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[Transcript of interview to Thinakkural by Ambassador Robert Blake]

Question: Mr. Ambassador, how do you see the present situation in Sri Lanka? Are you optimistic about the (inaudible)?

Ambassador Blake: Well, I think we have an important opportunity now to achieve peace here in this country. As you know the SLFP and the APRC are working on a power-sharing proposal, and we very much support that effort, believe it is an extremely important effort, and we encourage the government to proceed as quickly as possible with that so that it can be shared with the full All-Parties Committee, and we hope that it will be something that will meet the aspirations of the Tamil people, but also of the Muslims and the Sinhalese people. And we think that we have in the President somebody with very considerable political skills who would be able to sell this to the South. And so we are optimistic, and we do believe that this represents an important opportunity for Sri Lanka.

Question: Are you happy with the efforts taken by the parties to start the peace process, or the dialog?

Ambassador Blake: Well the process is under way now, and as I said earlier, we hope that this will proceed as quickly as possible. Because the sooner there is a proposal ready to put on the table, the sooner the negotiations can get going, and the sooner the fighting and some of the other problems associated with the conflict can be solved.

Question: How do you see the international community’s efforts?

Ambassador: The Co-Chairs remain very involved in encouraging this process. I think that everything that I have said so far would be supported by my Co-Chair colleagues. The United States continues to support, strongly, Norway’s facilitation efforts and also the role of the SLMM – the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission – and I think we are united in the conviction that there cannot be a military solution to this conflict, and that the solution lies in a negotiated settlement that meets the aspirations of all the communities that I mentioned.

Question: Considering the last one year, the violence and the human rights (inaudible), do you feel that the Tamil people still really have confidence in the international community’s words? You have visited Jaffna, you have seen (inaudible). How do you feel (inaudible)… reason to believe the international community?

Ambassador Blake: Well I can’t speak for the Tamil people. As you say I have been to Jaffna, and I know that they have been living under very difficult situations there, and I think the government has taken some efforts to try to address those, and clearly more needs to be done. I was very pleased that the Hon. Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights visited Jaffna several days ago. So I think that is a good sign that the government is committed to try to address the problems there.

Question: Are you happy with government’s efforts to supply rations to Jaffna?

Ambassador Blake: Yes, I think the government has made a strong effort to try to provide essential goods and essential services. I think there are still some things that need to be done, and I think our friends in the government would agree with that – for example, building materials. There is a need now to get livelihoods back up so that people can earn money and go about their daily lives, and for that you need cement and other construction materials. Again, I think the government is working on ways to address that, and we encourage that.

Question: At the Galle Conference you came out very strongly in support of the NGOs. How do you see the present situation?

[Ambassador Robert Blake, File Photo]

Ambassador Blake: Our position, and I think the position of most of the donors, is that the NGOs play a very crucial role here in Sri Lanka, and indeed in all countries where they operate, to deliver the assistance that all of the donor countries are providing. In the United States’ case all of our assistance – tsunami relief assistance, but also other kinds of assistance – goes through NGOs. So we very strongly support their role, and we are concerned that there have been recent unsubstantiated attacks against some NGOs, American and other NGOs, and we are very pleased that Minister Samarasinghe has pledged on behalf of the government not to allow state media to make unsubstantiated allegations against NGOs, and that all such accusations should first be investigated and, if indeed an NGO is found to be doing something in violation of Sri Lankan law or American law, then of course remedial action should be taken. But before then no statement should be made in the press, because such statements can be very damaging to the operations of those NGOs, and they can often affect the physical safety of NGO workers.

Question: How would you assess the human rights situation? Disappearances, abductions – especially around Colombo? Even one of the vice chancellors has gone missing. No details about him yet.

Ambassador Blake: Yes. Our assessment is that the human rights situation deteriorated in the last year. We will be publishing our human rights report next month sometime. This is our annual human rights report that we submit on all countries around the world. Our assessment is that the human rights deteriorated in 2006. We are pleased that the President decided to appoint this commission of inquiry, and the United States and other important countries are providing observers and also experts to observe the work and support the work of the commission, and that work is now under way. So I think that will be a very, very important effort. But we think that that is only part of the solution. The government must also take steps to address some of the underlying problems that exist, such as abductions and disappearances and other violations, and the international community stands ready to support the government in any way that it can to see that this happens.

Question: Would you like to speak on press freedom? How do you see the press freedom in Sri Lanka, especially in the last (year?)?

Ambassador Blake: Again, I think there have been some challenges to press freedom here. A free media is a very important part of any democratic society, and certainly Sri Lanka is a democracy and has every right to expect to have a free and vibrant media. So again, we would like to support the role of the free media here. I have made it a practice to try to call on various members of the media here, as we do in any country, and this will be one of the efforts that I think all of the international community also will be following very closely to support the right of a strong and free media to operate here in Sri Lanka.

Question: Going back to the Tamil problem, do you feel the armed struggle has legitimacy?

Ambassador Blake: No we do not feel that that has legitimacy. We have taken a very strong stand against terrorism and against violence. We believe that the LTTE should renounce terrorism and violence, and that the only way forward is through a negotiated settlement; and we have made, of course, that same point to our friends in the government. There is no place here or anywhere else for violence and terrorism.

Question: So, do you separate the Tamil grievances from the armed struggle?

Ambassador Blake: We do. We Do. We think that the Tamil people have very legitimate grievances that need to be addressed, and that is one of the crucial roles of the devolution, or power-sharing proposal that comes out would be to address those. But again, we do not see that there can be any role for violence or terrorism.

Question: Would you like to comment on the power sharing, federal or (inaudible)? How do you see the Northeast merger and de-merger?

Ambassador Blake: Well, the recent government military victories in Vakarai and elsewhere have, I think, substantially changed the situation on the ground, and as a result of the Supreme Court decision, the merger of the Northern and Eastern provinces is no longer in effect. And our position is that all of these questions should be resolved as part of the power-sharing proposals that the SLFP and the APRC process that are now developing. So we hope that neither side will take any steps that will foreclose whatever options those committees decide on. Really, that is where these things should be sorted out. Neither side should be taking pre-emptive steps now to try to decide unilaterally or prejudge the outcome of that process.

Question: Will the international (community?) recognize the paramilitary forces, if tomorrow there is an election in the East? If Karuna contests the elections and he comes to power, with the international (community?) recognize him; will he be given equal weight like what the LTTE is getting?

Ambassador Blake: Well, our view is that Karuna and other paramilitary factions are like any other political group around the world. They cannot compete for power while they are engaging in illegal activities, and there is widespread evidence that the Karuna faction is engaged in abductions and child recruitment and many other forms of intimidation against local NGOs on the ground in the East. And while they continue such behavior I don’t think there is place for them in the political system. So they have got to stop those kinds of activities before the international community, at least, would be willing to acknowledge any kind of a political role for them.

Question: Do you want to send any message? What is the message to the LTTE, especially?

Ambassador Blake: Well, my message to the LTTE is that we hope that they will renounce violence, renounce terrorism; but also that they will engage seriously. Because, as I said earlier, we believe that there is an important opportunity this year – in 2006 – for this beautiful country to finally make progress towards a negotiated settlement. We believe there is an important opportunity to take advantage of the parliamentary majority that the President now has, and I think that the UNP even though it is outside the government it will be prepared to support a credible power-sharing proposal so the government will have the votes necessary in Parliament to amend the constitution to implement a devolution proposal, provided it has the support of the people of Sri Lanka. So this is a very significant opportunity, and I hope that the LTTE will recognize that, that they will negotiate in good faith, because twenty-five years of violence have really not achieved anything for the LTTE, or for the Tamil people. On the contrary, I think that the Tamil people have suffered a great deal as a result of the LTTE’s campaign. What we hope for is a final settlement that can address these legitimate grievances, and then we hope that the LTTE will lay down its arms and that Sri Lanka can finally achieve the potential and the promise that we have all long believed it has.

Thank you.

[Released by Embassy of the United States, Colombo]