Eritrea providing direct military assistance to LTTE - USSFRC
A United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee (USSFRC)
report has revealed that Eritrea was providing direct military
assistance to LTTE.
Although a report released by the USSFRC did not
specifically identify the military assistance given to the LTTE, it had
confirmed the direct link between the LTTE and Eritrea.
This was based on the findings of a six member Senate
Foreign Relations Committee majority staff conducting an investigation
in 20 Latin American, Asian and the Middle East. The delegation had
studied 'counterterrorism strategy, policies and activities, giving
special attention to foreign assistance.'
"Eritrea won independence from Ethiopia in 1993. Until
a UN resolution in 1952 united both countries Eritrea was a sovereign
nation with distinct nationality to that of the Ethiopian. Since then,
the Ethiopians and Eritreans have been engaged in military offensive
until the latter's independence endorsed by the United Nations."
"Sri Lanka was one of the countries year marked by the
Bush White House last year for enhanced military assistance, and it is
up to the diplomatic efforts of the Sri Lanka government to use her
public diplomacy from the American ambassador to the officials of the
State Department to justify the need for military assistance to combat
the home grown terrorism that has threatened her territorial integrity,
sovereignty and democracy."
This is the first occasion that an influential and
powerful senate committee such as foreign relations has arrived at a
conclusion when discussing the Tamil Tiger activities in Sri Lanka and
the threat that it posses to this South Asian island-nation's
territorial integrity, sovereignty and her near-six decade old
democratic system in identifying a member nation of the United Nations
providing military aid against another member of the same World Body
which has a legitimate democratically elected government to facilitate a
rebel group fighting for a separate state.
The then chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee Richard Lugar, now the Ranking Member of the same committee
after the Democratic majority in the Senate took over the control of all
committees of the Senate in January 2007, made the findings of his staff
available for Congressional record on 15 December 2006 with copies to
the White House, State and Defense Departments.
Courtesy: The Island |
