Travel Forum / Destinations / Asia / April 2006

Sri Lanka protests monitors' statement on extrajudicial killings
(AFP)

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30 April 2006

COLOMBO - Sri Lanka on Sunday protested an allegation by Scandinavian
truce monitors that government forces may have been responsible for
extrajudicial killings.

Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse met Ulf Henricsson, the head of
the truce monitoring mission, to demand an explanation for Saturday's
statement, a top government official said.

The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) said they "fear that
government security forces have, in the north and the east, been
involved in extrajudicial killings of civilians. This conviction is
based on our observation and inquiries on the ground."

Their statement gave no further details.

"We are surprised that the statement has been made at a time when the
country is reeling from the bomb attacks carried out by the Tigers,"
said Palitha Kohona, secretary general of the government's peace
secretariat.

"We are unconvinced about the "facts' on which the statement has
been made by the SLMM," Kohona told AFP.

He made no comment on another statement by the monitors, who said
government air strikes on Tamil Tiger targets in northeastern
Trincomalee district Tuesday and Wednesday were a clear violation of
the 2002 ceasefire accord.

The military has said it acted in self-defence when it launched the air
and naval strikes after the attempted assassination in Colombo on
Tuesday of the army chief.

A woman who claimed to be pregnant blew herself up beside his car,
severely wounding Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka while killing
herself and 10 others, most of them security personnel.

The rebels said 15 civilians died in the aerial attacks, a figure the
top local government official essentially agreed with.

The SLMM on Saturday warned that any further operations by government
forces would "only add fuel to the conflict."

It added that the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam must stop
their military activities and attacks on government forces.

Nearly 200 people have been killed in renewed violence in the past
month according to both sides.