Leaked cables from the US Embassy in Colombo have revealed American diplomatic concerns alleging Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and former army commander Sarath Fonseka were last year responsible for war crimes committed during the end of the civil war against Tamil separatists.
The US diplomatic cables, leaked by whistle-blowing website Wikileaks, includes 3325 from Colombo, making the Embassy in Sri Lanka among those hardest-hit by the scandal.
In a leaked cable sent on January 15 2010, Ambassador Patricia Butenis remarked there was a clear “lack of attention to accountability” following the mass killings of Tamils in the final days of the war, a situation she described as “regrettable” but unsurprising.
“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,” Butenis said in the cable.
“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 cable also revealed that Fonseka had quietly ordered the opposition campaign “to begin planning a ‘truth and reconciliation’ commission.”
In a comment piece published in Minivan News on November 30, Butenis condemned the release of the cables and said it was important for diplomats to be able to have “frank” discussions with their colleagues and counterparts.
“We support and are willing to have genuine debates about pressing questions of public policy. But releasing documents carelessly and without regard for the consequences is not the way to start such a debate,” she said.
The US has stated that it will not comment on the specific content of the leaked cables.
Cultural Affairs Officer and Spokesperson for the US Embassy in Colombo, Glen Davis, told Minivan News earlier this week that cable traffic was “very preliminary; pieces are incomplete and read out of context, they are easy to misconstrue.”
“A disclosure like this is bad for contacts, harmful to global engagement and makes it difficult to tackle problems such as organised crime and nuclear proliferation,” he said.
The Sri Lankan President was due to meet the UK’s Defence Secretary on December 3, as well as address the Oxford Union, however the visit was cancelled for security reasons.
The Maldivian government, which this year won a seat on the UN Human Rights Council, recently established a credit line to Sri Lanka worth US$200 million. The announcement was made by President Mohamed Nasheed on November 18 prior to departing for Sri Lanka to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the Sri Lankan President.
Read the full cable (English)
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All these things are lies.the Uk and the USA both are jealous,cruel and filthi.The most irritating countries I have seen are them.
"Diplomacy" is said to be 'saying one way in FRONT of a person and just the opposite BEHIND the same person. May be because the person saying is on the opposite of the person to whom it was told.
IF the same way is adopted by an ordinary person this is termed by a different word.
So that is life.
'Wikileaks' has helped the common mam to learn how to talk "diplomatically".
Of course Sri Lanka committed war crimes. They killed hundreds of unarmed civilians during the last stages of the war. How else would the Sri Lankan military be able to identify enemy combatants from the civilians, if they blended in the with local Tamil population in the North?
The question is; how would a conventional military force eliminate an insurgency that has been going on for two decades? The answer is, kill them all - civilians and combatants alike.
The Maldives government needs to take note of the fact, that Sri Lanka and Maldives are going in opposite direction. While we, in the past 2 years have become a darling of the west, promoting human rights and democracy, Sri Lanka is going in the opposite direction with Rajapakse being a autocratic dictator, embroiled in cronyism and a confrontation with the west and the United Nations.
We need to understand that, despite the cultural and genetic ties, its in the Maldives best national interests that Sri Lanka does not get off to a successful post-conflict development phase. We stand to lose, from tourism and foreign direct investments, and should make every effort in the international arena, to bring to trial both Rajapakse and Sarath Fonseka for war crimes.
While that may be difficult to conduct this openly, given bilateral relations; the Maldives must understand that Sri Lanka would be direct competitor to the Maldives.
spot on Abdulla Naeem
"We need to understand that, despite the cultural and genetic ties, its in the Maldives best national interests that Sri Lanka does not get off to a successful post-conflict development phase. We stand to lose, from tourism and foreign direct investments, and should make every effort in the international arena, to bring to trial both Rajapakse and Sarath Fonseka for war crimes."
So in other words, you're saying that normal everyday citizens of Sri Lanka should be denied the right to a better life (even if it involves a compromise of some sort from our side) because of the crimes committed by those in power? Think of when the US pushed for the UN to put sanctions on Iraq - it wasn't Saddam Hussein who was starving and sleeping on the streets, it was the common ordinary everyday people of Iraq. What I'm saying is that while it's fair and all to call for the trial of Rajapakse and Fonseka, we don't have to see the betterment of life for ordinary Sri Lankans as a threat to ours.
I understand that the world economy is one based on competition more than co-operation, but just because that's how it is it doesn't that it's right.
All who did crime against humanity should and must be brought to justice.
We are extremely good at seeing shit coming from other asshole.
Leave them be.
We need to clean our asses first and come out of the hole we gud ourselves in. The country is at a standstill thanks to our excellent parliamentarians, our loopy constitution and oh the best of all our hard headed people!
Why it is difficult to try Rajapaksha Govt. for war crime. Sri Lanka is not a oil producer or have any significant role in modern economy. So, Human rights lawyers should start the show.
http://srilankanera.blogspot.com/
So maldivian has the strongest economy than Sri Lanka and they want to eluminate sri lanka from the compeition.
Sri Lanka had problems because of the war. We'll come back within next 5 years to the arena. I wish u'll sink to the sea by 2012
Sri lanka government should strict on visa policy to maldivians and maldivian kids who are studying in sri lanka should go back to their country.