Sri Lankan President says “Norway funded LTTE”
Posted on November 16th, 2014
Hot News from Sri Lanka
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s president has accused Norway of covertly financing the island’s separatist Tamil Tigers during peace talks ahead of a military campaign that crushed the rebels in 2009.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa demanded that the Norwegian government must probe the funding of the LTTE during the island’s three-decade civil war, alleging that Norway financed the ethnic Tamil terrorist group.
“They gave money to the LTTE. The Norwegian government must investigate. We have evidence on how they funded the terrorists,” Rajapaksa said addressing a political gathering in the northwestern town of Kurunegala.
He specifically blamed former Norwegian minister and peace facilitator Erik Solheim for backing the LTTE.
Solheim failed to secure a peace deal despite arranging a truce which broke down in April 2006. Three years later, Sri Lankan forces extinguished the campaign for a separate homeland in a controversial military campaign.
Rajapakse in his address, a copy of which was obtainable from his office on Sunday, said Solheim gave money to the guerrillas even while peace moves were underway.
“This man Solheim is now planning to give evidence against us in Geneva,” Rajapaksa said referring to the ongoing UN Human Rights Council’s investigation on war crimes committed by both the LTTE and government forces during the final phase of the civil war that ended in 2009
Solheim, a key figure who led Norwegian peace efforts between 1999 and 2006,
Rajapaksa, who opted for a military solution to the conflict, quit the Norwegian-led peace process during the height of his successful war effort which crushed the LTTE.
Sri Lanka crushed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) by May 2009 in a massive military operation that also triggered allegations that troops killed up to 40,000 Tamil civilians, a charge Colombo denies.
“Solheim told me that our forces will never be able to defeat the LTTE. He said (leader Velupillai) Prabhakaran is a very very clear man. A military genius,” Rajapakse said.
“Today Solheim is trying to jump up and give evidence against us. The Norwegian government should investigate his conduct. We have evidence of him giving money to the LTTE. We are ready to share that evidence.”
November 16th, 2014 at 8:40 am
ranil will come forward to save solheim- his best friend and maduluvave will back him under the supervision of sarath nanada silva
November 16th, 2014 at 1:08 pm
So Mr president, what is GOSL going to do about it? I know. NOTHING!
At least get the LOCAL CONSPIRATORS and destroy them. Otherwise they will do it again.
November 16th, 2014 at 6:08 pm
“Today Solheim is trying to jump up and give evidence against us. The Norwegian government should investigate his conduct. We have evidence of him giving money to the LTTE. We are ready to share that evidence.”
Please do. The NORWEGIAN PEACE KEEPING FORCE were not only the most worthless force during a war that spanned 2 centuries (20th and 21st century) but also was Asia’s longest war at 30 years, it actually helped the Tamil Tigers with each new peace that was brokered. What made it so obnoxious was that these ‘parasites’ stayed in Sri Lanka’s finest hotels while the slaughter went on year after bloody year.
These Norwegians watched the results of their actions as it gave the Tamil Tigers time to regroup and rearm but also watched how it failed over and over again. They would have continued feasting on the misery of a nation if Rajapakse had not booted them out and ended that terrible war on a military footing.
November 17th, 2014 at 7:40 am
Solheim is a Socialist. India funds lot of Socialists around the world including those in Norway.
November 17th, 2014 at 1:09 pm
Endia has set another world record – Endia is the SLAVE CAPITAL of the world with over 14 million slaves.
Endian records.
1. slave capital
2. rape capital
3. road side toileting capital
4. hunger capital
5. largest weapons importer while singing made in Endia
6. violence against women capital
7. terrorism capital
8. poverty capital
9. racism capital
10. interference capital
November 17th, 2014 at 2:02 pm
Perhaps Norway funds Colombian rebels.
November 17th, 2014 at 2:31 pm
Solheim admitted in the Norwegian papers that Norway did fund LTTE but that they did with the approval of Colombo. Now if that it is up to Colombo to deny these allegations or if Colombo did in fact give any tacit approval then what part of LTTE did Colombo agree for Norway to fund? was it only for humanitarian basis and did the Norwegian organizations stick to those limitations or exceed them?
November 17th, 2014 at 11:49 pm
Solheim is being deceptive by not telling us the timeframe and WHICH leader knew of the payments. It was Ranil in the UNP who approved the radio transmitter going to the LTTE, NOT Rajapaksa.
The UNP under Ranil’s leadership was doing whatever these Western countries wanted him to do, including secret deals with the US CIA on rendition to torture US terror suspects.
Part of why Solheim and his UK and US counterparts are dragging Sri Lanka through the UNHRC war crimes inquiry and want to undermine Rajapaksa and his government is that they got egg on their faces by promising a so-called “political solution” (approved by Ranil and the UNP) to the Tamils that essentially gave them an autonomous governed territory in the North and East as desired by the LTTE. This all unraveled when Rajapaksa routed the LTTE in 2009.
What also unraveled with the war ending in 2009 is the neo-colonial strategy of divide-and-conquer, in which white former colonist nations pit native populations against each other so they are distracted fighting each other rather than opposing the exploitation of their country by the neo-colonists. Norway, the UK, and the US have a much more difficult time getting whatever they want out of Sri Lanka now that the war has ended, and they obviously blame Rajapaksa for this change in fortune.