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Minister GL Peiris stresses the need for maritime security
Thailand seemed the appropriate venue for the recently concluded Third Asia-Middle East Dialogue. One of the issues uppermost on the agenda of this meeting that attracted senior ministers, deputy ministers and high ranking officials from the two economically and strategically important regions, was current security challenges and inter-regional solutions to meet them.
In recent months Thailand has made the headlines especially in the western media because of major human smuggling cases that saw over 550 Sri Lankan Tamils shipped out to Canada raising the hackles of many Canadians and causing new political tensions there.
Why Thailand made centre- stage is because the voyages by the two ships, the "Ocean Lady" and "MV Sun Sea" that reached Canada in a period of about nine months-the second in August last- originated in Thailand.
The ships left from ports along the Gulf of Thailand and the Sri Lankan Tamils who boarded the ships had arrived in Bangkok at various times in the guise of tourists.
It seemed clear enough that a major operation in human smuggling was underway mounted by Sri Lankans and Thais. It was also a clear possibility that other elements were involved in what was obviously a well-planned criminal conspiracy.
Such an operation also meant the movement of illegal funds. Those who wished to reach distant destinations such as Canada paid huge sums of money to the people smugglers.
The organizers appear to be remnants of the now militarily defeated LTTE which had in its active days operated out of Thailand especially along Thailand's long coastline, to transship illicit arms and military ordnance into Sri Lanka working alongside criminals from the region.
What makes the voyages of the two ships all the way from the Gulf of Thailand to Canada without being intercepted by any of the navies/ coast guard in the region so newsworthy, is that it indicates the ineffectiveness of regional surveillance and the urgent need for much closer co-operation and sharing of intelligence to thwart these attempts.
This dangerous situation is compounded by the fact that there appears to be a nexus between terrorist organizations and criminals gangs who have been known to traffic in people and also smuggle them to preferred destinations such as Canada and Australia.
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya and some other visiting ministers drew attention to the issues of terrorism and maritime security.
However it was External Affairs Minister Prof. G. L Peiris's keynote address that attracted particular attention. He was not merely articulating theories, the kind of airy-fairy thoughts often heard from politicians on occasions such as this.
Prof. Peiris was speaking as a minister of a government that had only one and a half years earlier defeated arguably the most sophisticated and ruthless terrorist organizations in the world.
The Minister was speaking from a position of strength for the Sri Lanka Government had shown the world that instead of pampering such terrorist organizations and recognizing them as political equals as some of Sri Lanka's mediators would wont us do, they were dealt with in perhaps the only way they would have understood and they could have been dealt with.
External Affairs Minister's address therefore was more in the nature of lessons learnt and conveyed than as a theoretical exercise.
What was even more noteworthy as several foreign delegates and Thai diplomats later said was that he was able to pack into the five minutes allocated several lessons and cogent thoughts relevant to making the Asian region stable for the movement of people and goods.
One clear lesson was that the LTTE had by the very nature of the war it fought, to interdict weapons into the theatre of conflict. The ordnance had to be brought in by sea for there was no other practical way in which they could have done it.
Under cover of genuine cargo shipments and assumed names for vessels to avoid detection the LTTE and others who shipped weapons on their behalf had to use the commonly traversed seas lanes.
Had Sri Lanka not adapted its sea power to produce a blue-water navy, the country would have been hard put to stop the induction of weapons by the LTTE. The Sri Lanka navy's ability to be more than a coast guard and venture out into the deep seas and challenge the LTTE many hundred miles out was a key factor in the defeat of the terrorists.
Equally by challenging the LTTE out in open sea, destroying floating arsenals and patrolling the waters far from Sri Lanka's coastline, Sri Lanka kept the sea lanes safe for other regional users of these vital routes.
That actually was one of the key lessons that Minister Peiris was implicitly conveying when he underlined the need for maritime security. This was also stressed when the minister spoke at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand to an audience of diplomats, journalists and representatives of INGOs and NGOs.
He brought together the issues of terrorism, human smuggling, illegal financial flows that in turn could fund terrorism or other criminal activity that could affect individual regional states or destabilize the region.
Sri Lanka had seen to it that the war against the LTTE did not bring instability to the region. But it is for the regional states to collaborate and co-operate in ensuring that it remained safe and secure if the economic and social advancement of the Asian region is to be sustained.
It might be remembered that the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) is home to more than 2 billion people. It forms a critical part of the world's shipping routes and networks including important choke points.
The Heidelberg Institute for International Conflict Research (HIIR) in its Conflict Barometer 2008 said that IOR harbours 146 of the world's total of 345 conflicts in various forms or 42.3 % including 6 of 9 wars and a considerable proportion of high intensity conflicts.
The figures might have changed like the defeat of the LTTE last year ending one of Asia's longest running wars. But it has not changed that much and new issues have been added to the dynamics such the increasing piracy in the western Indian Ocean. The danger posed by Somali pirates to maritime communication is an issue Prof Peiris mentioned
The Indian Ocean remains the world's most important energy route. Half the world's oil production is transported by sea tankers via the Indian Ocean and over 35% of oil comes from the IOR.
Regional and extra-regional states are confronted with major challenges in gaining access to necessary energy resources. With the economies of China and India continuing to expand there is a growing reliance on imports.
It might also be remembered that these major sea lanes run quite close to Sri Lanka's southern shores. With the new thrust of the Sri Lankan navy it has kept the sea lanes safe and will do so in the future.
But as Minster Peiris pointed out the linkages developing between terrorism and piracy could pose a threat to the freedom of the sea lanes. What is needed is to strength regional/national maritime surveillance and enforcement and intelligence capabilities if this growing menace is to be effectively mitigated.
External Affairs Minister Peiris has made the case for dealing with these issues expeditiously and collaboratively. It is perhaps in response to the minister's remarks that Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya suggested during their bilateral meeting that a working paper on human smuggling, trafficking and terrorist issues be presented to the next meeting of the Bali Process.
That process was initiated by Indonesia and Australia so that regional states could evolve collaborative solutions to these problems.
Courtesy: The Island