PRESS CONFERENCE BY PRESIDENT OF SRI LANKA

Press Briefing

PRESS CONFERENCE BY PRESIDENT OF SRI LANKA

The President of Sri Lanka, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, held a press conference at Headquarters today and answered questions on terrorism from correspondents. She admitted that it was difficult to strike a balance between protecting civil liberties and protecting the security of all citizens, but believed they were well on the way to striking such a balance. She called for increased international cooperation to fight terrorism, and reiterated Sri Lanka's support for the Convention on the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings and for an international conference on terrorism.

The press conference was also attended by Sri Lanka's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Lakshman Kadirgamar, and by its Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism, Dharmasiri Senanayake.

In response to a question concerning the trade-off between protection of human rights and the law and order requirements of a government confronting a terrorist threat, President Kumaratunga explained that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) assassinated democratic Tamil civil rights leaders, Tamil Members of Parliament and democratically elected mayors. It massacred villagers and kidnapped children from their homes and trained them as suicide bombers. So the security situation was very serious all over the country, especially in the capital city, Colombo.

On the other hand, she said, her Government was elected to re-establish democratic norms, respect for human rights and law and order, all of which had been seriously eroded during the 17-year rule of the previous Government. A fair compromise between human rights and security needs had been reached, whereby people had complete freedom of movement, but a programme of serious security checks on vehicles and suspicious individuals, and a comprehensive security plan, were in effect in Colombo.

House searches, which were unfortunately sometimes necessary in Colombo, were done with the maximum possible politeness, she said. Searching places and questioning people were the only means available to the Government to gain information on terrorist activities. She recognized that they constituted, to some extent, an infringement of people's freedom. The President had herself spoken to police and the security forces in an attempt to get the balance right. Training programmes had also been instituted to help.

Nowhere else in the world, she said, was there a terrorist organization like the LTTE which forcibly recruited children and turned them into human bombs.

She explained to a questioner that there was no direct or indirect involvement from any foreign State in the Sri Lankan situation. The LTTE derived income by extorting money from the more than 600,000 Tamils driven

overseas following a "pogrom" in 1983, by the Government then in power, against innocent Tamil citizens. They also received income from their involvement in international narco-terrorism.

The Government of Sri Lanka provided food and medical supplies to areas controlled by the terrorists, and there were instances where those supplies had been sold in southern India to generate income for the LTTE. The provision of supplies had been essential when the LTTE had a "de facto kind of control of the north end of the country", and had blockaded civilians in the territory under its control.

The current Government had offered peace to the LTTE and commenced negotiations with them, but after eight months the LTTE broke off the negotiations and attacked, and the Government was forced to recommence fighting. As a result of this fighting, the Government now administered two thirds of the land mass and 85 per cent of the population formerly under LTTE control. It was no longer necessary to provide food and supplies, but the LTTE forced public servants to exaggerate the number of civilians still under its control, and the Government was forced to provide food and medical supplies in accord with those exaggerations.

In response to a question on possible collective international action against terrorism, President Kumaratunga reiterated Sri Lanka's call for an international conference on terrorism. Sri Lanka had been very active in promoting the Convention on the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings and had been the first nation to sign it. It was promoting similar measures at the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

The philosophical debate on what constituted terrorism was no longer necessary, she said, and she endorsed the statement on this matter made by United States President Clinton in the General Assembly yesterday. It was not difficult to distinguish between liberation movements, fighting for their just rights against anti-democratic behaviour by governments, and terrorist groups, which do not have the support of a constituency and use violence and intimidation to achieve their ends.

President Kumaratunga was asked if she had discussed terrorism with President Clinton yesterday. She said she had discussed the similarity of United States and Sri Lankan positions at the Secretary-General's lunch, and had thanked President Clinton for the United States action in declaring the LTTE a terrorist organization. President Clinton had clearly stated that he would support Sri Lanka in defeating terrorism and in solving the ethnic problem through political solutions, she said.

A question was asked about the reasons for Sri Lankan success in addressing problems of child soldiers and children forced into slavery and prostitution. The President described the use of presidential task forces to investigate specific social problems, such as child abuse, and alcohol,

Sri Lanka Press Conference - 3 - 22 September 1998

tobacco and drug abuse. Alcohol abuse was a significant problem in Sri Lanka, as was suicide, she said. All these social problems were tied up with the political violence.

Sri Lanka was now establishing a Child Protection Authority to address child abuse problems.

In Sri Lanka, there were also many people, notably women and children, who were traumatized by war, she said. She had just established a committee to begin to look at the problem.

Although asked, the President declined to comment on the President Clinton-Monica Lewinsky affair.

In response to a question about Sri Lanka's current economic circumstances, she said that Sri Lanka had been described as one of the three strongest economies in Asia at present. This was a consequence of strict financial and monetary policy. Sri Lanka's foreign exchange reserves situation was good, and inflation and the budget deficit had been reduced and were under control. Interest rates had come down drastically and investment had increased. The Government encouraged investment in small and medium enterprises, and there was a great deal of credit available for those enterprises. Foreign investors, both large and small, continued to invest in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar, explained, in response to a question about the benefits of international cooperation, that Sri Lanka had, unfortunately, a great deal of sad and brutal experience of the methods and operations of a terrorist organization, and this experience should be of benefit to other countries which might find themselves confronted by similar problems. For example, Sri Lanka knew a great deal about the use of "front" organizations that purported to be collecting money for charity, but were, in fact, buying arms. The LTTE used the Internet extensively for this purpose. Countries must discuss the "nitty gritty" of terrorism. Sri Lanka had a lot to contribute and to learn.

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