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De-miners find weapon stash at Hindu temple in northern Sri Lanka
Associated Press,
Thu February 6, 2003 02:56 EST .
JOE ARYARATNAM - Associated Press Writer - JAFFNA, Sri Lanka - (AP) De-mining experts found rocket propelled grenades and other ammunition stashed in a well at a Hindu temple in Sri Lanka - 's war-torn Jaffna Peninsula, a top relief official said Thursday. The Jaffna peninsula, home to most of Sri Lanka - 's 3.2 million Tamils, was the center of the civil war that started in 1983 after the rebels accused the majority Sinhalese of discrimination. The government and rebels signed a Norwegian-brokered cease-fire last February and have started peace talks. The city of Jaffna, where the Tamil uprising began, has changed hands twice during the conflict, and from 1990 to 1995 the Tamil Tigers ran a virtually independent state here. In 1995, Sri Lankan military retook the city and pushed the rebels into jungle further south, but in April 2000, the military suffered its worst defeat of the war there when 10,000 troops were forced to abandon a strategic land corridor and 700 soldiers died. The rebels came as close as one kilometer (mile) from Jaffna's city center, forcing the army to retreat from installations including the Murugan Temple. The army later won back Jaffna, and it remains under government control. The de-mining unit is funded by Norway and is engaged in removing an estimated 700,000 land mines planted by the Sri Lankan military and the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam, as the rebels are formally known, during their 19 years of hostilities.
Published: Thu Feb 6 11:00:57 EST 2003
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ASK DR. SWAMY!
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Dr. Subramanian Swamy
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ANSWERS 1-24 NOW AVAILABLE
[HERE]
The Lanka Academic is delighted to announce its next guest in its
series of Q & A sessions: Dr. Subramanian Swamy, President,
Janata Party, India. We are indeed gratified by his appearence at The
Lanka Academic to answer questions from our readers.
We hope our readers would avail themselves of this opportunity to
educate themselves on the Indian perspective on the on-going peace
process and the other developments in all spheres of politics
with respect to India and Sri Lanka.
Submit your questions for Dr. Swamy and view his answers here. As usual, we will forward your questions to him
in batches and will post the answers as they arrive.
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Bush names ambassadors to Argentina, Sri Lanka
Associated Press,
Thu February 6, 2003 18:57 EST .
- - WASHINGTON (AP) President George W. Bush on Thursday announced his picks for ambassadorships in Argentina and Sri Lanka - . Bush chose Jeffrey Lunstead, now the director of the State Department's Office of Environmental Policy, to be the U.S. ambassador to Sri Lanka - and the Republic of Maldives. Before his current post, Lunstead was the department's Afghanistan coordinator in the Bureau of South Asian Affairs and the director of the office that oversees U.S. efforts in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The Senate must confirm the nominees.
Published: Thu Feb 6 20:04:02 EST 2003
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Sri Lanka beefs up sea surveillance to prevent arms infiltration
Associated Press,
Thu February 6, 2003 07:02 EST .
KRISHAN FRANCIS - Associated Press Writer - COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - (AP) Sri Lankan security forces stepped up surveillance Thursday after receiving intelligence about a suspected arms ship in the international waters off the island's east coast, a military spokesman said. ``The navy has dispatched two vessels to prevent such ships entering Sri Lankan territorial waters,'' the military spokesman said on condition of anonymity. The air force has also been called in to help with the operation over the next few days, the spokesman said. The government has accused the Tamil Tigers rebels of smuggling arms during the cease-fire that both sides reached last February after two decades of civil war. Last May, the navy claimed it blew up a rebel boat carrying arms and ammunition off the east coast. The Tigers accused the navy of attacking fishing vessels. In July, Thai police on the resort island of Phuket seized a cache of weapons believed to be destined for shipment to the rebels. The cease-fire bars offensive military actions by the government and the guerrillas, but is vague on some issues, including the transportation of arms. The government has reserved the right to patrol its territorial waters and stop infiltration of illegal weapons. The Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam started their armed insurgency in 1983 to create a separate state for the island's 3.2 million ethnic Tamils. They said Tamils suffered discrimination by the majority Sinhalese in education and jobs. The conflict killed nearly 65,000 people and displaced another 1.6 million. Since September the government and rebels have held four rounds of peace talks, during which the rebels agreed to accept regional autonomy instead of total independence. The next round of talks are is expected to start Friday.
Published: Thu Feb 6 10:58:36 EST 2003
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