England involvement in Ceylon first step to UN military involvement

Britain raps Govt., LTTE

British MP to visit India to discuss peace moves
LTTE fundraising in Britain to be completely blocked
Govt. urged to break links with Karuna
By Easwaran Rutnam


Britain yesterday expressed concern over the volatile situation in Sri Lanka and the failure of both the government and the LTTE to fulfil their peace commitments despite assurances given at the Geneva talks in February last year.


In a debate on Sri Lanka at the British House of Commons on Wednesday, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office Minister Dr. Kim Howells said a British envoy was due to hold discussions with India shortly in an effort to get the peace talks back on track.


Meanwhile a British High Commission spokesman said the Deputy British High Commissioner in Colombo would meet the LTTE soon as part of efforts by the British government to urge both the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE to cease violence and restart talks.


“Sri Lanka had pledged that no armed group or person other than Government security forces will carry arms or conduct operations. For its part, the LTTE had pledged to ensure there would be no acts of violence against the security forces and the police. Sadly, those commitments remain unfulfilled. We have over the past year seen worsening violence. Extra-judicial killings, disappearances, intimidation and violence by paramilitary groups are all too common. The violence has fuelled an atmosphere of extreme mistrust and polarisation, which has fuelled further antagonism and violence.


Innocent civilians have borne the brunt. There are now more than 100,000 displaced people in Batticaloa and hundreds more arrive each day. There are more than 700 cases of missing persons in the Jaffna peninsular and nearly 500 are still unresolved,” Dr. Howells said when opening the debate which saw several MPs asking questions in relation to the Sri Lankan issue.


Dr. Howells assured the House the debate was initiated as a result of the concern expressed by British parliamentarians and was not, as some propagandists and partisan elements had claimed -- a debate generated by any faction of Sri Lankan politics or by any lobbying organisations claiming to represent any part of the large Sri Lankan Diaspora residing in Britain, pro or anti-LTTE.


“We have repeatedly urged the LTTE to move away from the path of violence. In the absence of a full renunciation of terrorism in deed and word, there can be no question of reconsidering its proscribed status. LTTE involvement in killings, torture, detention of civilians and denial of freedom of speech is a reality. LTTE fundraising activity in Britain encourages war, not peace. It will not be tolerated, and I have recently met our security authorities to discuss how we can counter the bullying, threats and acts of fraud that are used regularly to extract money from the Tamil population and others in the country,” the British MP said in response to a question.


He also put Karuna Amman on notice saying civilians in government-controlled areas regularly fall victim to brutal attacks by paramilitary groups, often acting with apparent immunity and expressed concerns of government's links with the faction.


“We believe Karuna and his faction to be responsible for extra-judicial killings, abductions, intimidation of displaced persons and child recruitment. Karuna's record is appalling, and we will be watching very closely whether he acts on his commitment to the United Nations to address the child recruitment issue. We will want to see clear evidence that he has delivered on his welcome promises. Karuna needs to go further and cease all acts of violence and intimidation against civilians. There must be no question of the Sri Lankan government allowing Karuna to perpetrate those crimes. If they are serious in their desire to find paths to an inclusive, peaceful Sri Lanka that embraces all its peoples and cultures, they must disassociate themselves completely from all acts of abuse, terrorism, intimidation or torture, no matter who commits them or what agency encourages them.”


Also speaking at the debate Britain’s External Development Minister Gareth Thomas noted that the situation in Jaffna was particularly grim and called for the "immediate, permanent and unconditional opening of the sea and road routes" -- the A9 has been referred to -- "for humanitarian convoys of essential supplies."


Mr. Thomas emphasized that to achieve peace the parties to the conflict must accept that a military victory was neither possible nor a basis for a lasting solution and that there had to be a credible framework for a negotiated settlement and that there must be respect for the human rights of all Sri Lankans and an end to the culture of impunity.

Britain withholds debt relief to Sri Lanka
Britain has decided to withhold half of the debt relief promised to Sri Lanka for 2006, until the conclusion of ongoing discussions with the government regarding certain commitments based on which the money was offered.


In December 2005, the British and Sri Lankan governments signed an agreement for the provision of £41 million of debt relief. The debt relief was to be used for post-tsunami recovery and poverty reduction work and was to be paid in yearly instalments of about £4 million between 2005 and 2015. The two governments agreed to a number of conditions on which these yearly instalments were to be made. These conditions relate to human rights, hostilities, defence spending and accountability systems.


As part of the process leading to the release of the next instalment of debt relief, the British Secretary of State for International Development wrote last week to the Sri Lankan government to seek clarification that these conditions were still being met, the British High Commission in Colombo said.


"We believe that that sent a clear message to the Sri Lankan Government about our concerns. The outstanding payment will be made only when consultations have concluded with the Sri Lankan Government. Those consultations will, in particular, involve discussions about the human rights situation in Sri Lanka." British MP Gareth Thomas told the House of Commons.


Recent press reporting has suggested that debt relief is linked to possible de-proscription of the LTTE. As British Minister Kim Howells, made clear during his visit to Sri Lanka recently, the British government is not considering de-proscribing the LTTE. The issues of debt relief and de-proscription were not in any way linked, the British High Commission emphasized. (ER)



UK's 7 million Pounds Arms sales to Sri Lanka match tsunami aid
UK arms sales to Sri Lanka match tsunami aid

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 May 2007, 16:45 GMT]
Britain licensed Ј7 million worth of weapons and military equipment for export to Sri Lanka this year alone, it was revealed during a debate in Parliament Wednesday. The sum matches the amount of British aid provided in the wake of December 2004 tsunami. On Thursday the UK government said it was holding back half its Ј3 million annual aid allocation for this year citing British concerns over human rights in Sri Lanka.
“Inquiries that I have made reveal that Ј7 million-worth of [UK] arms were licensed for delivery to Sri Lanka in the last quarter for which figures are available,” Joan Ruddock, a ruling Labour party MP, told the House Wednesday during a landmark debate on Sri Lanka.

“Licenses were for armoured all-wheel drive vehicles, components for heavy machine guns, components for military distress signalling equipment, and many other types of equipment, including military aircraft ground equipment and communications equipment, and small arms ammunition,” she said.

“All of that is military equipment that could conceivably be used in the conflict,” she said.

“I know that our Government have obeyed the rules—the EU and the national criteria by which we agree export licences. There is no question of wrongdoing. However, … I ask the Minister to consider whether those export licences and similar licences should continue when a live conflict is clearly under way in the country.”

However, government ministers did not respond to Ms. Ruddock’s question.

Earlier in the debate, junior foreign minister Kim Howells said British Foreign Minister Margaret Beckett had met with Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister and “reiterated Britain’s commitment to peace and our willingness to get involved in that whole process.”

“She spoke of the terrible humanitarian impact of the conflict on the civilian population and the need for both sides to do more to protect that population. She repeated the message that there can be no military solution to conflict,” Dr. Howells said.

Later in the debate, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development Gareth Thomas said in the wake of the December 2004 tsunami, Britain “committed aid of about Ј7 million immediately after [it] struck.”

Of this sum, about Ј500,000 is outstanding, Mr. Thomas said. It had been allocated to “to develop the capacity of the North-East Provincial Council to lead the recovery process,” he added.

The council has since been disbanded when the North-East Province itself was demerged by the Sri Lankan government last year.

Meanwhile the British government said Thursday it will withhold Ј1.5 million of aid this year.

Britain agreed in 2005 to provide Sri Lanka Ј41 m ($81.6 million) in debt relief until 2015, in yearly instalments of 3-6 million pounds, as long as Colombo met a series conditions, Reuters reported.

Britain was due to make a payment of 3 million pounds this year, or around $6 million, and has paid just half.

"What we have said for this year is we are making half of the agreed payment because there is an ongoing consultation process about progress towards meeting the conditions agreed between the two governments," the spokesman for the British High Commission in Colombo said.

During Wednesday’s debate British ministers told Parliament the government had a coordinated approach to Sri Lanka’s conflict.

“We complement our high-level engagement with more practical assistance through a joint Department for International Development, Ministry of Defence and Foreign and Commonwealth Office peace-building strategy for Sri Lanka,” Dr. Howells said.

“[These departments] combine our operations in the country, and we are using funds from [our] global conflict prevention pool to support a series of programmes that will help to bring the sides together, slowly to try to create the conditions for a sustainable peace,” Mr. Thomas said.

“We want a peaceful solution to the conflict. … We will continue to be engaged in the search for peace in Sri Lanka.”