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ONE HUNDRED SIXTH CONGRESS June 29, 2000
The Honorable Madeline K. Albright Dear Madam Secretary: I am writing to express my concern over the war and worsening humanitarian crises in Sri Lanka. It is time that our government take a more active role in resolving the crises. The Tamil Tigers are well positioned to soon retake Jaffna. The Indian government has agreed to evacuate the trapped Sri Lankan government soldiers if both the Tigers and Colombo agree. In order for the evacuation to take place, the government will probably have to abandon their military equipment. This will be a decisive political and military victory for the Tigers. The process of negotiations begun by Norway could begin to move forward due to the Tigers likelihood of taking over Jaffna. Although New Delhi and Colombo publically state that they will not support independence for the Tamils, it is unclear what the parties, including the Tigers, are really willing to accept. The Norwegians have the agreement of all concerned parties to help begin negotiations and Norwegian diplomats have made several visits to both India and Sri Lanka. The U.S. should make it clear that we would support all options including secession to be discussed in the negotiating process. If all preconditions are lifted then all the parties could get on with the process of resolving their differences. The Sri Lankan government has a long history of repressing the human rights of the Tamil people. In addition, the Sri Lankan government’s embargo on food, medicine and other essentials to the Tamil people has caused a humanitarian crisis. Its ban on access for the media to the war zones could indicate that the Sri Lankan government is concerned that the outside world may learn things that may not reflect well on its image. For these reasons, it is critical that we express our displeasure over the media ban, we ensure that the flow of arms and training by the U.S. end immediately, and we strongly urge the Sri Lanka to permit humanitarian aid to enter Jaffna. Thank you for your kind attention and I look forward to hearing shortly from you regarding this matter. With best wishes, |
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