British Foreign Secretary David Miliband briefing the House of Commons Thursday on his visit to Sri Lanka with his counterpart French Foreign Minister Kouchner said the Sri Lankan Government is engaged in a war without witness. He further said civilians who have fled the conflict zone are afraid of what awaits them at the hands of the Government and unsure whether they will ever be allowed home.
Mr Miliband told the Members of the House they were given assurances by the Sri Lankan Government that they had nothing to hide. He said "We responded that it could therefore only be to the benefit of the Sri Lankan people and the Sri Lankan Government to work with the international community in a fully transparent way.”Mr Miliband said thepurpose of the visit was threefold: first, to highlight the need to bring the conflict to an end in a way that minimises further civilian casualties; secondly, to press the case for the humanitarian relief effort to be ratcheted up, as the United Nations and the European Union have been calling for; and, thirdly, to make clear the need for a long-term political settlement that meets the aspirations of all communities in Sri Lanka.
He said there are in fact two crises to be addressed, that of the civilians trapped in the conflict zone, and that of the thousands of civilians who have crossed over the front line in recent days.
He said he heard widely different estimates of the number of civilians still trapped in the conflict zone. Government estimates ranged from 6,000 to 20,000 people. The UN, the ICRC and most others believe that there are at least 50,000. Some thought that the number could be as high as 100,000. Whatever the truth, it is clear that significant numbers remain, living under appalling conditions, under-nourished and in fear for their lives.
He said he was told the 30 tonnes of food were delivered to the conflict zone between 1 April and 27 April, apparently enough to feed 60,000 people for just one day. The ICRC has been able to send in only very limited medical supplies, despite having plentiful stocks in Sri Lanka. The block on deliveries of food and medical supplies hinges on security.
Mr Miliband while welcoming that number of Tamils have been able to leave the conflict zone said it was worrying that the UN estimates on the number arrived have been seriously challenged by the Sri Lankan authorities. The UN agencies were frustrated that the Government appear to put unnecessary obstacles in the way of them and others who are trying to assist the Government in dealing with this crisis. He accounting the situation in Vanni said the agencies lack any access to IDPs until the IDPs have already been through the preliminary “screening” process. They do not have full access to the camps, and visas and authorisations to move people and goods into and around the country are too limited. Meanwhile, people are not being allowed out of the camps and many families have been separated. Some men, alleged to be LTTE cadres, have been taken from families and placed in so-called rehabilitation camps. He said all these reinforce the need for full and unhindered access by the UN and other agencies.
Mr Miliband said in respect of the humanitarian situation there talks were centred around five specific points: first, the need for visas to be issued swiftly to international humanitarian staff; secondly, the subject of travel permits for staff working on approved projects inside Sri Lanka; thirdly, the need for full access to IDPs as soon as they have crossed the front line and the monitoring of all stages of screening; fourthly, the need for a proper resettlement programme with specific deadlines to fulfil the Government’s commitment to have 80 per cent. of IDPs resettled by year’s end; and, fifthly, to allow the distribution of sufficient food and medicine to meet the needs of civilians trapped in the conflict zone. We were promised intensive follow-up by the Sri Lankan Government and we will continue to engage with them on all these issues.
The Foreign Secretary Miliband will be visiting New York on 11 May for UN Security Council business and will pursue further UN involvement in the crisis. He was to discuss this issue with Secretary Clinton Thursday night, and planned to talk other like-minded colleagues, how all can work more closely together to find a way to bring the fighting to a stop.
The Government there must win the peace as well as the war. That will be the continuing focus of this Government’s activity, hand in hand with international partners, in the days and weeks ahead, Miliband said in British Parliament on Thurday.
Mr Miliband said he regret very much that the Sri Lankan authorities declined to allow their Swedish counterpart, Carl Bildt, to join them. But said Carl Bildt will continue to work together with them on Sri Lanka.
News analysed and edited by Tamil National [ This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ]
Comments (6)
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-Carve Out a Separate State for Tamils
The Sinhala only but sadly Buddhist state of Srilanka with the influence of its foreign consultants/agents such as Lord Wellington of UK and Patton Bogg of USA, had successfully labelled a pure liberation movement into a terrorist movement
It is a well published that Mr Bruce Fein a former Deputy Attorney General has filed 1000 page document alleging genocide charges against the Srilankan defence Secretary and the general of the armed forces under the US laws enacted in 2007 for the prevention of international genocide
International Community (IC) particularly Britain should have heard the warning shots from the humanitarians that something had terribly wrong here-it is not the banning of the LTTE but condoning the anti-Tamil programme of the brutal Sinhala State of Srilanka
Our foreign secretary however young and labelled as inexperienced by the terrorist state of Srilanka has most politely but firmly told this barbaric state of Srilanka we are not here to protect the LTTE but to safeguard the Tamils he has been told to back-off
Britain must seriously evaluate the 3 key incidents which has taken place this week;
The acknowledgement by the Indian foreign minister Mr.Mukhergee that India has been providing the Srilankan government with military intelligence, forces and the hardware to quell the Tamil liberation movement, has planted strong anti Indian seed among the 65 million Tamils of South India, notably some senior politician have firmly called for a separate state for the Tamils
China vehemently refused to allow the British request to bring the Srilankan affair into the UN SECURITY council
The leaked UN photograph which shows that brutal Srilankan government has targeted ‘safety zone’ and responsible for killing 6500 innocent helpless fleeing Tamil women and children, but lying to the world it is all done by the Tamil Tigers
Britain faces some serious and imminent questions here;
When 1500 people were killed in Bosnia a separate independent state was created and why we are not taking the same moral ground when 6500 fleeing Tamils are brutally killed in what Mr Miliband puts it as ‘war without witness’
Why the half a million Tamils who have escaped the state brutality and live in Britain, France Canada and elsewhere give their time and money and totally committed to the LTTE’s liberation call
Are we going allow China and India how democracy and freedom to be practised in the developing country or should we create raw model and tell the world that we are in charge of democracy and as result strengthen the democratic credentials of Britain
What if a separate state not created and the current state of affairs are allowed to continue;
The next move by the Srilankan government in this ‘war without witness’ will be to target and kill the victims who are in the concentration camp and then publish to thee IC that there LTTE leadership/combatants were among the IDP in the camp and that is their way of dealing with it.
The violent death and human rights abuse of tens of thousands of Tamils is imminent and not preventable until the ethnic cleansing program of the Sinhala state is complete. Again there will be no witnesses
The humanitarian crisis repeatedly occurred in several parts of the world as a result of the direct failure of the IC to trace, acknowledge and deal with it at a very early stage the when an ethnic cleansing program unleashed against an ethnic group by so called legitimately elected governments
There are already some strong noises from the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu questioning 'what if the Indian guns turned against us’. The West must not under evaluate the possibility of ‘India becomes a melting pot global terrorism’ because India has drastically failed to appraise human rights situation in Srilanka and its foreign policy.
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When will Sri Lankan government stop killing Tamil
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