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Message: <blockquote data-quote="bump" data-source="post: 9282410" data-attributes="member: 324991">From Dubai, Rajapaksa arrived in Houston, Texas, on Thursday morning. Among those present to greet him was his brother, Dudley, who lives there. In the afternoon, he is learnt to have paid a visit to a leading medical institution. Sources in the United States say once these engagements are over, Rajapaksa plans to speak to the Sri Lankan Diaspora about both international and local issues. The main international issue that concerns the government is the upcoming report of the three-member UN panel investigating alleged 'war crimes' in Sri Lanka. As revealed in these columns last week, their report is to come before the UN Commission on Human Rights when it meets in Geneva later next month. Heightened by these concerns, last week, Plantation Industries Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe and Attorney General Mohan Peiris flew to Geneva. Samarasinghe, who has now been assigned the subject of human rights, and Peiris, the government's point man on all matters legal, spoke with delegations of some countries and other officials on the issues that would evolve over Sri Lanka. Locally, the government's main concern is to seek the support of the Sri Lankan Diaspora for rehabilitation and reconstruction of areas affected by the devastating floods last week. A detailed report of the aftermath, including the colossal damage it caused, appears elsewhere in this newspaper. Although the trail of devastation left by last week's floods in the central, north central and eastern provinces was equal to the one caused by the tsunami in December 2004, the response of the Sri Lankan Diaspora abroad has been lukewarm. In contrast, barring India (which gave almost the same amount of money as allocated by the government), others who rushed to assist were government's perceived adversaries. They included the United States, the European Union, Canada, the United Nations and several International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs). It was only on Friday, the UN made a worldwide appeal for $ 51 million dollars in aid. This was after the visit of UN Assistant Secretary General and Deputy Emergency Relief Co-ordinator, Catherine Bragg. Though the Rajapaksa visit caught the anti-government Diaspora in the US by complete surprise, it was to draw the attention of Amnesty International. In a statement, issued hurriedly, AI said:"The United States should investigate Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, on a surprise visit to the US this week, for his alleged role in perpetrating torture and war crimes. "The US has an obligation under international law to investigate and prosecute people who perpetrated war crimes and grave human rights violations such as extrajudicial executions, torture and enforced disappearances," said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific director. Mahinda Rajapaksa is commander in chief of Sri Lanka's armed forces, which face numerous allegations of war crimes, enforced disappearances, and torture."Under international law, military commanders may face criminal responsibility if they knew, or should have known, of such crimes being committed by their subordinates. The President's visit comes as a Panel of Experts appointed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon works on a report advising him on accountability issues in Sri Lanka."Both Sri Lankan government forces and members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam are accused of having committed war crimes in the final phase of the decades-long conflict. Amnesty International has called for the UN to initiate an international investigation. Thousands of victims in Sri Lanka demand accountability for the abuses they've suffered from the Sri Lankan security forces as well as armed groups such as the LTTE," Sam Zarifi said. "In December WikiLeaks exposed a secret US Embassy cable sent by Ambassador Patricia Butenis from Colombo in which she noted the difficulty of bringing perpetrators of alleged crimes to justice when "responsibility for many of the alleged crimes rests with the country's senior civilian and military leadership, including President Rajapaksa and his brothers ...." "Amnesty International said the US should further investigate these allegations and support calls for an international investigation into Sri Lanka's role in war crimes."The government's only response came from presidential spokesperson Bandula Jayasekera. He told the Sunday Times the AI statement was both "mischievous and frivolous" but declined to elaborate. Last Wednesday's Washington Times published a news report based on the AI news release headlined "Sri Lankan president under scrutiny for war crimes." Comical enough, the External Affairs Ministry, lost no time in circulating it to all of Sri Lanka's diplomatic missions overseas. Though the ministry cannot be faulted for distributing a 'negative' report, what puzzled many seniors in the EAM was why no guidance was given to overseas missions on how to counter such reports or to brief their host governments. The exercise seemed a mere dissemination of what a newspaper had printed. Tomorrow, the Human Rights Watch in New York will release its World Report. An HRW statement said, "The report's introduction highlights shortcomings in the "quiet diplomacy" approach often favoured by the United Nations and many of its member states, which replace pressure with private dialogue and "cooperation." Human Rights Watch cites as recent examples the United Nations' deferential attitude toward the Sri Lankan government in the face of atrocities, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's failure to speak out on human rights in China, and Ban's efforts to portray Burma's deeply flawed elections in a positive light."By a co-incidence, with Rajapaksa just about to set foot on Texan soil, Robert Blake, Assistant Secretary in the US Department of State, was speaking on President Obama's priorities in South and Central Asia. It was at the James A Baker III Institute for Foreign Policy at the Rice University in Texas. He declared, "While Sri Lanka's economy has thrived since the end of its brutal civil war, during the end of which I served as ambassador, its reconciliation has proceeded more slowly. I hope that the government will act on the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission it set up, as part of wider efforts that will be needed to help establish a lasting peace." Blake is now in charge of Central and South Asia, which includes Sri Lanka. Rajapaksa's visit also figured at Friday's briefing at the State Department in Washington D.C. Questions were posed to Philip J. Crowley, the spokesperson. Here are the relevant extracts:QUESTION: What's your understanding of the visit of the - or what do you know about the visit to the United States of the president of Sri Lanka?MR. CROWLEY: He is visiting the United States and it is a private visit.QUESTION: Is he - does he have any - he has no plans to meet with any U.S. officials?MR. CROWLEY: No.QUESTION: I understand he might be in Texas and that Assistant Secretary Blake was there. There was some speculation that the two might meet.MR. CROWLEY: There is no meeting that I'm aware of with the president during his visit. So I - yes, you're right. I think Assistant Secretary Blake gave a speech at Rice University, but we specifically asked, and there's no meeting between a U.S. Government official and President Rajapaksa.QUESTION: Is the Sri Lankan foreign minister with him? And maybe you will meet him or the Secretary will.MR. CROWLEY: Again, if I'm wrong, we'll correct the record, but I'm not aware of any meetings associated with his visit.QUESTION: There have been some calls for him to be investigated or to be looked into or even prosecuted. Is this something that you're willing to look at?MR. CROWLEY: Well - and in fact, we have made strong public statements and are supporting what Sri Lanka is doing. It's a process that is still ongoing. We clearly believe that those who have violated international humanitarian law must be held accountable, and we believe that accountability for alleged crimes is an essential component of national reconciliation in Sri Lanka. There is a Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission that has been receiving testimony from hundreds of people. I think its mandate has been extended to June of this year, at which time it will make a report to President Rajapaksa. We would hope that Sri Lanka would continue this effort and take advantage of expertise that exists, for example, within the United Nations and the Secretary General's Panel ofExperts that has volunteered to provide assistance to Sri Lanka as it continues this effort.</blockquote>

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