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US likely to cut 20 % aid to Sri Lanka

The State Department plans show the growing unease in the ties between Washington and Colombo. It also means Colombo can expect no respite from the US on the human rights issues.

A Washington date-lined report in Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka) says that Secretary of State John Kerry has proposed a 20 per cent cut in American aid to Sri Lanka. It is said to be the deepest cut in aid to any country in the State Department’s budget proposals, which are now before the Congress for approval. 

The proposed aid cut clearly and unambiguously reflects the unease in ties between Washington and Colombo. It also shows that the US means business on issues concerning human rights, and resolution of the ethnic Tamil issues; it also means that the Obama administration will pursue the Geneva effort at the UNHRC without any let up. 

This is bad news for President Rajapaksa, though over the past week he demonstrated an unusual willingness to at least appear to be listening to the global concern by ordering a probe into 154 skeletons found at the Matale Government Hospital premises between November 2012 and February 2013. These remains were not related to the Tamil insurgency; tests by archaeological and medical teams date the skeletal remains to 1987-1990 when Marxist Sinhala ideologues led ‘a revolution’.  

The probe body is yet to be named though. It is said that a retired judge would conduct the probe and that it would be in addition to the police investigations. 

As the Daily Mirror points out that there is always a gap between what is promised as US aid and what is actually dispersed in a year. This is largely because of the failure of Colombo to do required homework. 

While the actual US development assistance to Sri Lanka in 2012 was $ 8 million, Kerry has proposed about $6 million for 2014- a majority of these funds will go into key projects related to judicial reform. “This reflects the fact that we had a difficult time in programming a lot of our money in Sri Lanka”, a State Department official was quoted as saying. 

Significantly, the loss of Sri Lanka appears to be the gain of its neighbour, the Maldives, where India and the US are reportedly working closely. Most of the increased aid to Male will go to strengthen its counter-terrorism efforts.

It was only in February that the US donated more than one million dollars to build two new hospitals in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu as a part of its on-going efforts to help the redevelopment of the war-ravaged areas. As a matter of fact, the US has done a lot in the Tamil dominated North to help the IDPs and get them back to their normal life and support reconstruction.
 
Economist and UNP parliamentarian Harsha De Silva said reports of a possible cut in US aid to Sri Lanka is a matter of serious concern. He said it signalled that the US ‘meant business. “Seen against the background of the US calling for the implementation of LLRC recommendations, this move can be seen as a clear signal that the US means business,” Dr. De Silva said. 

His advice to Rajapaksa regime is simple: ‘Government should not take a negative position but should deal with the global concerns articulated by the US”. He doesn’t think that Colombo would do so.   

According to him, Sri Lanka needs an improved foreign policy but the country is served by ‘an incoherent and uncoordinated foreign policy being undertaken by various institutions’ – the latest example being Central Bank’s tie-up with an American firm for lobbying on the Capitol Hill.

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