US Congress passes bill to restrict military assistance to Sri Lanka

The United States Congress imposed military assistance to Sri Lanka and called for the Secretary of State to submit a report on the alleged crime against humanity during the last phase of the 30-year-old civil war there.

The Senate and House Conference report of the 2010 Appropriations Bill published on Friday December 11 directed the Secretary of State to submit a report supplementing her report on October 21 on crimes against humanity in Sri Lanka detailing whether any measures have been taken by Colombo and international bodies to investigate such incidents, and evaluating the effectiveness of such efforts, according to Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency.

A section in the Bill, which deals with US financial assistance to Sri Lanka, restricts any military assistance to Colombo until the Secretary of State certifies to the Committee on Appropriations that Sri Lanka is suspending and bringing to justice members of the military who have been credibly alleged to have violated internationally recognized human rights or international humanitarian law. The Senate is expected to pass the 2010 Appropriations Bill this weekend, PTI added.

While the report welcomed the defeat of the Tamil Tigers, PTI said the report  expressed concerned over the displaced Tamils who are still detained in closed camps, as well as other persons who have been imprisoned or are being prosecuted for publicly reporting attacks on civilians.

According to PTI, the Congressional report expressed further concern at the lack of credible steps taken by the Sri Lankan state to promote reconciliation among Tamils and other minority ethnic groups.

The conference agreement includes a provision directing the Secretary of the Treasury to instruct the United States executive directors of the international financial institutions to vote against financial support for Sri Lanka, except to meet basic human needs, unless certain requirements are met, reported PTI.

"...If all conditions are met by Sri Lanka, then the Secretary of State should ensure that any military assistance to Sri Lanka be used to support the recruitment and training of Tamils into the Sri Lankan military, Tamil language training for Sinhalese military personnel, and human rights training for all military personnel," the 2010 Appropriations Bill said.