Winning counter insurgency campaigns
A Sri Lankan perspective:
Address by Minister of Foreign Affairs Rohitha
Bogollagama at the Shangri-La Dialogue
I am pleased to be back here at the Shangri-La Dialogue for the third
successive year. On the previous two occasions I came before you to
share our engagement with the LTTE and how we were hoping to counter its
terror tactics effectively.
At the outset, let me delineate for purpose of clarity the structure
of my address this morning. It would comprise the following elements:
a) The LTTE reign of terror
b) The rescuing of civilians by launching humanitarian mission
c) The way forward; reconciliation and the political process
When I addressed this august forum last year, Sri Lanka’s Security
Forces were in the midst of a major operation to clear over 15,000 sq.
km of territory in the Northern and Eastern Provinces that had come
under the sway of the LTTE, universally acknowledged as one of the most
ruthless and deadliest terrorist groups in the world.
Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama addressing at the 8th
International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Shangri-La
Dialogue security conference in Singapore on May 31, 2009. AFP |
Over the last 25 years, the LTTE had engaged in a blood-soaked
campaign of unmitigated terror and violence leaving in its wake a trail
of death, destruction and immense human suffering.
The opportunity cost for Sri Lanka in terms of its potential
socio-economic development is immense and the loss suffered by two
generations of our society cannot be replaced. This is not all.
They pursued a violent campaign beginning in the mid 1970s by
assassinating Tamil politicians who were moderate voices with a view to
suppressing dissent and claimed the status of the ‘sole representative’
of the Tamil people.
Suicide strikes
They ethnically cleansed the North by driving out the Muslims and
Sinhalese. They then targeted civilians in the South by carrying out
massive suicide strikes. The suicide bombing of the Central Bank of Sri
Lanka on January 31st 1996 alone killed 91 and wounded 1,400 innocent
civilians.
This was Sri Lanka’s equivalent of 09/11 and took place 9 months
after the Oklahoma bombing. The LTTE tried to cripple our economy,
bombing the World Trade Centre in Colombo and destroyed nearly half of
our national carrier’s fleet.
They indulged in countless assassinations of our political
leadership, including the then President R. Premadasa in 1993.
Two years earlier, an LTTE female suicide bomber extinguished the
life of a distinguished former Prime Minister of India, Shri Rajiv
Gandhi. The assassinations, destruction of human lives and misery
brought upon by the LTTE will run into several pages.
Today, I am pleased to announce the end of the LTTE terror in Sri
Lanka by the efforts of the Government of the President Mahinda
Rajapaksa, just a few days ago. Sri Lanka will no doubt enter the annals
of history as a classic textbook example of a nation that successfully
prevailed over the scourge of terrorism, while tenaciously upholding the
cherished values of democracy and human rights that have been deeply
ingrained in the psyche of our people.
Armchair critics and sceptics who doubted the firm resolve and
strength of our brave Armed Forces to defeat the so-called ‘invincible’
might of the LTTE have been effectively silenced today, just as much as
the guns.
The astonishing success of this campaign redounds to the credit of
President Rajapaksa, who has provided effective and decisive leadership
to the military establishment in his capacity as the Commander-in-Chief
of the Armed Forces. His acumen in sustaining broad-based popular
support for the military campaign, and his engagement with the polity
for wider consensus was evident from the very outset.
Peace talks
May I now recall the initial engagement with the LTTE starting in
July 2006 due to the closure of the Mavil Aru sluice gates depriving
water for 35,000 people. This occurred when the Government was engaged
with the LTTE in the peace talks in Geneva. Let me now take you back to
some of the key elements of the LTTE developments.
Permit me to briefly recapitulate what Sri Lanka was confronted with
during the last two decades and a half. The LTTE emerged as a terrorist
group claiming to be fighting for an independent state exclusively for
Tamils to be carved out of the Northern and Eastern provinces of the
island comprising 2/3 of the country’s land mass 3/5 of the its
coastline.
During these years, successive Governments invited the LTTE to
negotiations. Starting in 1985 with the Thimpu talks, which were
facilitated by the Indian Government, several rounds of talks were held
at intervals but the LTTE never engaged seriously at these talks having
used such opportunities to re-arm, regroup and wage war again.
They were never serious in negotiating a political solution. I myself
was a member of the Delegation of the Government on two occasions for
the talks held in Geneva in 2006. These were the last rounds of talks
the Government held with the LTTE.
The longest ceasefire brokered by the facilitator of the peace
process, Norway, in February 2002, only helped to transform the LTTE
from a guerrilla group into a semi- conventional army and become the
first terrorist group in the world to acquire air power in the shape of
a rudimentary air force, as well as a lethal naval force, known as the
Sea Tigers. The cost during this period from February 2002 - November
2005, over 740 civilians were killed including that of the former
Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka Lakshman Kadirgamar in August 2005.
According to the UNICEF, the conscription of the child soldiers by the
LTTE numbered over 7,400 during this period.
Tamil community
Despite these developments, the Government of the day ensured an
uninterrupted supply of food, medicine and other essential items to the
areas under the control of the terrorists, well aware that the LTTE was
siphoning off a significant part of these supplies for their own use.
But successive Governments never used such supplies as a weapon of war
against the Tamil community, whom we regard as an integral part of the
community of Sri Lankans.
This violence unleashed by the LTTE would never have grown into the
dimensions that it eventually did if not for a number of factors. The
availability of millions of dollars through LTTE networks generated by
an illicit arms trade and drug trafficking in international waters,
commercial operations carried out by sections of the diaspora including
illegal money transfers through hawala banking, international financial
fraud and credit card scams as well as extortion from the Tamil
community itself.
The LTTE’s ability to brazenly flaunt its symbols and flags even in
countries where it is proscribed. Its ability to hold propaganda and
fund raising events and other functions glorified the terrorist
movement, without being restrained under the law, have made these
proscriptions ineffective.
In conducting military operations to eliminate terrorism, our
Government’s primary concern was to safeguard the innocent civilians,
many of whom had experienced multiple displacements over the years, and
had their children forcibly conscripted by the LTTE to be used as cannon
fodder. Many of them had lost one or more of their family members. Even
young girls were not spared.
In the last stages of the operation the situation became more complex
and dangerous. The LTTE finding itself cornered used civilians as human
shields. This was in a small strip of land about 6 sq. km. in the final
stage, thus denying and placing the people in a most inhuman condition,
without proper food, shelter, sanitation, water, electricity and exposed
to all the elements of nature. I vividly recall the images of the
footage obtained by the (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) UAV, which were most
perturbing.
Welfare villages
All men and women with children were fleeing the LTTE, while LTTE
cadres were shooting at them to prevent them from fleeing. It was in
this backdrop that we witnessed the exodus of these people fleeing into
the safety of the area controlled by the Government. Now they are
temporarily accommodated in welfare villages. Providing them with basic
facilities, remains as one of the highest priorities of the Government.
Today, even the parents of the tyrant Prabhakaran is now being cared for
by the Government.
Since July 2006, over 5,200 Armed Forces personnel have paid the
supreme sacrifice in the defence of their beloved Motherland while
nearly 30,000 Security Force personnel were injured and maimed.
It may be noted that all these were achieved in an unhelpful and
hostile background. The LTTE propaganda unleashed footage of alleged
carnage and recorded telephone interviews, under duress, with civilians
who were held hostage by the LTTE, thus making statements. Those
transmitted unsubstantiated allegations against the military, claimed
heavy weapons in civilian areas, in order to buttress the propaganda of
‘genocide against the Tamil people’. This was both fictional and well
fabricated with ulterior and sinister motive in order to discredit the
Armed Forces as well as the Government.
During this phase, there were attempts to pressurise the Government
to declare a ceasefire or a pause by the certain sections of the
international community. This would have, no doubt, prolonged the
conflict and provided the lifeline to the terrorists. Had we succumbed
to such pressures, the Tamil civilians who were held as human shields by
the LTTE would have had to pay with their lives. Fortunately, for them,
we did not yield to any such pressure tactics, and stayed the course to
liberate these long suffering people and was able to bring the conflict
to an end. We could have completed this mission very much earlier. But
being a responsible and democratically elected Government we had to move
very cautiously taking into consideration the safety of these civilians.
Although the LTTE has been militarily defeated, we are left with its
international network largely intact. Many of the operatives have
clearly cultivated powerful political lobbies in certain capitals with a
view to resurrecting the LTTE. It is important for the international
community to take all measures to assist the Government of Sri Lanka to
crack down the global network of the LTTE.
May I now move to the second phase of the address which are the
immediate challenges:
The rehabilitation and resettlement of nearly 280,000 persons who are
displaced by the conflict is one of our foremost priorities. Civilians
accommodated in the welfare villages lack family reunification. The
influx of a large number of civilians within a short span of time
scattered families.
The Government is endeavouring to address the issue of family
reunification. Children who were denied of their childhood are able to
lead a more secure life today since there is no child conscription by
the LTTE. Facilities for education are available for the children
perhaps for the first time in their lives.
Training camps
The youth that were destined to be suicide cadres, today, have thrown
the deadly cyanide capsule and are awaiting to be rehabilitated. The
training camps of the LTTE and factories that produced suicide devices
and armaments are no longer in existence. Even some of the LTTE
combatants have found the IDP camps a safe haven. The next step would be
for the resettlement of the IDPs in their original places of residence.
Demining will precede this exercise as well as the reconstruction of
infrastructure facilities.
The Government is firmly committed to reaching a political settlement
acceptable to all. In his address to Parliament on May 19 President
Mahinda Rajapaksa said and I quote
“The defeat of the LTTE and the breakdown of their armed strength
will never be the defeat of the Tamil people of this country... ‘we do
not accept a military solution as the final solution. It is necessary
that the political solution they need should be brought closer to them
faster than any country in the world would bring” (unquote).
Tamil Diaspora
Already, our Tamil brethren have responded magnificently to the
President’s call for unity. Even before the conflict was brought to an
end, my Government brought together a significant group of the Tamil
Diaspora, residing in many counties, on March 28 and 29 this year to
explain our plans and objectives for developing the Northern Province
and they pledged their unstinted support and cooperation.
This post-conflict phase is crucial in restoring confidence in people
whose lives have been torn apart by this terrible conflict. The
international community has a role to play in this endeavour.
The post-conflict reconciliation would also involve reintegration of
former combatants into the political and economic process as well. For
this purpose, a Presidential Task Force for resettlement, development
and security in the Northern Province has been established to oversee
these programs.
Reconciliation Process:
As identified we have already unfolded the roadmap to achieve this
objective through the devolution of power to regions as provided for in
the Constitution within the framework of the 13th amendment. This
provision never found its full implementation for the last 22 years
since the Indo-Lanka Accord.
Our people are weary of war, yet they are resilient and want to get
on with their lives. Therefore, the post conflict period will focus on
rehabilitation, resettlement, economic empowerment, holding of free and
fair elections. We may replicate our success in the Eastern Province in
this regard. Victory can never be complete unless we win the hearts and
minds and give the people affected by years of suffering a peace
dividend.
We have overcome terrorism and Sri Lanka is poised for an economic
take off. In conclusion may I now mention the overall dimensions of our
success both to our people in Sri Lanka and to the region and to the
world at large.
i. Sri Lanka has come out as a free country today, free from the
scourge of terrorism;
ii. The LTTE as a terrorist organisation is eliminated. The
elimination of the LTTE from Sri Lanka as a terror organisation would
prevent other facets of terrorism such as money laundering, narcotics
trafficking, human smuggling, arms smuggling etc. from being manifested
world over;
iii. Dealing with the terror organisation, the way the Government of
Sri Lanka had done, will send a strong signal to the international
community that the terror can be defeated and eliminated.
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