Saturday, December 19, 2009

U.S. halted military aid to Sri Lanka when battling LTTE terrorism: Does SL need it now?

Daya Gamage – US National Correspondent Asian Tribune

Washington, D.C. 19 December (Asiantribune.com): The United States Senate and House Conference report of the 2010 Appropriations Bill, now ratified by both chambers, in the section which deals with U.S. financial assistance to Sri Lanka restricts any military assistance to Colombo.

The section of the bill directs 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 for the U.S. Congress to restore military assistance.

"...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.

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.
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