Sri Lanka rebels say EU truce monitors must quit

Colombo, Jun 21: Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers today insisted that Nordic truce monitors from European Union countries must be replaced in light of an EU ban against the rebels, Norwegian envoys said after visiting their stronghold.

That means that Norway must now scramble to find monitors from elsewhere to replace 37 from EU member nations Sweden, Finland and Denmark. That leaves only 20 monitors from Norway and Iceland, which analysts say will leave a dangerous vacuum at a time when attacks and ambushes are soaring.

''The (Tigers) have informed us that they stand by what they previously informed us: That they don't accept SLMM members from countries which have proscribed them as a terrorist organisation,'' said Erik Ivo Nurnberg, First Secretary at the Royal Norwegian Embassy.

''That is something that we regret,'' he added on returning from visiting the rebels' northern nerve-centre of Kilinochchi. ''We are now in the process of assessing together with other Nordic countries how to replace the monitors.'' SLMM stands for the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission which oversees a 2002 ceasefire between rebel forces and the Sri Lankan military.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) yesterday vowed to ensure the safety of SLMM monitors, following a close shave in May when the rebels fired at a navy patrol boat with a monitor aboard, and recommitted to the ceasefire.

But many fear a rash of escalating violence - in particular a Tiger feud with a renegade commander called Karuna - could still spiral into renewed civil war.

Sri Lanka's military said eight Tamil Tigers were killed during an overnight clash with a band of breakaway former comrades, but the rebels denied it on Wednesday and accused the army of shelling their territory.

''There was an incident between the Karuna faction and the LTTE in Trincomalee just after midnight. There was some firing going on from both sides,'' said a senior military source, asking not to be identified.

''Ground and technical sources revealed eight Tiger cadres had been killed,'' he added. ''Government forces were not involved.'' The Tigers warned on Tuesday that attacks by the Karuna group, which they accuse of colluding with the military, pose ''a big threat to the ceasefire and peace process'' amid a rash of violence that has killed more than 700 people so far this year.

''Our forward defence lines were shelled in Trincomalee,'' Puratchi, head of the Tiger student union there, told Reuters by telephone. ''But no-one was killed or injured.'' ''We don't think Karuna was involved. It was military forces,'' he added.

The Tigers have also warned they would resort to any strategy - including suicide bombers - if a conflict that has killed more than 65,000 people resumes all-out.

REUTERS

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