Post-conflict SOCIETIES  :To Hell and back

Apr 5th 2014 |  KIGALI 

FE W are History As of pages describing those hard to Read As Sarl between April and July in 1994. Rather than Working by hand with the industrial methods that the nazis Used to Kill Jews, and at More than Three times the speed of the Holocaust, As militias known Interahamwe  From the ethnic Hutu majority, and others, slaughtered at least 800,000 Tutsis (and Hutu moderates) From shared land to remove them. They raped, 

Post-conflict SOCIETIES  To Hell and back by nelvely

Two Associated Press journalists shot in Afghanistan

Photographer Anja Niedringhaus is killed and another wounded after attack in Khost province on eve of presidential election

AP journalist Anja Niedringhaus, who was killed in Afghanistan, was an internationally acclaimed German photographer. Photograph: Peter Dejong / AP

Emma Graham-Harrison in KabulAn 

Friday 4 April 2014 

An Afghan police officer has shot dead a foreign photographer and badly injured another in the country's violent east, as they were covering preparations for the country's presidential election.

On the man opened fire and Kathy Gannon Anja Niedringhaus From the Associated Press  in a Police headquarters in Khost province, after the election of Materials On Friday Women arrived with a convoy.

Niedringhaus died almost immediately from wounds to her head, a health official said, and Gannon was taken to hospital with less serious injuries after being shot twice. She later underwent surgery and was described as being in stable condition and talking to medical personnel. Long experience with were both veteran correspondents covering Afghanistan . 

AP journalist Kathy Gannon sits with girls at a school in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in 2011. The photo was taken by Niedringhaus

It was the third attack on journalists in Afghanistan in less than a month. The Swedish-British radio reporter Nils Horner On 11 March was killed in downtown Kabul. Less than Two weeks later the leading Afghan reporter Sardar Ahmad was gunned down with his wife and Two Children at a Kabul Hotel where they had gone to Celebrate the Persian new year.    

The AP journalists had travelled to Tani district as part of a government convoy from the provincial capital, but in their own car. They were waiting in the vehicle at the entrance to the police compound when a police lieutenant named as Naquibullah came over and opened fire on them. No one else was injured.

A photograph taken by Niedringhaus of Afghan men loading a truck with election materials to be delivered to polling centres in Khost province. Photograph: AP

"He has been arrested and is under investigation," said a spokesman for the provincial governor Mubarez Zadran.

The assailant was from another part of Afghanistan and had been working in Khost province for about a year, he said.

A Taliban spokesman said the insurgent group was not involved in the attack. "This appears to be a private issue. It has no connection with the Taliban and we are not claiming responsibility for it," Zabihullah Mujahid told the Guardian.

The AP paid tribute to both journalists. "Anja and Kathy together have spent years in Afghanistan covering the conflict and the people there. Anja was a vibrant, dynamic journalist, well-loved for her insightful photographs, her warm heart and joy for life. We are heartbroken at her loss," said the executive editor Kathleen Carroll, from New York.

In a memo to AP staff, AP President Gary Pruitt remembered Niedringhaus as "spirited, intrepid and fearless, with a raucous laugh that we will always remember."

"Anja is the 32nd AP staffer to give their life in pursuit of the news since AP was founded in 1846," he wrote. "This is a profession of the brave and the passionate, those committed to the mission of bringing to the world information that is fair, accurate and important. Anja Niedringhaus met that definition in every way."

Afghan President Hamid Karzai expressed his deep sadness over Niedringhaus' death and the wounding of Gannon.

Niedringhaus, who also covered sports events around the globe, received numerous awards for her works. She was part of an AP team that won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize in breaking news photography for coverage of the war in Iraq, and was awarded the Courage in Journalism Award from the International Women's Media Foundation. She joined the AP in 2002 and had since been based in Geneva, Switzerland. From 2006 to 2007, she was awarded a Nieman Fellowship in journalism at Harvard University.

Niedringhaus started her career as a freelance photographer for a local newspaper in her hometown in Hoexter, Germany at the age of 16. She worked for the European Press Photo Agency before joining the AP in 2002, based in Geneva. She had published two books.

• Contributed to this report Mokhtar Amiri 

THE CIA IMPUNITY CHALLENGE

The intelligence agency — and the White House — are holding hostage the truth about torture

Then-President George W. Bush and then–CIA Director George Tenet at the agency’s headquarters in Langley, Va., in 2001.

Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP-March 19, 2014 

The White House and the CIA are currently engaged in an unrelenting battle to cover up the George W. Bush administration’s torture program and to maintain a system of impunity for what are obvious war crimes. Disturbingly, they are even willing to break the law — again — to win that battle.

The CIA Impunity Challenge by nelvely

EXCLUSIVE: Another Video Exposed Army Brutality

( April 3, 2014, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) After we published a video just few days ago, another video received by Sri Lanka Guardian from a reliable source in the Army Intelligence, which exposed another aspect of the Sri Lankan Army brutality.

According to the source, this video also recorded on a mobile devise, though we could not find detail about the location and victims.

Our humble request for all people in the country to join us to eradicate torture in the country which ratified the UNCAT convention and other human rights protocols.

However, we would like to publish if the Sri Lanka Army has any explanation on this video.
Please send us at feed@srilankaguardian.org

Downfall Of Rajapaksa Regime Is In Hands Of Oppositions Alliance

By Muheed Jeeran -April 3, 2014

Muheed Jeeran

Finally the two provincial council elections are over! Winning candidates are celebrating their election victory and some political parties are celebrating the increase in their voter base.

UPFA leaders are stating that the people are with them and they have sent a clear message to the opposition and international community again. However, I am sure UPFA leader Mahinda Rajapaksa is a worried man, after reading the recently concluded election results.  He knows he won the election with a landslide, but the results are showing that his power-base is gradually decreasing. It is clear that he has lost his war victory slogan which is the main trump card he had for the past five years to bamboozle the opposition parties in past elections.

The ruling regime campaigned heavily by highlighting the UNHRC resolution as the major subject in their election campaign and urged people to vote for them to send a clear signal to the International Community. But clearly, the majority of voters ignored that plea and don’t give a damn for this regime. Clearly the voters instead of sending a strong message to the world, sent a crystal clear message to Rajapaksa and his regime about the rising cost of living and other national issues he has failed to resolved.

After analysing the final results of the two recently concluded  provincial councils election, almost 34% of the registered voters abstained from voting. Of these 34% absentee voters, which is equivalent to nearly two million votes, there are voters who might be working as expatriates in foreign countries which I assume is not more than 15%.

Nowadays fraudulent voter registration is not that easy. In past decades,  fraudulent voter registration was practiced by extreme supporters of the political parties. However, recent policies by the Elections Commission to deter that type of fraud is very successful. Therefore it is clear that at least 20% of the registered voters have refrained from voting.

Some citizens who refrained from voting have lost their faith in this regime and also they see that there is no strong opposition. On the other hand, some  are not interested in voting as they think this is a local election and not very important to them. They have reasons to stay away. But, it’s important to know that the majority have ignored Rajapaksa’s plea based, on his so called “Electric Chair” theory.

As we know, only 34% of the registered voters have cast their ballot in favour of the ruling UPFA party.  Also the president failed to maintain his popularity when compared with the last Western and Southern provincial council elections back in 2009. The last Western Provincial Council election held just one month before the war ended and the Southern Province election was held five months after the war victory. Definitely, he was riding on a high at the time and delivered excellent results in those two elections. So clearly these recent election results have given him more worries than the joy of celebration!                                            Read More

Madness precedes destruction: Mad Medamulana mutts ban Tamil organizations they begged earlier to invest here

 

(Lanka-e-News-02.April.2014, 11.30PM) With the UNHRC (United Nations Human rights Council) readying to appoint an international investigation following the consent given by the world into the alleged human rights violations committed by the Rajapakse regime and the LTTE, the Rajapakse regime has apparently gone raving mad. 

Madness Precedes Destruction Mad Medamulana Mutts Ban Tamil Organizations They Begged Earlier to Invest Her... by nelvely

A chink in the armour!

Thursday 03rd April 2014

The Government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa is having a spectacularly bad week.
Technically, with the two assemblies lapsing in late April, March 29 elections for the Western and Southern Provincial Councils took place on schedule. But the polls were also extraordinarily timed – with a little help from the Elections Department – to take place 24 hours after the UN Human Rights Council vote on a US resolution that would launch a war crimes investigation into the last seven years of Sri Lanka’s war against the LTTE. Calls had been mounting for an international investigation to be set up by the Council in March 2014 and President Rajapaksa, who has mastered the art of using international pressure to galvanise support domestically, saw the perfect opportunity.
In Geneva, since early March momentum was building to use the third US resolution on Sri Lanka to set up an inquiry mechanism that would be conducted by international independent experts about allegations that have deeply shadowed the last weeks of the Government’s ‘humanitarian operation’ in the north in 2009.

A Chink in the Armour! by nelvely

Sri Lanka: Lessons From Geneva

By V Suryanarayan -April 3, 2014 

Prof. V Suryanarayan

Gross human violations that took place in Sri Lanka during the last stages of the Fourth Eelam War have come into sharp focus once again. The UN Human Rights Council, on March 27, after taking note of the recommendations of the UN High Commissioner, highlighted the “need for an international inquiry mechanism”. The resolution was supported by 23 members, 12 voted against and 12, including India, abstained.

It should be pointed out that when human rights violations figured in the UN soon after the Fourth Eelam War, India, along with Russia and China, opposed the move and bailed out the Sri Lankan government. What is more, India went ahead and got a resolution passed which congratulated the Lankan government for defeating one of the most ruthless terrorist organisations in the world. But as the Lankan government began to show its true colours, went back on assurances for credible internal investigation and implementation of devolution proposals, New Delhi had to revise its policy. There was also a domestic compulsion, namely the political parties in Tamil Nadu were insisting on punishing the guilty in Sri Lanka. Hence, in 2012 and 2013, India voted against Sri Lanka. In fact, behind the scenes, Indian diplomats were trying to get the resolution worded strongly. But the thrust of the resolution was to persuade Sri Lanka to have its own investigative mechanism and speed up the process of ethnic reconciliation.

The 2014 resolution represented a basic departure from the earlier ones. Mandate for international investigation means intrusion into the domestic affairs of a sovereign state. Amb. Dilip Sinha pointed out that by asking the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to “investigate, assess and monitor the human rights situation” the resolution ignored the progress Sri Lanka has made like the holding of the Northern Provincial Council election and the successful rehabilitation of the internally displaced people. The Indian delegate highlighted that the resolution was “inconsistent and impractical” because it asks both Colombo and the OHCHR to simultaneously conduct investigation. Amb. Sinha concluded that it had been India’s firm conviction that an “intrusive approach that undermines national sovereignty and integrity is counter-productive”.

The Indian abstention represents a definite victory for Indian bureaucracy. They are of the view that Indian voting in the 2012 and 2013 meetings was an aberration and it needs to be corrected. They feel that if New Delhi supports an intrusive approach, at a future date, it can also be used against India itself. New Delhi has many skeletons in the cupboard—human rights violations in Jammu & Kashmir, Nagaland, Mizoram and encounter killings in the Naxalite-hit areas. It should also be pointed out that in 2012 and 2013 the Tamil Nadu factor was very decisive. But the situation has changed today. The mandarins in South Block know that Indian abstention will be subjected to severe criticism in Tamil Nadu. After weighing the pros and cons the government agreed with the bureaucrats, because whatever may be the nature of voting the ruling Congress party will not be able to win a single seat in Tamil Nadu.

Colombo is determined to stonewall any effort to institute an international inquiry mechanism. Amb. Dayan Jayatilleka echoed the feelings of the majority Sinhalese when he wrote: “As Sri Lankans our rejection of an international inquiry must be unconditional. Such an inquiry is unfair, hypocritical and an affront to our self respect as a nation.” The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) that got a resolution passed in the Northern Provincial Council for international investigation, naturally welcomed the UN resolution.

From an Indian point of view it will be relevant to compare and contrast Mahinda Rajapaksa’s earlier views on UN humanitarian intervention and his present policy. The Sinhalese generally refer to the period, 1987-89, as Bishana Samaya, Days of Terror. The Janatha Vimukti Peramuna (JVP) had unleashed unprecedented violence following the conclusion of the India-Sri Lanka Accord and the induction of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF). The brutality of the JVP was more than matched by the savage reprisals of the Lankan armed forces. As Lionel Bopage, former JVP leader, has written, “For every one person killed by the JVP, the security forces killed ten”. Rajapaksa was a budding Sinhalese politician; he left the shores of Sri Lanka, camped in Geneva and demanded UN humanitarian intervention to save his people. Obviously, he would not like to be reminded of his earlier stance on UN humanitarian intervention.

While Rajapaksa’s support base among the majority Sinhalese is intact, evident from recent win in the council elections in the Western and Southern Provinces, there are dark clouds hovering in the horizon. As the resolution in the UN aptly pointed out, “there are continuing reports of violation of human rights, including sexual and gender violence, enforced disappearances, extra-judicial killings, torture and violation of the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, threats to judicial independence and rule of law as well as intimidation of and reprisals against human rights defenders, members of civil society, lawyers and journalists. There are also attacks against religious minority groups, Hindus, Moslems and against Christians”.

A recent violent incident in Kilinochchi district in the Northern Province needs mention. The shooting was attributed to Gopi, a former Tiger guerrilla. A virtual man hunt followed. According to government spokesmen, it was an illustration of LTTE resurgence. The TNA maintained it was a government excuse to justify the continuing military presence in the Tamil areas. The TNA, under the leadership of Wigneswaran and Sampanthan, represents the saner elements in the Tamil society who are eager to find a political solution within a united Sri Lanka. If the TNA gets weakened and marginalised in the hands of the government, it is likely to be replaced by more extremist forces. And there are fringe groups in the Tamil diaspora who would like to resurrect the Tigers and finance the armed struggle.

It is necessary to recall that Sri Lankan Tamils were reluctant secessionists and the genesis and growth of Tamil militancy was a consequence of the many acts of discrimination perpetuated by Sinhalese-dominated governments. Sri Lanka’s future hinges on whether Sinhalese leaders will draw the right lessons from history. Those who do not learn will be compelled to relive history.

*V Suryanarayan - former senior professor, the Centre for South and Southeast Asian Studies, University of Madras

Sri Lanka: IBAHRI calls for increased vigilance from international community following UN Resolution to establish international

01/04/2014

With the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) having voted to open an international investigation into alleged war crimes by both the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the final stages of Sri Lanka’s 26-year civil war, the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) calls for increased vigilance by the international community following an escalation in threats to human rights defenders.

Sri Lanka IBAHRI Calls for Increased Vigilance From International Community Following UN Resolution to Esta... by nelvely

The banning of Tamil Diaspora organisations will provide the Rajapaksas with another Sword of Damocles

The banning of Tamil Diaspora organisations will provide the Rajapaksas with another Sword of Damocles

Like Idi Amin (courtesy: Lanka Truth)

Thursday, April 03, 2014

''The proscription will be ineffective in curtailing the activities of the proscribed organisations since they operate outside Sri Lanka (apart from the LTTE which is extinct and the Headquarters Group which does not seem to exist anywhere). Since the UN does not accept the Rajapaksa equation of separatism with terrorism, none of the countries in which these organisations are based will act against them, not even Australia. But the proscription will be extremely useful nationally, to terrorise and persecute Tamils in general and Rajapaksa-opponents particular. Its main function will be to provide the Rajapaksas with another Sword of Damocles. ''

Back to Total War?  by Tisaranee Gunasekara

“…soon there will be no one but warriors and brigands.”    Jorge Luis Borges (The Garden of Forking Paths)

Last week, the Rajapaksas were put on notice by the international community, the electorate and the SLFP.

The Banning of Tamil Diaspora Organisations Will Provide the Rajapaksas With Another Sword of Damocles by nelvely

Has Rajapaksa Taken A Tumble?

By Kumar David -April 3, 2014

Prof. Kumar David

President Mahinda Rajapakse’s United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) won both the Western Provincial Council (WPC) and the Southern Provincial Council (SPC) by what would normally seem comfortable margins, securing 53% and 58%, respectively, of the popular vote. At first glance it may look alright, but it’s the trend not the final numbers that matter. In 2009 these numbers were 65% and 68%.

A 10% slippage in the South, the President’s heartland, was unexpected. More serious is that for international (UNHRC) and local (economy and corruption like India) reasons the government is entering a period of difficulty. The UPFA’s share of the vote in Colombo District fell below half (45%), though still larger than any other single party, and it lost all but one of the individual electorates within the City. If there is one more setback of this magnitude within the next 12 to 24 months President and UPFA will have to pack their bags. Colombo does have a special role as a place from which trends and ideas spread to other urban areas. It is not illegitimate to ask if the writing is on the wall for the Rajapakse Regime, but it is premature to assert that the answer is known with certainty since trends can reverse.

This piece is not for researchers who themselves plan to go to the raw data or for those who want a broad-brush political assessment and not lots of numbers. It is for Indian analysts, who can benefit from processed data, aggregating major trends, and which makes its political assumptions transparent. These are separable; it is possible to make different political assumptions but still use the data.

There are three crucial criteria; (a) how much did the UPFA vote slip, (b) what was the trade off between the United National Party (UNP), traditional liberal-capitalist party, and the Democratic Party (DP), party of the ‘war-hero’ General Sarath Fonseka and, (c) how did the left-wing People’s Liberation Front (JVP) fare?

The government hoped to whip up post-Geneva xenophobic frenzy and win the PC elections by a landslide in preparation for later Presidential and Parliamentary polls. Did it succeed? No; it failed to mobilise its base which remained apathetic to Rajapakse’s fortunes. The regime’s support base seems to have had misgivings about whether the defeat was caused by “evil imperialists” or by government bungling. The opposition has been tirelessly campaigning that Lanka lost the vote for the latter reason.

The percentage of votes obtained by parties that obtained at least one provincial council seat in 2014/2009 is as follows. SLMC is the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress; Mano Ganesan is a popular Colombo based politician of Upcountry Tamil origin, his electoral alliance is called the Democratic Peoples Front (DPF). The symbol # means the party did not exist in 2009.

Western Province:                                        Read More

Diaspora orgs proscription should not be used to stifle free speech and legitimate criticism, UK tells Sri Lanka

 02 April 2014
The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has raised the proscription of Tamil diaspora organisations with the Sri Lankan government, "making clear that proscription should not be used to prevent or stifle free speech and legitimate criticism", a spokesperson for the FCO told Tamil Guardian today. 
Highlighting the FCO's good relations with Tamil diaspora organisations, the spokesperson confirmed that the UK would continue this engagement.

"The UK government has good relations with a wide range of NGOs and civil society organisations with an interest in Sri Lanka including the Global Tamil Forum and British Tamils Forum both of whom publicly state that they work through democratic means," he said, adding, "the UK will continue to engage with organisations focused on achieving a lasting and equitable peace in Sri Lanka through non-violent means."

Asked how the FCO would respond if the Sri Lankan government pursued criminal prosecutions against British citizens who were members of the diaspora groups to be proscribed, the spokesperson told the Tamil Guardian, that the UK was "not aware of evidence that Tamil community organisations currently operating in the UK are engaged in terrorist activities".

He added, 

"It is for the Sri Lankan government to provide evidence to substantiate the claims they are making about the involvement of a range of Tamil groups in terrorism."

"If legitimate evidence was provided by the Sri Lankan government which demonstrated that other individuals were alleged to be engaged in terrorist activity, this would of course be considered closely by the UK police and the Crown Prosecution Services."

See related articles: 

Diaspora groups reject SL ban, vow to continue struggle (02 Apr 2014)

APPGT deplores diaspora ban, calls on international community to condemn Sri Lanka's actions (02 Apr 2014)

Diaspora ban worsens climate for journalists, NGOs and others working with Tamil groups, says Amnesty (02 Apr 2014)

Proscription of diaspora orgs is to demoralise Tamils in homeland - K. Guruparan (02 Apr 2014)

Sri Lanka aims to cut us off from the diaspora - TNA's Shivajilingham (02 Apr 2014)

The proscription of the Tamil Diaspora: War by other means (01 Apr 2014)

Proscription of diaspora orgs 'shameful' says former UK MP, GTF policy advisor (01 Apr 

WikiLeaks: Tamil Diaspora Is In Danger Of Becoming More Radicalized – Blake

April 3, 2014

“In a luncheon discussion with Co-Chair Ambassadors and the Acting Indian High Commissioner on November 14 Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Special Envoy Paul Murphy exchanged views on how the Northern Ireland peace process might be relevant for the Sri Lankan context. Murphy was the cabinet minister responsible for Northern Irish Affairs between 2002 and 2005, and was closely involved in the Northern Ireland peace process. He noted that while there are some important lessons that Sri Lanka can draw from the Northern Ireland experience, both sides must be convinced there can be no military solution and both must be committed to a cease-fire, neither of which is now the case in Sri Lanka.” the US Embassy Colombo informed Washington.

Robert O. Blake

The Colombo Telegraph found the related leaked cable from the WikiLeaks database. The cable is classified as “CONFIDENTIAL” and recounts details of a meeting US Ambassador to Colombo has had with British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Special Envoy Paul Murphy on November 14, 2006. The cable was written by the US Ambassador to Colombo,Robert O. Blake.

The ambassador wrote; “Everyone agreed that the Irish-American Diaspora played an important role in Northern Ireland. In Sri Lanka’s case, however, the Tamil Diaspora is much more diffuse in that Tamils live in many countries, and has no clear leadership that can speak for them. Therefore, it is harder to influence the community as a whole or to get them to speak with one voice. We also agreed that if anything the Tamil Diaspora is in danger of becoming more radicalized as a result of the deteriorating military and humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka.”

We publish below the cable in full;

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 001913

Critics question Sri Lanka’s ban on Tamil exile groups

Analysis: Ban could muzzle rights groups and derail abuse investigations

A Sri Lankan soldier stands in front of a war monument in Kilinochchi, the former stronghold of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (photo by Will Baxter)

Rights monitors are questioning the motives behind Sri Lanka’s decision to ban 16 Tamil diaspora organizations, which the government has accused of links to “terrorism” and the alleged revival of a separatist movement.

Critics question Sri Lanka’s ban on Tamil exile groups by nelvely

Government decides to hit back at the JVP

Thursday, 03 April 2014

The JVP’s comeback after suffering many setbacks for several years has upset the President and his group of close confidantes.

Several confidantes and analysts have warned the President that the re-emergence of the JVP is not a good sign for the future of the governing UPFA.

They have pointed out that the Marxist party seems to have got its house in order following setbacks suffered with the defection of Wimal Weerawansa and a group of the party cadre together with the Frontline Socialist Party.

It is learnt that the President has been informed that while the political gain shown by Sarath Fonseka and the Democratic Party seemed short lived, the momentum gathered by the JVP might not be so.

It has been decided to look at methods to hit back at the JVP targeting the momentum gathered with the appointment of a new party leader and a policy framework along with it.

According to government sources, the President and his group of advisors have decided to gather information on two senior JVP leaders to hat back at the party and erode the confidence it has re-built among the people.