• The Times says …

    In its lead editorial Monday, The Times newspaper said UK Defence Secretary Liam Fox owed the country “an explanation and an apology” for having given unparalleled official access to the Ministry of Defence and talks overseas to Adam Werrity, a close friend.

    The editorial adds:

    “Many questions have been asked in the past week about the nature of Dr Fox’s previous business relationship with Mr Werrity. What is of more concern is the record of Mr Werrity’s business dealings with other people and governments. In particular, Mr Werrity has been deeply involved with the Government of Sri Lanka, and aided Dr Fox in private meetings and discussions with President Rajapaksa.

    Those meetings have rightly caused considerable unease in Whitehall. ... Mr Rajapaksa has been accused of direct implication in the deaths of up to 20,000 Tamil civilians in the final weeks of the war. In response to legitimate concern from the Foreign Office, Dr Fox insisted he met Mr Rajapaksa in a purely “private” capacity.

    But such foreign policy freelancing undermines not only the Foreign Secretary, but any notion of Cabinet collective responsibility. It is all the more dangerous if there is any whiff of corruption. And the smell of corruption, political and economic, within the Sri Lankan armed forces is strong.”

    The Times' editorial echoes the criticism Tamil Guardian made at the time of Dr. Fox’s insistence on meeting with President Rajapaksa even as the UK government pointedly kept a distance:

    “No sooner had Britain shut the front door on an alleged war criminal, and rightly so, the defence secretary was sneaking out the back to meet him. Dr. Fox’s rendezvous with the Sri Lankan President at the latter’s luxury hotel, and his planned visit to Sri Lanka - ostensibly a ‘personal’ one to deliver a speech – also underline an irresponsible disregard for Britain’s new emphasis in its foreign policy of human rights.

    An elected British representative today bears responsibilities beyond Westminster. There can be no place for 'personal' or individual interest when a UK defence secretary meets a head of state, especially one alleged by credible international voices to have command responsibility for war crimes.”

    See the full text here: ‘Fox single-handedly undermines Britain's authority’ (16 Dec 2010).

  • India to rebuild Vanni schools, but promised houses yet to materialise

    India will help in re-building 79 schools in the war-shattered Vanni, visiting Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai said Monday.

    The schools are located in Vavuniya, Mullaithivu and Kilinochchi, he told reporters.

    India will also restore the famous Tirukoteeswaram Temple in Mannar, and has offered help in restoration of another ancient temple near Sampur.

    Asked about the once much-vaunted, but crawling, Indian housing project, which he visited on Sunday, he agreed that the pace of progress was slow.

    In over a year, a mere 52 of the first 1,000 houses meant for the war-affected Tamils in Palai have been built.

    The grand scheme comprises a total of 50,000 houses. It was announced by Foreign Secretary S. M. Krishna last November.

    The first houses will be handed over to beneficiaries “in the next few months” – though as Mr. Mathai observed the show house he visited has no kitchen chimney. The communal well is a long way away too.

    See our earlier posts on the Indian-funded houses:

    True to Sri Lankan form ... (Mar 2011)

    The state is the main obstacle to developing Tamil areas (Dec 2010)

    On the other hand, the two other Indian-funded projects that Mr. Mathai visited — the northern railway construction being handled by Indian public sector company IRCON, and the wreck removal project at the Kankasanthurai harbour — were said to be progressing ahead of schedule.

    Earlier on Monday Mr. Mathai met Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and discussed a range of issues, including the question of a political solution to the Tamil question.

    See The Hindu’s reports here and here.

  • The Sri Lankan army on itself

    Addressing soldiers gathered for the army's 62nd anniversary parade, army commander, Jagath Jayasuriya, congratulated them on the 'major development role' they are purported to have played in the North-East.

    Comparing such development work to the 'humanitarian operation' the army conducted in 2009 - for which the international community is urging an indepedent investigation into credible allegations of war crimes - Jayasuriya urged the troops to work harder towards 'nation building'.

    Jayasuriya reminded his juniors, that under the watchful eye of the defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse, the army had surpassed itself, with a military capability extending to 'resettlement, infrastructure building, field constructions, agricultural projects, engineering tasks across the country' as well as being available as 'collective labour to various other governmental development efforts'.

    Ending the address with his blessings, Jayasuriya added,

    "May you all have courage and strength. The Army will then inevitably receive the nation's highest tribute."

  • Sri Lankan people endorse UPFA policies – Prime Minister Jayaratne

    The Sri Lankan Prime Minister has said that the people in Sri Lanka have once again endorsed the policies of President Rajapakse’s Government.

    In a statement, released after the landslide victory for Rajapakse’s Party in the south of the island, Mr Jayaratne says that the people, who voted for the United People’s Front Alliance, want to see continued development of the country.

    However, he failed to note the lack of support in the Tamil dominated North-East of the island, which the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) won by a huge margin in the previous phase of the local government elections earlier this year.

    Meanwhile, TNA politicians have complained of voter intimidation in the only region in which the largest Tamil party fielded a candidate.

    Sub-Inspector of Sri Lankan Police Sadiq of Kalmunai police station is reported to have stopped Tamil voters travelling to and from the poll booth in Kalmunai, Amparai, TamilNet reports.

    He is also alleged to have entered a Saiva temple while still wearing his shoes, an act which is seen as a desecration of a place of worship.

    TNA parliamentarian Mr. P. Selvarasa filed complaints with Kalmunai police about the violence and intimidation of Tamil voters exercising their right to vote.

  • While the North starves...
    Sri Lanka is “exploring the possibility” of selling excess food that has been produced to the World Food Programme and other global markets under a Presidential directive, the Sunday Times reports.

    Finance Ministry Secretary Dr. P.B. Jayasundara said,

    "For over 30 years the WFP has fed our internally displaced people but now there is no longer any need for that. However, even though Sri Lanka has no internally displaced there are many around the world. We are in the process of identifying two districts that can provide rice exports to the WFP."

    Meanwhile, just days ago, the very same World Food Programme that Sri Lanka is looking to supply, had this to say about the Northern province,

    Over 60 percent of households in the Northern Province are food-insecure, and lack the income generation and food-production capacity to secure basic needs."

    A recent WFP survey also revealed that around half the 1.1 million people living in the Northern Province were in debt, owing on average six months' income, much of it incurred in buying food.

    The latest WFP assessment of the Northern Province also found that half the households there live on less than $1 a day.

    See our earlier post: ‘Northern Province assistance faces over $200 million shortfall – UN’ (Oct 2011)

  • Jayalalithaa on SL navy attacks …

    Voicing serious concern over increasing attacks on Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Sri Lankan navy, chief minister J. Jayalalithaa said such assaults on Indian citizens should be viewed as "an act of provocation and aggression against India."

    Ms. Jayalalithaa conveyed her strong sentiments to foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai, who called on her here ahead of his three-day Colombo visit beginning Sunday.

    Indian press reports quoted her as saying:

    “Incidents of apprehension and assault of fishermen belonging to Tamil Nadu by the Sri Lankan Navy should be viewed not as an assault on Tamil fishermen, but as an assault on Indian citizens and should be viewed as an act of provocation and aggression against India by Sri Lanka, similar to firing across the borders of India by neighbours such as Pakistan and China”

  • Rajapaksa video adds to Fox - Werritty questions

    Dr. Fox (l) during his visit to Sri Lanka in July. Mr. Werritty is at the back (circled).

    The political storm around the working relationship between British Defence Secretary Liam Fox and close friend Mr. Adam Werritty continues to rage through the weekend.

    It took a turn when Premier David Cameron said to have demanded a report by an investigation being conducted by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) ‘first thing’ on Monday, reports said.

    The issue is receiving widespread attention in the British media.

    The Observer newspaper released photos of a meeting between the duo and Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa in July this year, and video of them meeting him in London last December. (See here).

    Meanwhile, the Independent on Sunday has learnt that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) investigation will focus on business deals secured by Mr Werritty, amid concerns that the department would be embarrassed if the consultant has been working for clients deemed "undesirable" by the international community.

    "This man (Werritty) appears to have been involved in arms contracts all over the place …If he has been involved with less favourable regimes, even if they are perfectly legal, it would be hugely embarrassing for the minister."

    - a senior MoD official to The Independent on Sunday.

    “If we were having a (cabinet) reshuffle, we would get rid of him (Fox).”

    - a senior Downing Street source to The Independent on Sunday.

    “This issue has gone from being embarrassing to being controversial and has now moved way beyond that. This will cause alarm bells to start ringing even more loudly in Downing Street.”

    - Shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy to the BBC.

  • Rajapakse’s UPFA sweeps local polls amidst violence
    The United People’s Freedom Alliance, led by President Mahinda Rajapakse, won a landslide victory in local government polls, while violence continued for a second day, after 4 people were killed in a shootout on Saturday.
    The party won 21 of the 23 local councils up for grabs, but could not show their strength in the capital Colombo, where the United National Party, headed by Ranil Wikremesinghe, held on to its seat.
    The UNP won 43% of the vote in Colombo, giving them a total of 24 seats. The UPFA won 16 seats and Mano Ganesan’s Democratic People’s Front came third with 6 seats.
    In the only election in the North-East, the Sri Lankan Muslim Congress won the seat in Kalmunai, with the TNA coming second.
  • Fox's eleventh hour admission - 'mistakes were made'

    The UK defence secretary, Liam Fox, admits 'mistakes were made', the day before a report into recent revelations regarding the defence secretary's working relationship with a personal friend, Adam Werritty, is due to be delivered to the prime minister, David Cameron.

    The televised statement was delivered the same day a video emerged showing Fox and Werritty in a meeting with Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa.

    Fox said,

    "I accept that were mistakes were made and I should not have allowed the impression of wrong-doings to arise. And I am very sorry for that."


    "However I don't believe that wrong-doings did occur. Nonetheless, the right thing is for the investigation by the cabinet secretary to run its course. And I will answer questions tomorrow in the House of Commons."

    Fox added, 

    [It was] "a mistake to allow distinctions to be blurred between my professional responsibilities and my personal loyalties to a friend".

    "Nevertheless, I do accept that given Mr Werritty's defence-related business interests, my frequent contacts with him may have given an impression of wrongdoing, and may also have given third parties the misleading impression that Mr Werritty was an official adviser rather than simply a friend,"

    Responding to allegations that Werritty may have gained some commercial advantage by accompanying Fox to a meeting that took place in Dubai, Fox admitted, it was "wrong to meet with a commercial supplier without the presence of an official".

    "I have apologised to the prime minister and agreed with my permanent secretary to put in place new procedures to ensure that this does not happen again," he added.

  • 4 killed, 10 wounded in ruling party gun battle
    Four people, including an advisor to President Mahinda Rajapakse, have been killed in as rival factions of his ruling UPFA party clashed in a Colombo suburb, during local government elections.

    Presidential advisor on trade unions, Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra was allegedly shot dead by MP Duminda Silva's faction at Kotikawatta, northern Colombo.

    Silva is a member of the ruling regime, who has a close working relationship with the Defence secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapakse.

    Silva is currently in a critical condition in hospital, according to reports. At least 10 others were injured.

    The government's response has been to deploy the army and the special task force to the area and introduce a curfew.

    Kotikawatta is one of the 23 councils which went to polls today in the last phase of the local government election, which began in March.

    Violence has frequently marred elections in Sri Lanka with over 50 incidents of malpractice, including voter intimidation having been reported so far to election monitors.  

    The local government elections held in the North-East in July, resulted in a resounding victory for the Tamil National Alliance. 

    See our earlier post: 'Tamils endorse self-rule mandate - again' (July 2011)

     

  • Fox's 'influence with the Sinhalese elite'

    Writing in the Guardian newspaper on Saturday, Randeep Ramesh, the paper's former South Asian correspondent for over six years, highlighted Liam Fox's dubious relationship with Sri Lanka's Sinhalese rulers.

    Extracts reproduced below, see full article here.

    "Fox had first arrived in 1995, landing at the palm-fringed airport as a junior Foreign Office minister. A little more than a year later, such was his influence with the Sinhalese elite, who essentially run the country, that he had persuaded the rival parties not to attempt to outflank each other while negotiating peace or ceasefires with the brutal rebel separatists of the LTTE."

    "During a chance meeting in Singapore in 2007, Fox – by then shadow secretary of state for defence – fell in with one of Rajapaksa's lieutenants, the foreign minister Rohitha Bogollagama. He was back in the game."

    "[2009] Concerned that the Sri Lankan army was indiscriminately bombing and killing Tamil civilians, the west ratcheted up pressure on the regime. Fox, a neocon in outlook, took a rather different view. And his new friends turned to him for help."

    "At the beginning of 2009, the then prime minister, Gordon Brown, attempted to send a special envoy to the island and the US offered to evacuate the 100,000 civilians trapped in the last 20 square miles of territory under LTTE control."

    "The foreign minister told Fox, who happened to be on a visit to Colombo at the time, that the government was declining "offers of assistance" until it had "cleared the north from the clutches of the terrorists".

    Liam Fox is once again under the spotlight after it was revealed that his close friend, Adam Werritty, had accompanied him on official trips and had been handing out business cards describing himself as the Defence Secretary's advisor.

    The Prime Minister, David Cameron, has responded to pressure from the opposition, and asked the Cabinet Secretary, Sir Gus O'Donnell, to oversee an investigation into the whole affair.

    Fox had previously asked the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Defence to conduct an inquiry.

    Cameron has reportedly demanded the initial findings be on his desk by Monday.

    See our recent posts:
    'Liam Fox had been warned by MOD'
    'Veritable Questions'

  • "A Tigress and her tormentors"

     

    Extracts from report in The Economist:

    "In its five years of life the United Nations Human Rights Council has been more pilloried than praised. The pious posturing of countries renowned for beastliness to their citizens incenses critics. So does the triumph of politics over humanitarian principle, the knee-jerk condemnation of Israel and a blind eye turned to most other countries’ abuses.

    "Yet in this unpromising setting, some positive signs are visible.

    "A report by the New York-based Human Rights Watch bestows rare praise on the council in its response to emergencies. In the year to June 2011 it launched international investigations in Côte d’Ivoire, Libya and Syria; it appointed an investigator to monitor developments in Iran; and it extended the mandates of rapporteurs for Myanmar, Cambodia, Somalia and Sudan.

    "Much of the credit for all this goes to Latin American countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico, along with Zambia and even tiny Maldives. The United States is newly engaged too, having returned to an active role in the council under the Obama administration.

    "The question now is whether new members who joined the Council in September, which include India, Indonesia, Costa Rica and Peru, will play the same activist role as their predecessors. The early signs are not promising.

    "In October one group [...] sought (so far unsuccessfully) to nobble the budget, and thus the independence, of the Office of the High Commissioner, Navi Pillay. The main instigators were Cuba, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, all of which strongly oppose an interventionist approach to human rights.

    "Ms Pillay, a South African of Tamil extraction, had outraged the Sri Lankan government by calling for an independent investigation of alleged atrocities and war crimes by both sides in the war against the Tamil Tigers. The pro-government media there vilified her as a bullying, racist “Tamil Tigress”.

    In the world of UN human rights, such insults may count as compliments."

  • Jaffna petitions pile up against army and police
    The Supreme Court has received a further set of 30 petitions from residents in Jaffna in addition to the 22 already filed, regarding the military’s assault on civilians in the aftermath of ‘grease devil’ attacks in the North-East.

    See report from the Daily Mirror here.

    In August, the security forces arrested and tortured hundreds of youth in Jaffna, following a protest against the military harbouring ‘grease devils’ – night prowlers who attack women.

    The petitioners have also stated that after being arrested they were forced to sign documents in Sinhala, a language that they could not understand.

    All the petitions have been fixed for support on the 27th of October.

    See our earlier post: ‘To protect and serve... Sinhalese' (Oct 2011)

    Extracts of one of the victim’s account have been reproduced below.
    The petitioner said in the aftermath of the incident of ‘Grease Yaka’ phenomenon on August 22, at around 9 p.m, he woke up to the sound of gunshots and saw gun fire near Nicholas Mary’s Church and around 40 – 50 people moving from Naalu Santhi (four junctions) sentry point to Navanthurai junction shouting and making a big noise and he heard alarming noises from the vicinity.
    Around 11.30 p.m., there was repeated banging on his door asking the inmates of the house to come outside. Army personnel subsequently broke open his door and dragged his sister’s husband along with him out of the house and continued to assault them with pipes, wooden and iron rods, he said.
    He said they were then brought to Navanthurai market junction where he along with other civilians were further assaulted and forced into the police jeep and thrown out of the jeep where Woman Police Constable Nadeeka assaulted him with her footwear indiscriminately on his forehead, chest and male organ. He said they along with other civilians were then loaded into buses near Viloonri Pillaiyar Temple and brought to the Jaffna police station.
    The police officers continued to write something in Sinhala in the process of recording his statement to which he was unaware of the contents. He was asked to sign. Next day the August 23, they were taken to the Jaffna Magistrate’s Court and after the court proceedings, at 6.30 p.m., he was admitted to the Jaffna Teaching Hospital.He complained that being made to sign statements in Sinhala despite being a Tamil speaking resident of Jaffna in the Northern Province constitutes his language rights guaranteed under the Constitution which requires that the language of administration in the Northern and Eastern Provinces shall be Tamil. He bemoans no effective steps have been taken to ensure that Tamil speaking persons in Sri Lanka in areas where the language of administration is Sinhala, are enabled to make statements at police stations in a language they are conversant in either Tamil or English.
    Read the report from the Daily Mirror here
  • Liam Fox had been warned by MOD

     

    The Guardian newspaper reports that the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Defence, Ursula Brennan, had previously warned the Defence secretary Liam Fox about the blurring of personal and professional relationship with Adam Werritty, on at least three occasions. 

    Brennan reportedly had raised concerns following Werritty's presence at a meeting in Dubai this Summer and told Fox to stop Werritty from using business cards claiming to be Fox's advisor.

    In a bizarre twist, Fox announced on Thursday that he would be asking none other than Brennan to carry out an investigation the possibility of any breach of ministerial conduct. 

    "I've asked the permanent secretary to look into any of these wild allegations, and I'm very happy to stand by that investigation," said Fox.

    This is not the fist time that Fox has been under scrutiny for a possible conflict of interests.

    In March 2010, a BBC investigation revealed that Fox had visited Sri Lanka at the Sri Lankan government's expense, shortly before endorsing the regime in parliament in the UK.

    See 'British MPs lobbied for Sri Lanka after junkets' (March 2010)

    See also TG view 'Fox single-handedly undermines Britain's authority' (Dec 2010)

  • ‘Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields’ to be screened at EU

    Amnesty International, International Crisis Group and Human Rights Watch, along with five MEP’s have organised the screening of Channel 4’s documentary “Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields” at the EU Parliament next Wednesday (12.10.11).

    A letter was sent out by the organisations inviting delegates to the screening.

    The letter further states:

    "Commissioned and first aired by British broadcaster Channel 4 Television in June, "Sri Lanka's Killing Fields" features devastating video evidence of apparent war crimes, crimes against humanity committed by Sri Lanka Government forces and the LTTE.

    The documentary provides powerful evidence - including photographic stills, official Sri Lankan army video footage and satellite imagery - that contradicts Sri Lanka Government claims of a policy of 'Zero Civilian Casualties.'

    It raises serious questions about the failures of the international community to intervene to prevent the deaths of upto 40,000 people,"

    The film was recently screened to wide acclaim at the United Nations in New York and Geneva and on Capitol Hill in Washington DC, and has lent new urgency to the call by the UN Secretary General's panel of experts for an internal investigation.”

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