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Diplomatic Safari in S. Africa: Tiger-hunt in
quagmire
25 November 1998
Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar has been admired again for
what is generally believed to be another victory in his relentless
diplomatic efforts to bust the LTTE"s international networks.
His journey to South Africa has been seen as a well-timed
pre-emptive strike. The choreography of the foreign minister"s
achievement in South Africa seems as impeccable as his sartorial
manners. The very basis of this South African episode is premised on
the belief that the LTTE will be thrown out of Britain soon, that it
will have to find a suitable alternative to relocate its
international secretariat and that South Africa is the country most
likely to accommodate the "stranded" Tiger.
The first problem I see here is the assumption that the LTTE"s
international secretariat is a monolith operating from the Eelam
House in London. It is only too well known that the chief of the
LTTE"s worldwide public operations is Velummayilum Manogaran (or
Mano, as he is generally known) who is based in Paris. It is also
common knowledge that Santhan, the chief of Eelam House on Long Lane
and the organisation"s International Secretariat on Catherine"s Road
and other publicly known affairs of the Tigers in UK, takes his
orders from Mano and an unspecified number of overt and covert LTTE
"officials" who operate from various parts of Europe.
So, even if one takes it as a foregone conclusion that the Britain
is going to throw the LTTE unceremoniously out, it does not mean
that the present structure of the organisation will be effectively
destroyed.
Mano would still be managing the LTTE"s international affairs from
Paris. And if we are to go by what happened in the United States, we
could even safely predict that Santhan and his men (and women) will
continue to carry on with their work in London unhindered even after
Britain introduces the said law. The US "ban" (designation, to be
precise) on the LTTE, for example, has not prevented Viswanathan
Rudrakumaran, the organisation"s legal advisor, and Karuna, chief of
its American operations, from carrying on with their work as usual.
The point is that Britain is only going to introduce a general
anti-terrorism law but will not bring about specific legislation to
single out and banish the LTTE from British soil.
This was more than patent from the comments of the minister of state
at the British Foreign and Commonwealth office, Derek Fatchett,
while he was in Colombo recently.
The problem we have to ponder here is this " if the specific US law
designating the Tigers as a terrorist "outfit" did not translate
into the spectacle of Rudrakumaran and Karuna folding their tent in
America to desperately seek an alternative haven, then on what
grounds does Mr. Kadirgamar would have us believe that the general
anti-terrorism law in Britain will compel the LTTE to pack up and
head, bag and baggage, for South Africa or, for that matter, any
other country willing to let it in. The only indication, as far as I
am aware, that the Tigers may be facing some restrictions in Britain
was the absence, since last month, of the daily press communiquŽ
that they fax to journalists and diplomatic missions. This gave rise
to speculation that Britain may have already begun tightening the
screws by making it impossible for the LTTE to receive information
every day from the Wanni and to fax the communiquŽ worldwide as
usual.
This perception, I understand, is quite incorrect. The
discontinuation of the daily communiquŽ appears to be the result of
a practical policy decision on the part of the LTTE"s international
headquarters rather than any "tightening of screws" by the British
authorities. Does this all mean that there is very poor, or no
co-ordination at all between the Directorate of Foreign Intelligence
and the Foreign Ministry? And what is this brouhaha over the arrival
of the LTTE"s international headquarters in South Africa, prompted,
as we are made to believe, by the imminent closure of the
organisation"s operations in Britain. None of it stands to reason or
logic.
It is indeed well known that there are a number of pan-Tamil
nationalist organisations in South Africa that publicly support the
LTTE. It is clear that their activities will continue unabated.
There is absolutely no evidence that the South African government is
going to crack down on them.
The Tamil Eelam Support Movement (TESM) in Durban announced this
week that it will hold a "Tamil heroes remembrance ceremony" on
Sunday to honour what it described as the fallen heroes in Tamil
Eelam and the Tamils who were killed in the ANC"s struggle against
apartheid. (The South African Tamil martyrs, according to the TESM
and others, include Valliamma, a young girl who died in prison in
the early 1900"s after she was arrested for taking part in Mahatma
Gandhi"s passive resistance campaigns in South Africa). The problem
runs much deeper than what one may gather from the picture recently
painted of the situation by the foreign ministry and other
intelligence specialists.
The connection between the Sri Lankan Tamil separatist movement and
the African National Congress goes back to the mid-seventies. One
instance might suffice to illustrate my point. "Sumathy Master", a
senior Tamil member of the ANC was also a central committee member
of an armed Tamil militant group from the late seventies. The ANC
acquired skills in seaborne operations through him. The group also
arranged a special military training programme for the ANC during
this period. Later, as the other Tamil Eelam groups joined Sri
Lanka"s democratic mainstream, many Tamil militants of the ANC such
as Sumathy drifted inevitably towards the LTTE. This was also the
case with the powerful Tamil nationalists of Mauritius who recently
made that government withdraw new bank notes for not giving Tamil
its due place.
(A Reuters report of Nov. 19 says " The episode cost the Mauritius
government 2 million US dollars "It"s a great victory for all Tamil
militants," Tamil Council leader Devarajen Kanaksabee said. "The
controversial family of bank notes was a deliberate affront at the
history of this country and more especially at Tamil culture.").
Therefore, what, in the final analysis, has Mr. Kadirgamar"s
accomplished in South Africa? In what manner has his much applauded
mission contributed to diminishing the military and financial power
of the LTTE? The people of this country will be grateful if he
condescends to provide an explanation
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