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Rambukwelle alleges int`l community playing into hands of LTTE, UNP
Wednesday, 15 August 2007 - 5:20 AM SL Time
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The government yesterday raised concerns of a possible `serious` international conspiracy against the Mahinda Rajapaksa administration in the wake of contradictory reports by various factions.
Government defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwelle said an Australian forensic expert and the International Court of Jurists (ICJ) had submitted contradictory reports on the Mutur killings and most recently a Human Rights Watch report and a statement made to the Reuters news agency by UN Humanitarian Affairs Chief John Holmes.
Minister Rambukwelle cautioned that the international community was playing into the hands of both the LTTE and the main opposition UNP who were pushing for international intervention in Sri Lanka.
`Statements by some international organizations appear dubious. We cannot allow this to continue. The government is ready to face the challenge,` Minister Rambukwelle told journalists during the weekly defence news briefing.
Minister Rambukwelle said Mr. Holmes had tried to tarnish the image of the government by blaming it for the death of 34 aid workers and further saying Sri Lanka was not a safe place for humanitarian organisations.
According to the Minister the government had records of the deaths of only 20 aid workers during the period specified by Mr. Holmes and it includes the massacre of 17 aid workers in Mutur, 2 Red Cross staff members and a worker attached to the Danish refugee council.
`The other 14 must have taken place in LTTE areas so we are asking the LTTE to put forward information about them,` the Minister said while accusing the international community of concealing killings committed by the LTTE in rebel controlled areas.The government has also sought a clarification from Mr. Holmes, through Sri Lanka`s permanent mission in New York, regarding his interview with Reuters where he had called on the government to probe civil war abuses and consider an international rights monitoring mission.
`All this is playing into the hands of the LTTE and the main opposition,` the Minister said while recalling that the UN official had made the comments only to Reuters and not at his meetings with the government or during a joint press briefing with Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe last week.
Meanwhile according to a Reuters report yesterday a top government official has accused the aid group Action Contre la Faim of being responsible for the massacre of 17 of their own local staff last year through `negligence` and `irresponsibility`.
Rajiva Wijesinha, head of the government`s peace secretariat, has written to Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe calling for an independent probe into the matter. `We have not dealt firmly enough with the original reason for the tragedy, which was the utter irresponsibility of the ACF organisation in putting such workers at risk,` Wijesinha wrote in a letter to Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe dated August 13, his office said according to Reuters.
Nordic truce monitors have blamed the massacre, the worst attack on aid workers since the 2003 bomb attack on the United Nations office in Baghdad, on state security forces. The government denies this and says it is investigating.
Wijesinha said the government should insist on an independent probe into why the group`s staff were told to stay put in their compound during fighting between troops and Tamil Tiger rebels and demand more compensation for the families of the victims.
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Goodfinger
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 48
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15 Aug 2007 03:01:04 GMT Report for Abuse
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From a Brokennews comment:
Dear Mr. Wijesinha,
I write with reference to your recent letter to Mr Samarasinghe, Minister for Disaster Management and Human Rights. At the risk of wasting my time in dealing with someone whose insidious agenda cannot be changed by facts or reason, let me hope that you are in fact concerned with the wellbeing of all citizens of Sri Lanka rather than selective manipulation of truth.
I would like to remind you that ACF did not shoot any of its employees. The responsibility for their deaths lie solely at those pulling the triggers and, more importantly, those under whose command the perpetrators of this crime acted.
In your letter, you demand answers to, inter alia:
?why as many as 17 were sent in when, according to my information from another NGO worker, this was unprecedented?
The use of unsubstantiated information like this, relying on information for one single anonymous worker from an NGO is, as previously pointed out by Sri Lankan authorities, yourself included, unacceptable, and only proves that your agenda is to tarnish ACF . It would be beneficial to your credibility if you in the future refrained from using uncorroborated data when making frivolous accusations. It would be even better if you totally refrained from making frivolous accusations.
You also query:
?why they were not withdrawn (as for instance ICRC workers were) when, as reported by the University Teachers for Human Rights, some of them begged to be rescued?
and
?why they were advised to stay in their headquarters despite repeated efforts by government officials and religious leaders to get them to move to a safer location?
My assumption is that they were not withdrawn for two reasons ? one: there was no safe way to extract them from the situation as the armed forces of the Government of Sri Lanka was blocking any attempts to reach them, and two: that no right-thinking individual could have imagined that such an unprecedented and brutal act of savagery could take place in a civilized and democratic country.
?why ACF representatives are quoted (by the New York Times) as claiming that the government prevented them from going in to the rescue, when the ACF official position has been that indeed they had decided the workers would be safe if they stayed in their compound wearing ACF t-shirts?
As the armed forces of Sri Lanka prevented ACF from evacuating these workers in the manner deemed safe, the second best option at the time was to rely on the perceived respect for International Humanitarian Law and the unwillingness to commit war crimes among the combatants. ACF, as other NGOs operating in Sri Lanka, have now no doubt learnt their lesson and it is unlikely that any NGO in Sri Lanka will rely on this often repeated but seldom manifested respect in the future. |
Goodfinger
Joined: May 2007
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15 Aug 2007 03:03:07 GMT Report for Abuse
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?why ACF, contrary to the request of the Sri Lankan ambassador in Paris, invited the former Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, ?
Again an assumption from my part, but possibly ACF felt that the Sri Lankan Ambassadors request amounted to external interference in the internal affairs of ACF? In these days, as you might be aware, one has to be careful about ones sovereignty.
?why despite the perceived urgency, ACF failed to reach the compound as soon as possible, so that it was left to another agency to discover the bodies?
I think it would be best to ask the armed forces of the government of Sri Lanka this, as they hindered access to the site for all agencies (SLMM, ACF, ICRC) except for the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies.
?why the compensation paid to the families of such workers is nugatory, given the danger to which ACF, by its irresponsibility, had exposed them, and from which it had failed to take appropriate action to rescue them as outlined above.?
I understand that the compensation paid is many, many times the compensation paid by the perpetrators of this war crime, and certainly less than the Government of Sri Lanka has paid for the failure to protect its? citizens.
You also state: ?There is no doubt that such negligence, if addressed in a European Court of Law, would have resulted in the award of massive damages to the grieved families, rather than the puny amounts that I gather from NGO sources have been awarded.?
May I add to this statement that there is no doubt that an incident such as this, if addressed by the law enforcement authorities in a civilized society, would not have remained unsolved for over a year, and that the perpetrators and those responsible for controlling them would have been incarcerated by now.
Finally, you state: ?I believe the Sri Lankan government has an obligation to the victims and their families and we should insist on their behalf that ACF follow international norms in this regard.?
Sir, I agree. The Sri Lankan government had an obligation to the victims and it failed them the first time by letting undisciplined thugs murder these men and women. It failed them a second time by ensuring that the investigation into their deaths was made in a most ineffective way. You do not seem to take seriously these obligations. Your lapse in this regard only substantiates my suspicion that you began this exercise with a particular agenda, which is sadly that of those in Sri Lanka that are not interested in justice.
Interventions such as your only assist those who are trying to blacken the country?s name in the commercial world while also calling for UN monitoring. Unfortunately this campaign is pushed also by various foreign former convenience store managers and others who have found in Sri Lanka employment at a level they could not dream of in their own countries.
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Damed
Joined: Jun 2006
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15 Aug 2007 03:28:46 GMT Report for Abuse
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Sri Lanka has become a base for UN based International employees.
What Reputation those so called Experts carry with them to meddle with a internal matter in a democratic nation.
GOSL should extract each and every UN.NGO Representatives and scrutinize there identity in overseas and there necessity to work in Sri lanka.
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p007
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 234
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16 Aug 2007 03:37:54 GMT Report for Abuse
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Minister Rambukwelle cautioned that the international community was playing into the hands of both the LTTE and the main opposition UNP
Who is playing into whose hands? Mr. Minister, how about the Govt. getting its act together? Is it not the widespread corruption, human rights violations and mounting cost of living that is playing into the hands of the IC, UNP and the LTTE? Eliminate or at least minimise corruption, spiralling cost of living and human rights violations and see what happens? Put thy house in order Mr. Minister without blaming others. |
tol4u
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 11
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16 Aug 2007 04:13:36 GMT Report for Abuse
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| It is pity that Sri Lankan Government has to fight against terrorism plus pro tiger political parties who want to keep the conflict for another 20 years for their own political advantages. Also further against international tigers within Amnesty UN and all other countries NGOs. It is also pity that these orgs. do not involve in humantarian assesment in IRAQ. and doble standard definition for terrorism in SL. It is understood war means business to Australia,USA,Russia and many countriesb but Sri Lankan ignorant politicians(Runil & the gang) should understand this and join the Government and help the govt.to win the war and score their supporting points for the next election rather than critisizing the govt. |
raigamakolla
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 670
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16 Aug 2007 05:05:42 GMT Report for Abuse
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IC will not be washing the dirty clothes of MR and brothers as honorable KR is doing now. KR has no shame, no credibility or any selfrespect. IC has ways of getting correct information and does not need ITN or Rupawahini or Daily news to tell them what is going on in Slanka.
It won't be long before, MR and government go on knees before IC and ask for pardon and more money. |
kiwikanga
Senior Member
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 1946
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16 Aug 2007 14:34:04 GMT Report for Abuse
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It's high time this silly nincompoop Kehelgediya Rampukwella began to think as to why the IC was turning against the MR administration and thought of a plan to turn tables. May be the mutt does not have any grey matter upstairs to think!
Edited By - kiwikanga - 16 Aug 2007 14:35:44 GMT |
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