Ungodly acts by God's people

By Kumbakarna

A special feature of this agitation was the demand for the rights of the minorities. Up to now, this had not been addressed directly by the church, but rather by the network of non- governmental organisations funded by Christian countries.

It is after a long time that the Christian and Catholic churches have become politically active. In 1961, the campaign against nationalisation of schools was led by Cardinal Thomas Cooray. On that occasion, the effort was to save the schools of God, from the "heathens". This time, the political rights of the chosen people are being addressed.

After the violence and corrupt practices of the NWPC polls, it was primarily the criticism levelled by the church which forced the govt on to the defensive. Next, despite the fact that the Supreme Court was already deliberating on the question of the date for the next polls, the church got God's people out on the streets.

An interesting feature of this demonstration was the English slogan on placards carried by so me of the participants, which read "Let us protect the rights of minorities". This is of course a standard slogan of Tamil separatism. Strangely, none of the Sinhalese slogans on display was a translation of this, but rather dealt with the reason for the agitation announced earlier, i.e. the presumed difficulty of worshipping on Good Friday if the polls were held the day before. It is obvious that there is a deliberate effort to feed the Tamil separatist agenda to Sinhalese Catholics and Protestants.

When the Dollar and Kent farm colonies were wiped out by the LTTE, and the Sinhalese Catholic fishing community at Kokilai was slaughtered and their church burnt down, the silence of the Catholic church was deafening. When the 'Christian Brothers' were murdered because they kept their schools open in defiance of the LTTE, there was not a word uttered about the 'freedom of worship'. In the face of the LTTE's ethnic cleansing, carried out by the slaughter of Sinhala villagers in the northern and eastern provinces, there was nothing said by the church about 'rights'.

On the other hand, what the church is most eager to do is to 'negotiate' with the terrorists. The latest effort in this regard was the trip to the Wanni by Bishops Malcom Ranjith and Kenneth Fernando.

It is worth examining why the official institutions of the Christian and Catholic communities are trying so hard to further the aims of Tamil racism and separatism.

Internationally, the spread of the various denominations of the Christian faith has progressed slowly but steadily. Catholics, Greek Orthodox and Protestant Christians make up 36% of the global population at present, while at the beginning of this century it was 32%. However, their hold on economic power has been slipping. While 84.2% of manufacturing output was in the hands of Christian nations in 1928, it is projected to be 51% in the year 2000. There have been demographic changes as well. While 57% of Christians were 'white' at the beginning of the century, this number has declined to 40% now.

The struggle for converts is virtually over in Africa and Latin America. While the latter is more or less completely Catholic or Protestant, in Africa the lines between the Islamic north and the Christian south are clearly drawn. The battleground now is Asia, particularly the impoverished South. Providing assistance to the pan Tamil agenda of people like Bishop Emmanuel is a preliminary step towards the creation of a Christian, albeit Tamil nation state. The cry of protecting minority rights and the call for the intervention of western (read Christian) govts. is part of the process. Perhaps it is a matter of time before we hear the call for a NATO implementation force to follow a western-brokered peace accord.

The church attempts to justify its support for the separatist cause in the following manner. If the Buddhists are permitted to defeat Tamil militancy, the argument goes they will next attack the Christians. So backing the Tamil agenda is presented to Sinhalese Christians as self-preservation.

Buddhist-Christian relations were strained by the agitation over the nationlisation of schools in 1961. Further damage was caused by the subsequent conspiracy of Christian military officers, and schemes like "Catholic Action". Do the churches want to proceed further down the same road? It should be borne in mind by the leaders of these institutions that it is easier to prevent a fire than to put it out.

inside the glass house:

Mercenaries: A new global problem 

By thalif deen at the united nations

With a population of about 250,000, the Maldives is perhaps one of the few countries in the world with no fighter planes, combat helicopters, warships, missiles or even battle tanks. The island's fragile defences have attracted a rash of free-lance mercenaries and bounty hunters who tried to take over the country twice-once in 1979, and a second time in 1988. Although both attempts failed, the Maldives has refused to drop its defences. It has not only initiated a proposal seeking a UN security umbrella to protect the world's militarily-vulnerable mini states but also backed a still-evolving international convention to outlaw mercenaries.

In September 1995, a group of mercenaries, led by a notorious French soldier of fortune Bob Denard, overthrew the democratically-elected government of President Said Mohamed Djohar in a neighboring Indian Ocean island: the Comoros.

But in a dramatic political turnaround, however, mercenaries are now being deployed by legitimate governments, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, to fight armed rebel groups. And in some cases, they are being deployed by governments-in-exile which are seeking to return to power with the help of hired guns. 

The price of a mercenary military force has skyrocketed— in keeping with the high costs of living and dying. The modern-day mercenary is demanding payment, not just in hard cash, but also in diamond and gold mines.

The ongoing civil wars in Africa - particularly in Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo - are mostly in pursuit of mineral riches. "These conflicts are referred to as diamond wars," says Felix Downes-Thomas who has just returned from a visit to sub-Saharan Africa.

The Head of the UN Peace-building Support Office and Representative of the Secretary-General in Liberia, Downes-Thomas admits that mercenaries are actively involved in some of the conflicts in Africa.Several security firms that provide mercenaries and military training— including Sandline International and Defense Systems Ltd, both of London, and the now-defunct Executive Outcomes which was based in Pretoria - have been participating in a number of civil wars in Africa. 

According to a UN report released last October, mercenaries have been involved in several countries in Africa, including Angola, Sierra Leone, Lesotho, Liberia, Mozambique, Namibia, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo (former Zaire), Zambia and Zimbabwe. 

The United Nations says that post-Cold War military cuts may be transforming demobilised soldiers into full-time mercenaries in ethnic conflicts in Asia, Africa, Western Europe, and the former Soviet republics.

Sri Lanka made at least two overtures in the 1980s— either to hire a group of US mercenaries to fight the LTTE or in the alternative to get military training and equipment for the armed forces. But the proposed deals eventually fell through either for political or financial reasons.The use of mercenaries, by UN standards, is a violation of the principles of sovereign equality, political independence and territorial integrity of member-states. But most states have not ratified an International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries which was adopted by the General Assembly in December 1989. Although the 10-year old convention needs 22 ratification's to become international law, only 16 of the 185 member states have so far ratified it. 

The 16 countries ratifying the treaty are: Azerbaijan, Barbados, Belarus, Cameroon, Cyprus, Georgia, Italy, Maldives, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Suriname, Togo, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Ten states have signed but not ratified: Angola, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Germany, Morocco, Nigeria, Poland, Romania, Uruguay and the former Yugoslavia. The rest have held back their signatures.

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