Ambassadors Roundtable
August 31, 2009
Moderated by:
Frank Cilluffo
Director, HSPI
HSPI welcomed Sri Lankan Ambassador Jaliya Wickramasuriya as part of its ongoing Ambassadors Roundtable Series. The discussion centered on the Sri Lankan government’s May 2009 defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE, also known as the Tamil Tigers). Frank Cilluffo, HSPI’s Director, moderated the roundtable and opened the event by observing that “peace and reconciliation will require more strength than did defeating the LTTE.”
During his introductory remarks, Ambassador Wickramasuriya noted that it had been one hundred days since the Tigers were defeated; yet he made clear that much remained to be done. “Now, we are focused on four primary goals: reconstruction, resettlement, reintegration—including rehabilitation—and, reconciliation.” He continued, “Our goal now is to reunite Sri Lankans after twenty-five years of ethnic conflict.” Notably, rehabilitation programs will be tailored to the individual, bearing in mind that the captured range from 10,000 “core fighters” to 1,000 child soldiers between the ages of twelve and twenty. Regarding reconstruction, Mr. Cilluffo asked how significant a role the Ambassador sees the Tamils playing there. In reply, Ambassador Wickramasuriya stated that Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa had instructed the government to secure “maximum Tamil community involvement” in reconstruction, and added further that Tamils in Sri Lanka were very supportive of the government. James Clad, Senior Research Fellow at National Defense University, suggested further that it may be necessary to go above and beyond the “expected conciliatory mood”; and cited historical examples of governments transcending themselves, such as through “a Lincoln.”
The Ambassador and participants also discussed the role of the Tamil Diaspora; the status of the 248,000 internally displaced persons currently being held in refugee camps; and the lack of media and NGO access to the war zone and refugee camps. Ambassador Wickramasuriya noted that the government had committed to resettling seventy-five to eighty percent of those in the camps by year’s end. Regarding the role of the Tamil Diaspora, the Ambassador stated that only one percent of that group had supported the LTTE. That claim did not go entirely unchallenged; audience members suggested that there were legitimate concerns within the Tamil Diaspora, and that the government’s lack of openness—especially in the final months of the conflict, and now in the camps—made accurate assessments difficult. Ambassador Wickramasuriya replied that he had helped journalists attain visas in the past, and remains willing to do so.
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The Ambassadors Roundtable Series is designed to provide Ambassadors to the United States and their key diplomatic staff with a forum to discuss current and future counterterrorism and counterinsurgency efforts on a regional or country-specific basis. In an effort to draw upon various insights and experiences, the Ambassadors Roundtable Series builds upon and institutionalizes efforts over the past two years to engage in a dialogue with members of the international community, policy makers, and practitioners.
