News vom 06.12.2005

[srilanka1998]

The Focus on Sri Lanka Tamil Conflict
[ IFT ] [ 01:46 GMT, Dec. 6, 2005 ]

The President's unilateral decision to revoke the CFA and the P-TOMS with complete disregard for the opinion and acquiescence of the parties involved, questions the efficacy and the bona fide of any understanding or agreement the Tamils may be asked to forge with any future Sri Lankan government. History has already taught Tamils a bitter lesson where, agreements made with past Sinhala governments during times of crises have been thrown overboard once tension eased.


TamilNadu: Villages in Tiruvallur district marooned
[ News Today ] [ 02:19 GMT, Dec. 6, 2005 ]

Following a breach in Pichatoor lake in Andhra Pradesh, water flow in Arani lake has increased resulting in several villages of Thiruvallur district getting marooned. Over 13,000 residents from these villages have been evacuated to safer places. The Pichatoor lake located at Nagari on the Andhra Pradesh - Tamilnadu border breached early this morning. It resulted in a huge discharge of water to Arani lake in Tiruvallur district. Several villages located near the lake were surrounded by water on all sides. Oothukottai, Periya Palayam, Ponneri and Pazhaverkadu were among the 23 villages in the district that witnessed huge water flow. A warning was issued by the district authorities urging people to move to safer places. Already, residents of few villages including Thalavadi, Kosavan-palayam, Thandalam and Palavakkam have moved to safer places.


S.Lanka stocks sink after fresh attack on military
[ Reuters ] [ 07:05 GMT, Dec. 6, 2005 ]

Sri Lanka's stock exchange fell sharply in early trade on Tuesday after a second deadly attack on the military by suspected Tamil Tiger rebels in three days prompted fresh panic selling, dealers and analysts said. Five soldiers were killed in the attack in the military held town of Jaffna, in Sri Lanka's far north -- after a similar claymore fragmentation mine attack killed 7 soldiers on Sunday. The Colombo All-Share was down 5.0 percent at 2,076.88 points by 0520 GMT. The index closed 3.1 percent lower on Monday after a separate weekend attack killed 7 soldiers. The attacks follows on the heels of a series of intensifying attacks which some fear could pressage a return to the island's two decade civil war, which has been in limbo since a 2002 ceasefire.


US asks Sri Lankan government, Tamil Tigers to prevent violence
[ AFP ] [ 07:06 GMT, Dec. 6, 2005 ]

The United States has called on the Sri Lankan government and the rebel Tamil Tigers to take immediate steps to prevent violence that has undermined efforts to revive a peace process stalled for more than two years. Washington also condemned Sunday's attack on a Sri Lankan army vehicle that left seven soldiers dead, blamed on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). It was the worst attack against government troops since a ceasefire went into effect in February 2002. "Such violence is inconsistent with LTTE claims to be committed to the peace process," deputy US State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said, calling on Colombo and the LTTE "to take immediate action to prevent violence and to uphold the terms of the ceasefire agreement.


India takes a more direct hand in Sri Lankan affairs
[ WSWS ] [ 07:09 GMT, Dec. 6, 2005 ]

New Delhi has responded to last month's election of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse by stepping up pressure on Colombo to revive the island's so-called peace process. Amid fears of a breakdown of the current ceasefire, the Indian government is concerned that any return to armed conflict will have a destabilising impact throughout the region. Rajapakse won the November 17 election with the backing of the Sinhala chauvinist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU). His electoral pacts with these parties included provocative measures to revise the ceasefire with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), abolish a joint mechanism for the distribution of tsunami aid and rule out a federated state as part of any peace deal.


Five troops dead in S Lanka blast
[ BBC ] [ 07:14 GMT, Dec. 6, 2005 ]

A landmine blast in northern Sri Lanka has killed at least five soldiers, an army spokesman has said. The soldiers were on a "routine" patrol in Jaffna town, some 400km (250 miles) from the capital Colombo when the mine exploded, the spokesman said. The attack followed last weekend's landmine blast in northern Jaffna peninsula which killed six troops. Sri Lanka's government had blamed Tamil Tiger rebels for the attack. The rebels have not commented on the violence. No one has claimed responsibility for Tuesday's attack, which the military spokesman said was caused by a claymore mine. The soldiers "had done routine clearing operations of the area and were returning back on a tractor" when the landmine exploded, spokesman Brig Nalin Witharanagee told the Associated Press.


Sri Lankan Military Torturers in Australia
[ SMH ] [ 12:26 GMT, Dec. 6, 2005 ]

THIS man, once a captain in the Sri Lankan Army, arrived in Australia on a visitors' visa in 1998. Within two months he applied for a refugee visa. When he was interviewed by immigration officer Kate Watson, he admitted that in Sri Lanka he had inflicted "low level" torture of Tamil detainees, which included suspending them over an iron bar above burning coconut shells. He said he had witnessed the torture and death of a Sinhalese detainee and was present when fellow soldiers raped and probably killed a Tamil woman.THIS Sri Lankan naval officer admitted to immigration officials that in 1993 he massacred civilians in a refugee camp, which housed children as young as five. Around 40 Tamil refugees died when the officer and eight men under his command opened fire with M16s. They entered the camp disguised as Tamil Tigers.

 

[srilanka1998]

BBC Sinhala

Sri Lanka foes rattle sabres

A week after Sri Lanka's new president assumed office, the two sides in the country's long-running ethnic conflict have drawn their lines in the sand.
Mahinda Rajapakse, the country's new president who is backed by hardliners opposed to any concession to the Tamil Tiger rebels, stated his position to the stalled peace process in his first speech to parliament on Friday.

He rejected outright any demands for a separate Tamil homeland and also indicated that he would look to renegotiate a ceasefire that has been in place since February 2002.

He also said a previous tsunami aid-sharing deal with the Tigers - currently halted by a Supreme Court order - would be scrapped and a new administrative mechanism introduced.

On Sunday, the reclusive leader of the Tigers, Velupillai Prabhakaran, used the occasion of a rebel war memorial day to give the government an ultimatum.


He said he would give the new president until next year to frame a political solution to the conflict, failing which the Tamil Tigers would "intensify" their struggle.

Although he said this was the rebels final appeal, many observers will be relieved that Prabhakaran stopped short of declaring a return to war.

But despite the fact that there is no immediate threat of hostilities, both sides have taken up positions so far from the middle ground that any serious chance of peace must surely be questioned.

Tamil boycott

Sri Lanka's closely fought presidential election has left the country clearly divided along ethnic lines.

Mr Rajapakse, who was backed by the hardline Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), a party made up of Buddhist monks, received strong backing from the majority Sinhala-Buddhist community, particularly in the south.

His opponent, Ranil Wickramasinghe, was supported by the country's minority Tamils and Muslims.

But a vast majority of the Tamils, particularly in the north and east, failed to vote - largely because the Tamil Tiger rebels enforced an unofficial boycott.

It is quite apparent that Mr Wickramasinghe, who lost by 180,000 votes, would have easily won the election if the Tamils had voted.

Most analysts believe that the rebels' opposition to Tamil participation in the elections was strategic.

In the northern town of Jaffna - government-controlled but with a Tamil majority - as well as in the rebel-held Vanni region - the belief is that the rebel leadership wanted it to be clear that the new president was the choice of the Sinhala majority even if that resulted in a president who was clearly opposed to any concessions to the Tigers.

But others suggest it was a show of strength, a signal to the Sinhala hardliners that the rebels matter and would have to be reckoned with in any solution whether political or military.

As for the new president, there are those who believe that until fresh elections change the composition of parliament, Mr Rajapakse will have to rely on the support of the JVP and JHU - and therefore maintain a hardline position.

Certainly, in his first major political speech after winning the elections, the president kept to the script that was evident in his campaign:



No self-government or separate homeland for the Tamils
A redrawing of the ceasefire agreement
No to a tsunami-aid sharing deal
No major role for Norwegian peace brokers
But he also added a few other elements that would have caused the Tamil Tigers some unease.

Indian role?

He said that the peace talks would be broad-based and not merely be confined to the rebels and the government.

It is clear to many that Mr Rajapakse is arguing that the rebels are not the sole representatives of the Tamils.

However, this approach fails to address the fact that the rebels are in effective control of parts of the north and east and, short of a military conflict, are unlikely to concede any ground.

But the president has also indicated that other international parties, including India and the United Nations, could be drawn into the negotiations.

The role of India is something that will also raise eyebrows in Sri Lanka.

There are certainly some who believe that the country's influential northern neighbour should be drawn in, especially as it has a large Tamil state itself.

But most have very unhappy memories of India's intervention in Sri Lanka in the late 1980s, when the country sent troops into the country in a failed attempt to maintain peace.

More importantly, the president's hardline ally, the JVP, has been bitterly opposed to India's role in the past and is likely to look at any new attempt with suspicion.

Critical time

So where does Sri Lanka go from here?

While there is no immediate threat of war, there have been frequent clashes especially in the east, a steady level of violence that will probably increase.

More recently, the assassination of the country's foreign minister has served to remind the government that the threat of violent killings has not completely diminished, even though the rebels denied having a hand in the murder.

For their part, the Tamil Tigers have signalled their growing frustration at what they see as the attitude of the major parties in the south to the peace process.

Tamils, they believe, are unlikely to get their due from the majority Sinhalese and have given up hope.

But there are some who question whether the rebels are keen on giving up their fight for self-rule, even though they dropped the demand for a separate Tamil homeland in earlier rounds of peace talks.

The next few months are going to be critical for the two major negotiating parties as they gauge each others positions and determine their next move.

In the worst possible case, it could signal a return to war.

 

[srilanka1998]

The Tamil state within a state

In a bombed-out former post office, pockmarked with bullet holes and shrapnel, a group of uniformed Tamils plotted their ambush.

Most of them were hidden behind a thicket of bushes on the main road through rebel-controlled territory, just 10 minutes outside Kilinochchi, the Tamil Tigers' unofficial capital.

One of them had blown his cover by venturing out onto the roadside, bearing a warlike insignia on his sleeve - a sharp-fanged Tiger, roaring ferociously.

The men spoke conspiratorially into their walkie-talkies. The man by the roadside had his finger on the trigger.

Yet the men were dressed not in combat fatigues but blue pleated slacks and sky blue shirts. And they were wielding nothing more threatening than a radar gun.

The only thing they were interested in killing was the speed of errant drivers.

Within minutes, the traffic cops had claimed their first victim, a motorcyclist hurtling down the road on a Honda Hero.

The digital display on the radar gun showed him travelling at 51 km/h on a section of road with a 40 km/h speed limit. The motorcyclist was given a stern talking to and handed an on-the-spot fine of 600 rupees (6 dollars).

Suitably chastened, he mounted his bike and headed - more cautiously - towards town.

Serial traffic offenders might end up under arrest, and be carted off to jail in one of the force's smart blue Toyota Land Cruisers - impressive-looking vehicles with the word POLICE emblazoned in pristine white letters on the bonnet, and the Tamil Tiger insignia on the doors.

Perhaps they might even end up on trial at the local court house, where the proceedings begin each morning with a salute to the Tamil flag.

Thwarted ambition

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam - to give the Tamil Tigers their full name - control about 15% of Sri Lankan territory.


But the traffic cops and the courthouse are mere fragments of their longed-for state, and far from the fully-independent ethnic homeland that the Tamil Tigers have fought for since 1983.


Kilinochchi is remarkable for three things: the war-damaged buildings that line its streets; the martial statues which venerate its war dead (one of the biggest is the statue of the first female suicide bomber); and the immense scale of its main cemetery.

The cemetery contains row upon carefully regimented row of graves and tombstones - almost 2,000 in all.

Most are shaped like coffins, with polished black marble nameplates. But there are hundreds of simple tombstones commemorating the 'Black Tigers' - suicide bombers whose bodies were blown to pieces.

This for the Tamil Tigers is hallowed ground. Only the lives of those they call martyrs for the cause are commemorated within its walls.

Chilling distillation

In the cemetery we met 24 year old Suganthini and 25 year old Iyali, two members of the Tamil Tigers who had arrived at the graveyard bearing dark pink rose petals.

They had come to dress the grave of their former comrade, Senthamilini, who had been killed during face-to-face conflict with the Sri Lankan army in Jaffna, the largest city in the north.

As they stood at the graveside, the two young women thought of their friend's sacrifice, and the reasons why they are prepared to carry on the fight.

"The Sri Lanka Army killed my father in front of my eyes, and then raped my sister," said Iyali, who was first inducted into the Tigers at the age of 16.

"If my leader tells me to fight, I am prepared to die for the Tamil homeland."

The sentence was at once dignified and hate-filled - the most chilling distillation of the Tamil cause that I have ever heard.

Despite dropping its demand for outright independence ahead of a truce agreement in February, 2002, the Tamil Tigers want to extend their writ much farther than their present fiefdom.

Their aim is to control a vast, spear-tip-shaped area of land encompassing all of the disputed north and much of the western and eastern seaboards.

This so far thwarted ambition is one of the reasons why the peace process is presently stalled, and the political violence continues almost daily.

The Tigers are not yet ready to sue for a permanent peace because they still believe they can achieve a more satisfactory power-sharing deal.

They knew that boycotting the presidential election would depress the vote of Ranil Wickramasinghe, the former prime minister who negotiated the 2002 ceasefire agreement.

The Tigers are not yet willing to return to the negotiating table, and they would have been under great international and moral pressure to do so had Mr Wickramasinghe triumphed.

The Tigers wanted a hawk to win rather a dove.

This presidential election had asked of the Sri Lankan people the same question which has been posed since the country's independence in 1948.

Can the country's Sinhalese majority and Tamil minority occupy this stunningly beautiful island in peaceful coexistence?

For now at least, the answer from the Tamil Tigers would appear to be no. They had dubbed Mahinda Rajapakse the "war candidate" - and their boycott helped him win.

 

[srilanka1998]

Death toll hits 26 in Sri Lanka violence, mine blasts threaten truce
[ AFP ] [ 12:40 GMT, Dec. 6, 2005 ]


Seven Sri Lankan troops have killed in a mine blast, the second major attack blamed on Tamil Tiger rebels in three days, as the island nation's new army chief vowed to take on terrorism. Six soldiers and one officer were riding in a tractor-trailer near a landmark Hindu temple outside the town of Jaffna, 400 kilometres (250 miles) north of the capital Colombo, when a claymore mine exploded, officials said. "The troops had been on a foot patrol clearing the road and they were returning in a tractor when they were ambushed with a claymore mine," said defence ministry spokesman Brigadier Nalin Witharanage. Troops on a nearby foot patrol opened fire amid the carnage, but it was unclear if the firing caused any casualties in a built-up area.