CLASSIFIED | POLITICS | TERRORISM | OPINION | VIEWS

NPA IN OSLO CALLS SRILANKAN ACCOUNTS OF SUDANESE GUNRUNNING “CONTENTIOUS”BUT FAILS TO SUBSTANTIATE

By Walter Jayawardhana

Norwegian People’s Aid, in a statement issued in Oslo, Norway said, that the current allegations in the Sri Lanka media that it was involved in arms smuggling in Sudan “has no basis in facts” and called the allegations as “contentious reporting.”

Referring to a Norwegian television documentary that originally alleged the group of taking part in gunrunning for a Sudanese terrorist group that was involved in some of the worst human rights violations in Africa the statement said, “Allegations made in this documentary were proven false shortly after they were first made, and are as groundless today as they were then.”

But the denial did not substantiate its statement with any evidence. Nor anything substantial has been published to prove that the allegation was wrong. Meanwhile the allegation by Norwegians and Sudanese fit into a pattern what this particular NGO and other Norwegian NGO’s allegedly with the connivance of the Norwegian Embassy in Colombo have been doing for a length of time in Sri Lanka. Norwegian NGO Red Barna’s activities in Sri Lanka go deep into the establishment of the LTTE in the Indian Ocean island nation’s Eastern and Northern provinces. The Norwegian Minister , Eric Solheim , a personal friend of the late LTTE negotiator Anton Balasingham and his wife, Adele who was involved with women suicide bombers of the LTTE, more or less became an integral part of the terrorist group’s strategy making body.

It has become part of history now that it was he who let Balasingham draft the ceasefire agreement , signed by then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and LTTE leader Prabhakaran, that became allegedly a sell out on the sovereignty , independence and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka. As peace broker it was the job of the Norwegian government , which had been stealthily passed over to one of the parties of the agreement, and has been called the greatest betrayal of modern Sri Lankan history by a nation posing as a peace broker. The great agitation caused by the activities of Norway , made its embassy in Colombo, a target of many a massive demonstrations by opposition groups that finally terminated the ceasefire agreement.

The NPA , in its Oslo statement said, “The (gun running )story has resurfaced in Sri Lanka in connection with the theft of NPA vehicles in Kilinochchi. During an internal routine inspection of the suspended Norwegian People's Aid (NPA) Mine Action Programme equipment and resources on Thursday 24th July, 2008, it was discovered that 8 vehicles had been forcibly removed from the Mine Action compound in Kilinochchi during the preceding days. The incident was immediately reported by NPA to the National Steering Committee for Mine Action under the Ministry of Nation Building and Infrastructure Development and a formal complaint lodged with the LTTE.”

But it has been argued , that the NPA, has failed to inform the so called theft for a long time , to any law enforcing agencies until it was exposed in the Sri Lanka defence.lk website and even when it was reported to the Ministry of Nation building they were careful enough to keep the terrorist group LTTE out of the picture, concealing the true nature of the so called theft.

In fact analysts in Colombo said the explanation raised many more fresh questions when it tried to answer about suspicions that they were in fact working in connivance with the terrorist group who are involved in a desperate battle with the Sri Lanka government.

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