Security News vom 06.02.2006
LTTE keen on talks to 'fix' Sri Lankan Govt Sri Lanka President orders authorities to speed up probe on missing TRO members
Monday, February 6, 2006, 12:58 GMT, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Feb 06, Colombo: President Mahinda Rajapaksa has ordered security authorities to speed up the investigations on the alleged abduction of a group of Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) workers.
A press release issued by the Government Information Department stated that the forces have already begun investigations in Welikanda, Polonnaruwa, as those involved in the abduction may be camping there.
This latest reaction from the President comes as the Tigers have indirectly rejected holding peace talks with the government until their TRO members return.
BATTICALOA
Situation Report as at UTC 0730(1330) 06
February 2006
[Web updated at UTC 0808 on 06 February 2006]
LTTE Abducted Principal Returns After Detention LTTE ABDUCTED SCHOOL PRINCIPAL, attached to VALACHCHENAI Hindu College, Mr. MURUGARASU THAVARASA (56) on 04th February 2006 around 2.10 p.m. returned home after he was detained at KARADIYANARU LTTE camp for questioning after he was taken away by an LTTE cadre identified as ANBU.
The school Principal was taken away by the LTTE on Thursday (02) morning at about 11.45 a.m. after the LTTE cadre, ANBU has called him out to a place close to PECHCHIAMMAN Kovil in VALAICHCHENAI. The deputy principal, the following day (03) in a complaint made to the VALAICHCHENAI Police station confirmed his abduction. (See Situation Report on 03rd February 2006)
However, the released school Principal on Saturday (04) around 4.50 p.m. approached the VALAICHCHENAI Police for formal complaint and claimed that he was by force taken by the said LTTE cadre to the KARADIYANARU LTTE camp where he was questioned and subsequently detained.
The victim further claimed another LTTE cadre of the LTTE education section made inquiries about a past incident before he was set free on Saturday (04).
The matter was to be intimated to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM).
The VALAICHCHENAI Police investigations are on.
Son abducted by LTTE, complains father
THE FATHER OF A TWENTY-TWO YEAR OLD YOUNGSTER reported to the MAVADIVEMBU Army camp in BATTICALOA that his son, KUMARA MOHAN RAJ (22) was abducted by two armed LTTE cadres while he was at home at about 9.15 p.m. on Sunday (5th).
The victim, according to the Police was at home on SEVADI ROAD, MAVADIVEMBU when those two-armed LTTE men stormed their house and took their son away by force.
The victim's father has however waited for his son's return for some time but later approached the nearest MAVADIVEMBU Army camp for complaint at about 9.35 p.m. the same night.
However, the troops have referred the complainant to the ERAVUR Police station for formal complaint.
The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) was to be informed.
The ERAVUR Police are conducting investigations.
Suspected Tamil Tigers abduct a Tamil civilian in restive eastern Sri Lanka
Updated:2006-02-06 03:29:40
By BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI
AP
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) - Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels abducted an ethnic minority Tamil civilian from his home in Sri Lanka's restive east, the Defense Ministry said Monday, the latest in a spate of disappearances across the country.
The 20-year-old man disappeared from his home in Batticaloa late Sunday, said an officer at the Defense Ministry's media unit, who cannot be named under the ministry's policies. He accused the rebels of carrying out the abduction.
The Tamil Tiger rebels have been blamed for a series of violence and abductions of members of rival groups in Sri Lanka's northeast in recent weeks. The rebels, who want to carve out a separate homeland for minority Tamils, in turn, have pointed the finger at a breakaway rebel faction and other anti-rebel groups for the alleged abduction of 10 Tamil relief workers last week. The groups deny any involvement in that abduction.
Three of those relief workers who disappeared have since returned home, while the fate of the others is not known.
Local police Inspector D. Rathnayake said a team of officers had been sent to investigate the abduction in Batticaloa. A motive behind the disappearance was not immediately know, and the rebels made no mention of it on their Web sites.
A Norway brokered cease-fire between the rebels and the government has come under heavy strain since December amid rising violence that has left 150 people dead.
The two sides agreed last month to hold peace talks in Geneva, Switzerland, on a date to be determined. Two decades of civil war killed about 65,000 people before a 2002 cease-fire. Subsequent peace talks stalled in April 2003 over rebel demands for extensive autonomy in the country's northeast.
Absconder identified, arrested
Monday February 6 2006 10:28 IST
RAMANATHAPURAM: Police arrested a 56-year-old Sri Lankan woman who had absconded from Mandapam transit camp and was trying to reenter the camp posing as a newcomer, at Dhanushkodi, on Friday.
Sources said, Annammal of Thalaimannar, came to the Dhanuskodi police station along with a batch of 23 refugees who had landed at Arichalmunai. However, she was identified by the Q branch officials during their interrogation.
Annammal had reportedly been working in different places till now. She was immediately arrested under Foreigners Act, produced before court and sent to the Tiruchy prison.
LTTE keen on talks to 'fix' Sri Lankan Govt
PK Balachandran
Colombo, February 5, 2006|12:40 IST
Contrary to the general impression that the LTTE is trying to find excuses to avoid going for talks with the Sri Lankan government, the rebel outfit is actually quite keen on having the talks, says a Tamil MP who met the LTTE's political leadership in Kilinochchi on Saturday.
The MP, who did not want to he named, told Hindustan Times that the LTTE believed that it would be able to "fix" the government on a number of critical issues relating to the implementation of the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA), the subject matter of the talks to be held in Geneva at the end of February.
The MP said that the LTTE was very agitated about the kidnapping of ten personnel of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) by the breakaway Karuna group which it believed, was acting as a "Tamil paramilitary" of the Sri Lankan security forces.
The LTTE was also very angry about the killing of one of its senior military leaders, Maj Kapilan.
And sure enough, LTTE's leaders like Peace Secretariat chief Pulidevan had hinted that the kidnapping of the innocent aid workers might lead to a boycott of the Geneva talks. The pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance (TNA) had also said so.
But in reality, the LTTE was keen on going for the talks because these very issues could be highlighted in full view of the international community at Geneva, the MP said.
The LTTE would definitely raise some long standing issues such as the activities of the Tamil paramilitaries; the conduct of offensive operations by undercover Sri Lankan army units, and non-vacation of public and private places in the Jaffna peninsula by the Sri Lankan armed forces.
The LTTE says that the government has not fulfilled the provisions relating to these in the CFA, though four years have elapsed since it was signed in February 2002.
As per the CFA, the government has to disarm or relocate the Tamil paramilitaries, stop the work of deep penetration units, and vacate public and private spaces in Jaffna.
The LTTE believes that the government will have a tough time defending its actions or inaction. It hopes to use the international forum to expose the government's insincerity, the MP said.
The kidnapping of the TRO staff and other rehabilitation workers by unidentified Tamil men in late January would buttress the LTTE's case, particularly because the US and UN have both condemned the act. Both have called for speedy governmental investigations and the release of the hostages, who are described as aid workers.
The government has dubbed the allegations of abduction as lacking in credibility because complaints about them had not been lodged soon enough. It has also said that it has nothing to do with Karuna's group, the alleged abductors. It denies that it has any "Tamil paramilitaries".
But the TRO has said in its releases that complaints were made within a reasonable time frame. The LTTE's case, based on the reports of two released hostages, is that the abductions were conducted by the pro-government Karuna group and that the hostages were taken to Thivuchenai, a place near Welikanda, which serves as the Karuna group's base.
Tigers to finalise talks dates with Norway envoy
(AFP)
6 February 2006
COLOMBO -Tamil Tiger rebels were meeting with Norway's top peace envoy on Monday to finalise dates for crucial talks with the Sri Lankan government on saving their troubled truce, a pro-rebel website said.
The chief negotiator of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Anton Balasingham, was due to meet with Solheim in London Monday to finalise the dates for truce talks to be held in Geneva, the Tamilnet said.
Solheim, who is also Oslo's international development minister, last month clinched a deal between the two warring parties to end a three-year deadlock in their peace process by agreeing to meet face to face in Geneva this month.
'The Norwegian minister is expected to announce the date of the talks in Geneva between the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers after the meeting,' the Tamilnet reported.
Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera told reporters here that Oslo had given them three slots of dates in February.
Diplomats close to the peace process said the dates would be decided on the basis of what was most convenient for Colombo, the Tigers as well as hosts Switzerland.
The talks are aimed at saving a February 2002 truce that came under pressure after violence that has killed at least 153 people since December. However, the killings went down dramatically after Solheim clinched the talks deal.
Case against Weerawansa rejected
The courts in Sri Lanka have rejected a petition to arrest a senior leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), as the petitioner has decided to withdraw the case.
The Appeals Court rejected the petition by Kumar Rupasinghe, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) activist, to arrest the parliamentary group leader of the JVP on charges of provoking masses against peace activists.
Rupasinghe has accused Wimal Weerawansa of threatening his life by a speech made in Maharagama, in April last year.
"Kumar Rupasingha is a traitor to the nation. His main job is sending daily intelligence reports about this country to his foreign masters," Weerawansa has reportedly said in the rally organised by the Patriotic National Movement (PNM).
A lawyer representing the Attorney General informed the courts that there was no sufficient evidence to charge the parliamentarian under the criminal law.
The courts then rejected an appeal by a lawyer representing the petitioner to re-produce an amended petition.
Parents threatened with death :
LTTE child recruitment on the rise - Amnesty
THE recruitment of children by the LTTE is on the increase and children are mainly recruited at temple festivals and junctions, Amnesty International (AI) said in its latest report.
AI said even a large international presence following the tsunami has not significantly helped protect children from LTTE recruitment.
The report adds that the LTTE has failed to live up to its commitment to end recruitment and release children following the Action Plan for Children Affected by War signed in 2002 by the Sri Lanka Government, the LTTE, UN agencies and NGOs.
Despite the LTTE's reluctance to formally release children, it does allow some children to run away while denying them a formal release including release papers that prove they have been released.
Parents had informed the human rights organisation that recruitment of children aged 14 and above by the LTTE is widespread in Government controlled areas.
According to the report, parents and agencies working in Batticaloa believe that less recruitment is taking place in areas dominated by the LTTE.
The report said there is little recourse for families whose children have been recruited. Complaints directly to the LTTE do not usually produce results and where families report to external agencies, such as UNICEF or the SLMM, these agencies can raise the case with the LTTE but are unable to compel the LTTE to release the children.
NGO representatives in Batticaloa had told AI delegates that families are threatened by the LTTE not to report child recruitment and are told: "if you report to the internationals you will only see the body of your child."
Faced with such threats and with the inability of agencies to gain their release, it is not surprising that many cases of child recruitment go unreported.
When AI raised concerns about child recruitment with the LTTE, it had denied knowingly recruiting children and stated that some children try to join the LTTE by disguising their age.
LTTE officials claimed that once such children come to the notice of the LTTE they are immediately released and returned to their families.
This is the answer that the LTTE has consistently given in response to questions about child recruitment; however, it is contradicted by the accounts of many parents and the reports of UNICEF and other organisations working with children.
Shutdown on Lanka's national day
By Our Correspondent
COLOMBO, Feb 5: Sri Lanka's northeast came to a standstill on Saturday ' the country's independence day ' in response to a call by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam for a shutdown to protest 'atrocities' committed by the army.
And in the capital Colombo, independence day celebrations took place in a tense atmosphere as police stepped up security checks amid fears of suicide attacks.
Security was tightened following the arrest of several people in possession of explosives.
Police said they had detained a passenger carrying a hand grenade on a train running from Trincomalee to Colombo.
Last week the army claimed it had caught a man transporting nearly 900 pieces of an incendiary substance in a lorry from the northeastern town of Mannar to Colombo.
Amnesty to Sri Lanka: Stop killings, abductions
- By AFP
Colombo, Feb. 5: Amnesty International on Sunday asked Sri Lanka's warring parties to thrash out human rights issues during crucial talks in February to stem a wave of killings, abductions, and child recruitment.
The London-based watchdog in a statement sent here said it welcomed peace broker Norway's efforts to arrange talks between Sri Lanka and Tamil rebels after a three-year deadlock, but wanted rights on the agenda. "The organisation urges that the issue of human rights monitoring be urgently addressed at these talks," Amnesty said, adding that a climate of fear had been created, particularly in the restive east, after a wave of violence.
The Liberation of Tamil Tigers Eelam and the Sri Lankan government were due to discuss a human rights charter at what was to be their seventh round of negotiations in April 2003 in Thailand. However, the Tigers pulled out of those talks saying they had been kept out from an earlier meeting of Sri Lanka's international aid donors who met in Washington to discuss financial backing for the island's peace process. Norway's special envoy Erik Solheim met with top leaders on both sides on January 25 and clinched a deal to resume face-to-face negotiations between the third and the fourth weeks of this month. Mr Solheim's diplomatic breakthrough stemmed a wave of killings that had claimed at least 153 lives since December. Amnesty said its secretary-general Irene Khan took up the question of an independent monitoring mechanism to safeguard human rights during talks in December with the LTTE's political wing leader S.P. Thamilselvan.
"Mr Thamilselvan said that the LTTE would be prepared to consider such an option if other parties to the discussion were in agreement with this approach," the statement said.Amnesty has also been highly critical of the Tigers over the recruitment of child soldiers, a charge repeatedly levelled against the militants by UNICEF as well as by other rights groups. "Amnesty International stressed that recruitment of children is a war crime and urged the LTTE not to recruit children, to release those it holds and to make a strong statement against this practice," the statement said. It said the Tigers denied that such recruitment was taking place and invited Amnesty International to conduct a fact-finding mission to areas under its control.
"Amnesty International has conducted research in LTTE-controlled areas in the past."
More Sri Lankan refugees arrive
- By Our Correspondent
Rameswaram, Feb. 5: The traffic of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees fleeing from the violence in the island nation continued, with 18 of them arriving here in the early hours of Sunday. With this, the total number of Tamil refugees crossing the sea into India has gone up to 381 since the first boat of 24 arrived near Rameswaram on December 12, 2005.
According to the police, the latest batch of refugees belonging to five families arrived at Arichalmunai fishing hamlet, about 12 km from Rameswaram, and claimed they came from three villages close to Trincomallee in eastern Sri Lanka. They said they motored across to Mannar in west Lanka to take a boat late on Saturday night. The group included five women and seven children, the police said.
One of the refugees, Jayendran 28, claiming to belong to Moondrankattai village in Trincomallee district, said he fled with his family following "harassment" by the Sri Lankan Army. "The troops themselves set off bombs and undertake house searches as if looking for LTTE militants responsible for blasts. They take away young men and women. We decided to flee to India," Jayendran said.
The police said that after questioning the boat people, they were accommodated in the refugee camp at nearby Mandapam, where about 650 refugees are already living since arrival during the earlier conflicts in the 1980s. With Sunday's arrivals, the camp population has crossed the 1,000 mark.
"Many more are waiting at Mannar to cross over to Rameswaram. The situation is grim in our country though some news reports speak of peace talks resuming. People do not want to take chances and are looking for refuge in Tamil Nadu," said a woman refugee in the Sunday group.
Sri Lankan Rebels, Norway's Envoy Meet to Set Peace Talks Date
Feb. 6 (Bloomberg) --
Tamil Tiger rebels will meet Norway's peace envoy to set a date later this month for peace talks in Geneva with Sri Lanka's government.
Erik Solheim, Norway's minister of international development, is scheduled to meet Anton Balasingham, the chief negotiator of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, today in London, according to a report on the TamilNet Web site.
The Liberations Tigers consider the government didn't ``follow diplomatic protocol'' after some ministers said talks may take place Feb. 15-16, the TamilNet report said. Norway should have been allowed to announce the dates, the LTTE said, according to TamilNet.
Sri Lanka's government and the LTTE agreed to hold talks in mid-February in Geneva after Solheim visited the South Asian island nation last month. Increased violence since December in the north and east prompted international warnings that a 2002 cease-fire between the government and rebels may collapse and the island's two-decade civil war may resume.
Solheim will tell Balasingham the Sri Lankan government's proposed dates for talks when they meet and may announce the date of the meeting later today, TamilNet said, citing unidentified diplomats in Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo.
Sri Lanka has appointed Nimal Siripala De Silva, the country's health minister and spokesman on the peace process, to lead its delegation at the Geneva talks.
Violence
The government has blamed the Tamil Tigers for attacks since December that have killed more than 70 soldiers and sailors. Tamil leaders have accused the army of killing or abducting civilians during its recent operations in the region. There has been a fall in violent incidents since the agreement to hold peace talks was announced Jan. 25.
Kidnappers, suspected of being part of a paramilitary group, abducted 10 Tamil tsunami-aid workers last week in two separate incidents. Police are investigating the kidnappings, the government said in a statement two days ago.
Tamil Tiger leaders have accused paramilitary forces, backed by the army, of carrying out attacks in the north and east of the country. The Sri Lankan government denies it is supporting any paramilitary groups.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse repeatedly invited the rebels for peace talks after his election in November. The LTTE has said Rajapakse must produce a political solution to the conflict this year or it will intensify its ``struggle.''
The rebels ended peace talks in April 2003 with the government of then-Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. The rebels said they want an interim self-governing body established in the areas they control in the north and east before an accord can be reached. Rajapakse wants Sri Lanka to remain united.
Tamils make up less than a fifth of the island's population of 20 million. They say they are discriminated against by the majority Sinhalese, who are mostly Buddhist.
Sri Lankan progress toward an accord ending the conflict is a condition set by donor nations, including the U.S. and Norway, in providing $4.5 billion in aid to the country.
To contact the reporters on this story:
Anusha Ondaatjie in Colombo at [email:27602dd500]anushao@bloomberg.net[/email:27602dd500];
Paul Tighe in Sydney at [email:27602dd500]ptighe@bloomberg.net[/email:27602dd500]
