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Jaffna UTHR accuses LTTE of continuing to conscript children
Frederica Jansz in Colombo,
10.15 a.m. SLT Wednesday March 19.
Another report this week by the University Teachers for Human Rights -
Jaffna, says the LTTE is continuing to conscript children to their cadre
despite promises to the contrary given to UNICEF.
The UTHR report alleges the tigers are taking one child per family from the
north and east and have threatened parents with harm if the kidnappings are
reported.
The report further charges that this issue together with the LTTE being
found smuggling weapons when the Sri Lanka Navy shot at and destroyed a
suspected Tiger arms ship last week, indicates the LTTE are preparing for
war once more.
The report however says that in the backdrop of peace talks taking place in
Japan this week, the LTTE are being pressurized by the international
community and have been warned that any resumption of hostilities would
immediately cut-off all aid to tiger terrain and the war ravaged north and
east of Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile, the LTTE's chief negotiator Anton Balasingham says even senior
tiger cadre have been severely chastised and at the receiving end of
disciplinary action by the leadership for disobeying orders and continuing
to conscript children to the tiger fold.
Published: Tue Mar 18 23:22:46 EST 2003
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 ASK LAKSHMAN!
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A Q&A with Sri Lanka's Former Minister of Foreign Affairs
We are pleased to introduce Mr. Lakshman Kadiragamar, former Foreign
Minister of Sri Lanka, as the 11th guest in our series of Q&A
sessions. Presidents Counsel and Member of Parliament, Mr. Kadiragamar
is currently the special adviser on Foreign Affairs to the President
of Sri Lanka. Send in your questions to Mr. Kadiragamar and receive
his answers here.
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IT'S NOT CRICKET, STUPID, IT'S COMPUTERS, LOVELY COMPUTERS
Fulbright Scholar Brings Computers to Urban Disadvantaged Children in
Colombo, Sri Lanka.
By Chulie de Silva, Colombo.
You would think on a warm Saturday morning, children in Sri Lanka
would be watching a cricket match and cheering on their heroes. No,
not in Kew Road, Slave Island, a multi-ethnic enclave just five
minutes away from the exclusive Trans Asia Hotel in Colombo's central
down town area. The cricket match played on at the Malay Cricket Club,
on Saturday 25, January but thirty children were flocked round five
computers in a little rectangular room of the Vocational Training
Center (VTC) run by the Sri Lanka Malay Association's (SLMA) Rupee
Fund. [More...]
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Navy opposed to any changes to the ceasefire agreement
Bandula Jayasekara in Colombo,
SLT 7.45 a.m Wednesday 19 March.
Sri Lanka Navy is strongly opposed to any changes, which would give the LTTE
greater freedom at sea. News reports say that the Navy has expressed its
concern about the LTTE proposed amendments to the ceasefire agreement, which
appears to have the backing of the Norwegian facilitators. A top Navy
official had told the Daily Mirror today that "The Ceasefire agreement
should be confined to the ground as it has been so far. No one should try to
hi-jack or meddle with the Navy's right to protect a sovereign state. We
hope that the government or government delegation in Hakone would not give
in to undue pressure from anybody and compromise the country's security."
The Navy official had pointed out that the Navy was not consulted when the
agreement was drafted and the government has so far been very supportive of
the Navy. The LTTE has in its possession around 45 vessels including
trawlers, mainly used for smuggling. The report adds that the LTTE now
boasts of 28 boat landing places from Mullativu on the North coast to Panama
on the South-East coast though had only one major naval facility until last
year. They had built another facility in Vakarai taking advantage of the
ceasefire agreement. It is a fully fledged Naval facility.
Published: Tue Mar 18 20:50:47 EST 2003
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Deadly clash at sea dominates first day of peace talks between Tamil Tiger rebels, Sri Lankan government
Associated Press,
Tue March 18, 2003 07:57 EST .
BETH DUFF-BROWN - Associated Press Writer - He told reporters that within three weeks, both sides would meet with the navy and Norwegian-led Sri Lanka - Monitoring Mission to reaffirm the mission's authority and review ways to avoid another clash that could derail the peace talks. On March 10, Sri Lanka - 's navy killed 11 rebel sailors and sank their boat, which was suspected of smuggling arms. The rebels insist the ship was only carrying oil and that it was attacked while in international waters. It was the worst conflict since a Norwegian-brokered truce in the 19-year ethnic war went into effect more than a year ago. On Wednesday, the talks will take up economic recovery, the resettlement of displaced Tamils and human rights. The two sides also intend to discuss how the two sides will share tax revenue and power under a federal government. Peace talks began in September, after the Norwegians brokered a cease-fire in February 2002. The monitoring mission said in a statement Monday that it had ``no proof'' of whether the rebel vessel's cargo was ``warlike material,'' as stated by the government, or oil as the rebels insist. ``This was a deliberate act to implicate us and defame us by saying that we were carrying weapons,'' rebel negotiator Anton Balasingham told reporters. ``The situation on the ground is still unstable because the armed forces are not cooperating and there is still mutual mistrust and hostility.'' The rebels began fighting for a homeland for the ethnic Tamil minority on the Indian Ocean island in 1983, but now say they would settle for autonomy in a federal state. The war has killed nearly 65,000 people, displaced another 1.6 million and destroyed the economy. The Tigers accuse the majority Sinhalese, who are predominantly Buddhist, of discrimination in education and jobs against the country's 3.2 million minority Tamils, most of whom are Hindu and live in the north. The government accuses the rebels of human rights abuses, such as recruiting children into their ranks and using women as suicide bombers, who have carried out some of the worst attacks of the civil war. The European cease-fire monitors said Tuesday they were concerned that cease-fire violations were possibly being timed to coincide with talks. ``If these are planned or mere coincidence no one knows. But this is an emerging trend we do not like at all,'' said Hagrup Haukland, deputy head of Norwegian-led cease-fire monitoring team. ``It's very very strange that the most serious incidents occur when peace talks are taking place.'' On the Net: Tamil Web site: www.TamilNet.com. Government site: www.peaceinsrilanka.com
Published: Tue Mar 18 08:19:18 EST 2003
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