US funds naval training hub in occupied Trincomalee

The United States has expanded its military partnership with Sri Lanka by funding a new English Language Lab at the Sri Lanka Navy’s academy in Trincomalee, a Tamil district that remains heavily militarised more than sixteen years after the end of the armed conflict.

The facility, which opened on 15 September, was inaugurated by Lieutenant Colonel Matthew House, Senior Defence Official at the US Embassy in Colombo, alongside Rear Admiral Dammika Wijewardana, the Navy’s Director General for Training, and Commodore Dinesh Bandara, Commandant of the Naval and Maritime Academy.

Equipped with technology and training software from the US Defence Language Institute, the centre is designed to improve the English proficiency of Sri Lankan naval personnel, facilitating closer cooperation with the United States and regional allies.

“This project began with a request from the Sri Lanka Navy in 2020, and together we persisted through challenges to make it a reality,” said Lt. Col. House at the ceremony. “The English Language Lab is more than a classroom — it is a symbol of our shared commitment with Sri Lanka to build future capacity and ensure that what we create together today secures the peace of tomorrow. Language is more than communication; it is connection.”

The US Embassy said the initiative would allow Sri Lankan personnel to “train, exercise, and operate more effectively alongside US and regional partners.”

Trincomalee, however, remains one of the most militarised parts of the Tamil homeland, with the Sri Lankan navy continuing to occupy vast tracts of civilian land, including coastal areas, schools, and places of worship. The district, with its deep-water harbour, has long been considered strategically vital by Colombo, and continues to be used to entrench Sinhala-Buddhist settlement schemes and military expansion.

The new training centre comes amid deepening US–Sri Lanka defence cooperation, including joint military exercises and naval visits. Washington has repeatedly described Sri Lanka as a “key partner” in maintaining maritime security in the Indian Ocean, despite ongoing calls from Tamils for international accountability for mass atrocities committed by the Sri Lankan military.