Speeches and Remarks 2006
Briefing for Indian Media
by Donald Camp
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State
for South and Central Asian Affairs
May 17, 2006
New Delhi, India
PDAS Camp: Thank you all for coming. I have just come from two days in Sri Lanka. I traveled there because of our concern about the current situation in Sri Lanka and, frankly, the trend lines, which are not good. There is a real concern that, given the LTTE provocations, that Sri Lanka could conceivably go back to an age of conflict. And of course that concerns all of us. While in Colombo, and I was just in Colombo, I talked to a variety of government officials, political parties, the SLMM, and tried to assess the situation and tried to see what the international community might be able to do. I am here in Delhi to follow up with talks with the Indian Government, primarily on Sri Lanka, but also one of those subjects. And I guess I will end it there and just answer your questions, whatever you have. I think you have the transcript of the interviews that I gave in Sri Lanka. If you want to talk about that or go beyond that I will be glad to.
Q: Rajiv Sharma, Tribune Newspaper. What is your assessment of the situation there? Do you think the ceasefire still hold you?
PDAS Camp: The ceasefire is holding in a sense, in other words both sides are paying, I would say, obeisance to it. They are saying we are still obeying the ceasefire agreement. But I would say that the kinds of things, the kinds of attacks that are taking place are certainly violations of the spirit of the agreement. And I am pointing primarily to the LTTE. The Government actions of course are reactions to the LTTE provocations.
Q: Particularly from December onwards, there has been a splurge in violent incidents. Now, is the U.S. going to step up its involvement in it?
PDAS Camp: You know I think we are already involved as part of the co-chairs. Norway, of course, has the lead role as facilitator of the peace process. We think Norway is doing a very good job under very difficult circumstances. There is no way we would want to try to replace Norway in that process. In fact, I saw something in one of the press reports that came out of Colombo yesterday tat talked about a peace envoy, an American peace envoy for Sri Lanka. I did not say we are going to send a peace envoy to Sri Lanka. And we are not. We don't think that is our role. We think the Norwegians should continue to take the lead, co-chairs should help as best we can as a group, and, of course, the co-chairs will be meeting in couple of weeks. And we think the international community as a whole should offer what assistance they can to bring Sri Lanka back to situation of relative peace.
Q: Ajay Kaul from PTI. Sri Lanka recently asked that the international community should do more, particularly asking EU to ban LTTE. So, will you be pushing EU to do that since you have already banned LTTE?
PDAS Camp: The EU will take its own decision, and that is as it should be. They will discuss and they have to reach consensus, which is a very difficult thing to do. We have already banned them as of 1997, so our position is pretty clear. But again, I would say the EU needs to consult with their 25 members states and make their own decision.
Q: Do you suggest to them that they should ban? Any suggestion for them?
PDAS Camp: Again, let me leave it to their decision.
Q: I am Triptesh from Sahara TV. There has been lots of concern about the funding of the LTTE in the U.S. and the diaspora is very strong. What steps is the U.S. taking to curb this funding of the LTTE?
PDAS Camp: Well since 1997 when we named the LTTE as a Foreign Terrorist Organization it has been a criminal offense in the United States to provide any kind of assistance to the LTTE. In my view, that is a pretty solid deterrent to major money flows out of the United States. Now, if we need to, we will prosecute cases which come to our attention. We will very actively enforce our laws. I think other countries have also been active recently and we are glad to see that.
Q: I am Ramesh from the Asian Age newspaper. The Japanese Special Envoy recently visited Colombo and New Delhi and they've invited India to attend a May 30 meeting of the co-chairs, also have inviting India to become a member if they want to. Do you support that proposal and if so what role do you see for India in this?
PDAS Camp: Well, I think that's a decision India has to make. India obviously has significant interests in Sri Lanka. I recall that the co-chairs were originally formed after the Tokyo donor's conference; that it was a group of four countries that decided they were going to support the peace process with the funding that was being offered. The co-chairs have worked pretty well, as it is. But if India would be interested, obviously India has significant interests in Sri Lanka.
Q: You spoke what the international community could do in Sri Lanka? I mean what can the international community do in a situation where literally a group is oppressing the government? That is virtually the situation as such. So along with India, like you've had coordination on Nepal, what is it that the U.S. and India can do together or with the co-chairs? Do you have any ways of influencing the LTTE's behavior at all?
PDAS Camp: That's a very good question. I think that we thought for a very long time that international respectability was an important goal of the LTTE, and therefore we could hold out the possibility of delisting the LTTE, of getting them to join the political system. I must say that events of recent months suggest that the LTTE has is not deterred by the thought of losing international respectability. Now, there are other options that can be taken. I mean this gentleman (indicating a journalist present) talked about the money flows into the LTTE. Certainly, there must be a way to work with other countries cooperatively to help prevent those money flows.
Q: I'm Manish from IANS. Many international observers have described the situation there as that of civil war. Do you agree with that? How serious and how quickly does the international community need to step in, in more concrete steps, to salvage whatever remains?
PDAS Camp: I don't think we are at a stage of a civil war at the current time. I do think that the omens are very bad and we would not want to see it go back to that state. I'm sorry, what was the other half of your question?
Q: Given the fact that the situation is so bad, there needs to be some immediate action sort of way to, you know talking about international pressure.
PDAS Camp: Well, I think international pressure is good. I also think that the government of Sri Lanka has a responsibility and I think it's caring out that responsibility to work out a strategy to deal with this problem. It is a hard Sri Lankan problem and the United States, the co-chairs, Norway, India are not going to solve the problems. But we can certainly do everything we can to help from the sidelines. But I do think the government can do things, including coming up with a plan for maximum devolution which is what President Rajapakshe talked about in his election campaign.
Q: Seema from DNA. The Sri Lankans are very keen that the LTTE be banned by the EU. Are you going to ask the EU to do something of that sort?
Group: (Laughter)
Q: Has the question already been asked?
PDAS Camp: Well, yes. The answer was, you know our position on the LTTE is very clear. The EU needs to make its own decision. But our position is we have banned them, we have listed them, and so….
Q: But you have a lot of influence with the EU. I mean, you are allies, you are friends….
PDAS Camp: They know our views.
Q: I wanted to know whether during your stay in Sri Lanka, did you get the view that in India, in the UPA Government, and particularly in Tamil Nadu, there is, you know, a different view to assess (inaudible) the LTTE, and the political view within a section of the UPA is different, and that is making things a little difficult?
PDAS Camp: You are, I'm sorry, you are talking about the Government in Sri Lanka?
Q: Yes, the Government and in the Sri Lankan society. You said you met political parties?
PDAS Camp: Yes, well, yes, I think it is well known that one of the JVP's original demands was that Norway be ousted from the peace process. And the Government has thankfully not done that. So, yes there are differences, but I think that President Rajapakshe has taken a position supporting the continuation of the existing process, and that is good.
Q: I was asking about within India.
PDAS Camp: Oh, within India? I am sorry. That's why, okay.
Q: In Indian political.... you know, as we know, the DMK and political, you know in the past they have openly supported?
PDAS Camp: I am not an expert on Tamil politics. (Laughs) I do sense the need of the DMK …
Q: Within Sri Lanka did you come across any such (inaudible)?
PDAS Camp: No, I don't think the people thought that the Tamil Nadu elections made a huge difference. To be honest, the DMK and the AIADMK were not going to have dramatically different views. It's really an Indian question, "Is this a potent issue in the Tamil Nadu elections?" I am told by my colleagues who look at these things that it was not a big issue in this past election.
Q: Your discussions were limited to Sri Lanka or any other bilateral issues here?
PDAS Camp Well, I am having meetings in South Block later this afternoon actually. On Nepal, in particular.
Q: Any bilateral issues?
PDAS Camp: That was not the main purpose of my visit.
Q: What are your views on Nepal? Do you think its going (inaudible)?
PDAS Camp Well, I would say we are cautiously optimistic that things are going in the right direction. But there is a long way to go. And the new government is stepping out very smartly and taking some tough decisions. And in fact, I think tomorrow they will be theoretically making further decisions on the structure of the new Nepal Government.
Q: Do you think there is a role for the King?
PDAS Camp: I think that is a decision strictly for the people of Nepal. We can work with a constitutional monarch, we can work with a Government in which the King has very minimalist role. We don't take a position on whether Nepal should be a republic.
Q: This is related to an earlier question. In your meeting with MEA officials, did you reiterate that Japanese proposal invitation to the Donors' conference? And, also, India had at one time talked about the southern consensus (inaudible). Did that issue also come up with the MEA (inaudible) …
PDAS Camp: The southern consensus being Karunanidhi and Jayalalitha?
Q: All the southern parties in the Sri Lankan (inaudible).
PDAS Camp: Right. You know, we covered the whole range of Sri Lankan issues in our discussions today. And certainly the question of the Japanese invitation is out there. There is no question about that.
Q: The Japanese position, what did you say?
PDAS Camp: I said the question is out there, the Japanese invitation. We are not in a position, we are not the hosts of this conference, this next meeting. So we are not in the position of inviting. The Japanese have certainly done so. We discussed that and we discussed a little bit of the issue.
Q: Would you like India to join the co-chairs?
PDAS Camp: Again, it is up to India.
Q: In the two days of your interactions in Colombo, did you get the impression that this peace process, these talks, could be revived soon? Secondly, also, as you suggested in your interview in Colombo that possibly investigations by the Sri Lankan Government into the killing of civilians of late could be a sort of confidence building measure that could facilitate resumption of peace talks?
PDAS Camp: I am glad you raised this. It certainly is something that an elected democratic government has responsibility for maintaining law and order. And there has been an increase in killings in Sri Lanka in government-controlled areas. The Government does have responsibility to investigate those. That would be helpful.
Q: Your comments on the likelihood or possibility of UN involvement in Nepal in the next couple of months or years, may be?
PDAS Camp Well, of course the UN is already there in a role of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. And they may be able to play an expanded role. That would be fine, I think, if they could play a role in monitoring whatever elections take place.
Moderator: Thanks a lot.