Language Policy Failure: Reserved For Pregnant Ladies Translated As Reserved For Pregnant Dogs On Govt. Signage

February 5, 2014

The glaring inaccuracies on signboards that include the Tamil Language, at several Government buildings and state run buses were deeply insulting to the Tamil people, experts have pointed out, after the signage on a bus that should have read “Reserved for Pregnant Mothers ” was translated into Tamil as “Reserved for Pregnant Dogs.”

The BBC Sinhala reports that Minister of National Languages, Vasudeva Nanayakkara has sought an apology from the Tamil people of Sri Lanka for the inadvertent mistakes.

He said that the inaccuracies were due to improper translations.

Prabhakaran uses British Parliament to accuse SL army of chemical attack

Gota –LTTE secret arms deal detected by International intelligence organisations

By Shamindra Ferdinando-February 4, 2014,

An Indian passport holder named Thamil Prabhakaran deported from Sri Lanka last December for violating visa regulations has shown a documentary titled This land belongs to the Army in the House of Commons, alleging that the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) used chemical weapons during the final assault on the Vanni east front in 2009.

The presentations were made in the Committee Room 14 of the House of Commons on January 31, the first day of a two-day conference and the following day at the University College of London.  

Thamil Prabhakaran from South India had an Indian passport bearing number MK 6149374 at the time he was detained in Pooneryn in the Vanni region. He was deported after the Indian High Commission in Colombo had been informed of the government decision.

 A senior security official alleged that Prabhakaran had been here on the invitation of the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK), the main constituent of the multi-party Tamil National Alliance (TNA).  

Prabhakaran has written a series of articles titled Searching for footsteps of Tigers for Tamil Nadu magazine, Junior Vikatan. A book was also published under the same title recently. 

Prabhakaran participated at the UK conference on the invitation of the British Tamil Forum (BTF) and the All Party Parliamentary Group of Tamils (APPGT).  

An External Affairs Ministry official told The Island that the BTF was seeking to dominate the Diaspora in the wake of its dispute with the Global Tamil Forum (GTF). The GTF didn’t receive an invitation for the event.

 On behalf of the ruling Conservative Party (MP Lee Scott) and the Labour (Siobhain McDonagh) addressed the gathering at the inaugural session. 

The Defence Ministry said that there was absolutely no basis for the BTF-APPGT allegations with regard to the SLA taking over of property belonging to Tamil speaking people. A senior Defence Ministry spokesperson told The Island that the alleged chemical attacks were a total fabrication by the LTTE backers. Since the conclusion of the conflict in May 2009, the military had handed over many public properties to their rightful owners, the official said, adding that those who were skeptical of the Defence Ministry position could visit the Jaffna peninsula to see the situation for themselves.  

Callum Macrae of the Channel 4 News, too, addressed the gathering. 

The organisers also invited a group of TNA representatives for the conference also attended by several NGO activists.

New Inquiry on Sri Lanka Points to Possible War Crimes

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

New Inquiry on Sri Lanka Points to Possible War Crimes

GENEVA — Senior Sri Lankan government officials and military officers may bear criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during an offensive near the end of the island’s civil war, according to a new investigation that backs calls for an international inquiry into those events.

The investigation, released on Tuesday by the Public Interest Advocacy Center, a nonprofit legal advocacy group in Australia, in consultation with prominent international jurists, went beyond other nonpartisan inquiries into the well-documented violence that punctuated the final days of that conflict, Asia’s longest civil war.

Although the Australian group’s investigation draws partly on earlier documented reporting, the group’s inquiry took testimony from new witnesses and submitted its findings to forensic and legal analysis to provide a possible basis for prosecution.

Whether the investigation’s conclusions will seriously affect any international effort to prosecute Sri Lankan leaders remains unclear. But the investigation was released at a delicate time for the country’s government, which is facing increased international criticism over its failure to hold anyone accountable for the large number of killings and other abuses that came in the final chapter of the war in May 2009, ending over 20 years of conflict.

The United States is preparing to sponsor a third successive resolution in the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva aimed at pressuring the Sri Lankan government to address the accountability issue.

William Schabas, professor of international law at Middlesex University in London who is an authority on war crimes and was among the experts enlisted to examine the Australian inquiry’s evidence, said it was the first to focus on issues that are relevant to a criminal prosecution.

“What it demonstrates is there is clear evidence that a prosecutor can go on,” he said in an interview.

The Australian inquiry found evidence that both Tamil Tiger rebels and Sri Lankan armed forces committed a wide range of serious human rights violations, including executions, rape and torture, but concludes the military “committed the vast majority of alleged crimes” in the final six months of the war.

Moreover, the report continues, some of the alleged crimes were committed with “such flagrant and reckless disregard for the laws of war which strongly suggests there was intent to commit those crimes.”

The structure of the Sri Lankan Army was so well-established, the report adds, “that criminal responsibility for certain crimes if proven at trial could lead to convictions of senior military commanders and Sri Lankan government officials” as well as senior surviving members of the Tamil Tiger rebels.

The report, titled “Island of Impunity?,” promises to stoke a long-running dispute between human rights groups and President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government in Sri Lanka, which has denied there were civilian casualties in what it termed a “humanitarian rescue operation” by the military at the end of the war and says it is conducting its own investigation into events.

The top United Nations human rights official, Navi Pillay, who visited Sri Lanka in 2013, has called for an international inquiry, and the British prime minister, David Cameron, in November said his government would back that motion if there was no sign of progress toward a credible investigation in Sri Lanka by March.

The allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity have surfaced previously. A United Nations panel of experts reported that as many as 40,000 civilians may have been killed during the military offensive that ended the war, the vast majority of them as a result of army shelling of areas crammed with civilians.

A series of documentaries by Britain’s independent television company Channel Four also presented video of the shelling of civilians and evidence of summary executions of prisoners, including the 12-year-old son of the Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.

The Australian-led inquiry, however, says the testimony it took from 30 witnesses, of whom half had not been interviewed before, added important detail to the knowledge of events in the closing months of the war, providing what its authors called “an evidentiary platform for an investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanit
NYT

UPDATE 1-US says Sri Lanka refuses visa for official after war crime accusations
Wed Feb 5, 2014

* U.S. envoy for women's issues had hoped to visit next week

* U.S., planning rights resolution, says visa denied

* Government says not true, dates for visit not convenient (Adds Sri Lankan reaction)

By Shihar Aneez and Ranga Sirilal

UPDATE 1-US Says Sri Lanka Refuses Visa for Official After War Crime Accusations by nelvely

UN Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP’s Asia-Pacific Regional Director to visit Sri Lanka

 Wednesday, 05 February 2014 

Mr. Haoliang Xu, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General, Chair, United Nations Development Group Asia-Pacific and UNDP Assistant Administrator & Director, Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific will be visiting Sri Lanka from February 9-12, 2014. 

During the visit, Mr. Xu is expected to meet and exchange views with high-level Government officials, development partners and the civil society. He will gain a perspective of the progress made by the UN System during the first year of implementation of the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) 2013-2017, while transitioning from a largely humanitarian to a development-focused programme in Sri Lanka.

Mr. Xu will also engage in a policy dialogue with eminent economists and representatives from think-tanks on Sri Lanka’s development outlook, and with a cross-section of women leaders on issues pertaining to gender-based violence in Sri Lanka.

Further, Mr. Xu will also undertake a visit to the Northern Districts, where he will meet with Government officials, representatives from Community Based Organizations and beneficiaries and gain a first-hand understanding of the development priorities in the districts and further support needs. He will also visit UN/UNDP supported livelihood development projects on the ground.

A highlight of Mr. Xu’s visit will be the launching of one of the key UNDP supported programmes, ‘Strengthening Enforcement of Law, Access to Justice and Social Integration’ (SELAJSI). The Programme is a joint initiative of four Ministries, namely, the Ministry of National Languages and Social Integration, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Rehabilitation and Prison Reforms and the Ministry of Child Development and Women’s Affairs, implemented to ensure that gains in the justice sector are institutionalized, systemized and scaled-up.

For more information on the visit, biography of Mr. Haoliang Xu and press material visit – http://bit.ly/1fOTWBV

Contact Information: Fadhil – fadhil.bakeermarkar@undp.org | 0777530520
Madhushala – madhushala.senaratne@undp.org | 0112580691

UNDP is the UN’s global development network, advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help empower lives and build resilient nations. UNDP in Sri Lanka works with the Government and all its partners to support the country achieve equitable and sustainable human development.www.lk.undp.org

Get in touch: UNDP on Twitter | on Facebook |

India’s tough stance on Lanka welcome, but must do more: Amnesty

Kounteya Sinha,TNN | Feb 5, 2014

As the clamour for international investigation into war crimes in Sri Lanka gets louder, Amnesty International's secretary general Salil Shetty met the secretary general of the Commonwealth Kamalesh Sharma, in London on February 3. The meeting was focused on human rights situation in Sri Lanka and was the first time Sharma had agreed to meet Amnesty to discuss these issues. TOI'sKounteya Sinha speaks to Shetty on the outcome of the meeting. 

Has the Commonwealth agreed to launch an investigation into war crimes against Sri Lanka? 

Unfortunately not, and that is not what we asked for in the meeting. However, some individual Commonwealth countries have joined the chorus calling for an international investigation into alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka. 

What were the main points of discussion? 

The singular point was the Commonwealth's silence on the human rights situation in Sri Lanka. The Commonwealth Secretariat has seemed to give far too much credence to the Sri Lankan argument that it needs "time and space" to investigate the conflict, rather than pushing the government to take action. 

The Commonwealth's line that it's "actively engaging" on human rights in Sri Lanka does not stand up to scrutiny. For example, why has no one from the Commonwealth spoken publicly on the well documented attacks on human rights defenders around the CHOGM? The silence really undermines the Commonwealth's credibility as a whole - many of the crimes Sri Lanka stand accused of are in direct violation of its Charter. 

How serious are the crimes in Sri Lanka and can the evidence be trusted? 

There's an overwhelming body of evidence on alleged war crimes by both the Sri Lankan army and the Tamil Tigers during the armed conflict, in particular in the final bloody months in early 2009. The alleged crimes are very serious and the both Amnesty and the UN have found many of these allegations to be credible. The UN has estimated that 40,000 people were killed in the army's indiscriminate shelling of the Tamil-majority north. People there went through unspeakable horrors - we at Amnesty have collected harrowing witness testimony, as have many others. These allegations must be independently investigated and those found responsible held to account. 

What are Amnesty's demands from the Commonwealth and the international community? 

We want the Commonwealth to stop taking the Sri Lankan PR machine at face value, and take genuine steps to push Sri Lanka to improve the human rights situation there. From the international community, a continued push for an international war crimes investigation is essential - it's good to see that the momentum is gathering pace for just that ahead of the UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva in March. 

But what has happened since the end of the war is just as important to highlight. President Mahinda Rajapaksa has been on a steady path to shore up power and repress anyone it thinks is standing in the government's way, often violently. There's been a disturbing pattern of cracking down on dissent, with anyone from families of victims, journalists, trade unionists, opposition members, and human rights defenders threatened, harassed or worse. 

Has India been forthright about Sri Lanka? 

India has increasingly been more vocal on the human rights situation in Sri Lanka. PM Manmohan Singh did not attend CHOGM in Colombo in November, widely interpreted as a message on the country's human rights situation, and Delhi has supported successive UN resolutions calling for accountability for the horrible abuses of the armed conflict. 

What do you expecting India's role be and what do you expect India to do? 

India's tougher stance is very welcome, but that is not to say that Delhi cannot do more. Sri Lanka has shown itself both unwilling and incapable of addressing conflict-era abuses - we hope Delhi now joins the growing chorus of voices pushing for an internationally led war crimes investigation. 

Amnesty has been wanting to meet Kamalesh Sharma for long. Why did it take so long? 

We've been asking for this meeting with the secretary general for a long time, and we're glad that it finally happened. There have been busy schedules on both ends, but ultimately it has to be up to the Commonwealth Secretariat to explain why we couldn't meet sooner.

Around 5,000 persons missing in the East, Commission to sit in Batticaloa

Wednesday, 05 February 2014 

The Presidential Commission probing Disappearances has said that around 5,000 Muslims have been reported missing during the period of the war.

The Commission is to also hold sittings in Batticaloa to investigate the alleged abductions or disappearances of thousands of Muslim people in the
Eastern Province. The sittings in Batticaloa will take place in the second week of March.

Head of the Commission, Maxwell Paranagama has said the Commission has received around 5,000 complaints from Muslims about disappearances during the period of the war.

A group of Muslims led by Eastern Provincial Councillor Sibly Farouk has reportedly met with the head of the Presidential Commission in Colombo and discussed Muslim people killed in the East.

Almost five years of peace but tens of thousands of war-displaced still without solution

Download PDF (514.35 KB)

04 Feb 2014

5 steps to help displaced Sri Lankans find solutions

As Sri Lanka celebrates its 66th Independence Day today, tens of thousands of people displaced in the country’s north and east may be in no mood to rejoice. With the UN Human Rights Council set to review Sri Lanka’s human rights record next month, IDMC explains why the concerns of those displaced during the civil war must be top of the agenda.

Almost Five Years of Peace but Tens of Thousands of War-displaced Still Without Solution by nelvely

Anura Kumara Dissanayake Comes To The Helm At A Vital Time For The JVP

By Kumar David -February 5, 2014 |

Old leader and the new leader

Prof Kumar David

The JVP has made a good choice in Anura Kumara Dissanayake, not least because he shares with this columnist an excellent set of initials, AKD! He is known for his meticulous work and preparation on issues he raises in public or parliament, he is young (45) and promises stability for 15 to 20 years, and is said to represent the middle position in the party, (as NM did most of the time), so he will be able to bridge internal debates. By all reports he is prepared to rethink past mistakes and the brief reference he made to the national question in his acceptance speech (“We have failed to reach the Tamil people”) may signal better things to come.

A friend quipped to me that he would make a better Leader of the Opposition than the current one! There was a time when parliament was a forum of great tribunes, NM, Colvin, Pieter and SWRD; when they stood up, the chamber hushed; when they spoke, the nation listened. For decades thereafter it was a fish-market whose cacophony dismayed even schoolchildren. Recently Sumanthiran, Anura Kumara and a few others have begun to regain lost ground; in time they too may emerge as worthy tribunes. But I do not know the chap personally – JVP types are reluctant to enter into extended conversations with outsiders – so my impressions are superficial.              Read More

Microsoft names Indian Nadella as new CEO; Gates steps down as Chairman

Posted By bandara On February 5, 2014 

SEATTLE, Feb 4 (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp named company veteran Satya Nadella as its next chief executive officer on Tuesday, ending a longer-than-expected search for a new leader after Steve Ballmer announced his intention to retire in August.

Nadella is only the third CEO in Microsoft’s 39-year history, following co-founder Bill Gates and Ballmer.

Microsoft also said John Thompson, lead independent director, would succeed Gates as chairman. Gates will assume a new role as technology adviser and retain a seat on the board, the company said in a statement.

Shares of the world’s largest software maker were up 1.1 percent in premarket trading following the news.

The choice of Nadella was widely expected, and investors and analysts are already weighing how effective the 22-year veteran will be in re-igniting the company’s mobile ambitions and satisfying Wall Street’s hunger for cash.

Microsoft faces a slow erosion of its PC-centric Windows and Office franchises and needs to somehow challenge Apple Inc and Google Inc in the new realm of mobile computing. At the same time, some investors are campaigning for retrenchment and a bigger cut of the company’s massive cash pile.

Most agree that Nadella’s background in creating Microsoft’s Internet-based, or “cloud,” computing services makes him a safe pair of hands to take the company forward, but there remains a question over his ability to make Microsoft a hit with consumers or with impatient shareholders.

Canadian Tamil Congress calls for Sanctions against Sri Lanka

For Immediate Release

February 4, 2014

Canadian Tamil Congress calls for Sanctions against Sri Lanka

As Sri Lanka celebrates its 66th year of independence, Tamils in Sri Lanka and worldwide look forward to the support of the international community to bring about peace, justice and equality to the Tamils on the island. Tamils worldwide remain hopeful that a meaningful resolution will be passed in the upcoming March 2014 United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva – one with a mandate to establish an international independent investigation into allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed during the final stages of the war.

Discrimination against Tamils started several decades ago. On February 4th, 1948, Sri Lanka claimed independence from the British. It was not long before the majority Sinhalese government started to discriminate against Tamils by making Sinhalese and Buddhism the official language and religion of Sri Lanka.

Systematic discrimination continued to unfold, in various forms, whether it was in the workplace of Tamils, education opportunities or land settlement. The violence against Tamils, staring in the 50s continued throughout the years and most notably in 1983, resulted in thousands of Tamils being killed. July 1983 marked the mass exodus of Tamils from Sri Lanka, fleeing for safety to various parts of the world. May 2009 subsequently resulted in the final onslaught of Tamils, with a massacre of nearly 40,000 to 70,000 innocent Tamils, according to UN statistics.

While the Canadian Tamil Congress thanks the government of Canada for its strong stand at CHOGM in November 2014, we urge our government to take decisive action involving financial and diplomatic sanctions against Sri Lanka. In a non-partisan Government of Canada FAAE Committee Report that was released in May 2009, Recommendation 4 stated in part that these sanctions should be considered if efforts to investigate the conduct of both parties during the conflict with respect to international law, failed.

“This highlights the need for an investigation and for perpetrators to be punished, so that 66 years of discriminatory practice may be corrected through a peaceful political settlement”, stated David Poopalapillai, National Spokesperson for the Canadian Tamil Congress. “We call upon the international community to take decisive action in Geneva next month and remain hopeful that a Commission of Inquiry will be established”, concluded Poopalapillai.

For media inquiries and interviews please contact: Mr. David Poopalapillai - 905-781-7034, National Spokesperson, CTC. Canadian Tamil Congress Head Office: 416-240-0078

Published on: 02/04/14 13:50

Anura Kumara Dissanayaka says, JVP never a third force but an alternative one  


By Zahrah Imtiaz-February 5, 2014 
The new leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), Anura Kumara Dissanayake, said the JVP was never a third force in the country, but an alternative force. “It was the media which branded us as a third force but we never said that we were the third force,” he said.

Excerpts from the interview:
 Q:
 Somawansa Amarasinghe has handed over the leadership to you. You are the third leader of the party . What are your plans to take party    to a victory?

Anura Kumara Dissanayaka says, JVP never a third force but an alternative one by nelvely

IUSF demands end to leadership training

*Death of student at Gannoruwa Army Camp 

By Dasun Edirisinghe-February 4, 2014,

The government should stop ‘military training’ for prospective university students without destroying any more lives or face a countrywide protest would be launched by students, trade unions, civil organisations, political parties and other stakeholders, Inter University Students’ Federation said yesterday.

IUSF Convener Sanjeewa Bandara told The Island that the Higher Education Ministry was still silent on the death of a student at the Gannoruwa Army camp during the leadership programme last Saturday.

He said that the youth selected to the Jaffna University from Nochchiyagama had died after being admitted to the Peradeniya Teaching Hospital. "This is not the first time that a student has died during military training. A female student selected for the Sabaragamuwa University, died on August 02, 2011 during training at the Diyatalawa Military Academy. Not only students, the government is giving military training to school principals and the Seeduwa Pannasekera Vidyalaya principal died during a training at the Rantambe National Cadet Corp Training School on June 30, 2013."

When contacted for comment, Secretary of the Higher Education Ministry Dr. Sunil Jayantha Navaratne denied the allegations.

He said the results of the leadership training programme were already visible and more and more students wanted to take part in it.

Dr. Navaratne said he felt sorry for the students who had died due to their physical weaknesses. "We always ask students to inform us in advance whether they are suffering from any illnesses so that we could exempt them from physical training" he said, adding that the leadership training would not be stopped simply because a bankrupt student union wants the government to do so.

MaRa makes a pickle of the judiciary : makes fanciful appointments – judges complain to CJ

(Lanka-e-News -04.Feb.2014, 11.30PM) Following the mysterious death of justice Sriskandaraja who died under suspicious circumstances , the Rajapakse regime is making preparations to make a stew of the supreme court using its stooges and henchmen , and a pickle of the appeal court.

As Lanka e news revealed already in an earlier report, arrangements are being made to appoint judge Sarath Abrew , who is in the 7 th rung in the seniority ladder of the appeal court but a number one crooked crony of the Rajapakses to the position of a Supreme court (SC) judge . It is significant to note that this appointment is be made despite his putrid antecedence of charges against Abrew of assaulting a police officer of his security detail ; attempting to commit sexual abuse on an employee in his house and so forth.

Although Suhada Gamlath was to be given this appointment , this had been changed and Abrew is being preferred finally for obvious reasons. Suhada Gamlath had been appointed as a SC judge of Fiji Island. In any case Gamlath had fallen victim to Rajapakses’ characteristic foul play . After obtaining his resignation from the attorney general department on the promise that he will be appointed as the AG to Fiji Island , he had been given a different appointment as the SC judge .

The AG of Fiji Island receives a higher salary than a SC judge. Besides , an AG’s next promotion is directly to post of chief justice. Gamlath is now deprived of those benefits.

Fiji Island offers these positions to SL because in Fiji Island is a military regime that dovetails into the needs and the despotic rule of MaRa’s regime. Previously , that country had Australian judges, but after the military regime took over , due to the controversial conduct of the military regime , the Commonwealth imposed sanctions.

Meanwhile , just as Lanka e news revealed earlier , a junior lawyer Shavindra Fernando of the AG department is also to be given a double promotion and is to be appointed as the President of the appeal court. But prior to that he has to be made a President counsel , and thereafter solicitor general.

All these moves were expedited and he was made a solicitor general . Because AG Palitha Fernando delayed this , he was treated to a barrage of foul abuse by Mahinda Rajapakse using his choicest favorite language .

In other words the President had been in an unholy haste to make that appointment.

Six appeal court judges who were aggrieved at these changes introduced by Rajapakse which are making a pickle of the appeal court and a stew of the SC had met the chief justice Peiris , another notorious thief of justice, and expressed their woes. Peiris had only told them the President does not have faith in the appeal court. One of the judges had then retorted ,‘Sir , if judiciary is going to be made a pickle like this , the people will lose faith in the sacrosanct judiciary.’

It is very evident to all including the judiciary that the Rajapakse regime is introducing all the deplorable and degradable changes to the judiciary appointing its crooked cronies and sordid judges according to its fancy to ensure that its Kangaroo court is fully established and functioning before the resolution against SL is adopted at the Geneva conference.

Hypocrisy In President Rajapaksa’s Independence Day Speech: Revenge Has Never Been Part Of Our Culture

February 4, 2014

After his Government has built grotesque and hate-provoking replicas of horrendous massacres by the LTTE and commemorated the Tigers’ Central Bank bombing with a photographic exhibition and other events just four days ago, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said bitter memories should be written on sand as they get wiped away while good experiences should be etched on stone to be remembered forever, in his address to the nation on Independence Day.

“Forgetting these bitter memories, we have pardoned the terrorists who came to kill us and rehabilitated them providing employment for some of them in the police and the Civil Defence Corps and provided them with suitable livelihoods,” President Rajapaksa said.

He said “revenge has never been a part of our culture”.

Forgetful of the murder ofLasantha Wickrematunge, the brutal assaults on countless others and the number of reporters forcibly disappeared or forced into exile in the last nine years of his reign, President Rajapaksa said that no matter what obstructions were caused by the media while his Government was battling terrorism, they did not “censor the media.”

“We even opened the door for some anti-peace and anti-national media institutions who were not allowed in other countries. We continue to follow the policy of ‘Eva, balava’ (Come and see),” President Rajapaksa said, three days after his Government rejected the visa of a high ranking US Ambassador overseeing gender affairs, adding strain to Sri Lanka’s relationship with the US Government.

In his independence day address, President Rajapaksa also sent a chilling message for dissidents and opposition parties that will participate in the electoral process in the country in the coming days.

“We should keep in mind that our contest is not among blue, green, red or yellow parties; or Sinhala, Tamil Muslim and Burgher communities. Our contest is between those who love this country who those have hatred towards it,” he charged.

He warned the people of the North that they needed to be aware that foreign forces were attempting to use them as human shields. “The invaders always came to our country shedding oceans of crocodile tears. They interfered in these countries putting forward claims to protect human rights, establish democracy and the rule of law,” he warned.