SLMM’s silence on the sunken ship laden with illicit arms speaks volumes; Is the outgoing UN Secy General Kofi Annan ‘concerned’ about contraband arms sent to Sri Lanka by an ‘unnamed’ aggressor?

Ramanie de Zoysa

I convey my warmest felicitations to the most able Sri Lanka Navy and the Sri Lanka Air Force on the successful interception and the destruction of the rogue ship ferrying deadly weaponry to the Tamil terrorists to be used against the Sri Lankan Nation.

The act of taking a ship loaded with military hardware illegally to any sovereign country is an extremely serious hostile act against that sovereign state. In this instance an overtly hostile act against the Sri Lankan State has been committed by the Tamil racist Diaspora and the LTTE. The 30 to 35 meters long gun runner was carrying 150 to 200 tons of ammunition including artillery shells and SAM missiles according to Sri Lanka Navy. It is interesting that none of the voices that make the usual noises about ‘stopping violence’ and who are ‘anti-war’ have anything to say about a whole ship load of arms heading stealthily towards Sri Lanka. Is there any difficulty in guessing what the arms were being brought to Sri Lanka for? If not to cause violence and war what do these peace merchants, peace monitors and peace prostitutes think the arms were for? Do they have any problem guessing who was responsible for the shipment? The Sri Lanka Navy had identified the Tiger flag the ship was flying before destroying the ship- perhaps the word of SLN is not good enough for these bulldogs guarding an imaginary ‘peace’- in which case they should use an iota of common sense and consider who else would want to bring military hardware illegally to the country.

Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) spokesman Thorfinnur Omarsson has opened his mouth briefly to say that no party has complained regarding any ship being destroyed and if any party makes a complaint they were prepared to investigate it. What sort of ‘peace monitoring’ is that? It is unlikely that the Tamil terrorists will make any complaints even for the purpose of claiming insurance on the lost cargo and the vessel due to obvious consequences. If it is a complaint the SLMM is waiting for the Sri Lankan Government must provide one by complaining that the LTTE breached not only the CFA but both the Sri Lankan and international laws as well by transporting arms to Sri Lanka and make the SLMM rogues earn their keep. This would be a good time for SLMM to employ their ‘reliable sources’ to find out who was behind this treasonous act and make a full report to the Sri Lankan Government.

Where are the daily mushrooming ‘peace councils’ and ‘peace secretariats’ that are receiving huge sums of money from foreign countries like Norway to march for peace (only against the Sri Lankan Government- never in Killinochchi against the terrorists)- why are they not concerned that a ship load of arms has been found and two others bound for Sri Lanka are hiding somewhere- none of which is conducive to ‘peace’?

The outgoing UN Secretary General Kofi Annan who has been expressing consternation about ‘escalating violence’ in Sri Lanka up to now has shown absolutely no interest in a complete ship load of sophisticated weapons sent by someone out there to the Tamil terrorists to kill, maim and destroy a whole nation of little brown people. Mr. Annan in his address to the International Summit on Democracy, Terrorism and Security held in Madrid in March 2005, declared that “terrorism is a threat to all States and to all peoples and that the United Nations must be at the forefront in fighting against it”. The basic elements of a comprehensive United Nations counter-terrorism strategy that the Secretary-General espoused in his statement were reflected in a document titled the Outcome document. These basic elements, also known as the "five D's" are:

to dissuade disaffected groups from choosing terrorism as a tactic to achieve their goals;
to deny terrorists the means to carry out their attacks;
to deter States from supporting terrorists;
to develop State capacity to prevent terrorism; and
to defend human rights in the struggle against terrorism.

The Department for Disarmament Affairs of the UN is directly responsible for two of the above stated elements; namely, denying terrorists the means to carry out their attacks and developing States' capacity to prevent terrorism. What exactly is the DDA of the UN proposing to do about denying the Tamil Diaspora and the LTTE the means to carry out attacks against the Sovereign Nation of Sri Lanka? When is the UN proposing to ‘develop the Sri Lankan State’s capacity to prevent terrorism’? Further, what is the UN going to do about countries such as Norway that are actively supporting the Tamil terrorists? What has UN ever done to dissuade the Tamil separatists from choosing terrorism to achieve their goals? Having got all the theory right why do Mr Annan and the UN ignore an entire shipload of armaments sent by a terrorist outfit to destroy innocent people of Sri Lanka? Is it because those who would suffer at the other end of these arms are brown in skin color? Are brown terrorists not covered within the framework of the Outcome document?

DDA is expected to provide ‘substantive support’ to the work of a Committee established pursuant to UN Security Council resolution 1540 (2004) through which the Security Council decided that “all States shall refrain from providing any form of support to non-state actors that attempt to develop, acquire, manufacture, possess, transport, transfer or use nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and their means of delivery, and required all States to adopt and enforce appropriate effective laws to this effect.” Is the UN going to act on its SC resolution 1540 in relation to the transport of arms to Sri Lanka by the LTTE and its supporters worldwide or is it quite content issuing veiled threats to the Sri Lankan Government and condoning Tamil terrorist activities? My fervent hope is that whoever replaces the outgoing Secretary General will effect a thorough clean up of the UN and flush out all Tamil terrorist lackeys holding offices within the UN so that the body functions its legitimate tasks without fear or favour and regains its lost self-respect. As to the outgoing SG himself, all I can say is, with due respect Sir, GOOD RIDDANCE!

Reuters, while reporting on the arms ship questioned how the Sri Lankan Navy knows that the cargo on the destroyed ship bound for Sri Lanka consisted of arms. I would offer the comment that if nothing else the explosive fireworks that the ship’s cargo displayed when fired upon by the SLAF were very indicative of the type of cargo it was carrying. Failing all else Reuters can always send its divers to the bottom of the seas off the coast of Kalmunai and check for themselves.