News vom 07.01.2006

[srilanka1998]

Search for Sri Lankan gun boat after offshore blast
[ AFP ] [ 00:22 GMT, Jan. 7, 2006 ]

powerful offshore explosion was heard in Sri Lanka's northeastern port district of Trincomalee shortly after two naval patrol craft put out to sea, police said. The pre-dawn blast on Saturday involved at least one of the naval craft with whom radio communication had been lost, and a search was underway, said police in Trincomalee, 260 kilometres (160 miles) northeast of the capital."We heard the blast and made inquiries from the navy, but we haven't got clear answers yet," a police official in the area said by telephone. "The navy has launched a search."


Five dead in Sri Lanka sea attack
[ BBC ] [ 01:20 GMT, Jan. 7, 2006 ]

At least five Sri Lankan sailors have been killed and 10 are missing after a navy boat was ambushed by suspected Tamil Tiger rebels, officials say. A loud explosion rocked the port of Trincomalee, in the north-east of Sri Lanka, shortly after two patrol boats left the harbour on Friday night. The incident would be the latest in a series of attacks by the separatist Tigers against military targets. A navy spokesman told the Reuters news agency they suspected a suicide attack. The recent attacks by Tamil Tiger rebels have raised fears that Sri Lanka may be sliding back into civil war after four years of an officials ceasefire.


15 dead, two injured in suicide attack on Sri Lanka navy gunboat


COLOMBO (AFP) - At least 15 Sri Lankan sailors were killed and two others injured when their gunboat was blown up in a suspected suicide attack by Tamil Tiger rebels, the military said.

The patrol craft was blown up off the northeastern port of Trincomalee before dawn when an explosives-filled fishing boat rammed against it, a top military official said on Saturday.

Fifteen sailors, including two officers, were killed, and two others were fished from the water after the Israeli-built Dvora-class gunboat sank, the official said, adding that a search was still on for the wreckage.

"Two sailors who escaped with injuries were picked up by a military rescue boat," the officer said.

Tamil Tiger guerrillas are known to have carried out suicide attacks against dozens of naval craft in the past using small boats packed with explosives.

Saturday's attack was the first sinking of a high-powered naval gunboat since a Norwegian-brokered truce between Colombo and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) went into effect from February 2002.

Three sailors aboard a smaller naval patrol craft were killed 16 days ago in a sea battle with rebels off the northwestern town of Mannar.

The Tigers accused the navy of attacking them first and maintained they acted in self-defence. However, Scandinavian truce monitors said the rebels had violated the fragile ceasefire.

There was no immediate reaction from the Tigers to the latest attack against the navy, which added to a string of losses suffered by the security forces since last month when violence spiked in the island's troubled northeast.

In April 1995, the Tigers infiltrated the main naval harbour in Trincomalee, located 260 kilometres (160 miles) northeast of the capital Colombo, and blasted two craft that were anchored there.


Suspected Rebels Kill 13 in Sri Lanka

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - An explosives-rigged fishing boat rammed a Sri Lankan navy patrol early Saturday, killing 13 sailors in a suspected rebel attack, officials said.

One navy boat was destroyed in the explosion off the coast of Trincomalee ' the latest in a series of attacks against government troops by suspected rebels, who are campaigning for a homeland for Sri Lanka's 3.2 million ethnic minority Tamils. A second boat, which was at a distance, escaped the impact of the explosion.

Navy spokesman Cmdr. Jayantha Perera said 13 sailors were killed and that two sailors survived the attack and were found by search and rescue teams.

Sri Lanka's Ministry of Defense blamed the naval wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam for the attack.

The pro-rebel Web site TamilNet reported the incident, but did not mention casualties or who was responsible for the attack. The Tamil Tigers generally do not claim responsibility for attacks.

Before the 2002 cease-fire that halted Sri Lanka's civil war, the rebels had carried out similar attacks against naval craft, including one in 1995 that triggered full-scale hostilities.

Trincomalee, which has a strategic port and a base to Sri Lankan navy, has been tense this week after five ethnic Tamils died. The military has said the men accidentally blew themselves up in a botched grenade attack on a military patrol, but the rebels said government forces attacked the men.

A formal government inquiry has been ordered.

Violence has worsened in the country since November's election of Sri Lanka's new president, Mahinda Rajapakse, who campaigned on a promise to take a tough line in negotiations with the rebels. Rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran has warned the Tamil Tigers would intensify their struggle if the Tamils' grievances were not addressed.

Last month 45 soldiers were killed and 71 wounded in ambushes blamed on the rebels; government troops killed seven suspected rebels.

The two sides have also traded accusations about the slaying of a pro-rebel lawmaker on Christmas Eve. And in August, former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar was assassinated by suspected Tiger gunmen.

The escalating violence has prompted the Norwegian official who brokered the 2002 cease-fire, Erik Solheim, to urge the government and rebels to resume peace talks immediately. Six rounds of peace talks were held until 2004 when they broke down over rebel demands for autonomy.

The cease-fire halted two decades of a civil war that has killed more than 65,000 people since 1983.


Sri Lankan Navy denies fisherman of livelihood
[ LTTE Peace Secretariat ] [ 17:03 GMT, Jan. 7, 2006 ]

Following Sri Lankan Navy denying fisherman from going to sea for the second time in two weeks, nearly 1,000 families have displaced to LTTE administered areas, so they can earn a living and survive. The Sri Lankan Navy has banned fishing for Tamil fisherman in most sections of the north seas of the Jaffna peninsula, a coastal area where High Security Zones have already restricted fisherman from earning a living. Fisherman families are struggling since many rely on their daily earnings to provide for their families. Just over one week ago, on 28 December 2005, the Sri Lankan Navy closed off fishing areas in Valikamam West, Mathahulthurai, Mathahulpothithurai, Mareesankudal, Kussumamthurai and Sumvilthurai. This ban left 850 fisherman families with little or no means to earn a living. Fisherman were unable to access even their eqiupment that they usually left by the shore. 275 boats and 75 catamarans were unusable due to this.

 

[srilanka1998]

Zusammenfassung des Tages

Attack on Sri Lanka Navy ship kills 13 sailors in Trincomalee
Saturday, January 7, 2006, 3:52 GMT, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

Jan 07, Colombo: An explosives-laden boat concealed among civilian fishing boats rammed into a Sri Lanka Navy vessel outside the Trincomalee harbour this morning, killing 13 sailors. The LTTE's Sea Tigers are believed to be responsible.

This is the latest in a series of deadly attacks against Sri Lankan troops, allegedly by the LTTE. A second nearby Navy vessel escaped the explosion.

The Tigers carried out several similar attacks against Naval vessels before the Ceasefire was signed in 2002. The pro-LTTE TamilNet reported today’s attack but did not specify who was responsible.

Tensions in Trincomalee have been high this week after five Tamil youths were killed last Monday night. Early reports had said the youths died in a hand grenade explosion; however, a full-scale inquiry was launched after a post mortem revealed that the deceased also had gunshot wounds.

Norwegian peace envoy Erik Solheim is meanwhile expected back in Sri Lanka later this month in an effort to restart the faltering peace process. United States Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns also plans to visit Sri Lanka to promote negotiations, US State Department sources said yesterday.

In the past month, 45 military personnel have been killed and 71 others have been wounded in ambushes in the country's North and East. The Tigers have been widely accused of trying to provoke a return to war.



Suspected Tamil Rebels Attack Sri Lankan Naval Gunboat
By VOA News
07 January 2006

Officials in Sri Lanka say suspected Tamil Tiger rebels have attacked a naval gunboat off the country's east coast.

In Colombo, authorities say the patrol craft was blown up early Saturday near Trincomalee harbor. The fate of the sailors aboard is unknown, but the Associated Press is reporting at least 15 sailors died in the attack.

The attack comes one day after Sri Lanka's new foreign minister, Mangala Samaraweera, said his country urgently needs international assistance to spur the Tigers back to peace negotiations.

In an interview with the Associated Press Friday, he said democracy in Sri Lanka is under siege due to the extreme position of the Tigers, known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. He said, however, newly elected President Mahinda Rajapakse is still committed to the peace process.

In Washington, a U.S. State Department spokesman said Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns will travel to Sri Lanka to encourage renewed negotiations between the government and the rebels.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP, and Reuters.


Top U.S. State Department official to visit Sri Lanka to spur peace talks
By FOSTER KLUG

AP WASHINGTON (AP) - A senior State Department official is planning to visit Sri Lanka in an attempt to spur peace talks languishing as increased violence threatens a fragile cease-fire.

Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns intends to travel to Sri Lanka to encourage negotiations between the government and the Tamil Tiger rebels, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Friday. No date for the trip has been announced.

In the latest incident, Sri Lanka's navy reported early Saturday that suspected Tamil Tiger rebels attacked two navy vessels off the northwestern coast, killing at least 15 sailors and leaving three missing.

On Thursday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with Sri Lanka's new foreign minister, Mangala Samaraweera. It was the first U.S. trip by a top member of Sri Lanka's new government since November elections, and analysts and lawmakers had hoped it would help revive peace talks stalled since 2003.


SLMM urges LTTE to name 'people' behind attacks
BY CHAMIKARA Weerasinghe

IN response to numerous denials by the LTTE that it carried out any armed attacks on security personnel and civilians in the North-East, the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) had called the group to identify those whom they describe as "people" responsible for the attacks.

SLMM Spokesperson Helen Olafsdottir told the Daily News that the LTTE had told them that people in Jaffna were behind these attacks.

"Since they are so sure that people had carried out these killings, we asked them to identify them to the Mission," said Olafsdottir. She said the SLMM did not want to whitewash anyone.

"If the LTTE is so certain that people in the North and East were behind these attacks, they should be able to identify them," she asserted.

According to the Army, the LTTE has killed 52 security personnel from last December upto now. They are in the habit of denying any Ceasefire violations perpetrated by them.

Olafsdottir said the Mission had asked the LTTE whether they were responsible for these charges. They had denied responsibility, saying the people were behind these attacks.

"We asked them: 'If you are so certain it was people, why can you not identify them,'" she said.

"Similarly we have asked Security Forces to come out with concrete evidence to prove their allegations. The SLMM cannot act without firm evidence," she said.

Referring to the peace talks, she said if the LTTE and the Government were truly committed to have talks, the venue of the talks could not have been an issue as it appears to be the case now.

"If there's a will there's way," she added.

"I must say both the LTTE and the Government had the opportunity to have ground talks, but they have been missed out by both the parties," she said.


Naval attack raises Sri Lanka tensions
Saturday 07 January 2006, 4:50 Makka Time, 1:50 GMT

At least five sailors of the Sri Lankan navy have been killed and another 10 are missing after an attack on a naval boat by suspected Tamil Tiger bombers.

Sri Lankan military officials said the bodies of five sailors were
recovered while a search was still underway for the other 10 who were missing and presumed dead after the pre-dawn attack off the northeastern port of Trincomalee.

"There were two gunboats in the area and one saw the other being attacked," defence ministry spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe said.

"The boat exploded and we believe it is an LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) suicide attack."

Two officers and 13 sailors were aboard the Israeli-built Dvora class gunboat that was on a routine patrol outside Trincomalee harbour, a main base for the navy, the spokesman said.

The incident just outside Trincomalee naval harbour in the early hours of Saturday is the latest in a series of attacks against the military by the Tamil Tiger rebels.

The attack came as Sri Lanka's foreign minister, Mangala Samaraweera, wrapped up a visit to Washington designed to step up international pressure on the Tiger rebels.

Samaraweera said Colombo was still willing to walk that extra mile for peace."

Speaking to reporters in the US capital he said: "We want to bring international pressure on the LTTE to come and sit with us at the table to discuss the weaknesses of the cease-fire and find ways and means of strengthening it so these dastardly acts do not happen again."

In recent weeks Sri Lanka has seen both sides blaming the other for a series of deadly attacks, with fears growing of a return to all-out civil war.

Seeking a separate homeland for ethnic Tamils, the LTTE rebels have fought a bloody insurgency since the early 1980s, resulting in the death of thousands.

Speaking in Washington Samaraweera urged the international community to press the LTTE "as much as possible, as hard as possible" to return to ceasefire talks.

'Terror machine'

Promising that the government would keep talking to avoid war, he condemned the rebel movement as a "brutal terror machine" that had over past decades killed leading Sri Lankan Tamils as well as majority Buddhist Sinhalese.

The United States banned the LTTE in 1997 and US forces have been training Sri Lankan troops, but diplomats in Colombo say there is no chance Washington would wade in militarily if the violence spirals into war.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had praised the Sri Lankan government for its restraint in the face of the Tamil Tigers' provocations and vowed to work with Sri Lanka to defeat terrorism and promote peace.

Samaraweera also warned that while the government remained patient, Colombo was concerned that "there will come a point where the public would be provoked into actions which the government may not be able to control."


Sri Lanka seeks international pressure on rebels
By Paul Eckert, Asia Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sri Lanka is seeking international pressure on the Tamil Tigers but will stick to diplomacy despite violence that has killed more than 50 people in recent weeks, the country's foreign minister said on Friday.

Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera, capping an official visit to Washington where he sought American help to avoid a slide back into war in the island state, said Colombo was "still willing to walk that extra mile for peace."

"This is not because of any weakness but because we are a government committed to a negotiated settlement to this problem and we do not think that war is an option," he told reporters.

"We want to bring international pressure on the LTTE to come and sit with us at the table to discuss the weaknesses of the cease-fire and find ways and means of strengthening it so these dastardly acts do not happen again," Samaraweera added.

Amid the continuing violence, the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are each accusing the other of being behind a string of deadly attacks that are straining a 2002 ceasefire to the breaking point.

Samaraweera called on the international community to press the LTTE "as much as possible, as hard as possible" to return to ceasefire talks.

Despite vowing to keep talking to avoid war, he decried the LTTE as a "brutal terror machine" that had over past decades killed leading Sri Lankan Tamils as well as majority Buddhist Sinhalese.

The United States banned the LTTE in 1997 and U.S. forces have been training Sri Lankan troops, but diplomats in Colombo say there is no chance Washington would wade in militarily if the violence spirals into war.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had lauded the Sri Lankan government for its restraint in the face of the Tamil Tigers' provocations and vowed to work with Sri Lanka to defeat terrorism and promote peace.

Samaraweera also warned that while the government remained patient, Colombo was concerned that "there will come a point where the public would be provoked into actions which the government may not be able to control."

Sri Lanka was trying to avoid a backlash, he added.

The Tigers say they want a political solution to the conflict, which has killed over 64,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands more since the early 1980s.

But they have declared they are ready for war unless they are given wide autonomy in the north and east, where they already run a de facto state.

Sat Jan 7, 2006 7:29 AM IST

 

[srilanka1998]

LTTE Peace Secretariat of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam

Sri Lankan Navy denies fisherman of livelihood

Following Sri Lankan Navy denying fisherman from going to sea for the second time in two weeks, nearly 1,000 families have displaced to LTTE administered areas, so they can earn a living and survive.
The Sri Lankan Navy has banned fishing for Tamil fisherman in most sections of the north seas of the Jaffna peninsula, a coastal area where High Security Zones have already restricted fisherman from earning a living. Fisherman families are struggling since many rely on their daily earnings to provide for their families.

Just over one week ago, on 28 December 2005, the Sri Lankan Navy closed off fishing areas in Valikamam West, Mathahulthurai, Mathahulpothithurai, Mareesankudal, Kussumamthurai and Sumvilthurai. This ban left 850 fisherman families with little or no means to earn a living. Fisherman were unable to access even their eqiupment that they usually left by the shore. 275 boats and 75 catamarans were unusable due to this.

Last week the Sri Lankan Navy extended the same ban to fisherman in Aathikovil, Valvettiturai.

The ban was again further extended westward on the north coast of Jaffna peninsula from Thondamannaru to Valvai Urani. The fisherman in Thondamannaru, Mayileethanai, Oorikadu, Valvettiturai and Oorani have been left without work and are unable to feed their families.

The Consortium of Fisherman's Society of Northern Province has issued an urgent complaint to SLMM about the severe threat this imposes on the lives of fisherman and their families. The Government Agent office has also been notified of the complaint. Consortium sources said that after SLMM met with the Northern Seas Navy Commander, the Navy Commander merely stated that they are restricting fisherman from working because of the unstable situation that prevails in Jaffna.

Fisherman families who lived in Jaffna have now started to move to LTTE administered areas where there is no such threat to their right to earn a living and provide for their families. A statistics report of the LTTE indicates that in the last few days up to 900 families have moved to the LTTE administered Vanni area on the east part of the island, south of Jaffna peninsula. Here, families say, they can work without restrictions.

Fisherman families say that the cordoning off of coastal areas in the Jaffna peninsula is a reminder of the war time and creates a strain on their day-to-day life, in particular feeding their children. Representatives of the Consortium said these repressive actions are a part of the armed forces' overall agenda and is a clear indication of the deterioration of the environment created by the ceasefire.

07 January 2006


SLA rampages Thinnakural press office in Jaffna

The Sri Lankan Army (SLA) conducted a search operation in the Thinnakural press office in Jaffna that is located at the Junction of KKS Road and Kasthuriyar Road.

The SLA cleared the Thinakural office of the entire staff and conducted a heavy long in the news, administrative and advertisement sections.

The search operation was conducted on Friday at about 4:00 pm following a grenade attack at a military checkpoint near Vannai Siva Temple in KKS Road.

The journalistic sources express regret that this is just one of military's many oppressive actions to limit the functioning of free media.

It must be noted that on 22 December 2005, Tamil activist and a part-time newspaper distributor for the Thinnakural paper, Krishnan Navaratnam, was shot and killed by paramilitaries group outside of the same press office.

07 January 2006


Violence begets violence
Editorial comment of the News Bulletin of the LTTE Peace Secretariat, December -2005

'The international community is deeply concerned about the escalating pace of violence in the NorthEast' is the core message the representatives of the Co-Chairs delivered to the LTTE leadership during their visit to Kilinochchi on 24 December 2005. Well intentioned and therefore well taken. In fact, the core message or the underlying theme of the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) signed in 2002 itself is to first cease fire, bring about normalcy and then to move forward towards a political resolution in an atmosphere that can be called peaceful.

The architects of the CFA obviously had in mind the plight of a people who lived through two decades of war and therefore are rightly eligible to enjoy the basic peace dividend, normalcy. The sigh of relief that one saw and heard from the Tamil people when the CFA was made public was so loud, that the international community too volunteered overwhelmingly to support the CFA and the peace process that was to ensue. Demonstrating the civilised world's commitment and yearning to help the Tamil people move forward in a political arrangement that would ensure absolute freedom and dignity, the international community provided the recognition and equal status to the LTTE as the legitimate political representative to negotiate on behalf of the Tamil people.

What happened to the peace process and what has made the CFA to run into grave risk are matters that have been spoken ad nauseam. Four years of cease fire guaranteeing with time frames, maximum being 160 days, normalcy that includes the right of the displaced access back to their habitats, removal of Sri Lankan military presence in densely populated areas, schools, places of worship and public buildings, the collective Tamil experience dictates, has come to total disappointment.

Adamantly refusing to adhere to the terms of the CFA vis-a-vis normalcy, the occupying military paradoxically went on accelerating violence against peaceful civilian demonstrations calling for normalcy. Rising trend of increasing public resentment and anguish was demonstrated in the civilian uprisings which were met with an iron hand, attacking academics including the Vice Chancellor of the Jaffna University and killing after collective raping of a young lady by the Navy personnel.

Over and over again the Tamil people had used all the non-violent weapons in their arsenal ' deputations, marches, memoranda ' all to no avail. As a subject nation of people under the heavy boot of the occupying military, they learnt it the hard way that it is the oppressor who defines the nature of the struggle, and the oppressed is often left with the choice of reflecting the mirrored image of the oppressor. This pattern of violence therefore needs careful examination in the light of the CFA and the government's failure to fulfil its obligation to implement it. The simplest methodology is to stop military violence, end military-armed groups co-habitation and ensure delivery of the peace dividend, normalcy, implementing the CFA to the letter and the spirit.

07 January 2006