ANC Endorses Panel Report

The Sinhalese prefer to believe that the Tamils have been "liberated" and have no grounds to complain. They are satisfied that building roads and hotels in the North and the East under a militarily occupied enforced peace will satisfy the Tamils and fail to recognize the need for parallel political reforms.

by Dushy Ranetunge

(May 15, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) Last week the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa endorsed the UN panel report. The endorsement was issued by Dr. Ebrahim Ebrahim, head of International relations, of the African National Congress. The LTTE had a long association with the ANC, during its struggle against the white apartheid regime of South Africa, extending to explosives training and transfer of other "terrorist" skills. As a result of this association the ANC has a deep understanding of the Sri Lankan conflict from their perspective.

In the late 1990’s in order to make some inroads into the ANC perceptions, the late Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar invited a selective group of South African MP’s to visit Sri Lanka and Jaffna in particular.

The delegation of South African MP’s were mainly those who were being heavily lobbied by the LTTE and was led by Dr. Ebrahim Ebrahim, who has issued the ANC endorsement last week.

I flew into Jaffna, the day before the arrival of the South Africans and met with the then overall commander of the Jaffna peninsula, General Lohan Gunewardene. He was a Christian and an old boy of St Thomas’s College, Mt. Lavinia and had an excellent relationship with the Vicar General of Jaffna.

On my arrival in Jaffna, I noticed a large number of Buffel troop carriers in use throughout the Jaffna peninsula. The Buffel troop carriers were the best protection Sri Lankan troops had against LTTE land mines and were of South African origin, purchased from the apartheid regime.

At the time, film footage of white South African troops firing their shotguns at black protesters in South Africa from buffel troop carriers had established it as a weapon of oppression against black civilians in South Africa.

I suggested to General Gunewardene, that he withdraws all the buffel troop carriers from the streets of Jaffna for the duration of the South African visit, as they will give the army a negative perception as an army of oppression. He understood the sensitivities at play and obliged.

General Gunewardene also disclosed that the day before my arrival, a Sri Lankan soldier had entered the home of a Tamil woman and had sex with her and in the process had shot and killed her baby. He was concerned about the impact this incident will have on the South Africans when they hear of it during their many meetings in Jaffna.

I suggested to the General that he does not wait for the South Africans to hear the story from a third source, but that he is forthright in the disclosure of the facts, including the arrest of the offender. This way he will maintain control over the incident.

In the early hours of the following morning, the South African delegation, led by Dr. Ebrahim Ebrahim landed in Jaffna and had a breakfast meeting with the General. Over breakfast, the General informed the South Africans of the incident and told them of the arrest of the soldier and the steps he was taking against the offender.

Dr. Ebrahim Ebrahim, the leader of the South African delegation, thanked the General for sharing this incident and informed him that such incidents have taken place in South Africa as well. The incident ceased being an issue.

I was impressed with General Lohan Gunewardene and his delicate balancing of the different relationships in Jaffna.

After breakfast a Colonel Dissanayake gave a most impressive military assessment of the situation in Jaffna. I was introduced as a reporter from London.

The South Africans presumed that I was an Indian reporter from London and I kept close to the South Africans during their tour of Jaffna. The Tamils in Jaffna that I met during the tour presumed that I was a South African as we were all of "Asian" ethnicity and the military had been instructed not to speak to me in Sinhalese. This arrangement suited me fine and I didn’t go to correct it, as many Tamils approached and spoke to me, believing that I was an Asian from South Africa, like those of the delegation.

I travelled with the South African delegation all over Jaffna, having meetings at the GTZ, with the Vicar General, the Jaffna University lecturers, The Human Rights Commission and visited the Nallur Kandasamy Kovil etc.

We saw many destroyed Hindu kovils on the way, and I noticed the Hindu members of the South African delegation traveling with me in the same vehicle were disturbed at these sights. The Sinhalese soldiers and officials who were with us, failed to notice the subtle messages which were communicated to the South Africans during the meetings, communicating dissatisfaction with the Sri Lankan military regime.

The most glaring incident took place at the Jaffna University, when the South Africans inquired from the Tamil lecturers, if they were happier with the LTTE administered Jaffna or the Sri Lankan government administered Jaffna.

The Tamil lecturers were silent and failed to respond when the question was repeated. There was a deafening silence. At this point the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to South Africa, Mr. Munasinghe, realising that the Tamil lecturers were uncomfortable, withdrew from the room, together with the military officers.

I inquired from the South Africans, if they wished for me to leave the room as well. They said that I could stay, because I was "Indian".

With all the "Sinhalese" out of the room, the question was repeated and the Tamil lecturers stated that they were happier in LTTE administered Jaffna. When asked if the Sinhalese university officials discriminated between Tamil and Sinhalese universities with regards to the allocation of funds etc. they said no, that all are treated equally.

From their responses I realized that the Tamil lecturers were being honest with the foreigners. This is an honesty that they rarely extend to the Sinhalese who are perceived more as being in a "power" relationship, making Tamil feel vulnerable.

This is why there is a disparity in the perceptions of the Sinhalese and the foreigners with regard to the Tamil issue.

The "abused" is not honest with the "abuser", but only with the "outsider" with whom they feel safe.

This is a concept that the Sinhalese do not understand, or perhaps don’t want to understand for it challenges their entrenched "Chechniyan" positions.

The Sinhalese prefer to believe that the Tamils have been "liberated" and have no grounds to complain. They are satisfied that building roads and hotels in the North and the East under a militarily occupied enforced peace will satisfy the Tamils and fail to recognize the need for parallel political reforms.

Several months later at a LTTE "peace conference" in Ottawa, Canada, enthusiastic LTTE activists from South Africa informed me that a delegation of their MP’s had visited Jaffna and were unhappy with what they had observed. I smiled and did not disclose to them of my presence in Jaffna during the South African visit.

The ANC endorsement of the panel report should be interpreted in this light. It is not a pro-LTTE one, but one that has a different insight to that of the Sinhalese, an insight shared by India, South Africa, the European Union and the United States.

This insight does not challenge the Sinhalese. It merely attempts to persuade the Sinhalese to continue to seek the truth.