U.S. Embassy fabricates non-existent political violence in Sri Lanka: To benefit its diplomats wallets

The June 26 ‘Travel Warning’ issued by the United States Department of State, a highly fabricated internal political violence and crime and safety report on Sri Lanka, has dual effect: The report justifies the earlier State Department-classified “Hardship and Dangerous” category to which the Colombo American Embassy and its Foreign Service Officers were listed for the continued 20% additional special pay increase. And the other, the adverse effect Sri Lanka will face worldwide on her drive to get investors to the island for feasibility studies, the much needed investments and the promotion of her tourism industry.

It was reported last week following the State Department’s adverse travel warning that Sri Lanka Foreign Ministry had directed all its missions overseas to persuade the host countries to lift travel advisories on Sri Lanka as the country’s situation has rapidly changed with the eradication of terrorism.

Further, the Sri Lankan envoys in foreign missions were directed to initiate a dialogue with the respective Foreign Ministries and convince them that Sri Lanka is a safer place for tourists.

The ‘Travel Warning’ issued by the State Department in Washington was in fact based on a report prepared by the American Embassy in Colombo as a comprehensive larger analytical report for Washington and the U.S. Congress to evaluate and assess if Sri Lanka falls into the category of ‘Hardship’ or ‘Dangerous’ or a mixture of both.

To determine a ‘Hardship’ or ‘Dangerous’ (or mixture of both) location, the State Department uses its overseas consulates and embassies to survey the non-U.S. host location. Sri Lanka is a non-U.S. host location.

In the State Department’s analysis there are 89 questions in 15 general categories that address such things as:

(1)The physical environment including physical isolation, climate, and social isolation

(2) Living conditions including sanitation and disease, medical and hospital facilities, housing, food, education, availability of imports, recreation, entertainment, and community facilities

(3) Personal security and related factors, including political violence, crime, and political harassment.

Each of the factors is carefully evaluated and is weighted according to a point score system. The total point score is then related to the cumulative point thresholds established for the allowance percentage rates.

There are five percentage rates: 5, 10, 15, 20, or 25 percent. Once the percentage is determined, the employee assigned to the overseas diplomatic post receives that percentage of his/her base salary.

As the Foreign Ministry has instructed its overseas diplomatic missions to approach the respective foreign ministries to convince that Sri Lanka is a safer place to travel, in the case of Sri Lanka Embassy in Washington approaching the State Department is a futile exercise as the preparation of this comprehensive and detailed report is done in Colombo at the American Embassy.

The June 26 warning clearly indicates that Sri Lanka was kept in the category of a mixture of ‘Hardship’ and ‘Dangerous’ post for American diplomats tilting more toward dangerous.

The result was a 20% additional pay increase for the American diplomats serving in Sri Lanka. The 20% rate is effective June 21, 2009.

In comparison, in Afghanistan it is 35%, Bangladesh 30%, Burma 30%, Pakistan 30%, and India 20%.

And with the justification of a 20% pay rise for American diplomats in Colombo, Sri Lanka will obviously start facing a worldwide hardship in its investment and tourism promotion campaign, an ambitious journey the Rajapaksa administration embarked on after defeating the LTTE in May to build a conducive environment for economic development which had suffered due to the unstable security situation since mid eighties. The State Department ‘Warning’ and an earlier report are unhelpful to build this conducive environment.

June 26 ‘Warning’ report, based on a 9 April 2009 report

The Asian Tribune is in a position to disclose that the June 26 State Department issued ‘Warning’ report was based on the Sri Lanka 2009 Crime & Safety Report issued on 09 April (2009) by the Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) prepared in conjunction with the Regional Security Office of the U.S. Embassy, Colombo.

The OSAC report was produced 38 days prior to the conclusion of the military offensive against the LTTE with the demise of its leadership including Velupillai Prabhakaran. In fact the contents of the 09 April report in entirety were prepared at the American Embassy for the OSAC under the latter’s guidance. The OSAC reports are used by the State Department to determine the nature of host countries whether they belong to the category of ‘Hardship’ or ‘Dangerous’ or mixture of both to assess enhanced remuneration for its overseas diplomatic personnel.

On the other hand potential investors use these reports as references that affect their overall decisions.

The Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) is a Federal Advisory Committee with a U.S. Government Charter to promote security cooperation between American business and private sector interests worldwide and the U.S. Department of State. OSAC currently encompasses the 34-member core Council, an Executive Office, over 100 Country Councils, and more than 3,500 constituent member organizations and 372 associates.

The Council is established under authority of the Secretary of State pursuant to 22 U.S.Code. 2656 and in accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), as amended, 5 U.S.C. App., and its regulations, 41 C.F.R. Part 102. The activities of the Council are determined to be in the public interest and are directly related to overseas security functions of the Department of State.

Under the sub-title Post-Specific Concerns the OSAC April 09 report says of Sri Lanka:

“The political climate on the island is tense and can change at any moment. Please exercise caution when traveling in the country. American citizens are strongly advised against travel to the Northern Province and most of the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka. All of the Northern Province remains dangerous. In Anuradhapura District of the Northern Province, the areas north of Medawachchiya, the A14 road, and the road from Medawachchiya and Horowupatna are dangerous. Non-official travel by U.S. Government personnel to the Eastern Province, other than the A6 road corridor and Trincomalee Town in Trincomalee District, and areas in Ampara District south of the A4 road and west of the Maha Oya, is prohibited. Ongoing fighting between government and LTTE forces may pose severe hazards to American citizens traveling in the region. Official travel by U.S. Government personnel to these areas in the North and East is restricted, and unofficial travel is prohibited. Americans should consider their personal security before considering traveling or working in northern or eastern Sri Lanka.”

The State Department’s June 26 “Warning” states:

“The Department of State urges American citizens to evaluate carefully the risks of travel to Sri Lanka and specifically warns Americans against travel to the Northern Province and most of the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka due to the presence of uncleared land mines and the possibility of renewed insurgency. Armed paramilitaries remain active in the Eastern Province. Consular assistance to American citizens detained in the north and east may be significantly delayed. Travel to all of the Northern Province remains potentially unsafe, in particular travel to the following areas: Anuradhapura District of the North Central Province; the areas north of Medawachchiya; the A14 road; and the road from Medawachchiya and Horowupatna. Non-official travel by U.S. Government personnel to the Eastern Province, other than the A6 road corridor and Trincomalee Town in Trincomalee District and areas in Ampara District south of the A4 road and west of Maha Oya, is prohibited. Travel in some parts of the country remains highly restricted by the Sri Lankan government, with particular sensitivity concerning the large number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in camps.”

The OSAC April 09 report is more detailed and comprehensive than the June 26 ‘Travel Warning’, and the former is being used by the State Department to prepare travel warnings to the general public.

Collateral Damage of the U.S. Reports

The primary objective of preparing reports as done by the OSAC is for the consumption of the State Department to determine to which category a host country falls – Hardship, Dangerous or a mixture of both – to arrive, among other things, at an allowance percentage rate to replenish remuneration package of diplomats in the overseas post. The OSAC April 09 Sri Lanka 2009 Crime & Safety Report was entirely prepared by the U.S. Embassy in Colombo for that purpose, and the data in this report with more additions were incorporated in the June 26 ‘Warning’ of the State Department.

While replenishing the remuneration package of the Foreign Service Officers and Civil Servants assigned to the American Embassy in Colombo the two reports can immediately damage the image of Sri Lanka that can turn the potential foreign investors away and slow the arrival of tourist.

It is a known factor that foreign investors heavily rely on State Department reports of this nature, and the Economic and Commercial Section of the U.S. Embassy in Colombo has the obligation to apprise potential foreign investors, American or other, about the investment climate, security situation, political atmosphere, GSL response to political and security challenges and overall feasibility. The April 09 and the subsequent report prepared by the American Embassy that was used by Washington to release the June 26 ‘Warning’ are handy reading material for potential foreign investors. In fact there was no necessity for the June 26 statement to have many strong political and security statements considering the total internal annihilation of the LTTE with its leadership on May 18.

This serious scenario makes it incumbent for the Sri Lanka ‘s Foreign Ministry to initiate a dialogue with the officials of the American embassy in Colombo. This important task should not be passed on to the Sri Lanka Mission in Washington because the American system works very strangely.

The two reports inflicted collateral damage to Sri Lanka’s economic development. The most prized immediate casualties are foreign investments and tourism. The following two paragraphs taken from the OSAC April 9 report which is generally used as reference material by potential investors, U.S. or others, may have mixed feelings about the situation in Sri Lanka. It talks about attacks on economic targets among others.

“In the first week of 2009, Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) armed forces captured Kilinochchi, which had served as the de facto capital for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). In the two days following the fall of Kilinochchi, a LTTE suicide bomber self-detonated at the Air Force Headquarters in Colombo and the LTTE placed a parcel bomb in a popular Colombo market place. These attacks were likely in response to the GSL’s achievements in the North. RSO and other Embassy offices anticipate that the LTTE will continue to attack using similar methods in other locations throughout Sri Lanka, focusing on “soft” targets in Colombo, the Eastern Province, and possibly other locations in the South.

“In the past, the LTTE has not specifically targeted American citizens or other American interests. The LTTE usually targets key Sri Lankan government officials, military/police installations, and economic targets. Favored techniques include truck bombs, suicide bombers and drive-by assassinations from motorcycles, bicycles, or three wheelers. However, the LTTE has recently increased attacks in areas of high public concentrations and continues to disregard collateral damage to innocent bystanders and foreigners, as exemplified by bombing incidents of market places, buses, bus stands, and the railway infrastructure.”

As much as the State Department uses the reports produced by the OSAC which obtains observations, data, reports and analyses from the Department’s overseas diplomatic posts to justify additional remunerations to its Foreign Service Officers the other uses of such reports are clearly stated in this manner in the OSAC web site:

(Begin Quote) With the assistance of the U.S. Department of Commerce, OSAC established the Research and Information Support Center (RISC) in 1997. RISC is currently comprised of a division chief and thirteen International Security Specialists divided into ten regional areas and one functional area. The RISC staff interfaces and liaises with the private sector, the Bureau of Diplomatic Security and other federal agencies, and U.S. diplomatic missions around the world on matters of security involving U.S. firms and their employees. RISC gauges threats to U.S. private sector investment, personnel, facilities, and intellectual property abroad. With access to a broad range of classified and unclassified reporting from American embassies abroad, as well as open source information, RISC can track social, political, and economic issues that impact the security of the private sector operating overseas. The RISC staff conducts open source research to provide time-sensitive unclassified analytical products and updates. RISC is now able to provide “any enterprise incorporated in the United States doing business abroad” with timely security-related information of an unclassified nature by means of the website. The staff of RISC is dedicated full time to the American private sector to respond to inquiries and research security-related issues. The group averages 200 telephone consultations per month with constituents where information is passed regarding the overseas security environment. (End Quote)

It is a common practice that even non-American investors heavily depend on these reports. Sri Lanka needs to tap the source of these reports, in this case the U.S. Embassy in Colombo, to reverse the trend.