Information sufficient to prove UNICEF funded Tigers - Wimal

Uditha Kumarasinghe, Irangika Range and Sandasen Marasinghe

Weerawansa making a special statement in Parliament said this move by the UNICEF is a serious offence according to internationally accepted rules and regulations. "This is a very serious situation. This clearly indicates the role of UN authorities in Colombo who are attempting to teach Sri Lanka to safeguard human rights," he said.

According to Weerawansa, UNICEF representative Jennifer Taylor had allegedly fixed armoured plates to vehicles used by UNICEF employees working in the North and East areas.

Taylor through a Sri Lankan company has converted these vehicles into bullet proof vehicles in March 2006. UNICEF has paid US $ 12,375 to this company for this, he said.

"But the most astonishing fact is only one Land Cruiser jeep of the UNICEF has been fixed with these plates. Therefore a serious question has arisen whether the other vehicles converted into bullet proof belong to the UNICEF or the LTTE."

"Why didn't the UN authorities investigate on this deal. Has this deal been done with the interference of the UN officials?," Weerawansa asked.

He said the JVP had earlier mentioned that the UNICEF has given its vehicles to the TRO which has close links with the LTTE.

Under these circumstances, there is no doubt that UNICEF has given these bullet proof converted vehicles to the LTTE, Weerawansa said.

"It is the responsibility of the Foreign Ministry, Defence Ministry and the Central Bank to conduct a joint investigation on this incident by taking immediate measures to stop this LTTE friendly conspiracy."

"In our first statement, the JVP disclosed that the UNICEF through the TRO has given over Rs. 100 million to the LTTE during an year. In addition, the persons who have direct connections to the LTTE have been recruited to the UNICEF staff," he said.

Weerawansa said the Customs have taken 5,640 packets of food imported by the UNICEF under its purview.

It is clear that these dry food packets had been imported by the UNICEF for LTTE terrorists in Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi. The Government should conduct an immediate investigation by taking a stern decision in this regard, he said.