[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 21 (Tuesday, February 3, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1428-S1429]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SITUATION IN SRI LANKA

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, The ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka that has 
waxed and waned for decades costing the lives of tens of thousands of 
people has exploded into a full scale war, and it is civilians who are 
bearing the brunt of the carnage.
  The origins of the conflict arise from decades of the Sinhalese 
majority's systematic discrimination against the Tamil minority and its 
denial of the Tamils' meaningful participation in the political 
process. The Sri Lankan army is almost exclusively Sinhalese. 
Successive Sinhalese-dominated governments have failed to effectively 
address these longstanding injustices.
  Over the years, peaceful demonstrations by Tamils have been met with 
violence by Sinhalese extremists, which has in turn fostered violent 
extremism on the Tamil side.
  In recent weeks, as the Sri Lankan army has seized control of most of 
the northern strongholds of the Tamil Tigers, or LTTE as they are 
otherwise known, the situation has gone from dire to the verge of 
catastrophe for the estimated 250,000 vulnerable civilians who are 
trapped in a so-called ``safe zone.''
  The LTTE has a history of suicide bombings and other indiscriminate 
attacks against civilians, using civilians as shields, and preventing 
civilians under their control from escaping to government areas. 
Several hundred local staff of the United Nations and international 
humanitarian organizations are reportedly trapped because the LTTE 
refuses to allow them to leave. The LTTE has been designated a foreign 
terrorist organization by the United States.
  For its part, the Sri Lankan army insists it is targeting the LTTE, 
not civilians. But the army has also acted in ways that have blurred 
any meaningful distinction between itself and the LTTE. It has 
reportedly shelled areas populated by civilians, including hospitals, 
causing hundreds of casualties, summarily executed suspected LTTE 
sympathizers, and detained those who have fled LTTE areas, including 
women and children, in militarized camps where they are exposed to 
great hardship and danger.
  The United Nations says a compound sheltering U.N. national staff 
inside the safety zone was shelled on January 24 and 25, killing at 
least 9 civilians and wounding more than 20. On January 26, another 
artillery attack reportedly narrowly missed UN local staff working in 
the safety zone but caused dozens of civilian deaths. The International 
Committee of the Red Cross has said that ``[h]undreds of patients need 
emergency treatment and evacuation to [a] hospital in the government-
controlled area.''
  In the past 2 days, another hospital was reportedly shelled multiple 
times, resulting in more civilian deaths and injuries.
  Human Rights Watch reports that since last September, when the Sri 
Lankan government ordered the withdrawal of most UN and nongovernmental 
humanitarian organizations, as well as journalists, from the conflicted 
area, a grave humanitarian crisis has developed with acute shortages of 
food, shelter, medicine, and other humanitarian supplies.
  The Sri Lankan government has a duty to respect the rights and 
protect the safety of all Sri Lankan citizens, whatever their ethnic 
origin or political views. Instead, the government has embarked on a 
strategy to defeat the LTTE militarily and in doing so has shown 
disregard for the laws of war. Rather than protecting the Tamil people, 
the government has often contributed to their suffering. Its strategy 
has been to cordon off the area and blame everything, including its own 
violations, on the LTTE.
  Since 1984, successive peace talks have failed, as both the LTTE and 
the Sri Lankan government have reneged on their agreements, and the 
government has failed to provide the vision and leadership necessary to 
build a multi-ethnic consensus. Both sides' extreme ethnic nationalist 
agendas have caused widespread human suffering. Both sides are 
accountable.
  I have no sympathy for the LTTE, which has brought misery upon the 
Tamil people it professes to represent. But while the LTTE has been 
severely weakened, it is unlikely to disappear,

[[Page S1429]]

and the cycle of violence may continue.
  It is imperative that the government and the LTTE agree to an 
immediate cease-fire to avoid further loss of life, permit access to 
U.N. monitors and humanitarian organizations, and permit civilians to 
leave for areas of safety. The Obama administration, the British, 
Indian and other concerned governments, should be publicly urging the 
same.
  Over the longer term, if lasting peace is to come to Sri Lanka, the 
government must effectively address, in negotiations which include all 
the main Tamil and Muslim parties, the core issues that have fueled the 
conflict including laws and policies that unfairly discriminate against 
Sri Lanka's minorities.
  There is a related issue that needs to be mentioned, and that is the 
imprisonment for the past ten months of J.S. Tissainayagam, a 
journalist, and N. Jashiharan, a publisher, and his wife, V. Valamathy. 
They were arrested for articles critical of the government, and are 
being held in violation of their right to freedom of expression. 
Another of Sri Lankan's most respected journalists, Lasantha 
Wickrematunga, was gunned down in broad daylight a few weeks ago. 
According to Navi Pillay, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, 
``[t]he killing of . . . Wickrematunge . . . was the latest blow to the 
free expression of dissent in Sri Lanka. The searing article he wrote 
prophesying his own murder is an extraordinary indictment of a system 
corrupted by more than two decades of bloody internal conflict.'' The 
High Commissioner noted that there have not been any prosecutions of 
political killings, disappearances and other violations committed in 
recent years. That in itself speaks volumes about the Sri Lankan 
government's credibility.
  For many years, the United States and Sri Lanka have enjoyed good 
relations. A close friend of mine, James Spain, was our Ambassador 
there years ago. He often told me of his deep affection for the Sri 
Lankan people, and of the country's extraordinary natural beauty.
  When the tsunami crashed ashore in December 2004, a member of my 
staff was on the island. The American people responded generously to 
help Sri Lanka rebuild.
  It has therefore been difficult for me to watch the conflict 
intensify, the LTTE abuse civilians and fail to live up to its 
commitments, and the government threaten to expel foreign diplomats, 
aid agencies and journalists, and refuse appeals to permit independent 
observers and aid workers access to areas where Tamil civilians are 
trapped. And as reputable, courageous journalists have been arrested on 
transparently political charges or assassinated.
  The Sri Lanka government will one day want the respect and support of 
the United States. The same can be said of the LTTE, if and when it 
renounces violence and becomes a legitimate political party. How they 
respond to today's humanitarian appeals will weigh heavily on how the 
United States responds when that day comes.

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