Sri Lanka to Accept Tamil Aid Cargo: India

Friday, June 26, 2009 at 1:23 pm

NEW DELHI : Sri Lanka will accept a ship carrying aid cargo for thousands of war-displaced civilians, India’s foreign minister said, reversing a decision to send it back amid suspicions that weapons were concealed in the consignment.

The Syrian-flagged Captain Ali was carrying 884 tonnes of relief supplies for Tamils displaced by the country’s 25-year war when it was intercepted on June 4 by the Sri Lankan navy.

The aid cargo, paid for by expatriate Tamils, raised suspicion in Colombo because rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have a long history of using humanitarian groups as fundraising fronts.

Sri Lankan officials carried out a search of the ship and found no weapons.

While the ship floated in the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka’s neighbour India intervened, urging Colombo to receive the cargo of food and medicines.

Sri Lankan Tamils have historical and cultural links with about 60 million Tamils in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu and their fate has political repercussions in India.

After talks with a high-level delegation from Colombo, Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna said Sri Lanka would now accept the cargo.

“I requested (from) the delegation that as a humanitarian gesture, the Sri Lankan government allows the ship Captain Ali to offload the relief items on board meant for IDPs in Northern Sri Lanka,” Krishna was quoted as saying in a government statement released late on Wednesday.

The cargo will now be routed to Sri Lanka through the Indian Red Cross, the statement said.

U.K.-based Mercy Mission to the Vanni, which organised the ship, said it had failed to ensure the shipping documents were in order.