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by Susantha Goonatilake

Last weekend, two newspapers had a story about our Foreign Secretary calling in the Norwegian Ambassador and in essence ticking him off. The story became confused with diplomatic denials from the Foreign Office itself.

A few days earlier a Foreign Office official had also told me how in contrast to the US, the Norwegians were playing a pro LTTE line and was continuously stepping on Sri Lanka's toes. I therefore tend to believe the two weekend newspaper reports.

We further heard the other story that the obnoxious Solheim had demanded explanations of why a supporter of the government, the JVP wanted Norway out of the peace process. At least this time, the Sri Lankan authorities had the courage to point out that Sri Lanka was a multi-party democracy with different views - unlike one should add Norway's favourite the LTTE controlled areas.

At least the Ugly American (the title of the 1958 book on interfering Americans) and the British's White Man's Burden (the poem by British imperialism's bard Rudyard Kipling) were about the colonial behaviour of the supreme powers. Here however we have in Norway a piddling Johnny-come-lately arrogating to itself imperial prerogatives.

Influence

Norway influences us by giving development aid to Sri Lanka (in the same manner that the British opened up roads). But at the same time following a divide-and-rule policy Norway supports the LTTE.

If we were to calculate all the aid that the Norwegians have given us and set them off against the harm done to the country by the brutal and dictatorial LTTE we will find that refusing Norwegians intervention in Sri Lanka and if necessary cutting off temporarily relationships with her will be to Sri Lanka's tremendous advantage.

Norway funds given to a set of journalists and NGOs (of the Traitors Inc? variety) ensures that the real truth of Norwegian financial, military and diplomatic support to the LTTE does not come out.

A group of sympathetic Norwegians have banded themselves together under the title "Norwegians against Terrorism" NAT. NAT co-operates in the Scandinavian countries with democratic Tamils.

The data given below is taken directly from them and provide ample evidence of Norwegian perfidy. It shows that the Norwegian government funds Sri Lanka's enemy, the LTTE both in Sri Lanka and in Norway, that key Norwegian officials take part in LTTE fundraising events in Norway, that the Norwegian military has given support to the LTTE, that the Norwegian dominated SLMM has taken pro LTTE stands, and above all that the Norwegians have given political support to the LTTE.

Norwegian budgetary and other figures, NAT has found, reveal the existence of both open and secret dispersal of funds.

Details of secret funds, that is, to whom given, and how much, are however naturally not available. But since 2001 the Norwegian government has openly given at least 4 million US dollars to the LTTE.

Norwegian humanitarian organizations also get funds from the Norway government and these organizations in addition have dispersed large amounts of money to the LTTE. But our NAT researchers have found out that there are huge discrepancies between the actual money transferred to Sri Lanka from Norway on the one hand and outflows from Norway to Sri Lanka in the form of Norwegian foreign aid to Sri Lanka and payments for Norwegian imports from Sri Lanka on the other hand.

These they conclude, are monies transferred by Norway through her secret spy agencies its equivalent of the CIA. In fact more than 50 per cent of the transfers to Sri Lanka cannot be traced either to import payments or foreign aid leading one to reasonably conclude that these were secret transfers to the LTTE.

Norway has dispersed funds also to journalists, individuals and organizations that toe their line on the LTTE. Such aid includes reeducation programmes for Sri Lankan Buddhist monks in order to make them LTTE and Norway friendly. One of the key organizations that get funds from the Norwegians is the National Peace Council NPC.

When pro Sri Lanka elements of the World Association of Peace in Sri Lanka WAPS held a seminar in Oslo to expose Norwegian machinations, it was this NPC organization's Jehan Perera who tried to smear this seminar. The NPC is one of the key defenders of Norwegian interference in Sri Lanka.

Norwegian help to the LTTE does not come only through regular banking channels from whose figures our Norway based researchers have been able to infer the figure on the 50 per cent of unaccounted, secret funds.

There also seems to be direct cash transfers which are not reflected here. Thus when a vehicle registered on Norwegian People Aid and operated by the LTTE front TRO was searched by Sri Lanka police, they found 1.1 million kroner hidden in the car.

Funding secrets

Karuna was hitherto a high official in the LTTE who defected and therefore had been privy to the funding secrets of the LTTE. He has confirmed that the LTTE indeed gets funds from the Norwegian government.

He calls the Norwegians "paymaster to the LTTE". (These transfers which Karuna refers to incidentally could not be traced by our Norwegian colleagues, pointing to their secret, covert, cloak and dagger nature). Karuna further stated that the Norwegian embassy acted as a paymaster to the LTTE. To Karuna's personal knowledge, Norway had once given 250.000 US dollars in cash to the LTTE in addition to key electronic equipment.

Apart from such secret slush funds to support the LTTE, key Norwegian Ministers and government officials have participated in LTTE memorial and fundraising events. These personages read like a Who's Who of the Norwegian establishment. They include Prime Minister Stoltenberg, Finance Minister Kristin Halvorsen, Education Minister Kristin Clement and Justice Minister Odd E. Dorum not to mention that indefatigable LTTE supporter, the present Development Minister Eric Solheim.

Eric Solheim has participated frequently in LTTE propaganda and fundraising events in Oslo. In one such event the other speaker was the LTTE ideologue K.V. Balakumaran. The LTTE front organization that hosted the event was actually funded by the Norwegian Government and the Oslo Municipality.

A key international demand from the LTTE is to respect democratic rights and allow other political parties to function in the areas illegally controlled by them. But although Erik Solheim has participated in multiple memorials, conferences, propaganda and fundraising events of the dictatorial LTTE, his attitude towards democratic Sri Lankans living in Norway has been just the opposite.

He has not participated in conferences in Oslo organized by non pro LTTE Sri Lankans - both Sinhalese and Tamils. More ominously he has not returned calls from non LTTE Norwegian Tamil leaders under threat from the LTTE.

The LTTE is a terrorist organization guilty of many crimes against humanity such as ethnic cleansing, recruitment of children and so on. The LTTE has admitted that it raises funds in Norway.

The LTTE leader in Norway Y. Balasingham has openly admitted actively participating in the fundraising. Balasingham has testified to the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten that more than 80% of Norwegian Tamils give funds to the LTTE. One should here note that Tamils who do not voluntary pay to the LTTE are threatened, as has been well documented in the case of the Americas by the recent Human Rights Watch report. Yet, this LTTE extortion of the Tamil Diaspora is ignored by Norwegian police.

According to the figurers announced by the LTTE and TRO leaders in Norway, the LTTE raises more than ten million US dollars from the Tamil Diaspora in Norway per year. LTTE also raises funds from Norwegians through its humanitarian front organization TRO. Norwegian newspapers run by LTTE sympathizers carry TRO advertisements and TRO used the Tsunami to raise funds from Norwegians.

Although TRO is widely recognized as an LTTE front, it raises substantial amounts of money in Norway. Norwegian ministers participate in TRO's fundraising events. Yet this TRO fundraising - according to NAT - are not accounted, registered or audited. Norwegian NGO's gave several million US dollars to TRO in 2005.

Naive Norwegians are lured to give funds to TRO at stands at supermarkets and by advertisements in Norwegian newspapers sympathetic to the LTTE. Our Norwegian colleagues estimate that the TRO Tsunami fundraising in Norway for the first six months of 2005 alone yielded the following figures: directly to TRO Norway 63.413.400 Sri Lankan rupees, to Norwegian Refugee Council 1,200.000 Sri Lankan rupees and to Save the Children Redd Barna 7,507.000 Sri Lankan rupees.

We should note in parentheses that the former head of Redd Barna was the anti Sri Lanka ambassador Westborg.

Norway has become central to the LTTE propaganda against Sri Lanka. The key LTTE propaganda machinery Tamilnet.com and Nitharasanam.com is located in Norway. These are key outlets for anti Sri Lanka propaganda. Nitharsanam.com is connected to the LTTE intelligence unit. There are no pro Sri Lanka outlets in this "neutral" facilitator's territory.

Utrop a Norwegian newspaper run by LTTE sympathizer Majoran Vivenkananthan is also important for LTTE's Norwegian propaganda machinery and TRO fundraising. Norway's anti Sri Lankan efforts have extended to the Norwegian military personnel in SLMM. They have provided intelligence information to the LTTE, ignored LTTE CFA violations and covered up CFA violations of the LTTE.

They also invited an LTTE delegation to the Norwegian Special Forces training camp in Rena. General Tellefsen, the Norwegian ex-head of SLMM provided the LTTE with intelligence information. Thanks to his intelligence information, a LTTE vessel smuggling arms escaped. After his cooperation with the LTTE was exposed, he was later removed as leader of SLMM.

Smuggle

General Furuhovde, another Norwegian head of SLMM helped the LTTE cover up attacks. Phone taps have revealed General Furuhovde requesting the LTTE to remove their forces from the crime scene and coaching them to blame the murder to an unknown "third party with stolen uniforms"! Breaking all diplomatic norms, the Norwegian embassy helped the LTTE smuggle six tons of electronic equipment.

The equipment was smuggled in as diplomatic mail! Norway and LTTE thus avoided duty taxes, but most important, the LTTE avoided inspection.

This "mystery" shipment shrouded in secrecy is believed to have contained V-Sat and other equipment that had military use. Indian intelligence reported that the equipment was used to eavesdrop on the Sri Lanka government. They also reported that the equipment has been used to trace and kill political enemies.

Ambassador Westborg had handled this secret shipment - in regular cloak and dagger fashion taken from a spy thriller script - from his private address and not from the official Embassy. Westborg, in his earlier role as Redd Barna head had transferred thousands of upcountry Tamils to eventually strengthen the LTTE's human resources.

When the Thailand authorities discovered LTTE cells, they confiscated from LTTE cadres weapons commonly used by the Norwegian military. It is unlikely that such unique weapons would have been picked up accidentally by the LTTE on Norway streets! Further an LTTE delegation was invited to the Norwegian Special Forces training camp at Rena. LTTE sympathizers have also met with military personnel from Norwegian military HQ. And the Norwegian military admits meeting with the LTTE "Utrop" editor Majoran Vivekananthanan.

A pro Indian web site carried details of how Prabhakaran was smuggled out of Sri Lanka to Oslo via the Maldives dressed as a Catholic priest. This had been just before the tsunami. Prabhakaran is one of Interpol's most wanted terrorists and Amnesty International considers him a war criminal.

Norwegian diplomats have refused to answer questions related to these allegations. No comment has been their answer to journalists Norway has funded LTTE terrorism. Norway has provided the LTTE with intelligence information. Norway has helped the LTTE to avoid listing as terrorist in the EU.

Norway has been an international door opener for the LTTE. Norway has rewarded the LTTE violations of the CFA with more funds and more propaganda trips. Norway has helped LTTE acquire equipment for LTTE military and intelligence units.

Norway dominated SLMM ignored LTTE troop movements against Karuna's cadres. SLMM has not taken action against the LTTE torture and prison facilities. Norway is a close friend of the LTTE. She is no friend of Sri Lanka.

Funding, supplying and supporting the LTTE are not peace "facilitation", but support of terrorism. There is overwhelming evidence against Norway for their indirect and direct support of LTTE terrorism for the past two decades.

This is verified both by witnesses, documents and even Norwegian intelligence reports. Whatever various clueless Sri Lankan governments may not do against the Norwegians, there is no doubt that a case can be made against Norway in the International Criminal Courts as a supporter of terrorist crimes.

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