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  • Aceh tense as elections near

    Mar 17
    The road where Abu Karim died is as pretty as a picture - a place where flowering branches hang over the dusty road and neighbours gather to while away the afternoon.

     

    There's a small mosque on the corner, and a tiny coffee stall sits tucked between the small, neat houses. It's very quiet.

    The forecourt outside Abu Karim's house is blackened with patches of rubber, where the wheels of his car spun and burned as he sat dying at the wheel.

    He had been shot twice in the head by unknown gunmen, just a few weeks before parliamentary elections.

    The police have been up and down this little street several times. No one, it seems, saw anything that might help catch his killers.

    His neighbour, Sooratnawati, helped take him to hospital the night he was shot. She told me she thinks it strange the police have not found the people who killed him.

    "Maybe it's because there were no witnesses," she said. "And I think it's weird that there were no witnesses but what can I say? Everyone said they didn't see anything."

    Inside the house Abu Karim's wife, Cut Dede, watches nervously over her four-year-old son. Like many people here she is in no doubt this was a political killing.

    Aceh Party

    Abu Karim was a former guerilla in Aceh's independence struggle. That struggle came to an end with a peace deal, signed in the aftermath of the devastating 2004 tsunami.

    The deal saw the rebel Free Aceh Movement (Gam) give up their claim to independence in return for far-reaching autonomy and the chance to form a political party.

    Aceh is now gearing up for parliamentary elections in April. For the first time ever, local parties will be able to contest the polls in this province. That includes the former rebels in the new Aceh Party who are predicted to do very well.

    Abu Karim's death is one of several recent attacks against the former rebels and their new political party. Three men have died, and one has been injured in the shootings.

    Grenades have landed in Aceh Party offices, and campaigning has been interrupted on several occasions.

    But Aceh's police spokesman, Farid Ahmad, is adamant: the killings have nothing to do with politics.

    Instead, he says, the motive was most likely in-fighting between the former guerillas, many of whom have failed to reintegrate properly.

    "The people that did this," he tells me, "maybe they're hungry, or don't have a job and so they use their weapons to find food. It's not political."

    Army security

    Whoever killed Abu Karim, his death is feeding tensions in Aceh ahead of the elections.

    Rumours pointing towards the involvement of groups linked to the Indonesian army are unsubstantiated, but potent nonetheless.

    And they come at a time when the army is quietly repositioning itself back in Acehnese villages.

    Down a rugged track in one sleepy village we found nine young soldiers holed up in an abandoned house. They told me they had lived there for three and a half months, patrolling the nearby villages in case of any problems.

    "Elections in other places sometimes end in violence," they told me, "so particularly in this area, where there was conflict in the past, there's a need to make sure things will be secure here".

    But according to the peace deal, this kind of security is not what the army's for. At Aceh's tiny airport, we found the former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari - the architect of that peace deal, known as the Memorandum of Understanding, or MoU.

    I asked him what he thought of the army going back into the villages. "That's totally against the MoU," he said.

    "The MoU is very clear - the army had to remove itself from the villages and focus on external defence. We have to be careful that we don't create similar sorts of situations that existed during the conflict years, otherwise there's a risk of intimidation."

    The Aceh Party has vetoed any mention of independence on the campaign trail.

    But some in the army are reported to be worried that that is the new party's true agenda. With polling day less than a month away, there's a nervousness in the air.

    As one young politician here put it: people think these elections are the end of Aceh's peace process. Actually, they're the beginning.

  • Bomb blast in Islamic procession in Matara
    Fourteen people were killed and several, including three Sri Lankan ministers were wounded on Tuesday March 10 in a bomb explosion at a Islamic procession in Akuressa in Matara in Southern Province, Sri Lankan Police said.

    The bomb went off at about 10.30am during a ceremony celebrating the Islamic festival of Milad-Un-Nabi near the Junna mosque in the Matara district, about 100 miles south of the capital Colombo, an army spokesman said. 
     
    As usual the Sri Lankan police and the military blamed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), for the explosion, even before conducting any investigation.
     
    "Definitely, it is LTTE," said Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, Sri Lanka's defence spokesman.
     
    According to media reports, 46 people were injured including three government ministers. Mahinda Wijesekara is the minister of Special Projects, and of Posts and Telecommunications, was among the injured.
     
    "Six ministers were there and terrorists used this opportunity to target us. Only one minister, Mahinda Wijesekara, got injured," AHM Fowzie, Sri Lanka's oil resources minister, told the Reuters news agency.
     
    The Sri Lankan government condemned the attack, saying it will only strengthen the government's resolve to end terrorism in the island.
     
    "The government condemns in the strongest possible terms the LTTE suicide bomb attack. The attack reaffirms the fact that the LTTE is not only a ruthless terrorist outfit but also one which has no regard or respect for religion," said the government in a statement. 
  • Sri Lankan economic woes deepen as buyers stay away
    Sri Lanka’s economy is going through a severe crisis as key exports including garment and tea significantly drop with buyers staying away.

    According to a recent survey in the past four years, many large international garment buyers moved their business out of Sri Lanka and into cheaper manufacturing destinations.
     
    75 factories, in seven provinces have closed down in this period and out of this around 24 factories closed down over the past six months alone, according to the survey.
     
    These factories were mainly located in the free trade zones in Katunayake, Biyagama, Koggala and Seethawaka Pura. Some factories were registered under the Board of Investment and some under the Textile Division of the Ministry of Industrial Development.
     
    In addition to job losses and foreign exchange losses these garment factory closures have also hit other connected industries.

    “Out of around 50 main international garment buyers registered with the Sri Lanka Garment Buying Offices Association, 12 shut down their offices in Sri Lanka within the last three years. These buying offices were shifted mainly to Singapore, India and Pakistan. Production was shifted mainly to India, Bangladesh and Vietnam,” Yarns and Fibres Exchange reported quoting Mr Dawson, a private consultant who conducted the survey.

    The survey blamed the unstable security situation along with comparatively higher cost of production in Sri Lanka as reasons for foreign buyers leaving Sri Lanka.
     
    Elaborating on the security concerns the survey stated buyers felt it was difficult to send technical staff to local factories for periodic factory inspections, because of security worries.

    Island’s other big earner, tea, is also not faring well according to the Sri Lanka Tea Board, which announced a 30% drop in overseas sales in January.
     
    Sales from tea shipments fell to 6.9 billion rupees (61.37 million dollars) in January, compared to 9.8 billion rupees in the same period a year earlier.
    Volumes of tea exports also fell 25 percent to 17.76 million kilograms in January, over the same month in 2008, the board said.
     
    "We are reeling from twin effects of lower rainfall and a deliberate effort to curtail our own production. This has hit our exports in terms of volumes and earnings," according to Tea Board chairman Lalith Hettiarachchi.
     
    Russia and former Soviet republics are the largest markets for Sri Lankan tea, accounting for nearly a fifth of total exports, followed by the Middle East and North Africa.
     
    With the onset of the global economic meltdown, prices have collapsed to an average of 2.65 dollars a kilo (1.20 dollars a pound) from record highs of 4.26 dollars a kilo between January and September last year.
     
    The drop in export earnings combined with the spiralling cost of imports, especially due to increased military purchases to sustain the war, is impacting the dwindling foreign reserves, forcing the government to seek bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
     
    Adding to the country’s financial woes, in February, Fitch Ratings downgraded Sri Lanka long-term foreign and local currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs), making it harder for Sri Lanka to borrow in the global markets.
     
    Fitch cited ‘the increased vulnerability of sovereign creditworthiness to adverse shocks associated with rising inflation, persistently large fiscal deficits and worsened terms of trade due to soaring oil prices in the context of greater government recourse to commercial and market-based financing’ for the downgrade.
     
    However, Sri Lanka’s Central Bank, which is now in discussion with the IMGF for a bailout, said the Fitch assessment was based on 'pessimistic views on the security situation, inflation and foreign currency borrowings’.
  • Sri Lanka dusts off the begging bowl
    Sri Lanka is going on bended knees to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) - an institution it chased away two years ago - for a bailout package worth US$1.9 billion as the country's authorities scrape the barrel for foreign exchange.

    Sri Lanka's economic crisis is two-fold: sagging export income and the Central Bank using the few dollars it has to intervene in local money markets to defend the rupee from depreciating against the US dollar.

    At the same time, the government's access to cheap commercial borrowing from foreign sources to fund the costly war against separatist Tamil rebels and other state expenses has dried up with the global financial meltdown.

    Last week, the government took the plunge and announced it was in negotiations with the IMF for a $1.9 billion standby arrangement.

    Central Bank governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal - who has been criticized by economists and opposition legislators for misleading the country on the state of its finances - was quoted as saying: ''The offer was made for a facility without conditions. We didn't think we needed it but then this happened to be a good opportunity.''

    The country had $1.7 billion in gross official reserves at the end of December, sufficient just for 1.5 months of imports, compared with more than $3.5 billion a year earlier.

    Senior economist Sirimal Abeyratne from the University of Colombo told Inter Press Service (IPS) that the financial crisis is so acute that Sri Lanka had few choices. ''Otherwise, why ask for money if we have money, particularly from an institution [IMF] that the government didn't want,'' he said.

    Dushni Weerakoon, senior economist at the Institute of Policy Studies, said Sri Lanka's main problem has been the ''outflow of foreign exchange last year following the global economic crisis and using whatever resources we have to defend the Sri Lanka rupee in local money markets''.

    She told IPS that in addition to an outflow of $600 million after foreigners withdrew money in central bank bonds in the second half of 2008, the bank has been pumping some $200 million a month (in the last three months of the year) in an unsustainable exchange rate policy to prop up the rupee.

    Sri Lanka last year kept its exchange rate at about 108 rupees to the US dollar until October 2008 as the government sought to slow inflation. The rupee has since dropped to about 114.30.

    The move to return to the IMF for emergency cash comes after the government virtually threw the organization out of the country in January 2007, with the IMF closing its Colombo office, saying it had no program left.

    The opposition and economists at that time said the government had come under pressure from hardline partners like the JVP (People's Liberation Front) and the JHU, formed mainly by Buddhist monks, who frowned on Western-led multilateral agencies like the IMF or World Bank and their tough, conditional lending.

    Loans from the IMF, generally seen as a lender of last resort, generally come with conditions such as demands for a reduced budget deficit, cuts in government spending, tighter monetary policy and a flexible exchange rate policy, which would allow the rupee to float freely against major currencies.

    Economists said much of the Sri Lanka's spending, particularly on the military, came from domestic borrowings and when that dried up, it came from foreign borrowings from commercial sources, and China and Iran.

    Sri Lanka has been relying on China for political and economic support after turning away from the once-favoured West, which has been repeatedly critical of the government in Colombo over human-rights violations.

    Early last year, before the global crisis, the government was so gung-ho about the access to cheap credit from commercial sources that one powerful Finance Ministry official told a senior World Bank staffer: ''We don't need your conditional money. We have access to cheap credit without conditions.''

    With foreign reserves fast dwindling, the central bank, whose governor is a political appointee and former advisor to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, in February, announced two measures to shore up reserves: raising $500 million from Sri Lanka's diaspora and currency swaps with other central banks in the region. However neither has worked as expected.

    Economist Abeyratne said Sri Lanka was in a debt trap, where one had to borrow to pay off debts. ''We are down to our lowest levels. Diaspora funds have not come as expected. Last year, the government paid close to half a million dollars in debt payments and this year it will be higher. So we are borrowing to pay off our debt - which is where part of the $1.9 billion IMF facility will go.''

    Weerakoon said the debt payments will increase this year once some central bank bonds expire and payments are made. There was also payment to be made to Iran for an oil credit line, she said. ''There is quite a list of payments.''
     
    [Edited for Brevity]
  • Sri Lanka escapes Commonwealth censure despite demand from MPs
    The political watchdog of the Commonwealth refrained from discussing the civil war in Sri Lanka despite a last-minute plea by a group of British MPs to place it on the agenda of its meeting in London on Wednesday, March 4.
     
    "There was a brief mention of pressure being put by some MPs, but there was no discussion," a Sri Lankan diplomat told IANS on condition of anonymity.
     
    "In any case, even if they took it up we would have objected because this is not the forum to discuss it," the diplomat told IANS after the meeting of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG), the body that is charged with enforcing adherence to human rights and democratic values.
     
    According to reports, a group of 10 British members of parliament issued an appeal on the morning of the meeting criticising the Sri Lankan government and urging the Commonwealth to suspend the South Asian country for alleged human rights violations against Tamils.
     
    "Last year, Sri Lanka lost its seat on the UN human rights council over its poor human rights record. It is likewise incumbent upon the Commonwealth to exercise leadership on human rights," the MPs said in their joint statement.
     
    They said Sri Lanka, which has never featured on the CMAG's agenda, should be "put under permanent scrutiny and its government suspended from the Commonwealth" unless it met four conditions.
     
    These were: establishing a ceasefire with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE); granting UN monitors unfettered access; allowing international aid agencies access to the troubled Vanni region; and resuming peace negotiations with the LTTE.
     
    The Sri Lankan diplomat, however, said the statement, which was published as a letter in The Guardian newspaper, had not been delivered to the Sri Lankan Embassy in London.
     
    "In any case, while we are happy to state our case, we would never have discussed the situation under the terms spelt out in the letter," the diplomat added.
     
    The appeal was signed by the ruling Labour Party's Joan Ryan, Siobhain McDonagh, Virendra Sharma, Andrew Dismore, Stephen Pound, Phyllis Starkey, Eric Joyce and Neil Gerrard, the Conservative Party's Lee Scott, Andrew George of the Liberal Democrats and Andrew Pelling, an independent MP.
  • British Conservatives back Sri Lanka
    Despite the horrific human rights violations the Sri Lankan government is committing against the Tamil civilians in its war to wipe out the LTTE, a visiting British Member of Parliament belonging to the British Conservative party claimed that President Mahinda Rajapakse’s regime needs support not criticism.
     
    The Sri Lankan government needs help not condemnation as it grapples with the current military conflict, Liam Fox, told reporters and added that a special fund with the help of international partners must be set up to help the Sri Lankan government in handling the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the war ravaged areas in the Northern and Eastern provinces.
     
    In 1997 as a minister of the then British government, Fox brokered a bi-partisan agreement with Sri Lanka's main political parties as means to end the Tamil minority conflict in the island. Fox's remarks came after his meeting with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse on Friday, March 13.
     
    Tamil political analysts said that the pro-government stance taken by Fox, was disappointing when Sri Lankan government has unleashed a genocidal war on the Tamils, instead offering a political solution to the long dragging ethnic conflict.
     
    Conservative Members of European Parliament (MEPs) also took a very pro-Sri Lanka stance during the EU parliament debate on Sri Lanka last week.
     
    British Conservative MEP and Chairman of the 'Friends of Sri Lanka Group' Geoffrey van Orden told the European parliament that "the LTTE is now in a desperate end game and, typically in such situations, is turning to international apologists to get it off the hook.
     
    He further rejected claims that Sri Lanka was killing innocent Tamil civilians stating: "We cannot support amendments to the resolution before us based on unattributable and often nonsensical allegations or selective quotation from one NGO report. And we have no good reason to dispute the Government's firm assertion that its troops have not fired on no-fire zones and nor will they".
     
    "The greatest service all in this House can do is call on the LTTE to lay down its arms and to release the civil population from its grip.” Geoffrey van Orden added.
     
    Another British Conservative MEP Charles Tannock, who is the Conservative Foreign Affairs Spokesman, told the European parliament: "we should be resolute in our support for President Rajapaksa and his efforts to end an insurgency that has brought untold human misery to Sri Lanka and severely retarded economic development on that beautiful island.”
     
    Tannock further said that he wanted to see ‘the comprehensive defeat of the LTTE and a peaceful, just and multi-ethnic Sri Lanka established in its place’.
  • US Senators call for immediate ceasefire
    A bipartisan group of seven senior U.S. Senators in a letter to Foreign Secretary Hilary Clinton blamed the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers for the "impending catastrophe," and said: "The situation in Sri Lanka is unacceptable and must be remedied as quickly as possible.
    We commend your recent statement with UK Foreign Minister David Milliband that called on the government and the LTTE to adhere to a ceasefire, allow access to humanitarian agencies, and resume political discussions to bring the long-standing ethnic conflict to an end. An enduring peace can be achieved only through a political solution that treats the Tamil minority as equal citizens under the law. Without such an agreement, the violence will only continue."

    Excerpts of the letter signed by Robert P Casey Jr (D-PA), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), George Voinovich (R-OH), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Joe Lieberman (ID-CT), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and Richard Burr (R-NC) is provided below.
     
    “As you are aware, the humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka continues to deteriorate, a situation we have been following closely and with increasing alarm. The International Committee of the Red Cross recently warned of an “impending catastrophe” and estimates that 150,000 civilians remain trapped in the Vanni - the region of northeast Sri Lanka where war is being waged between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).”

    “On February 24, the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Near East and South Asia held a hearing on the crisis in Sri Lanka. In their testimony, the witnesses described horrific atrocities by the LTTE.”
     
    “Yet, the Sri Lankan government has acted no more responsibly. Not only does it refuse to grant humanitarian aid workers access to the conflict zone, there are reports that it also shells civilians and hospitals in the so-called “safe zone” for Tamil citizens. Descriptions of government camps for civilians fortunate enough to leave the conflict zone reminded us of detention centers, rather than safe havens for refugees. In addition to the violence and dismal humanitarian situation, we are also concerned about the state of Sri Lankan democracy. Since fighting intensified over the past year, President Rajapaksa’s government has been waging a war against the media. Journalists have been murdered and imprisoned; their cases have gone uninvestigated and their perpetrators unpunished.”

    “The situation in Sri Lanka is unacceptable and must be remedied as quickly as possible. We commend your recent statement with UK Foreign Minister David Milliband that called on the government and the LTTE to adhere to a ceasefire, allow access to humanitarian agencies, and resume political discussions to bring the long-standing ethnic conflict to an end. An enduring peace can be achieved only through a political solution that treats the Tamil minority as equal citizens under the law. Without such an agreement, the violence will only continue.”
  • US congress members point out Sri Lanka's
    A group of 38 United States members of Congress sent a joint letter on Thursday March 12, to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and to the US Ambassador to the United Nations, Dr. Susan Rice, highlighting the humanitarian crisis faced by Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka, and expressing concern over conditions in the internment camps, calling for bringing the issue to the UN Security Council, and encouraging active U.S. leadership to bring about a long-delayed political settlement.
    The diverse, bipartisan group of 38 Members of Congress was led by Congressman Jim Moran and included chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, Congressman McGovern, leading Republican in the House on all human rights issues, Congressman Wolf, and ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia Congressman, Dan Burton.

    “We write with great concern regarding the grave humanitarian crisis in northern Sri Lanka. Human rights groups report that up to 200,000 civilians are trapped in the Vanni region, amid fighting between Sri Lankan Government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Most have been cut off from outside food and medical supplies for weeks, and their lives are threatened by the war and their resulting humanitarian needs. Human Rights Watch reports that 2,000 Tamil civilians have been killed since January, and 7,000 civilians have been wounded,” the Congressional letter said.
    Pointing out that Sri Lanka is currently on “Red Alert” for genocide the letter stated, “While some would dispute the legal definitions of genocide at this time, there can be no doubt that ethnic-based violence is widespread in Sri Lanka, and Tamil noncombatants are deliberately victimized by Sri Lankan Government policies.
    “Your active leadership at this critical time can help save thousands of lives and make progress toward a sustainable political solution to end the horrific cycle of violence in the country. We urge you to continue to condemn all attacks against civilians by the Sri Lankan Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Both sides need to establish humanitarian corridors to allow noncombatants to travel freely and to receive humanitarian assistance. All UN agencies and aid workers, as well as journalists and human rights monitors, need to be granted access to the region, and we hope this can be arranged soon.”

    While calling for the “internment centers masquerading as ‘welfare villages” to be brought under the administration of the United Nations agencies, the letter further said: “We urge continued efforts to press other UN Security Council members to bring Sri Lanka’s crisis to the agenda of the Security Council.”     
  • Pathmanathan welcomes US shift in approach
    "We have been hoping for such a fresh approach to the longstanding but little understood problem of the Eelam Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka," said Selvaraja Pathmanathan, the newly appointed LTTE head of International Relations, when contacted by TamilNet for his response on US Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton’s statement Friday, March 13.
    “An immediate ceasefire can stop the killing of civilians and will pave way for other measures to take effect in a more acceptable manner to the affected people”, he further said, adding, “grief on one side and greed on the other side have to be assessed impartially in working out a solution meeting the aspirations of all of Sri Lanka’s communities.
    S. Pathmanathan, Head of LTTE's International Diplomatic Relations
    ‘Meeting the aspirations of all communities’ is a unitary-centric approach the Sri Lankan state has been historically using in the negation of Tamil national aspirations, Pathmanathan pointed out.

    “Tamils have been deceived many times in the past and they have no faith in the Sinhala leadership. It is our sincere hope that US would take utmost care and adopt impartial approach in resolving the conflict”, he said.

    On the issue of civilian shield, he said, he welcomes independent and direct international monitoring to assess what exactly the civilians of Vanni think on this issue.

    While personally thanking Clinton for taking interest in the crisis in such a way reflecting what she said during her election campaign, Pathmanathan said US can prevent the current misery of Tamils in the hands of the Sinhala armed forces, which have been well-known for targeting Tamil civilians even before the advent of Tamil armed resistance.

    Pathmanathan hinted at the call for ceasefire without any conditions as a significant shift in the US approach.

    He also hinted at the peaceful and hard-working nature of the Tamil society rewarding any quarter coming out with an impartial approach in resolving the problem.     
  • Clinton: Stop firing into safety zone, share power with Tamils
    In a call made to Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa, U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton 'expressed the United States' deep concern over the deteriorating conditions and increasing loss of life occurring in the Government of Sri Lanka-designated 'safe zone' in northern Sri Lanka,' and 'stated that the 'Sri Lankan Army should not fire into the civilian areas of the conflict zone,' a press release issued by the U.S. State Department said.
     
    During the telephone conversation that took place on March 13, the US Secretary of State requested Rajapakse to devise a political solution to the ongoing ethnic conflict in the country.
     
    “Secretary Clinton called on President Rajapakse to devise a political solution to the ongoing conflict. She urged the President to give international humanitarian relief organizations full access to the conflict area and displaced persons camps, including screening centres.” The press release further said.

    ”The United States believes that a durable and lasting peace will only be achieved through a political solution that addresses the legitimate aspirations of all of Sri Lanka's communities. We call on the Sri Lankan Government to put forward a proposal now to engage Tamils who do not espouse violence or terrorism, and to develop power sharing arrangements so that lasting peace and reconciliation can be achieved.”
     
    According to the press release, Clinton also condemned the actions of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE who are reported to be holding civilians as human shields, and to have shot at civilians leaving LTTE areas of control.
     
    Meanwhile, US State Department South Asia official, Diane Kelly, commenting on 'distorted' accounts appearing on some Sri Lanka websites, said: "there was a call, but it was not the sunny news relayed."
  • EU Parliament calls for halt in violence
    The EU Parliament passed a resolution, with a large majority, calling for immediate ceasefire between the Sri Lanka Army and Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam in order to allow the civilian population to leave the combat zone.
     
    Condemning all acts of violence against civilians in the safe zone and expressing serious concern for the plight of the people in the refugee camps run by the Sri Lankan government, the EU Parliament demanded full and unhindered access to international and national humanitarian organisations, as well as journalists to the combat zone and to the refugee camps.
     
    Thursday, March 12 resolution called for immediate ceasefire without any conditions and expressing concern not only for the plight of civilians in the safe zone, but also for the inmates of the internment camps run by Colombo are viewed as significant stances by political observers.

    The resolution was passed by 358 votes to 232, on average, according to Robert Evans MEP.

    Full text of the resolution follows:

    P6_TA-PROV(2009)0129

    Sri Lanka

    European Parliament resolution of 12 March 2009 on the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka

    The European Parliament,

    – having regard to Rules 91 and 90(4) of its Rules of Procedure,

    A. whereas an estimated 170 000 civilians find themselves in an emergency situation, trapped in the battle zone between the Sri Lankan army and the forces of the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam (LTTE) without access to the most basic aid,

    B. whereas UN agencies have documented more than 2300 civilian deaths and at least 6500 injuries since late January 2009,

    1. Calls for an immediate ceasefire by the Sri Lankan army and the LTTE in order to allow the civilian population to leave the combat zone; condemns all acts of violence and intimidation which are preventing civilians from leaving the conflict area;

    2. Condemns the attacks on civilians as documented by the International Crisis Group;

    3. Calls on both sides to respect international humanitarian law and to protect and assist the civilian population in the combat zone, as well as in the safe zone;

    4. Is concerned about reports of serious overcrowding and poor conditions in the refugee camps established by the Sri Lankan Government;

    5. Demands that international and national humanitarian organisations, as well as journalists, be granted full and unhindered access to the combat zone and to the refugee camps;

    6. Calls on the Sri Lankan Government to cooperate with countries and aid organisations that are willing and able to evacuate civilians;

    7. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, to the Government of Sri Lanka, to the Secretary-General of the United Nations and, for information, to the Commission.
  • Why everyone should boycott Sri Lanka
    The United Nations Agreement on Human Rights states, amongst other things, that individuals have the “right to life”, “the right to equality before the law” and “the freedom of assembly and association”.
    The United Nations Agreement on Human Rights forbids, amongst other things, “torture and inhumane degrading treatment”, “arbitrary arrest and detention” and “hatred based on race, religion, national origin, or language”.
    Sri Lanka, however, being one of the 192 countries of the United Nations, has broken its agreement to abide by the Geneva Convention, by mercilessly launching a massive military campaign to exterminate every Tamil in Sri Lanka, for one reason and one reason only; they are Tamil.
    Since the start of 2009, more than 3000 Tamils, most of who are innocent civilians, have been executed. All the hospitals in the areas of conflict have been fired upon, several times, destroying them and killing already wounded patients who went to seek medical help, as well as doctors and nurses. The small number of surviving doctors living amongst the civilians have set up make-shift hospitals in schools, temples and churches, but without adequate medical facilities.
    The Sri Lankan government is doing everything in its power to thin down the Tamil population, including refusing the access of medical aid and food into the war zones and banning international aid groups, such as the ICRC, from providing essential care to the injured and dying Tamils.
    As the genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka continues to escalate, we cannot just sit by as Tamils of the international community and watch our brothers and sisters back at home being butchered on a daily basis.
    As British Tamils, we have a duty to do all we can to stop the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka and to save our people. After attempting many different strategies to bring an end to this horrific war with little success, international Tamils have decided to chance their tactics and launch an attack on the Sri Lankan economy.
    Each Sri Lankan product that is purchased contributes towards financing the arms and ammunitions that are being used to slay our Tamil people back at home. As Tamils, by buying these products, we are contributing towards the complete annihilation of our own people.
    Consequently, to cause a downturn in the Sri Lankan economy, all Sri Lankan products must be boycotted for the next 100 days. Listed below are a few products which must be avoided:
    1. Food items by Larich, Maliban and Nestle milk products
    2. Food items that are imported by Sri Lankan Tamils and packed in Britain.
    3. Garments made in Sri Lankan and sold in supermarkets such as Marks and Spencer and footwear including Bata
    4. Products made from rubber and coconut
    5. All forms of tea grown in Ceylon.
    6. Medicinal products
    7. Fish, fish products and vegetables
    Investors are also being requested to stop purchasing bonds, treasury bills and shares in corporations as well as saving their earnings in Sri Lankan banks. This will directly affect the foreign reserve that the Sri Lankan government uses to by weapons from other countries in its genocidal war on Tamils.
    Before buying any product, consumers are advised to ask the retailer if the product is from Sri Lanka. If it is, buying it is not only costing the consumer money, but is also costing Tamil lives.
    Many retailers are willing to cooperate but are asking for the consumers to conduct the boycott, and then they too will stop buying Sri Lankan products. We appeal to the few importers of Sri Lankan products to the UK to give this matter their urgent consideration and seek alternative sources of similar products in South Asia.
    This appeal, if successful, could bring down the Sri Lankan economy and salvage thousands of Tamils in Sri Lanka.
    Every Sri Lankan product that is bought by each individual consumer is serving to help the Singhalese to defeat the Tamils so every British Tamil must make these diminutive sacrifices to pressurise the Sri Lankan government to stop the war.
    Let us all work together as a community, the Tamil community, to ensure that soon, very soon, our people back at home can live with the serenity, self - respect and equality that they deserve.
  • UN nods ‘fight to the finish’
    The position taken by UN Security Council Friday, February 27, indicating no go beyond ‘hearing’, and the considerate briefing of John Holmes largely endorsing and trusting Colombo’s agenda and assurances for civilians, are read between the lines by international political observers as a ‘knowing wink’ at Colombo to pursue its offensive.
     
    Alternatively, the UN stance either paves way for intervention by interested powers outside of the UN or perhaps reveals an actuality that the UN can be shaken not when people face genocide, but only when ground realities endanger the Sri Lankan state, observers said.
     
    While the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on Tuesday, February 24, called for a suspension of fighting and beginning of political discussions, John Holmes, Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, who briefed the Security Council Friday spoke of tackling underlying political issues only after the end of fighting.
     
    “It appears that the UN Secretariat’s public call is undermined by a more private green light to the Sri Lankan military’s offensive in north Sri Lanka”, reported Inner City Press on Friday.
     
    In British Parliament Wednesday, Liberal Democrat MP Edward Davey questioned British Foreign Secretary David Miliband why Britain’s representative in UN earlier failed to support a briefing on Sri Lanka while ministers in London call for ceasefire.
     
    Miliband replied: “I am sorry to hear the hon. Gentleman talk in that way, because he knows that a failed resolution—one that faces a veto—is worse than no resolution at all, and it would strengthen precisely the forces that he and I oppose. I can assure him that our diplomats, whether in New York or in the region, are all working off the same script, which is one that has been set by the Prime Minister and me.”
     
    The British silence at UN on Friday may mean that the UN Security Council is still not seasoned to consider the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka.
     
    At the beginning of the UN briefing Russia said that it is only a ‘one-time hearing’.
     
    The permanent representative of US was not present during the briefing.
     
    The British representative at UN, John Sawers, who earlier said that the LTTE’s long ‘blighting’ of Colombo should be brought to an end, neither demanded a presidential statement of the council after the briefing nor answered questions put on Sri Lanka by the media, according to Inner City Press.
     
    Interestingly, John Holmes admitted his ‘knowing’ stance on events.
     
    When asked by Inner City Press on reportedly mischievous translations he received while visiting civilians in Vavuniyaa, he replied, “you should credit me with enough intelligence to assess what people told me, surrounded by the military’s armed guards”.
  • … May Need Bailout as debt drains reserves
    Sri Lanka may need a bailout from international donors to help pay its debts as the island’s 26- year civil war draws to a close.
     
    Since August, the South Asian nation has spent half its foreign reserves, now $1.7 billion, on supporting its currency, paying debt and buying imports. That doesn’t leave much after the government shells out another $900 million due in 2009. The reserves aren’t getting replenished as the ailing world economy pummels exports and overseas investors flee emerging markets.
     
    President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government is unwilling to turn to the International Monetary Fund, which requires austerity measures in return for loans. Securing financing from other countries may be challenging for a nation whose credit rating from Standard & Poor’s is the lowest apart from those of Bolivia, Pakistan, Grenada, Argentina and Lebanon. Fitch Ratings downgraded its outlook on Sri Lanka today.
     
    “Sri Lankan authorities have to act fast to beef up the country’s reserves,” said Ashok Parameswaran, senior emerging markets analyst at Invesco Inc. in New York. “Otherwise, they may have to devalue their currency significantly.”
     
    Since December, countries including Russia, Vietnam and Kazakhstan have weakened their currencies rather than use reserves to prop them up. That has made imports costlier, reducing demand for goods from overseas.
     
    Neighbouring Currencies
    Sri Lanka kept its exchange rate at about 108 rupees per dollar between January and October 2008 to slow inflation, even as the currencies of neighbouring India and Pakistan weakened. The Sri Lankan rupee has since dropped to 114.95.
     
    “Sri Lanka has relaxed the rupee in stops and starts, but they need a controlled devaluation,” said Agost Benard, a Singapore-based sovereign analyst at S&P. “The implicit currency peg will have to change and that’s one of the long-term solutions to the nation’s foreign-exchange problems.”
     
    S&P cut Sri Lanka’s rating by one level in December to B, five steps below investment grade. Fitch Ratings lowered the nation’s rating outlook to negative from stable because of “heightened concern” over a “marked” decline in the nation’s reserves. It affirmed Sri Lanka’s rating at B+, which is four levels below investment grade and unchanged since April 2008.
     
    Sri Lanka is banking on currency swaps with central banks, sales of treasury bills and bonds and offering higher interest rates on deposits to citizens living abroad to boost reserves.
    Tamil Tigers
     
    Once the northern region of the country is recovered from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, peace will lead to more remittances and aid for construction of houses, schools and hospitals, said P. Nandalal Weerasinghe, chief economist at the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. This will provide “some balance of payments support,” he said.
     
    The Tamil Tigers, who have been fighting for a separate homeland, have retreated from most of the northern part of the island nation. They now control a pocket of only 87 square kilometers (34 square miles) in the Mullaitheevu region in the northeast, the Sri Lankan Defense Ministry said Feb. 22.
     
    John Keells Holdings Plc, Sri Lanka’s biggest diversified company, last week doubled its stake in Union Assurance Plc, a local insurer, to 74 percent. The company said it’s anticipating that the liberation of Tamil Tigers-occupied territories will spur demand for finance and insurance.
    To be sure, the dispute hasn’t ended yet.
     
    “Although there is the possibility of outright military defeat of the Tamil Tigers, a potentially different style and lower-intensity conflict will continue to pose a risk to growth prospects and public finances,” S&P’s Benard said.
     
    Still Raiding
    Tamil Tigers launched an air raid in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, on Feb. 20. Their two aircraft were shot down, one crashing into a building housing the Inland Revenue Department and the second north of the city.
     
    Sri Lankan police yesterday arrested a Tamil newspaper editor in connection with the air raid, prompting a protest by media rights group Reporters Without Borders.
     
    At the end of November, Sri Lanka had 1.4 trillion rupees ($12 billion) of foreign debt outstanding. Its total debt is 3.4 trillion rupees, or 75 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product, according to S&P.
     
    Liabilities increased as Sri Lanka, which spends a fifth of its annual budget on defense, borrowed from local and foreign sources to build roads and ports, among other spending. The nation’s budget deficit has averaged 8.7 percent of GDP in the past decade.
     
    Debt ‘Distress’
    Sri Lanka must reduce reliance on dollar-denominated short- term commercial borrowings to ease public debt “distress,” the IMF said in October. It called on the government to weaken the rupee as part of a “comprehensive policy package that would underpin confidence in the currency.”
     
    The central bank said Jan. 19 that it will neither let the currency fall nor approach the IMF for a bailout to pay for imports and repay its debt.
    On Feb. 19 Governor Nivard Cabraal said the central bank received $200 million from Malaysia, declining to reveal the terms of the deal or whether it was a swap or any other facility with Bank Negara Malaysia. Bank Negara didn’t respond to an e- mail sent by Bloomberg News for comment.
     
    “It’s unlikely that Sri Lanka will go to the IMF for funds,” said Dushni Weerakoon, deputy director of the Institute of Policy Studies in Colombo. “At whatever cost, they will try to raise small sums from other countries.” 
  • Diaspora Tamils continue protests
    Tamils across the world held demonstrations and rallies highlighting the ongoing genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka and urging the international community to intervene to stop the suffering of their kin and kith back home.
     
    Washington
    Nearly seven thousand U.S. and Canadian Tamils filled the Ellipse at the southern perimeter to the White House on Saturday February 21, as a show of solidarity with the more than 250,000 Tamil civilians undergoing daily aerial bombardment and artillery attacks in Vanni.
     
    The rally, organized jointly by the US-based activist group, Tamils Against Genocide (TAG) and several local organizations, drew a record crowd, dewarfing the "hurriedly arranged" counter-rally organized by supporters of Colombo, an AFP report said.
     
    A memorandum submitted to the State Department South Asia official demanded:
     
    Publicly condemn the atrocities committed by the Sri Lankan government.
     
    Ask the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE to allow unfettered access for international humanitarian aid agencies and journalists into the conflict zone.
     
    Exert political, economic or other pressure on Sri Lanka for an immediate ceasefire.
     
    Use your goodwill with Sri Lanka’s neighbors to exert pressure on Sri Lanka, and, together with the co-chairs bring about an immediate ceasefire.
     
    Help find a political solution where the Tamil people living in Sri Lanka and exiled in other countries are allowed to determine the terms of coexistence with the Sinhalese state based on the universally accepted principle of self-determination.
     
    Geneva
    More than 15,000 Diaspora Eelam Tamils from all over Europe gathered in front of the UN office in Geneva in Switzerland Friday, February 20 voicing their demands calling the Sri Lanka government of stop the war on Tamils at once.
     
    The representatives of the Eelam Tamils youth organizations handed a memorandum to the officials of the UN, during the demonstration.
     
    The demonstrators began their march from the park next to Geneva Railway Station bearing placards showing slogans such as, ‘We want Tamil Eelam’, ‘Our Leader is Pirapaharan’ and ‘Sri Lanka Government stop the war!’

    The demonstrators paid their homage to Murukathasan who had immolated himself in front of the UN office in an attempt to draw the attention of the world to the unending sufferings of the Vanni Tamils in the artillery barrage and bombings by the armed forces of Sri Lanka.

    Oslo
    Hundreds of Norwegian Tamils including many youngsters gathered in front of Norwegian parliament Monday, February 23 where they urged Norway government to help bring about a ceasefire immediately to stop the genocide of Tamils in Vanni.
     
    Tamil Youth Organization (TYO), which organized the demonstration in which members of Norway political parties addressed the gathering, submitted a memorandum to Norwegian parliament.
     
    “Sri Lanka government has unleashed a merciless genocidal war on the Tamils creating a humanitarian disaster in Vanni and we are demonstrating here today to stress the need to stop the war on the Tamils immediately,” TYO representatives said.

    Paris
    Thousands of Tamils marched in Paris on Saturday, February 28 to denounce the Sri Lankan government's genocide of the Tamils.
     
    TYP, who organised the march  said over 7000 people came together to protest against Sri Lanka’s genocide of Tamils..

    The marchers shouted slogans such "EU impose a truce", and "The Sri Lankan president is a murderer", and "Stop the Tamil genocide".
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