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WASHINGTON: A US Senate report has urged more engagement with Sri Lanka as it recovers from war, warning that Washington risks "losing" the island to China and Western adversaries.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in a bipartisan study, said the United States should be firm on human rights concerns including treatment of journalists and said a "culture of fear and paranoia" had permeated Sri Lanka.
But the report worried the United States was alienating Sri Lanka as the island, historically friendly to Washington, boosts ties with China along with states such as Iran and Myanmar.
"The United States cannot afford to 'lose' Sri Lanka," the study said.
It warned that persistent criticism without engagement could push Sri Lanka down a path like Myanmar, earlier known as Burma, which has become isolated from much of the world.
Sri Lankan troops in May killed the top leadership of the Tamil Tiger rebels, ending a bloody 37-year-old guerrilla war that left tens of thousands of people dead.
"Sri Lanka is at a critical juncture in its efforts to secure a lasting peace," Senator John Kerry, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement to release the report.
The study said Sri Lanka was strategically important partly due to its location in the Indian Ocean, lying along shipping routes between the Middle East and East Asia including those bringing nearly all the oil to US ally Japan.
"While humanitarian concerns remain important, US policy toward Sri Lanka cannot be dominated by a single agenda," it said.
"This does not mean changing the relationship overnight or ignoring the real concerns about Sri Lanka's political and humanitarian record," the report said.
"It does mean, however, considering a new approach that increases US leverage vis-a-vis Sri Lanka by expanding the number of tools at our disposal," it said.
The report called for the expansion of US aid and a resumption of training to military personnel, during which the United States could seek progress on human rights, along with an early return of Peace Corps volunteers.
The United States and other Western nations voiced alarm at Sri Lanka's treatment of non-combatants during the war's finale along with its internment afterward of some 130,000 people, mostly Tamil civilians.
Sri Lanka last week said it was allowing them to leave, although human rights groups feared that many had nowhere to go. The Senate report pointed to the decision as a positive step.
It also said that President Mahinda Rajapakse – reviled by some members of the Tamil diaspora – had taken steps to develop eastern Sri Lanka and reduce the number of child soldiers.
"The political environment in Sri Lanka is not as black and white as many outside observers believe," the report said.
But the study said that serious problems remained and was particularly critical of the climate surrounding journalists, saying some were too frightened to see the US Senate staff for fear of persecution.
Sri Lanka earlier this year sentenced a Tamil journalist, J. S. Tissainayagam, to 20 years hard labour in a decision condemned around the world.
The report said that the United States should withhold visas and revoke the US citizenship of Sri Lankans found to be behind human rights abuses.
Sri Lanka last month welcomed Myanmar's reclusive military leader, General Than Shwe, on a rare foreign trip and recently has counted China and Iran as top lenders.
- AFP/so
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