Sri Lanka : the Quest for Peace - Part II

Address by Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama at the Royal Institution for International Relations (RIIR) Brussels on September 03, 2007

Continued from September 6

c). Each day you see varying figures appearing from different sources, referring to involuntary disappearances in Sri Lanka. Lists of the disappeared are provided by many agencies - often without any verification or even details of those alleged to have disappeared, that could give investigators a starting point.

On this issue, whatever the numbers - whether it's a single individual or several hundred, I wish to clearly state that the Government of President Rajapaksa finds the phenomenon unacceptable, has nothing to hide and therefore has taken the initiative to put in place independent probes is keen to get to the bottom of it, with a view to punishing the offenders.

At the same time, the government is also taking preventive measures and will remain responsible and accountable, to finding the perpetrators and bringing them to justice.

What unfortunately is not acknowledged, along with the government's intent and commitment stated above, is that we have infact copiously gone into establish whether the persons whose names are in several lists have, in fact disappeared.

One fact that has emerged is that these lists overlap. Many have simply have moved to the uncleared areas in the Vanni. In addition, our investigations have revealed that some people, who were listed as disappeared, have in fact returned to their homes.

Some persons have left the country. It is also interesting that in certain cases of disappearances, as soon as a complaint has been made, particularly to a Western Embassy or to the ICRC, the family of the alleged victim had applied for visas to go abroad.

I am not suggesting that all those in these lists belong to the latter category, but in the circumstances I have described, a high degree of suspicion is entertained about those whose names have been entered into the lists of disappeared persons.

It is also interesting that many of the cases of disappeared persons, no complaints were made to the police, or other investigative authorities, including to a Special Independent Commission - the Mahanama Tilakaratne Commission or to the independent Human Rights Commission. Such complaints were only made to certain diplomatic missions.

d) It has also been claimed that in Sri Lanka there is a culture of impunity and that the government has done nothing to punish offenders. The facts tell a different tale.

- 6 persons connected to the security forces (two airforce, 4 police) have already been arrested over the past two months for responsibility for a spate of abductions.

On June 22, 2007, the alleged mastermind behind the crimes, a former Air Force Officer was arrested by law enforcement officials. He was allegedly involved in abducting for ransom many Sri Lankan businessmen, mainly Tamils and Muslims, over the past year.

On June 27, 2007, law enforcement officials also arrested two policemen and an Air Force sergeant. The Sri Lanka Criminal Investigations Department (CID) is looking for several other policemen, who are alleged to have been involved in the massive extortion racket.

-On July 9, 2007, law enforcement officers arrested 8 most wanted underworld leaders in the suburbs of Colombo, for alleged involvement in a massive extortion and robbery racket.

- The gang leader 'Charan' involved in the abduction and later killing of the two red cross workers has been identified, and a warrant is out for his arrest.

- Persons including security forces officials believed to have been involved in the killing of the 5 students in Vavuniya have been identified and indictments have already been sent to the Magistrate Courts in Vavuniya and the Courts will be serving the indictments in due course.

What is not appreciated is that these actions have followed prolonged investigations to get to the bottom of the spate of abductions so that the perpetrators of these crimes would have little chance to escape through procedural loop holes.

The bottom line is that there has been a steep drop in the phenomenon of abductions, and the police have received no credible complaints after 18th June on any similar abductions.

e) Allegations have also been made of abduction and recruitment of children for use in armed conflict, and complicity in this of some elements of the security forces with the Karuna faction.

It is instructive here to note that it is the Government of Sri Lanka that took up the issue of child soldiers at the UNGA as early as in 1997 and urged the international community to take effective action against this abhorrent practice.

The GOSL has always maintained a policy of 'zero tolerance' on child combatants. Please do not forget that the LTTE since 2002 alone has recruited over 5700 children according to the UNICEF, while recent allegations have been made that the Karuna group has also engaged in recruiting.

In the face of these accusations, I am happy to inform you that only a week ago the Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights has appointed a committee chaired by the Secretary, Ministry of Justice to conduct a full investigation on the issue of child combatants and child recruitment in Sri Lanka.

f) Another vicious distortion peddled abroad by parties interested in tarnishing the image of the Government of Sri Lanka, is with regard to the number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), more designed to attract international condemnation of Sri Lanka than to reflect the reality on the ground.

Many agencies put out appeals to obtain assistance or raise funds for as many as 500,000 IDPs in the Eastern province. Some have later acknowledged that the figures were inflated to attract funding.

In any event, when the actual count was taken of the IDPs by the Security Forces through issuing identification cards to all, the number turned out to be slightly more than 140,000. Of this number, 103,000 have already been returned to their homes. It is unprecedented that such a large number of displaced persons were returned to their homes in such a short period of time.

However, this fact has received no publicity in the international media. It is also to be noted that the UNHCR and the ICRC have publicly endorsed the returnee programme and stated that it was consistent with international standards.

g) Sri Lanka has also been condemned as was one of the "world's hunger spots' Once again the statistics belie this vicious accusation.

It must be remembered that throughout the period of conflict, Sri Lanka has continued to fully fund the administrative and infrastructure facilities in the LTTE dominated areas and to send all essential supplies to these areas, knowing fully well that much of it was diverted by the LTTE to its stockpiles.

Former UNICEF chief James Grant described it as "uniquely humanitarian in a conflict situation". Dr. Francis Deng Special Representative of the U.N Secretary General for Internally Displaced Persons reported in early 1990s that Sri Lanka was a unique country, which sent relief supplies to rebel held areas.

Today the reality is that being conscious of the upcoming monsoon season, the Government is making arrangements to develop a buffer stock particularly in the Jaffna peninsula and has taken steps to double the quantity of food supplies from 18,800 metric tons per month to 35,000 metric tons.

The Government has also taken action to develop "Co-op City Centres" in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, to ensure that distribution of these materials takes place smoothly.

Hence when Sri Lankans express a degree of consternation at the manner in which facts on the ground are reported by interested parties, which are then parroted by sections of the international media they are justified in doing so.

Yes, we have unresolved problems and we recognise it. We are working very hard to rectify them, and in many respects we have succeeded, as the operations and subsequent developments in the Eastern province has proved.

But the fact remain that the great deal of good we go amidst considerable odds, including a terrorist group which does not want to see normalcy restored, goes unaccounted for.

That indeed is the tragedy facing Sri Lanka today, and it is my earnest hope that those of you learned ladies and gentlemen who are familiar with crisis situations will view Sri Lanka's developments objectively.