USA: Remained concerned about extrajudicial killings, disappearances and abuse of Tamil detainees by Sinhalese...!!!

US responds to Lanka’s protest

State Dept., clarifies Clinton’s comments

Responding to Sri Lanka’s protests over remarks by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the United States said it had no recent evidence of women being raped while in government custody but that it remained concerned about extrajudicial killings, disappearances and abuse of detainees, AFP reported yesterday.

In a letter to Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama, the State Department said the US government and international human rights groups over the years had detailed "numerous cases of rape and sexual violence in Sri Lanka, particularly acts committed against women held in detention by the government."

However Melanne Verveer -- the State Department’s global women's issues ambassador-at-large, in the letter said, "In the most recent phase of the conflict, from 2006 to 2009 ... we have not received reports that rape and sexual abuse were used as tools of war, as they clearly have in other conflict areas around the world."

"We hope that this clarification puts the issue in its proper context," she said in the letter, adding that Washington remained concerned about extrajudicial killings, disappearances and detainee abuse in Sri Lanka.

"Secretary Clinton believes that Sri Lanka must focus to the future and move forward on the promotion of peace and the protection of human rights," the letter said.

Sri Lanka lodged its protest with the US embassy in Colombo over the remarks made by Ms. Clinton last month at the United Nations Security Council.

"We've seen rape used as a tactic of war before in Bosnia, Burma and Sri Lanka and elsewhere," the US secretary of state had said during a resolution calling for an end to sexual violence in armed conflict, according to published reports of Ms. Clinton's remarks.

Her comments sparked an outcry across Sri Lanka, where government forces in May crushed Tamil Tiger rebels after decades of fighting.

Colombo faced condemnation for its handling of the final stages of the war against Tiger rebels and managed to stave off a Security Council resolution calling for war crimes investigations thanks to the vetoes of China and Russia.

The United Nations has said that more than 7,000 civilians perished in the first four months of intense fighting this year.

Sri Lanka is now facing international pressure to free 250,000 ethnic Tamil civilians who managed to escape the fighting but are now held in internment camps while they are screened to see whether they have any connection to the LTTE.

President hails US clarification

By Ajantha Kumara Agalakada

President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday said he was grateful to the U.S State Department for correcting the statement made by U.S Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accusing the Sri Lanka Army of adopting sexual abuse as a war tactic.

“The steps taken by the state department to correct the statement is a gesture of goodwill,” the President said addressing an election propaganda rally in Galle yesterday.

Meanwhile, the government yesterday said the explanation forwarded by the State Department was accepted in good spirit and the matter was closed.

Disaster Management and Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe addressing a media conference in Colombo said the letter of explanation sent by ambassador at large on global women’s issues at the State Department Melanne Verveer to Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama cleared the air and was accepted as the official position of the US government.

“She had said in her letter that there was no evidence of rape or any other sexual violence between the period 2006 to 2009 by armed forces nor sexual abuse has been used as a tool of war. It seems that Mrs. Clinton had casually mentioned the name of Sri Lanka when she accused other countries of using sexual violence as a tool in war on September 30 in her address at the UN annual sessions,” Minister Samarasinghe stressed.

Foreign Minister Bogollagama immediately summoned US ambassador Patricia Butenis and sought an explanation over the derogatory remarks. Sri Lanka also demanded an explanation from Washington through her envoys in the UN and Washington and the explanation of Verveer was the result was accepted as the official position of the US government.

Foreign Minister Bogollagama explained to Butenis that the humanitarian operations were carried out by the armed forces according to the international law and the Geneva conventions. The armed forces have never trespassed their legal limits.

The matter was closed then and there as the relationship between the two countries are as good and strong as ever. The US has always been helpful and cooperative and Sri Lanka does not want to pursue this distasteful issue any further, Minister Samarasinghe emphasized.


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