News vom 17.02.2006

[srilanka1998]

LTTE Delegation left for Geneva talks
[ LTTE Peace Secretariat ] [ 11:50 GMT, Feb. 17, 2006 ]

The LTTE delegation headed by Mr S.P.Tamilselvan, Head of the LTTE political wing left Kilinochchi today, 17th February 2006 for talks in Geneva. The LTTE leadership has earlier agreed to participate in the peace talks on smooth implementation of the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA), with the government of Sri Lanka. This announcement came after the meeting between the Norwegian International Development Minister, Mr. Erik Solheim and Tamil National Leader, Mr.Prabaharan on 25 January 2006. The Geneva talks would be a significant development as the signatories to CFA are going to have direct talks after nearly 35 months. The last direct talks between LTTE and Sri Lankan government representatives was held in Hakone, Japan between March 18 and March 21, 2003.


Tension falls in Sri Lanka north, key talks watched
[ Reuters ] [ 11:53 GMT, Feb. 17, 2006 ]

Normality is returning to northern Sri Lanka after the region went to the brink of war in January, residents say, but coming talks between government and Tamil Tiger rebels in Geneva will decide if the peace will last. Troops keep up a high presence on the streets of the Jaffna peninsula, dominated by the island's Tamil minority, hemmed in by rebel lines and seen as a key objective for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) if a 2002 truce fails and a two-decade civil war resumes. But the atmosphere has changed. "The violence of the army has stopped," Tamil shopkeeper S. Poobalaratham told Reuters as an armoured personnel carrier growled up the road. "We don't hear firing, we don't hear bombs and mines going off. We hope and pray this will continue."


Tamil rebel team leaves for Geneva talks, Sri Lanka releases four rebels
[ AP ] [ 11:56 GMT, Feb. 17, 2006 ]

A delegation of top Tamil rebels left Colombo for Geneva Friday, where they will hold their first direct talks in nearly three years with the Sri Lankan government amid increasing violence between the two sides. The government, meanwhile, released from prison four members of the Sea Tigers, the naval wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, said Helen Olafsdottir, a spokeswoman for a European cease-fire monitoring team. Rebel spokesman Daya Master confirmed the release of the four men, who were arrested in October while allegedly filming the Trincomalee harbor, where Sri Lankan navy has a base. The government also withdrew charges of violating the country's anti-terrorism act.


Tamil Tigers to leave for Geneva for Sri Lanka truce talks
Fri Feb 17, 12:52 AM ET

COLOMBO (AFP) - Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels are to leave for Geneva to attend crucial peace talks with the Colombo government, officials said.

S. P. Thamilselvan, head of the political wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), will lead the rebel delegation heading to Switzerland, officials close to the peace process said.

The first face-to-face meet between the two sides in three years, during which Sri Lanka slipped dangerously back towards war, was due to begin in Geneva on Wednesday.

The two-day session was to focus on the Norwegian-brokered ceasefire that went into effect from February 23, 2002 but has yet to be fully implemented by both sides.

The truce came under pressure following a spike in violence in December, but the bloodshed was dramatically reduced after both sides agreed on January 25 to hold the talks.

The Geneva meeting arranged by peace broker Norway and hosted by Switzerland will be the first high-level contact between the two sides since the Tigers, who control large areas of the north and east of Sri Lanka, pulled out of peace talks in April 2003.

Four previous peace attempts had failed in the island nation, where more than 60,000 people have been killed in ethnic violence since 1972.

 

[srilanka1998]

Security News

S.Lanka rebels say will release prisoners in swap
17 Feb 2006 11:48:33 GMT

COLOMBO, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka and the Tamil Tigers agreed to a prisoner swap on Friday, as a rebel delegation left for next week's crunch talks in Switzerland which are seen as a last chance to avert a return to civil war.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said they would release a policemen they detained in September after the government released four rebels on bail and would release another one as long as four other Tigers were also freed.

The policemen had strayed into rebel-held territory in September as they tried to catch a suspected British paedophile.

A third policeman was released in January after both sides agreed to hold last ditch talks to funds ways to preserve a 2002 truce.

"We are going to release one tomorrow or the day after," rebel media coordinator Daya Master said from the northern Tiger stronghold of Kilinochchi as a rebel delegation took off for Switzerland for talks on Feb. 22-23.

"There are four more of our people in custody. When they release them, we will release the other one also."

The government earlier on Friday released on bail four rebels jailed in the eastern district of Trincomalee who the Tigers had wanted released in the prisoner swap deal, but there was no word on the other four.

The prisoner swap comes days ahead of talks analysts say could determine whether Sri Lanka is headed for peace or for a return to a two-decade civil war that killed more than 64,000 people up until a 2002 ceasefire.

Many businesses are holding back investments until they see the outcome of the talks before betting on the $20 billion economy, and the stock market has seen volatile trade in recent days.


Former Sri Lankan cabinet minister freed after contempt term
(DPA)
17 February 2006

COLOMBO - A former cabinet minister in Sri Lanka jailed for two years for contempt of court has been freed on a presidential pardon, a spokesman for the Prisons Department said on Friday.

Ex-minister of Agriculture S.B. Dissanayake walked out of the high security prisons in Colombo on Friday evening as supporters of his party the United National Party (UNP) welcomed him and escorted him to a public reception, the spokesman said.

Dissanayake was sentenced to jail in November 2004 after he was found guilty of criticising the Supreme Court. He was a minister of the UNP government when he made the criticism.

Dissanayake has been deprived of his civic rights for seven years and accordingly will not be able to contest elections or enter parliament during that period, though he has been freed from jail on a special presidential pardon. He was a member of Parliament when he was jailed, but was disqualified after the court ruling against him.


Rebel team arrives in Colombo en route to Geneva for talks with Sri Lankan government
AP

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) - A delegation of top Tamil rebels arrived in Colombo Friday en route to Geneva for their first direct talks in nearly three years with the Sri Lankan government.

An official at Sri Lanka's only international airport said the four-member negotiating arrived at the airport from Kilinochchi, the rebels' de facto capital, abroad a Sri Lankan air force helicopter. The official cannot be named because he is not authorized to talk to media.

Separately, seven more junior rebel officials traveled by road and joined the four others at the airport. The team, headed by S.P. Thamilselvan, the political head of the rebels, is scheduled to leave for Dubai, United Arab Emirates, en rote to Geneva, abroad a SriLankan airlines flight later Friday.

The Geneva talks, scheduled for Feb. 22-23, come as a Norwegian-brokered cease-fire has come under huge strain because of escalating violence.

The Tigers accuse the government of backing a breakaway faction and want officials to disarm that group. The Geneva talks are to focus primarily on that issue.

The government denies backing the splinter group and in turn blames the rebels for many of the deaths of more than 150 people, including 81 soldiers, since Dec. 4, when violence flared up in the northeast.

The rebel movement split in 2004 when an eastern-based military commander named Karuna broke away with 6,000 fighters. The rebellion was suppressed by the mainstream rebels, but Karuna and several other leaders managed to escape and are known to operate in eastern Sri Lanka.

The Tamil Tigers launched a violent campaign in 1983 to create a separate state for ethnic minority Tamils in the northeast, accusing the majority Sinhalese of discrimination. The civil war killed 65,000 people before the cease-fire was signed in 2002. Peace talks broke down a year later over rebel demands for wide autonomy.


Sri Lanka rebels leave for talks

A team of Tamil Tiger rebels are due to leave for Geneva for crucial talks with Sri Lanka's government, officials say.
The meeting on 22-23 February will be the first face-to-face talks at such a high level for nearly three years.

The two sides decided to meet in Switzerland after negotiations by Norwegian envoy Erik Solheim.

The two days of talks are aimed at boosting a threadbare four-year truce. Mounting violence in recent months has raised fears of a return to civil war.

A spokesman for the Tamil Tigers, Daya Master, said a four-member team of rebels had left the rebel-held town of Kilinochchi for Colombo by a Sri Lankan air force helicopter.

SP Thamilselvan, a senior rebel leader, is leading the delegation, unnamed officials told the AFP news agency.

Mr Solheim has said the talks were "a small but very significant step towards putting the peace process back on a positive track".

Soaring violence

The ceasefire agreement in February 2002 preceded several rounds of peace talks, which stalled in April 2003.

Since new President Mahinda Rajapakse was elected after a hard-line campaign last November, killings and abductions in the north and east have soared.

At least 120 people - including about 80 soldiers and sailors and many civilians - have died in the upsurge of violence, which has abated since the deal to hold talks was reached.

The attacks on the military have been blamed on the rebels, who deny involvement.

Tamil Tiger supporters say more than 40 Tamils have been killed by the security forces in a series of attacks since the start of December. Others blame some of those deaths on the rebels or other armed groups.

More than 60,000 people died during two decades of conflict in Sri Lanka.

The Tamil Tigers want autonomy for minority Tamils in the north and east. President Rajapakse has said the solution to the conflict lies in a unitary state.


Links between drug kingpin and LTTE to be probed

JAKARTA: Indonesia hopes to obtain Interpol assistance to investigate the alleged links between convicted drug smuggler Mayuran Sukumaran and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Sukumaran was found guilty of trying to smuggle heroin from Bali to Australia and was sentenced to death on Wednesday.

Sukumaran was one of the two masterminds of a drug smuggling cartel and he was arrested together with eight others. The so-called "Bali nine" were arrested last April, trying to smuggle more than 8.2 kg of heroin to Sydney. Sukumaran and the other ringleader were sentenced to death and four others have been given life terms.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard, referring to the death sentence, said the group's actions had been "stupid", and said the verdicts were a warning to others. But he said his Government would still seek clemency for the two men sentenced to death.

Tach Duc Thanh Nguyen, 28, Matthew Norman, 19, and Si Yi Chen, 21, were all sentenced to life in jail by the Denpasar court on Wednesday.

Other members of the group were detained at Bali's airport with drugs strapped to their waists, as they were about to board a flight to Sydney. On Tuesday the court sentenced the two organisers of the smuggling ring - Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran - to death by firing squad. The other gang members - Martin Stephens, Michael Czugaj, Renae Lawrence and Scott Rush - have been given life terms.

According to Interpol sources in Colombo, London and several other capitals, there are more than 100 Tamil militants serving jail terms in Europe for drug smuggling. "Some of the leaders are definitely LTTE cadres," the source said. The LTTE started drug smuggling from the 'Golden triangle' to Europe and North America, Interpol sources said.

Indonesia has increasingly become a transit route for drug traffickers and courts across the country have toughened up on offenders in recent years, sentencing several foreigners to death for large scale drug smuggling.


Truce panel bins Tiger sea rights plea
Friday, February 17,2006

COLOMBO: The Norwegian led truce monitoring mission has strongly disputed the LTTE’s right to conduct sea movements without government approval.
Head of mission Hagrup Haukland advised the LTTE against sea movements as it would jeopardise the Cease-Fire Agreement (CFA), an authoritative official said. Haukland is believed to have warned the LTTE of dire consequences if Sea Tigers launched boats in violation of the CFA.
The Island learns that the warning was issued after LTTE political chief S. P. Thamilselvan vowed to launch sea movements irrespective of the government’s stand. Thamilselvan in his letters dated December 22 and December 25 last year addressed to Haukland, is believed to have stressed their right. But the monitoring mission comprising members from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Sweden and Norway has dismissed the LTTE stance.
The mission underlined the navy’s right to engage in, what it termed as, the legitimate task of safeguarding the sovereignty and territorial integrity, in a letter dated February 7 addressed to the government. The ruling comes two weeks before the government and LTTE meet in Geneva for talks aimed at ways and means to strengthen the CFA.
Referring to the unprovoked LTTE attack on two navy operated fibre glass dinghies, off Pallimunai, Mannar on December 22, the monitoring mission ruled it a gross violation of the CFA. Navy headquarters claimed that the LTTE mounted the attack taking cover of a group of fishing boats. The LTTE disputed this. The LTTE in its representations to the monitoring mission claimed that the navy triggered the confrontation by engaging the Sea Tigers. The monitoring mission in its observations noted that the navy and the LTTE claims were contradictory while dismissing the Tigers’ right to carry out sea movements unless they obtained prior approval.


Tsunami 'widow' arrested after husband is seen alive
By David Sapsted
(Filed: 17/02/2006)

A mother of three who was supposedly widowed in the 2004 tsunami has been arrested by police after reports that her husband is still alive.

Yohini Shanthakumaran, 26, won the support of her MP and local press after publicising her claim last year that her two-year-old son had been stranded in Sri Lanka after her husband drowned in the Boxing Day disaster.

Sources yesterday said that suspected discrepancies in her story were first detected by insurance investigators working with the Metropolitan Police's tsunami team.

Now there are claims that her husband Shanmugam has been seen in his native Sri Lanka.

Mrs Shanthakumaran, who lives in Gravesend, was arrested by Kent police on suspicion of deception but insisted that she still believed her husband to be dead. She reported his death last March, saying she had not heard from him since he took their son to visit friends in the coastal town of Trincomalee on Christmas Eve 2004.

In a letter to Chris Pond, who was then MP for Gravesham, she said her son had been stranded in Sri Lanka after her husband's death.

She persuaded local newspapers to highlight her story and a charity came forward to offer funds to have the little boy repatriated.

Mrs Shanthakumaran flew to Sri Lanka and brought the boy home, reuniting him with his elder sisters. However, reports of her husband's death were already being investigated. "The Met Police employed a team of insurance investigators alongside the officers looking at each individual case," said a source close to the inquiry.

"They were assessing Mrs Shanthakumaran's life insurance claims relating to her husband."

Members of Gravesend's Sri Lankan community say her husband has been sighted in Sri Lanka, but Mrs Shanthakumaran remains adamant that she has heard nothing from him since the Boxing Day disaster that claimed 230,000 lives.

She said: "He went and did not come back. I think he is dead." Kent police would confirm only that a woman had been held on suspicion of deception and that she had been released on bail.

 

[srilanka1998]

Tension falls in Sri Lanka north, key talks watched
[ Reuters ] [ 11:53 GMT, Feb. 17, 2006 ]

Normality is returning to northern Sri Lanka after the region went to the brink of war in January, residents say, but coming talks between government and Tamil Tiger rebels in Geneva will decide if the peace will last. Troops keep up a high presence on the streets of the Jaffna peninsula, dominated by the island's Tamil minority, hemmed in by rebel lines and seen as a key objective for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) if a 2002 truce fails and a two-decade civil war resumes. But the atmosphere has changed. "The violence of the army has stopped," Tamil shopkeeper S. Poobalaratham told Reuters as an armoured personnel carrier growled up the road. "We don't hear firing, we don't hear bombs and mines going off. We hope and pray this will continue."


Tamil rebel team leaves for Geneva talks, Sri Lanka releases four rebels
[ AP ] [ 11:56 GMT, Feb. 17, 2006 ]

A delegation of top Tamil rebels left Colombo for Geneva Friday, where they will hold their first direct talks in nearly three years with the Sri Lankan government amid increasing violence between the two sides. The government, meanwhile, released from prison four members of the Sea Tigers, the naval wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, said Helen Olafsdottir, a spokeswoman for a European cease-fire monitoring team. Rebel spokesman Daya Master confirmed the release of the four men, who were arrested in October while allegedly filming the Trincomalee harbor, where Sri Lankan navy has a base. The government also withdrew charges of violating the country's anti-terrorism act.