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Forging International Partnerships

The Sri Lanka Navy embraces diverse opinions to combat security challenges

[AFP/Getty Images]
Rear Adm. Dharmendra Wettewa is director of general operations for the Sri Lanka Navy, which has steadily increased its multilateral engagements and partnerships with other navies. When Wettewa attended the 22nd International Seapower Symposium at the U.S. Naval War College in Rhode Island in the United States, he spoke with FORUM about the transformation of the Sri Lanka Navy from a ceremonial organization into a military force.

FORUM: Since 2010, the Sri Lankan government has hosted an annual multilateral discussion on international security called the Galle Dialogue. Discuss how this event has grown and how it contributes to problem solving on issues such as the fights against terrorism and drug trafficking.

WETTEWA: Yes, the Sri Lanka Navy has been organizing this event with the guidance of the Ministry of Defence since 2010. We have done six conferences successfully, and I think the 2016 one was special. The highest level of representation from the U.S. Pacific Command attended, along with the Indian naval chief and naval chiefs from six to seven countries and delegates from more than 40 countries. We started with about 10 countries and grew to this level. Sri Lanka is a country where navies that generally do not have much interaction can sit together and engage in constructive dialogue. In addition to the level of participation, the diversity of the parties has increased. A number of organizations that regulate or work on maritime affairs such as the International Maritime Organization, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, states that signed the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery Against Ships in Asia, the International Organization for Migration and others are becoming permanent participants. Many other think tanks from around the world joined the deliberations, making them vibrant and inclusive.

I should be frank. Along with the Galle Dialogue, there are many other conferences, such as the Western Pacific Naval Symposium and the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium, that have come up with constructive security arrangements. In Sri Lanka, we strengthen our commitment on areas we should agree upon, and countries that are not part of other organizations also sit together and make the same commitment to share experience, commit resources and voice opinions. Ultimately, it becomes an inclusive process, and we come up with common approaches to common threats.

FORUM: Due to its strategic geographic location south of India, modern-day threats have forced the Sri Lanka Navy to transform from a largely ceremonial navy to a military force. How do partnerships with larger navies accelerate this transformation?

WETTEWA: The Sri Lanka Navy had to transform along with the Army and the Air Force from a ceremonial Navy into a robust, diverse and multitask-oriented force because of the conflict [internal war against the Tamil Tigers] that started in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Successive Sri Lankan governments did not intend to have larger militaries since independence, and if not for the insurgencies, we would not have enhanced our militaries to this level. With the passage of time, however, any government would have realized the importance of improving the capacity and capability of the Navy. We are a maritime nation in a strategic location, so the global community expects us to honor our obligations to secure the Sea Lines of Communication (SLOC) and be part of the huge task of securing the oceans. We are dependent on busy transit ports, so we need to manage the security of the oceans effectively.

As far as partnerships are concerned, what we faced was an asymmetric or irregular type of warfare, thrown at us by a terrorist unit. As far as facing the asymmetry, I don’t think we could get much assistance because it was a unique type of warfare. It was an era of hard lessons where we learned through setbacks and bitter experiences. We faced tactics of a ruthless opponent. The suicide boats that fought among other swamps of highly maneuverable boats with a daredevil approach were difficult to fight. We realized we did not have anyone to learn from, so we had to come up with our own concepts from our own experiences.

As for partnerships with others, we were fortunate to get the technology to have the types of craft we needed, which had to be robust, fast and maneuverable to fight in coastal warfare. We had the help of certain countries to acquire the necessary technology to locate, target and destroy a potent enemy.

An officer from the USS New Orleans talks to Sri Lanka Navy officers about U.S. helicopter capabilities during a port visit to Colombo in July 2016. [REUTERS]
FORUM: Since you protect an island nation, guarding the coastline against illegal immigration and drug smuggling is a priority. How is Sri Lanka communicating with its neighbors to deal with these potential threats?

WETTEWA: Yes, confronting illegal immigration and drug smuggling requires cooperation, but strategic communication and sharing of information is important to counter almost all threats. Our closest neighbor, India, has always been helpful in developing our capacity and capability. They have provided us with assets and training, which helped the Sri Lanka Navy immensely. That close cooperation makes working together comfortable, and it is the same with the Indian Coast Guard. The deliberations are frank, and since those are bilateral engagements between navies that have worked together for a long period, we are comfortable with each other and it is easy to implement decisions. Our cooperation in joint patrols and coastal surveillance is well established and working well. You asked about human smuggling and drug trafficking. For that, we use relatively small craft. Apprehending suspects requires collaboration between the navies in joint patrolling.

With countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh, our cooperation is good, and I must say the Sri Lanka Navy is the beneficiary in most cases. After the end of the [internal] conflict, large numbers of Sri Lankans started moving toward Australia under the guise of asylum seekers. It was through strategic communication that the two governments understood the problem. It was this understanding and the ability to differentiate between illegal immigrants and asylum seekers that led to success. Once you identify economic migrants over asylum seekers fleeing a country due to oppression, it helps in finding solutions. Enhanced information sharing and other capacity- and capability-building programs to improve our surveillance network helped us drastically reduce the number of illegal immigrants.

There is a lesson to learn. Maritime nations can have multilateral as well as bilateral cooperation. Success depends on the approach and the will to engage. Bilateral cooperation works well when challengers of the two countries are specific to those countries. Strategic and operational communication makes implementing solutions easy and helps partners improve capacities. We have cooperation with Maldives that cannot be taken lightly. They have helped us during the insurgency by providing valuable information. They have detected ships that were supplying ammunitions to militants. Now, we are sharing information on illegal immigrants and drug trafficking, and our cooperation is at the highest cordial level.

FORUM: You have described Sri Lanka as a “neutral country in a strategically located place.” Because of that, Sri Lanka is able to bring together militaries that would not typically sit down to engage one another. How do these international discussions, such as the Galle Dialogue, enhance the security picture in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region?

WETTEWA: I think when we call [ourselves] a neutral country, what we try to portray is that we are ready to engage equally with all countries that have the same commitment to promote secure seas. We want trade and shipping along the SLOCs between regions of the Indo-Asia-Pacific to be maintained without disturbance. It is an established fact that this region is going to see more growth than any other part of the world in the decades to come. Hence, the energy and trade routes have become some of the most crucial in the world.

It is imperative that we collaborate with countries who look at these developments through a similar lens and develop strategies respecting the rule of law and freedom of seas. Whatever partnerships we forge must be mutually beneficial and should help improve the stability of the whole region as far as maritime domain is concerned. In this context, when we speak about neutrality, we look at the quality and the concept of engagement and the frequency that we engage. For certain countries, when you connect that concept with the Galle Dialogue conference, they are happy to be part of it, since they generally do not sit together frequently to discuss maritime issues.

The fact that they are willing to sit and discuss those issues in the Galle Dialogue is something special. Therefore, the Galle Dialogue provides a platform where countries who have different approaches toward the Indo-Asia-Pacific region identify common threats, leaving behind their traditional differences. I think Sri Lanka’s approach is that we are ready to engage with any country with no special affection, focusing not only on the concepts, but also on quality, frequency and how mutually beneficial the interactions are. Through the Galle Dialogue and one-to-one meetings, we have been able to understand the issues and develop the role the Sri Lanka Navy should play and to shape our commitments to enter partnerships with other navies. In the context of the U.S. Navy, what we have achieved is exceptional and is set to take off to a very high level in coming years.

FORUM: The Sri Lanka Navy has been working with some major militaries on information sharing initiatives to increase its maritime domain awareness. Describe how these initiatives have helped Sri Lanka’s progress.

WETTEWA: We have been working not only with major militaries but with everyone. As I described earlier, we work on the concept of mutual benefit and benefit to the whole region. With one of the largest navies and our closest neighbor, India, we are sharing the Automatic Identification System. [This system identifies vessels through electronic and satellite data exchanges.] For search and rescue, the Australian government has helped us. The U.S. government has been supporting our coastal surveillance system with infrastructure, radar and other capacity-building measures.

We need to progress in a rapid manner, to integrate the common maritime picture into a command-and-control center. Then we can monitor and analyze the information for prompt action on search-and-rescue missions and in collaboration with other navies across the spectrum of maritime threats, including illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. That is the future expectation. For that, you need a connected network. We need technological and software upgrades and support from other countries. The U.S. is helping with the coastal surveillance system. We are planning to work with India and the U.S. to develop an integrated system. Especially, due to our location, we are able to monitor the vital SLOCs south of Sri Lanka. The challenge is the vastness of the ocean. The force we have is meager, so we will struggle to respond in a timely manner. Everyone agrees that policing large ocean spaces is not possible for a single country. The only answer is cooperation and information sharing so we can effectively direct limited assets to the right space at the right time. We believe partnerships matched with capacity- and capability-building will help ensure the maritime security that we all would like to have for a stable Indo-Asia-Pacific region.

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