inside the glass house

More US aid to fight Tiger terrorism
NEW YORK - The Sri Lanka delegation, led by Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera, returned home last week with strong assurances from the US that the LTTE will continue to remain a designated "foreign terrorist organisation" (FTO) despite intense lobbying by Tamil expatriate groups to overturn the politically-unpleasant designation.

The US list includes over 40 FTOs -- ranging from Peru's Shining Path and the New People's Army in the Philippines to the Kurdistan Workers' Party in Turkey and the LTTE in Sri Lanka.

A designated FTO may be dropped from the list after a biennial review of its actions, or in the alternative, the designation may be continued. But recent violations of the ceasefire in Sri Lanka certainly do not endear itself to the LTTE being removed from the list any time soon.

The LTTE's associated groups, as identified by the US State Department, include the World Tamil Association, the World Tamil Movement, the Federation of Associations of Canadian Tamils (FACT), the Ellalan Force and the Sangilian Force.

The designation of the LTTE as an FTO means: firstly, that it is illegal for anyone in the US to provide any financial support to these groups; secondly, that US institutions may block funds of FTOs and their agents; and thirdly, FTO representatives could be denied visas to the US.
The continued designation of the LTTE as an FTO puts it pretty much on a tight leash in the US -- although funds have been transferred either as "charitable contributions" to LTTE-front organisations in Sri Lanka or for post-tsunami reconstruction. The US has been duly warned about both loopholes.

Perhaps it was not a coincidence that less than a week after the delegation returned to Colombo, US Ambassador Jeffrey Lunstead used "blunt language" (his own words) to warn the LTTE that the cost of a return to war will be high.

As Lunstead put it: "If the LTTE chooses to abandon peace, however, we want it to be clear, they will face a stronger, more capable and more determined Sri Lankan military". But he also said that US military assistance "is not given because we anticipate or hope for a return to hostilities."
During talks in Washington DC, the Sri Lankan delegation was offered US assistance -- both politically and militarily -- in counter-terrorism.

The US has provided about $500,000 to Sri Lanka every year as military grants under the International Military Education and Training Programme (IMET) compared with about $1.4 million annually to neighbouring India. The US also upped its military credits under Foreign Military Financing (FMF): from $496,000 in 2005 to an estimated $1.0 million in 2006. These credits could be used to buy either US weapons or counter-terrorism equipment.
The US is also sending Nicholas Burns, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, to get a first hand view of the ground situation in Sri Lanka -- particularly in the north and the east.

In an interview over dinner in New York last week, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera described recent LTTE attacks as "provocations of the highest order".

"These are very serious attacks on the ceasefire agreement, which makes one wonder whether the ceasefire agreement is in place or not", he said.
Asked if the government will, at some point, draw a line, he said: "Absolutely. As a responsible government, we will remain restrained and patient. We will certainly not fall into the trap of being provoked -- as the LTTE may be hoping we will". But at the same time, he warned, "even patience has its limits".

Samaraweera pointed out that President Mahinda Rajapakse has invited the LTTE six times to resume the long-stalled peace talks. But the answer has been violence and more violence.

He told the US that the LTTE should remain on the list of FTOs as long as the Tigers "pay lip service to a political settlement while doing exactly the opposite. They should continue to be labelled terrorists, which they are".
"But having said that, if they are willing to talk and negotiate, and come to a settlement, then I think at that point in time, the US could review the status of the LTTE".

"I am not saying that the LTTE should forever remain a terrorist organisation. But the day they change, the world must also change. But until such time, they should be kept on the US list of foreign terrorist organisations," he added.

In his wide-ranging interview, Samaraweera also said that if the LTTE is worried at all -- and if they have any fears -- it is primarily the reaction of the international community.

"The international community has a duty, not only by Sri Lanka (which is not a strategically important country either for the US or the West), but also for its own war against terrorism", he added.

Asked about his description of the LTTE as the "godfathers of terrorism", Samaraweera said the message was taken slightly out of context. He said he had read a British report that some of the suicide bomber jackets used in Europe and London were very similar to the ones used in Sri Lanka in the late 1980s. "It was in that context that I described the LTTE as the godfathers of terrorism -- and they are".

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