By Colombo Telegraph –
“There have been a few tentative steps on accountability for crimes allegedly committed by Sri Lankan troops and civilian officials during the war with the LTTE. President Rajapaksa named a committee to make recommendations to him on the U.S. incidents report by April, and candidate Fonseka has discussed privately the formation of some form of ‘truth and reconciliation’ commission. Otherwise, accountability has not been a high-profile issue — including for Tamils in Sri Lanka. While Tamils have told us they would like to see some form of accountability, they have been pragmatic in what they can expect and have focused instead on securing greater rights and freedoms, resolving the IDP question, and improving economic prospects in the war-ravaged and former LTTE-occupied areas. Indeed, while they wanted to keep the issue alive for possible future action, Tamil politicians with whom we spoke in Colombo, Jaffna, and elsewhere said now was not time and that pushing hard on the issue would make them ‘vulnerable.’” the US Embassy Colombo informed Washington.
A Leaked ‘Secret’ US diplomatic cable, dated January 15, 2010, updated the Secretary of State regarding the accountability for alleged crimes committed by GSL troops and officials during the war and the Tamil perspective of the accountability issue.The Colombo Telegraph found the related leaked cable from the WikiLeaks database. The cable is classified and signed by the US Ambassador to Colombo Patricia Butenis.
The US ambassador wrote; “These tentative steps notwithstanding, accountability has not been a high-profile issue in the presidential election — other than President Rajapaksa’s promises personally to stand up to any international power or body that would try to prosecute Sri Lankan war heroes. While regrettable, the lack of attention to accountability is not surprising. There are no examples we know of a regime undertaking wholesale investigations of its own troops or senior officials for war crimes while that regime or government remained in power. In Sri Lanka this is further complicated by the fact that responsibility for many of the alleged crimes rests with the country’s senior civilian and military leadership, including President Rajapaksa and his brothers and opposition candidate General Fonseka.”
Placing a comment Butenis wrote; “Accountability is clearly an issue of importance for the ultimate political and moral health of Sri Lankan society. There is an obvious split, however, between the Tamil diaspora and Tamils in Sri Lanka on how and when to address the issue. While we understand the former would like to see the issue as an immediate top-priority issue, most Tamils in Sri Lanka appear to think it is both unrealistic and counter-productive to push the issue too aggressively now. While Tamil leaders are very vocal and committed to national reconciliation and creating a political system more equitable to all ethnic communities, they believe themselves vulnerable to political or even physical attack if they raise the issue of accountability publicly, and common Tamils appear focused on more immediate economic and social concerns. A few have suggested to us that while they cannot address the issue, they would like to see the international community push it. Such an approach, however, would seem to play into the super-heated campaign rhetoric of Rajapaksa and his allies that there is an international conspiracy against Sri Lanka and its ‘war heroes.’”
Read the cable below for further details;
Related stories to this cable;
WikiLeaks: Sampanthan Doesn’t Discuss ‘War Crimes’ Out Of Fear
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S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 COLOMBO 000032 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INSB E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/15/2020 TAGS: PGOV PREL PREF PHUM PTER EAID MOPS CE SUBJECT: SRI LANKA WAR-CRIMES ACCOUNTABILITY: THE TAMIL PERSPECTIVE REF: A. 09 COLOMBO 1180 ¶B. COLOMBO 8 COLOMBO 00000032 001.2 OF 003 Classified By: AMBASSADOR PATRICIA A. BUTENIS. REASONS: 1.4 (B, D) ¶1. (S) SUMMARY: There have been a few tentative steps on accountability for crimes allegedly committed by Sri Lankan troops and civilian officials during the war with the LTTE. President Rajapaksa named a committee to make recommendations to him on the U.S. incidents report by April, and candidate Fonseka has discussed privately the formation of some form of "truth and reconciliation" commission. Otherwise, accountability has not been a high-profile issue -- including for Tamils in Sri Lanka. While Tamils have told us they would like to see some form of accountability, they have been pragmatic in what they can expect and have focused instead on securing greater rights and freedoms, resolving the IDP question, and improving economic prospects in the war-ravaged and former LTTE-occupied areas. Indeed, while they wanted to keep the issue alive for possible future action, Tamil politicians with whom we spoke in Colombo, Jaffna, and elsewhere said now was not time and that pushing hard on the issue would make them "vulnerable." END SUMMARY. ACCOUNTABILITY AS A POLITICAL ISSUE ----------------------------------- ¶2. (S) Accountability for alleged crimes committed by GSL troops and officials during the war is the most difficult issue on our bilateral agenda. (NOTE: Both the State Department Report to Congress on Incidents during the Conflict and the widely read report by the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) also detailed many incidents of alleged crimes perpetrated by the LTTE. Most of the LTTE leadership was killed at the end of the war, leaving few to be held responsible for those crimes. The Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) is holding thousands of mid- and lower-level ex-LTTE combatants for future rehabilitation and/or criminal prosecution. It is unclear whether any such prosecutions will meet international standards. END NOTE.) There have been some tentative steps on accountability on the GSL side. Soon after the appearance of the State Department report, President Rajapaksa announced the formation of an experts' committee to examine the report and to provide him with recommendations on dealing with the allegations. At the end of the year, the president extended the deadline for the committee's recommendations from December 31 until April. For his part, General Fonseka has spoken publicly of the need for a new deal with the Tamils and other minorities. Privately, his campaign manager told the Ambassador that Fonseka had ordered the opposition campaign to begin work planning a "truth and reconciliation" commission (ref B). ¶3. (S) These tentative steps notwithstanding, accountability has not been a high-profile issue in the presidential election -- other than President Rajapaksa's promises personally to stand up to any international power or body that would try to prosecute Sri Lankan war heroes. While regrettable, the lack of attention to accountability is not surprising. There are no examples we know of a regime undertaking wholesale investigations of its own troops or senior officials for war crimes while that regime or government remained in power. In Sri Lanka this is further complicated by the fact that responsibility for many of the alleged crimes rests with the country's senior civilian and military leadership, including President Rajapaksa and his brothers and opposition candidate General Fonseka. THE TAMIL PERSPECTIVE --------------------- COLOMBO 00000032 002.2 OF 003 ¶4. (S) For different reasons, of course, accountability also has not been a top priority for most Tamils in Sri Lanka. While Tamils have told us they would like to see some form of accountability, they have been pragmatic in what they can expect and have focused instead on securing greater rights and freedoms, resolving the IDP question, and improving economic prospects in the war-ravaged and former LTTE-occupied areas. Indeed, while they wanted to keep the issue alive for possible future action, Tamil leaders with whom we spoke in Colombo, Jaffna, and elsewhere said now was not time and that pushing hard on the issue would make them "vulnerable." ¶5. (S) The one prominent Tamil who has spoken publicly on the issue is Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP, self-proclaimed presidential candidate, and Prabhakaran relative M.K. Sivajilingam. Breaking from both the TNA mainstream and the pro-government Tamil groups, he launched his campaign because he believed neither the government nor the opposition was adequately addressing Tamil issues. Sivajilingam has focused on creating a de-centralized federal structure in Sri Lanka with separate prime ministers for the Sinhalese and Tamils, but he also has spoken about accountability, demanding an international inquiry to get justice for the deaths and suffering of the Tamil people. ¶6. (S) Other Tamil politicians have not made public statements on accountability and are generally more pragmatic in their thinking. In our multiple recent discussions with TNA leader R. Sampanthan, he said he believed accountability was important and he welcomed the international community's -- especially the diaspora's -- interest in the issue. But Sampanthan was realistic about the dim prospects for any Sri Lankan government to take up the issue. Granting that governments in power do not investigate their own, Sampanthan nevertheless said it was important to the health of the nation to get the truth out. While he believed the Tamil community was "vulnerable" on the issue and said he would not discuss "war crimes" per se in parliament for fear of retaliation, Sampanthan would emphasize the importance of people knowing the truth about what happened during the war. We also have asked Sampanthan repeatedly for his ideas on an accountability mechanism that would be credible to Tamils and possible within the current political context, but he has not been able to provide such a model. ¶7. (S) Mano Ganesan, MP and leader of the ethnic Tamil Democratic People's Front (DPF), is a Colombo-based Tamil who counts as supporters many of the well-educated, long-term Colombo and Western Province resident Tamils, and was an early supporter of Fonseka. The general made promises that convinced him that if Fonseka were to win, ethnic reconciliation issues would then be decided by parliament, not the Executive President. On accountability, Ganesan told us that while the issue was significant -- and Fonseka could even end up implicated -- accountability was a divisive issue and the focus now had to be on uniting to rid the country of the Rajapaksas. ¶8. (S) TNA MP Pathmini Sithamparanathan told us in mid-December that the true story of what happened in the final weeks of the war would not go away and would come out eventually, but she also said now was not the time for war crimes-type investigations. Finally, on a recent trip to Jaffna, PolOff found that local politicians did not raise accountability for events at the end of the war as an issue of immediate concern, focusing instead on current bread-and-butter issues, such as IDP releases, concerns about Sinhala emigration to traditional Tamil regions, and COLOMBO 00000032 003.2 OF 003 re-developing the local economy. COMMENT ------- ¶9. (S) Accountability is clearly an issue of importance for the ultimate political and moral health of Sri Lankan society. There is an obvious split, however, between the Tamil diaspora and Tamils in Sri Lanka on how and when to address the issue. While we understand the former would like to see the issue as an immediate top-priority issue, most Tamils in Sri Lanka appear to think it is both unrealistic and counter-productive to push the issue too aggressively now. While Tamil leaders are very vocal and committed to national reconciliation and creating a political system more equitable to all ethnic communities, they believe themselves vulnerable to political or even physical attack if they raise the issue of accountability publicly, and common Tamils appear focused on more immediate economic and social concerns. A few have suggested to us that while they cannot address the issue, they would like to see the international community push it. Such an approach, however, would seem to play into the super-heated campaign rhetoric of Rajapaksa and his allies that there is an international conspiracy against Sri Lanka and its "war heroes." BUTENIS
Pol Tokka / January 5, 2013
See, Butenis always had the right solutions for SL. Look at her pontificating ““Accountability is clearly an issue of importance for the ultimate political and moral health of Sri Lankan society.”
This murderous bitch who assisted the Reagan administrations support to dictatorships in Latin America to rise on the greasy pole of the State Department, then came to Bangladesh and fingered in its national affairs in 20006. Then she came to Sri Lanka and behaved like a viceroy. Her best mate in Sri Lanka is the [Edited out] Somawansa Amarasinghe.
Who cares about what this witch says.Wikileaks only showed her conspiracy. Good material for Colomb oTelegraph?
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Piranha / January 5, 2013
Accountability issue is something Rajapaksa will never be able to evade as the tamil diaspora and HR organisations will not drop it come what may. As the present self inflicted situation deteriorates for the regime it may not be long before Rajapaksa bites the dust and the rest of his “ape minihas” in war crimes end up in front of the war crimes tribunal.
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Rajiv / January 5, 2013
Butenis says, “There are no examples we know of a regime undertaking wholesale investigations of its own troops or senior officials for war crimes while that regime or government remained in power”. She is correct, and obviously we learnt from the very best.
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Gayan / January 5, 2013
Agree and further the USA is a classic example where even a regime change do not mean steps would be taken for any accountability for war crimes happened in the past. No regime in USA since WW2 ever prosicuted anyone, specially in the political leadership in Washinton, for war crimes commited in Vietnam, Cambodia, Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan ect or covert crimes via CIA in South America or Africa where miliions were killed.
More than anything, the wikileaks demonstrate how deep the level of hypocracy and ignorance the US politicians / political regime and govt administration are really into. They live in a another planet.
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gamini / January 5, 2013
The Truth why no investigations will be undertaken on War Crimes here is because it will reveal the American and Indian involvement with the Rajapaksas for conniving to annihilate the LTTE. Surely only our Forces can not be held accountable when the green light was given by the Americans at the end, when they were to surrender for Gota to massacre, as mentioned by SF, the white flag story he retracted obviously under pressure more from the Americans than from MR.
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Cynthia / January 5, 2013
The defeat of the LTTE was obtained at the cost of so many lives
of soldiers, civilians and terrorists in. Murder and torture
and war crimes inflicted to obtain the war victory must be
investigated and the guilty whoever they are,must be punished.
It is the duty of the GOSL to do this.
Accountabilty is demanded by humanity.
We should not be against Ms. Butenis or anyone else stating this , or
if some other authority enforces this if the GOSL fails to take
action to investigate.
News reports indicate that a Nepali army official allegedly held
responsible for torture in the civil war in Nepal, was arrested in
London today by the British Government, under the principle of “UNIVERSAL JURISDICTION” applicable to such crimes, years after the end of the conflict. This will be an important and interesting case to watch for possible application of the principle to the Sri Lankan situation.Can “immunity” and sovereignty cover all crimes?
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Wuliangguobinjiu / January 5, 2013
I was there during the first uprising by the public and saw the beheading of policemen and the parading of bodies. Neither the Americans nor the Indians were involved in the uprising calling for the abolishing of the monarchy and implementation of democracy. Subsequently the public looked for support from China when the Indians (Sonia Gandhi) tried to take control of the nation. Anyway the Indians are controlling that nation in some way since it is land locked. Nepalese suffered 2 long years when India closed the borders because Sonia was not allowed to visit Pashupatinath.Sonia the roman soldier is worse than an Indian or snake.
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Kalu Malli / January 5, 2013
Does this same “universal jurisdiction” apply to the very nations that lecture little Sri Lanka on so called war crimes allegations when they themselves have twisted the world in to so many illegal wars, torture, drone strikes and illegal occupations. Perhaps Mrs Butenis should look in her own backyard before she acts as the chief informer to the United States of Hypocrisy.
PS: I am not a fan of the Rajapakse regime but I do believe in International Law that must be respected by ALL before any implementation of it on any nation. Until that day..the UN will always be a biased muted(by the West) organisation.
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Wuliangguobinjiu / January 6, 2013
She can afford to say it because the hidden hand behind all this was a middle class socialist boy bLiar who wanted to go down in history as one better than Winston Churchill. Now he has diplomatic immunity for life unlike Bush and travels the world as the Middle East peace broker for UN also he is a Lord and has made money for the next five generations and travels the world with 7 SAS bodyguards. He apologised for some of the Iraq war during a short inquiry and it may come up again (why did Dr Kelly commit suicide 2 days before the Iraq war and how did it happen?) when he is weak may be surely within 30 years (the US does not need oil from the ME in 30 years-plan is on) because most Brits see him as an International war criminal- it’s all to do with timing without disrupting the country and the people. Rajapakistan and his cohorts would go the day the hidden had is exposed.
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Panda / January 6, 2013
“Conspiracy theories” are galore when it comes to accountability. This was the Rajapaksa’s only way out and excuse. Only the naive will believe the nonsense that no civilians were harmed during the final stages of the war. Every time an international committee calls for an investigation or explanation, these countries are made into “billas” or envious countries “out to get little Sri Lanka”. There is a pattern of deception here, and it is obvious. If the Rajapaksa’s have nothing to hide, they should be ready to cooperate with any official.
Making personal attacks on Butenis and others only show deflection, and anger at the messenger.
We Sri Lankans should make OUR leaders accountable, for what they may or may not have done to our citizens, and not buy the stalling and blame on others.
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kalu malli / January 6, 2013
Isn’t it fair in the eyes of the law to blame the accuser who has committed far worse war crimes than the accused party throughout its violent but short history?
how can one respect SELECTIVE LAW on certain third world nations while the big goons get away with rampant murder?
Global impunity of the US and cohorts can only be compared to the Rajapakse crew with its behaviour in Sri Lanka. I am a firm believer in top down method when it comes to law and order.
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Cynthia / January 6, 2013
Kalu Malli
– Dont day dream about getting the big goons.Sri Lanka ” won ” the war
but lost Democracy. If you are a Sri Lankan {are you?]concentrate
on saving our motherland and welcome any help from any quarter
to re-establish Democracy, Rule of Law , and Justice in our country.
Let the guilty be punished.
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