where in the world. TRO is an organization registered and operating as an NGO in Sri Lanka with its headquarters in Kilinochchi. All other TRO offices and organizations are independent entities registered and operated under the laws of the host countries.

The US Treasury Dept. Press Release further states that: "The LTTE oversees the activities of the TRO and other LTTE-linked non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Sri Lanka and abroad". This statement attempts to portray the TRO and other NGOs as being directed and controlled by the LTTE. This is not the case. The TRO and other NGOs working in the NorthEast are not directed and controlled by the LTTE. TRO, international NGOs and UN Agencies must report to the LTTE as the de facto governing authority in parts of Sri Lanka and must request permission to operate, in the same way as they must report and request permission of the GoSL in GoSL controlled areas of the country. Additionally, these NGOs & CBOs, TRO included, must also report to the GoSL Government Agent (GA) and the relevant GoSL Ministries in Colombo.

Allegations without merit

The US Treasury Dept also claims that, "Recent information indicates that the LTTE has ordered international NGOs operating in its territory to provide all project funding through local NGOs, which are managed collectively by the TRO. This arrangement allows TRO to withdraw money from the local NGO accounts and to provide a portion of the relief funds to the LTTE. The LTTE has reportedly exerted pressure to comply on a few international NGOs that have resisted these arrangements."

This allegation is also without any merit. International NGOs and UN agencies work with GoSL departments and with the GA and all projects and work, including beneficiary selection, go through the Rural Development Society (RDS) and the Women's RDS and are undersigned by the Grama Sevaka (GoSL local Govt representative) and Assistant Government Agent (AGA).

The accusations that TRO collectively manages local NGOs and withdraws funds from local NGO accounts also are false. The NGO consortium coordinates all NGOs and Community Based Organizations (CBOs). TRO never "withdraws" or otherwise takes any funds from local NGOs and, in fact, in many cases actually provides funds and gives capacity building to many NGOs and CBOs. In fact, TRO is the leading provider of capacity building to local NGOs and CBOs in the Vanni. In 2004 and 2005 TRO spent Rs. 50 million (US$ 452,857) for capacity building and micro finance projects for local NGOs and CBOs. TRO also provided an additional Rs. 48 million (US$ 434,743) in 2005 to Fisheries Cooperative Societies and Unions for infrastructure development in the Jaffna, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, and Amparai GoSL controlled areas. TRO has also provided capacity development for government institutions and cooperatives and the private sector.

TRO will continue work to support the tsunami and war affected populations of the NorthEast and urges the Tamil Diaspora and wider international humanitarian community to put pressure on the international community to end the violations of International Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law by the Government of Sri Lanka.
US freezes TRO’s funds to support war against LTTE

The United States last week moved to freeze the US-held assets of the largest Tamil charity, the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO), accusing it of acting as a front to facilitate fundraising and procurement for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The TRO, the largest local Non Governmental Organisation assisting the Tamil population in Sri Lanka’s Northeast, vigorously protested the action by the US Treasury, pointing out that no wrong doing, misappropriation or misuse of funds have been pointed out in its widespread engagement with other NGOs, local and international.

The TRO said the US action would increase the misery of the Tamil people living under Sri Lankan government embargo in the island’s Northeast.

“One wonders what the goal of the US Government is since no proof of any wrongdoing has been presented that casts doubts on the work of TRO,” the charity said.

“TRO is one of only a few organizations functioning in parts of the NorthEast and the actions of the US Government will lead to further suffering for the Tamil people.”

“The US Government currently does not provide any humanitarian relief to those in LTTE controlled areas and with the recent actions inevitably supports the GoSL's campaign to limit assistance to the Tamil people,” the TRO said.

Defending the action by the US Treasury, the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Robert Blake, said the action was intended to send a message to the LTTE that now is the time to negotiate.

His government`s action was directed at the LTTE and not the Tamil people, Mr. Blake said.

The US designated the LTTE as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation in 1997 making it a crime for US citizens to provide material support or resources to the Tigers’ struggle.

Sri Lanka’s Sinhala nationalist government, which is blamed for thousands of extrajudicial killings and disappearances since 2005 praised the US for taking action against Tamil charity and urged other countries to follow suit.

The US Embassy in Colombo issued a press release on Thursday, November 18 announcing the decision of the US Department of the Treasury to freeze US-held assets of the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), which won a presidential award in 2005 for building 3,240 temporary shelters following the Boxing Day Tsunami in 2004.

“The Tamils Rehabilitation Organization was designated today under Executive Order 13224, which is aimed at financially isolating terrorist groups and their support networks,” said the press release.

“E.O. 13224 freezes any assets held by designees under US jurisdiction and prohibits US persons from transacting with designees.”

The statement claimed that the TRO had raised funds on behalf of the LTTE through a network of individual representatives and according to sources within the organization, the TRO is the preferred conduit of funds from the United States to the LTTE in Sri Lanka.

It also charged TRO of facilitating LTTE procurement operations in the United States.

Speaking to the media last Friday at the American Centre in Colombo, US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Robert Blake said “These are serious charges. It is on this basis the Treasury designated the TRO. This not only blocks illicit assets but its other assets in the US as well. The freeze was following information based on some earlier arrests.”

He further added that the growing international efforts to cut off money flowing to the LTTE would make it increasingly difficult for them "to import arms and other things to carry on their armed struggle."

"The larger purpose of all our activities is to send a message to the LTTE that now is the time to negotiate,"

“Now is the time for the LTTE to renounce violence and to renounce terrorism," he added.

"The lesson for the LTTE is that they are never going to get a better deal and now is the time to try to negotiate".

However he did not elaborate on what deal was on offer for the Tamils, as Sri Lankan has failed to come up with any power sharing proposal since the signing of a ceasefire in February 2002.

Mr. Blake also repeated his customary request to the Sri Lankan government to share political power with Tamils.

Mr Blake also did not say what actions United States would take to pressure the Sri Lankan government to put forward a power sharing proposal, which earlier this month killed the chief negotiator of the LTTE, Brig. S.P Thamilselvan and has unveiled a war budget with the stated intention of escalating the conflict.

Reacting to the announcement of the asset freeze, Sri Lankan Foreign Affairs Minister Rohitha Bogollagama made a special statement to the parliament praising the US for cracking down on funding sources for the LTTE.

“I have emphasised the damage done by this organisation particularly in the US and we have provided evidence that lends credence to our concerns,” he said.

“It is in this context, that I wish to place on record the deep appreciation of the government of Sri Lanka and this entire House, to the US Administration especially the Treasury Department, for the speedy investigation carried out and for the action taken against the TRO.”

Mr. Bogollagama told parliament that Sri Lanka could now expect a significant decline in the collections of the LTTE which he insisted ranged from $20-30 million per month world wide.

The minister warned that eternal vigilance was necessary because the LTTE had become an expert in circumventing curbs and bans.

Mr. Bogollagama further said the action taken by the US should serve as an example to other countries such as Australia, Canada, Denmark, France and Britain who would follow suit as they were conducting investigations into LTTE front organisations.
TNA condemns US block on TRO

Sri Lanka’s largest political party has condemned the US action to freeze the US-based accounts of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) saying Washington was deepening the plight of the Tamil people.

“While the Government of Sri Lanka has imposed an effective economic embargo in Vanni, and the sustained bombardments of Sri Lanka Military have made situation difficult for International Non-Governmental Organizations to work amidst the affected local residents in border villages of Tamil areas,” said Kajendran, parliamentarian from the Tamil National Alliance

“The United States has made the situation worse for the Tamil people, internally displaced and reeling under economic hardship, by stopping the humanitarian aid from the branches world-wide of the TRO," he said.

"More than 300,000 Tamils have been internally displaced by the offensives by Sri Lanka armed forces. TRO, the only organization capable of providing the day-to-day support for the most vulnerable IDPs will now be debilitated with scarcity of funds.”

“Preschools, children homes, aged-people homes, livelihood beneficiaries, including tsunami beneficiaries will be affected by the ban.”

“Further, this action will be considered by the Sri Lanka Government as tacit support to the military approach, and will further encourage Colombo's military pursuits," the MP said.

Meanwhile, Suresh Premachandran, a senior parliamentarian of the TNA from Jaffna described as "contradictory" American ambassador Robert Blake's observation that the US treasury freeze of funds of TRO, a pro-LTTE front, was not against the Tamil people in Sri Lanka but against terrorism.

"It should be noted that US ambassador Robert Blake on Friday stated that the LTTE should return to the negotiating table, thereby recognising that it is the representative of the Tamil People in Sri Lanka," Premachandran said.

Mr Kajendran said that without a balanced approach to peace by the International Community, with an understanding of the Tamil peoples right to self-determination, Tamils are unlikely to be convinced by assertions of support to peace by the International Community.
Rape by Sri Lankan troops resurfaces – in Haiti

The United Nations has asked Sri Lanka to prosecute ‘to the fullest extent of the law’ 108 Sri Lankan soldiers with the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti for sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of minors, including prostitution, the Sunday Times reported.

The number is one of the biggest single withdrawal of soldiers from a UN peacekeeping mission. During the conflict numerous local and international NGOs protested both frequent rapes by security forces and the climate of impunity in which they occur.

The charges against the Sri Lankan soldiers may include rape (which is constituted a "war crime" in the context of military conflicts) involving children under 18 years of age, the paper said.

The ejection of 108 out of Sri Lanka’s contingent of 950 for sex crimes highlights the frequency of rape during Sri Lankan operation in the Northeast during the decades long conflict.

In 2001, the year before a ceasefire ended the fighting, Amnesty International said it “has noted a marked rise in allegations of rape by [Sri Lankan] police, army and navy personnel.”

“Among the victims of rape by the security forces are many internally displaced women, women who admit being or having been members of the LTTE and female relatives of members or suspected male members of the LTTE,” Amnesty said.

“Reports of rape in custody concern children as young as 14,” Amnesty also said.

Amnesty said “to [our] knowledge, not a single member of the Sri Lankan security forces has been brought to trial in connection to incidents of rape in custody although one successful prosecution has been brought in a case where the victim of rape was also murdered.”

Also in 2001, Amnesty wrote to then Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga, “urging her to take action to stop rape by security forces andbring perpetrators to justice” in response to reports of rape by security forces “in Mannar,Batticaloa,Negombo and Jaffna.”

“To date, no response has been received to the appeal,” Amnesty later said in a special report titled “Sri Lanka: Rape in Custody” which was published in January 2002, just as the Norwegian brokered Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) came into being.

Earlier, in March 2000, the then United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women, Radhika Coomaraswamy, expressed her “grave concern” over the lack of serious investigation into allegations of gang rape and murder of women and girls by the Sri Lankan security forces.

In 2000, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) protested that “Sri Lankan security forces are using systematic rape and murder of Tamil women to subjugate the Tamil population... Impunity continues to reign as rape is used as a weapon of war in Sri Lanka.”

Apart from the ejection of 108 Sri Lankan troops from Haiti, the actions Colombo takes against them would also determine whether the UN will deploy Sri Lankan soldiers in future peacekeeping operations, the Sunday Times said.

A UN source told the paper that the Department of Peacekeeping Operations would monitor what action the government proposed to take against the 108 soldiers who were part of a 950-member contingent from Sri Lanka.

"If they are found guilty, they should be punished for their crimes under the criminal justice system in the country," he said.

The UN would be very unhappy, he said, if only administrative and disciplinary actions were taken against the soldiers.

Asked how many soldiers would be repatriated, UN spokesperson Michele Montas told reporters Friday that all 108 soldiers would be repatriated on disciplinary grounds.

The total number is one of the biggest single withdrawal of soldiers from a UN peacekeeping mission.

Asked about the nature of the charges, a UN spokeswoman said the allegations were against members of the Sri Lankan battalion stationed in a variety of locations in Haiti, and were of a "transactional sex" nature.

She also acknowledged that they involved prostitution, including in some cases with minors.

In its 1999 annual report, Amnesty International, said rape of female detainees was used amongst a range of torture methods.

In a statement to the UN in 1998, the World Organisation against Torture observed: “Sri Lankan soldiers have raped both women and young girls on a massive scale, and often with impunity, since reporting often leads to reprisals against the victims and their families.”

“The consistent policy of rape and violence against Tamil women that we have documented for many years is a fundamental military tactic of the Sri Lankan forces,” International Educational Development, an NGO, also told the UN that year.

Human rights NGOs have frequently protested the impunity Sri Lankan soldiers enjoy regarding rapes and other abuses.

“Only one of the thousands of rapes which have been reported, has resulted in a conviction,” Pax Romana said.

“There also seems to be little point to expect justice on the basis of the constitution since the constitution itself provides the mechanisms and justifications for the commission of these war crimes and encourages impunity.”
Rights group wants paramilitary commander charged in UK

Britain should look at trying a Sri Lankan paramilitary commander, arrested Friday for using forged documents, for war crimes, a human rights organisation has urged.

Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna, was arrested in Britain Friday for using a forged travel document.

He had been travelling on a Sri Lankan diplomatic passport, with valid visas issued by the Colombo embassies of various European governments, sources told the Tamil Guardian.

The passport was said to be in a false name, leading to his arrest. However, Karuna had been allowed into Britain on that false passport, a source noted.

Britain’s Home Office confirmed the head of the paramilitary Karuna Group was being held in immigration detention.

"Karuna Amman has been arrested following a joint operation between the Border and Immigration Agency and the Metropolitan Police," the Home Office said in a statement to AFP.

"He is now being held in immigration detention it would not be appropriate to comment further."

The paramilitary commander is accused by rights experts of child soldier recruitment, extortion and torture.

"Give the magnitude of Karuna''s crimes over the years, including attacks on civilians and use of child soldiers, Human Rights Watch strongly urges the UK government to explore the possibility of prosecuting him for war crimes and other international offences before returning him to Sri Lanka," Human Rights Watch senior legal adviser Jim Ross told Reuters.

Britain is a signatory to the International Criminal Court, which has charged a Congolese rebel with child recruitment, but Sri Lanka is not and the court is not investigating the conflict in the island.

Ross said he was unsure if Karuna could be charged under UK law.

Following his expulsion from the LTTE in March 2004 for misappropriation of finances, Karuna was armed by the Sri Lankan state to work alongside the Sri Lankan security forces, in fighting the LTTE.

Operating a paramilitary group in the eastern province, Karuna terrorized Tamils and Muslims and was involved in child soldier recruitment, extortion, abduction, torture and torture.

Sri Lanka too is accused of widespread human rights violations and analysts say Karuna was used by the government as they cleared mainstream Tiger forces from the east this year.

Rights groups say troops and police did nothing to stop his fighters carrying out killings and extortion and taking children to fight.

Earlier this year Karuna was sacked from the paramilitary group and quasi-political party he founded in 2004, the Tamileela Makkal Viduthlai Puligal (TMVP).

In October reports said he was removed from the party’s Working Committee for financial irregularities. His main accusers were a rival faction led by Chandrakanthan alias Pillaiyaan.

Pillaiyaan's group had been complaining that Karuna was keeping 70% of the money collected from the people for his private use, and giving only 30% to the TMVP.
Tamil Peace maker killed deliberately by Sri Lanka

S. P. Tamilselvan, an internationally respected Peace negotiator for the Political Wing of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), was killed by the Sri Lankan Air Force.

The Canadian Tamil Congress is profoundly saddened and deeply hurt on hearing this heartbreaking and painful news.

Tamilselvan was the chief negotiator for various peace talks with the Sri Lankan state since 1994. He voiced the concerns of the Tamil community at the Peace Talks with a clear unwavering commitment and determination to resolve the conflict through negotiations.

Many prominent international leaders, diplomats and media personal met with Tamilselvan regularly basis. He also met with Canadian elected officials from all political parties and members from the Forum of Federation to work towards a negotiated political settlement for the civil war in Sri Lanka.

"In the past, Mr. Tamilselvan had met with notable Canadians such as Bob Rae and Professor David Cameron to discuss peaceful solutions to the crisis in Sri Lanka." says David Poopalapillai spokesperson for Canadian Tamil Congress.

"To deliberately target a peace negotiator sends a clear message that the Sri Lankan government is not even interested in talking about neither in peace nor in negotiations." Poopalapillai added.

Tamilselvan had traveled to many countries and brought awareness about the plight of Tamils in the hands of the oppressive regime in Sri Lanka. He worked tirelessly to expose the human rights violations committed against the Tamils in Sri Lanka to the world community.

Canadian Tamil Congress extends its heartfelt condolences to the families and colleagues of Mr. Tamilselvan.

We believe that this deliberate and cruel action of the Sri Lankan government shuts the door for a negotiated solution. The Sri Lankan State has demonstrated its unwillingness to commit to peace by taking the life of a strong political leader of Tamils.

Canadian Tamil Congress unequivocally condemns this despicable act of aggression by the Sri Lankan government in killing the chief negotiator of the Tamils.

We urge the Canadian government and elected representatives to condemn this act and to pressure the Sri Lankan government to abandon its military aggression on the Tamils.

We request the Canadian government to exert diplomatic pressure on Sri Lanka to respect Human Rights and to engage in negotiations towards peaceful political solution.
Condolence poetry by Kalaignar Karunanidhi

Translated by TamilNet

S. P. Thamilchelvan

(1967 - 2007)

Always smiling face -

A mind that sets ablaze opposition!

Young, young, yet a heart of

Himalayan strength, strength!

A commander seasoned in the line

of the old lion Balasingam

The virtuous youth whom with determination

offered himself to the War for Rights -

his soul hasn't gone extinguished

he hasn't gone brotherless

A beloved son who wrote his fame

all over the earth, wherever Tamils live -

where have you gone?
Tamil Tigers political leader S. P. Thamilselvan

In October 2006, when talks in Geneva between the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan government broke down, a journalist asked S. P. Tamilselvan whether the Tamil people had been given any hope by the discussions. The head of the Tamil delegation was to the point: "We ourselves are not hopeful, [so] how can the people be?"

In recent years, Tamilselvan had been the international face of the struggle by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam or (LTTE) or Tamil Tigers, as they fought for a homeland in Sri Lanka.

With the group's leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, declining to appear in public, Tamilselvan was one of the points of contact for a conflict that has taken an estimated 70,000 lives.

On 2 November, he, too, became one of its victims when he was killed during a Sri Lankan air -force bombardment.

Tamilselvan joined the armed struggle in 1983 as fighting broke out between the LTTE and the government forces. He took part in several military operations in north Sri Lanka, including an abortive bid to storm the Elephant Base camp in 1992 and the battles in Pooneryn. But he was wounded in both the stomach and the leg and had to refrain from any further active military service.

Many observers saw Tamilselvan as a moderate, but earlier this summer he told reporters that the LTTE were prepared to launch major attacks on both military and economic targets to try to cripple the country's economy.

"Let the Tamil people live in their traditional homeland," he said in an interview in Kilinochchi, the LTTE’s de facto headquarters. "Leave the Tamil people without any military occupation or persecution. That will be the day there is no war."

Tamilselvan was born into a humble background and worked originally as a barber, before rising through the LTTE ranks, partly through his association with the Tamil leader, Prabhakaran, for whom he once served as a bodyguard. His wife is a member of the Tigers' women's wing.

In 2001 he was considered of such importance that the Sri Lankan government dispatched its army's Deep Penetration Unit after him; on that occasion he survived the attempt to kill him.

His profile grew during the late 1990s, especially after Norway took an interest in the struggling peace process. When the Tigers' international spokesman, Anton Balasingham, became increasingly ill from kidney problems, Tamilselvan, who was already heading the organisation’s political wing, found himself being asked to take a more prominent role as a spokesman – even though he did not speak English.

Following Balasingham's death in 2006, Tamilselvan was the Tigers' chief point of contact for the outside world.
Public face of the Tamil Tigers

S. P. Tamilselvan – who died in a Sri Lankan air force raid on Friday morning – is the most senior Tamil Tiger leader to have been killed in recent years.

The death of their media-savvy political wing leader at the age of 40 means the LTTE have lost an experienced and suave political negotiator.

For many years S. P. Tamilselvan was the public face of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

Since 1994, he had been a member of the LTTE peace negotiating team and had participated in almost every round of face-to-face talks with the Sri Lankan authorities and Norwegian mediators.

I met him on a number of occasions in recent years, both in Sri Lanka and during peace talks in Geneva.

He always came across as smiling and friendly - although his enemies say behind the warm exterior there lurked a ruthless, hardened military man.

Even recently, a senior LTTE source told me Tamilselvan was away in the north-west heading a fighting unit.

Rise to prominence

Unlike many of his comrades, S. P. Tamilselvan did not look like a veteran guerrilla fighter. Dressed in a suit he could have passed himself off as an executive and was very at ease at the negotiating table.

He was dedicated to the LTTE cause and firmly believed that one day they would realise their dream of a separate nation - Eelam - for Sri Lanka's Tamils.

He was always keen to tell the world what was happening to the Tamil population in north-east Sri Lanka.

After the devastating tsunami in December 2004, he was quick to ring the BBC Tamil service to say what was going on inside rebel-held territory.

He supervised relief efforts in LTTE-held areas, and was praised in many quarters for his actions.

While sometimes long-winded, Mr. Tamilselvan was skilled at reflecting the views of the LTTE leadership.

Like many other Tiger cadres, he started in the armed wing and rose in prominence due to his military exploits.

Soon, he entered into the inner circles of Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.

When Prabhakaran was in India in the early 1980s, Tamilselvan was his de facto aide-de-camp.

"He was very close to the LTTE leader. His demise may bring about a hardening of attitude in the LTTE hierarchy," according to Sri Lanka analyst DBS Jeyaraj.

S. P. Tamilselvan's closeness to the Tiger leader also helped him to rise in the LTTE hierarchy.

He was once the commander of the strategically-important Jaffna region. Many accuse him of leading a group carrying out assassinations in that area at the time.

Skilled with the media

Following a battlefield injury in 1993, S. P. Tamilselvan was asked to focus more on political matters.

It was to prove a crucial period for the Tigers. At the time the LTTE was considered basically a military movement and its gradual entry into politics was a big challenge for the organisation.

The political wing leader soon adapted himself to his new role.

He led the Tigers' negotiating team during the first ever direct peace talks with the Sri Lankan government in 1994-95.

More recently, he represented the LTTE in various rounds of peace talks, including the last, fruitless meeting in Geneva late last year.

S. P. Tamilselvan knew how to handle the international media and – through an interpreter – was adept at handling prickly issues such as child conscription, political killings and questions on the assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

After Tiger ideologue Anton Balasingham died last year, the LTTE projected Tamilselvan as their chief negotiator.

The rebels may find him difficult to replace.

He is survived by his wife, an eight-year-old daughter and a son of four.
Slain Tiger was public face of LTTE

Almost always smiling, smartly dressed and carrying a polished cane, S.P. Tamilselvan was the key contact point between Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers and the outside world.

Killed on Friday in a government air strike, the leader of the Tigers' political wing was the public face and mouthpiece of the LTTE who met foreign diplomats and reporters denied access to reclusive leader Velupillai Prabhakaran when they visited the de facto capital Kilinochchi.

While the government says his death shows they can strike senior rebels at will, analysts and diplomats say it will make bringing the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the government together even harder, further locking the country into its civil war.

In previous decades of war, Prabhakaran used English-speaking and British passport-holding negotiator Anton Balasingham for political advice. But Balasingham's influence appeared to have waned after he returned to London for medical treatment before his death last year.

Diplomats and observers could never agree whether Tamilselvan exercised significant influence over LTTE policy. But he effectively replaced Balasingham as the voice of the LTTE, and led a delegation to peace talks in Geneva last year.

Born in 1967 on the northern Jaffna peninsula in what is now a government-held enclave, he joined the fledgling movement in the 1980s before being wounded the following decade by an Indian peacekeeping force that ended up fighting both sides.

ONCE A COMMANDER

Once a military commander, he joined the political wing – although he still occasionally appeared in public in the LTTE trademark tiger-striped camouflage carrying a sidearm.

Visitors would be shown into a glass-fronted peace secretariat office before his Landcruiser with blacked out windows screeched into the compound and he stepped out accompanied by bodyguards with radios and assault rifles.

Both before and after a 2002 ceasefire collapsed into open warfare last year, he would express the commitment of the LTTE to peace. But he was unwavering in his demands for a separate ethnic Tamil homeland.

He clearly understood some English but preferred to use his veteran official translator George, a former postmaster, whose flowery translations drove some correspondents to despair.

"If the military decides to thrust a war on the people by escalating military violence ... and thereby create a situation whereby we cannot just be onlookers that may be a very decisive moment where we have to make decisions to make sure the people are safeguarded," he told Reuters in 2006 as violence flared.

He would reply to questions with an unnerving smile and would shift uncomfortably when asked about thorny topics such as human rights abuses, child soldier abductions or ambushes on troops that seemed designed to restart the war.

"We have need of such tactics," he said regarding child soldier recruitment. "But in the case of (a) 16-year-old child who was pulled out and shot dead by the military, can we go and say to the child's brother ... you cannot resort to violence because you are below the age of 18."

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