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A 29-page report released today by the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) names state security personnel responsible for the summary executions of 17 Action Contre la Faim (ACF) aid workers in Mutur, Sri Lanka on 4 August 2006. The report details the grisly killings, the role of senior police officials in the murders, and the failure of the government to properly investigate the crime.

Eyewitness testimony and other information uncovered by UTHR(J) reveals that the Sri Lankan aid workers were killed by a member of the Muslim Home Guards, and two police constables in the presence of the Sri Lankan Naval Special Forces around 4.30 pm on Friday, 4 August 2006. Evidence suggests that the killers were given the green light to murder the aid workers by police officials in Mutur, who may have gotten the go-ahead from senior police officials in the district capital, Trincomalee. UTHR(J) presents evidence that indicates at least one aid worker was killed by a member of the Naval Special Forces, who were present and did nothing to stop the killings. The report implicates several senior police officers, including Rohan Abeywardene, Deputy Inspector General, and Kapila Jayasekere, Senior Superintendent of Police in Trincomalee, as being complicit in the crime and names Jehangir, a member of the Muslim Home Guards, and two police constables, Susantha and Nilantha, as those who pulled the triggers.

“The evidence shows that state security forces, including police, killed the 17 aid workers and that senior police officials covered it up,” said Dr. Rajan Hoole of UTHR(J). “The killing of civilians during times of conflict is a war crime. The perpetrators and their superiors should be brought to justice for this grievous crime.”

The UTHR(J) report points to the strong link between the killing of the 17 aid workers and the earlier killing of five Tamil students on the beachfront in Trincomalee on 2 January 2006. One of the 17, Kodeeswaran, was the brother of one of the five murdered students. The report gives incidents suggestive of an ominous interest taken in Kodeeswaran by SSP Jayasekere, who was implicated in the planning and cover-up of the murder of the five students. SSP Jayasekere was never prosecuted for the deaths of the five students, despite evidence pointing to his involvement in the murders, but was instead promoted shortly before the killings of the aid workers.

The murder of the 17 ACF workers occurred in the context of an attack on Mutur by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The government has repeatedly blamed the LTTE for the killings, but UTHR(J)’s extensive research shows that they occurred after the LTTE had retreated from Mutur town. At the time of the killings, most of the town’s residents had fled for safety, fearing further fighting. Action Contre la Faim had communicated to the authorities that the aid workers remained in their compound, so there should have been no confusion as to whether they were civilians or fighters.

Rather than seeking the truth and tackling impunity, the Sri Lankan authorities, their experts, the Attorney General and diplomats overseas have covered up the facts of the 2006 killings, along with any potential association between the ACF massacre and the killing of five students in Trincomalee.

“Had disciplinary action been instituted against SP Jayasekere over the killing of the five students instead of promoting him to SSP, the 17 aid workers would probably be alive today,” said Dr. Rajan Hoole. “The Sri Lankan government needs to end impunity to deter more abuses by the state security forces, the LTTE and other armed actors in Sri Lanka’s quarter-century of conflict.”

UTHR(J) said that it hoped the report released today would open a window to lighten the abyss created by high-level cover-ups and official acquiescence in murder. These cases of the 17 ACF aid workers and the 5 students from Trincomalee, given the international concern, remain the most promising means of making cracks in the prison of impunity that grips the nation.

About the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna)

UTHR(J) have been documenting and publicizing human rights abuses in Sri Lanka since the late 1980s and were one of the pioneers internationally, in highlighting the abuses of non-state actors, particularly abuses by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. In 2007 UTHR(J) were awarded the prestigious Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders. UTHR(J) has written extensively on the killings of the aid workers and the five students and this is the first report to shed light on the perpetrators of the killings and also the extensive high level cover-up of the truth.

Prof. Tissa Vitarana

We are really gathered here today with the haunting spectre of Kosovo, I think none of us want to see that outcome in Sri Lanka; we have to work a solution to what is almost an intractable problem, avoiding possible pitfalls which await us.

I am glad in choosing the subjects for this seminar; the international dimension also been addressed. As a colonised country we are deeply aware of the policies of divide and rule that were the basis of colonisation. We know that internationally that there are moves to go back to similar types of controls of our economies, this has become deeply evident in this context, and we have to act with circumspection, at the same time with determination to achieve our goals.

[Prof Tissa Vitarana]

As part of the APRC process, I would like to crystallise the issues before us in this way. There was a time when the conflict could have been resolved within a unitary state, without anything more than decentralisation by solving the language problem.

Today, the problem has escalated to the point, where the Tamil speaking people of this country, no longer have confidence in the majority community meeting their needs on their behalf. In fact there is a desire to share power both at the canter and at the periphery to enable them to meet the needs of the Tamil speaking people. We have to recognise this very clearly.

On the other side we have a Sinhala Buddhist majority who are afraid that the process of devolution could be utilised as a legal basis for affecting the separatist agenda.

I myself have found in the APRC process the task is to assuage the fears on both sides and to make people believe that devolution rather than facilitating separation, would be the base for preventing separation.

It is really a process of trying to create the necessary understanding, confidence, mutual respect that this situation demands, that is the APRC process today.

In this context the APRC over a period of one and a half years met on 71 occasions, sometimes five to six hours at a time. I have to acknowledge the cooperation and support of the fourteen political parties, who are in it and acknowledge their active contributions.

I thought the first meeting we had would have been the last, it was so confrontational, but I am happy to say there is now mutual respect and a team effort and also I am also happy to say that we can have a successful completion of our deliberations. Reaching a consensus is a vital part of this process; I must also appreciate the significant contributions of H.E the President has made.

I remember when I was the convener of the National Alliance for Peace, which bought together 147 organisations, trade unions, peace organisations, NGO’s, religious organisations and so forth. And with a team headed by religious dignitaries, the leader was the present Mahanayake Thera of the Asgiriya chapter; we went to Kilinochchi in 1997 at the height of the battle and met most of the L.T.T.E leaders including the late Tamil chelvam, except for Prabakaran.

We were trying to achieve at least a laying down of arms. Their main point was, that having an agreement which the government would not serve any purpose because, since we periodically have changes in government, the new government will not honour an agreement with the previous government. This was the crux of their argument.

After a post mortem examination of our visit, it was agreed that the prime task should be to reach a consensus, which must include at least the UNP and SLFP parties, which form successful governments in our country.

At a recent meeting the president had with Ranil Wickremesinghe- Leader of the opposition the understanding was reached whereby in our document agreement was reached on ninety percent of the proposals. It was agreed that I prepare a report on the areas of agreement and hand it over to Mr. Choksy the U.N.P representative and start an unofficial dialogue and give them the completed document to draw them into the process.

The discussions have now covered all areas pertinent to the problem. Regarding the ten percent under dispute, we have identified options for discussion and I hope this will take place in the near future. In my view we have been drawn into this process of trying to fashion out of our discussions an amendment to the present constitution without a 2/3 majority because, the president was under immense international pressure, and the charges were that the government had shifted from a political solution to a military solution.

The government is having difficulty in trying to achieve this task without the necessary stability in the government. This is the dimension we have to reckon with, When former president J.R Jayewardene came out with the 13th Amendment he had a 5/6 majority in Parliament, when there was a Sinhala Buddhist backlash, he gave into that.

By large the situation has improved a lot from the days of J.R Jayawardene, because racists’ opinions were much more prevalent during this time period and the need for a political solution was not adequately appreciated. Now from the public opinion point we are on a better wicket.

In my view, basically it is a process of winning over the Tamil Speaking people, restoring their confidence that within one country the necessary structures will be established to ensure their needs and aspirations would be fulfiled. Anything short of this will not carry conviction.

The 13th Amendment is the first step in the process of restoring confidence of the Tamil people. The government has been trying to promote economic development by politicians elected by the people of the east with the recently concluded local government elections.

We also need to ensure that adequate funding is made available to the provincial council members, which will result in the successful implementation of the 13th Amendment. The process is not going to be limited to the implementation of the 13th amendment; we have to come up with a new constitution that eliminates the short comings of the 1978 constitution.

Finally, touching on the military aspect, we have something to learn from the experience of ache in Indonesia, in ache they had three ceasefires all three were failures. On the fourth occasion the government, in particular the minister of justice, who was chief negotiator, had a year and a half of unofficial secret talks with the leaders of the ache rebels addressing core issues, and only when he felt that sufficient progress had been made, that they went in for open talks. Throughout the whole process there was no ceasefire, the government kept on pounding the rebels and weakening them militarily, during this period their strength had been reduced by 1/3 and at that point there were open public talks.

The government acted sensibly and magnanimously and gave the ache rebels more than what they had dreamt was possible. Previously in ache a very oil rich province, all their earnings were taken by the central government and only a pittance was given to the province, on the table seventy percent of their earnings could be retained in Aceh, therefore, they agreed to lay down arms straight away.

I hope in Sri Lanka. While we approach this problem from all angles, we will act with wisdom and learn from the experience of other countries.

The question of Human rights is also being raised, I don’t know whether similar questions have been raised in Iraq, Afghanistan or in any other conflict for that matter, but it is being raised here. I think I hope I am wrong, that Kosovo is not in mind- lets not leave any openings for that to be exploited.

Once again I thank you all for your support to this intractable problem, which we must solve if we are to forge ahead as a nation.

(Extracts of a Speech given at an International Seminar held on the 26th and 27th of March Titled “Conflict in Sri Lanka: Road Ahead” organised jointly by the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies and the Centre for Security Analysis, Chennai, India)