NEWS

Meeting between representatives of the Norwegian government and the LTTE early last year. Around the table from the left, Raymond Johanson, Thorbjoern Jagland, Erik Solheim, the Liberation Tigers chief negotiator Anton Balasingham and his wife Adele.

Sri Lanka secures change of ‘impartial’ peace envoy

The Norwegian peace process has run into another crisis after the Norwegian government, at Sri Lanka's insistence, suddenly down-graded the role of its peace envoy, Erik Solheim without informing or consulting the Liberation Tigers.

The surprise move, effected last week by both governments during a hurried visit to Colombo by the Norwegian foreign minister Thorbjoern Jagland, has angered the LTTE, which described it as "improper" and "a breach of protocol and neutrality."

At short notice, Jagland flew into Colombo last Thursday for a lengthy discussion with Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunge and Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar. Solheim, who accompanied Jagland to Colombo, was not allowed to attend the talks with the Sri Lankans, Norwegian embassy officials said.

Subsequently, Colombo issued a terse statement that "it was decided that the Government of Norway will henceforth participate at a high level to advance the peace process." This was the first indication that Colombo's demand that Solheim should be removed, had been agreed to by Oslo. The LTTE was incensed.

In a strongly worded statement issued from its headquarters in Vanni, northern Sri Lanka, the LTTE Sunday "expressed its displeasure over the unilateral initiative taken by the Sri Lankan government to effect a change in the role and function of the Norwegian peace envoy Mr. Erik Solheim."

The LTTE also said "the facilitatory process in peace making is not an exercise in inter-governmental relations; it involves tripartite relations between the facilitator and the parties in conflict," and observed that "[Norway's] bi-lateral decision with the government of Sri Lanka, circumventing the other party in conflict entails a breach of protocol and neutrality."

"As a facilitator, the Government of Norway is under obligation to consult both protagonists before making crucial decisions with regards to its level of involvement or engagement," the LTTE pointed out.

"The hasty manner in which the Norwegian Foreign Minister Mr.Jagland was summoned to Colombo for a closed door secret meeting with President Kumaratunga and the Foreign Minister Mr.Kadirgamar, where a critical decision was made to upgrade the status of facilitation without the consultation of the LTTE, the other party in the conflict, is, in our view, improper," the Tigers said.

"We are well aware that powerful elements in the Kumaratunga Government, including Mr. Kadirgamar, were unhappy with Mr. Solheim's facilitatory role," the Tigers said.

"Mr. Solheim avoided controversy and criticism of both the parties in the conflict and maintained impeccable neutrality, a rare quality that was viewed with suspicion and apprehension in Sri Lankan political discourse."

"In our view Mr. Solheim has made indefatigable endeavors over the last two years, facing insurmountable difficulties to achieve considerable progress in the peace effort. Therefore, it is sad to note that the Sri Lanka government has deliberately effected a crafty diplomatic ruse to downgrade and marginalise Mr. Solheim by a ploy of upgrading the facilitatory engagement", the LTTE said.

According to Sri Lankan political analysts, Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, had been a strong advocate of Solheim's removal, particularly as the envoy had made it difficult for Colombo to portray the LTTE as intransigent and insincere about peace.

The envoy had in one instance been forced to publicly refute claims by Kadirgamar about the progress of the peace process. This and Solheim's - "balanced and impartial," according to informed sources - briefing on the peace process to the United States' Department of State, had infuriated Colombo.

Editorial, page 6

Child rights gains seen at risk

The world has achieved significant progress over the past decade in reaching international goals for helping children, but setbacks along the way threaten to undermine earlier gains, according to a report released last week by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

"We the Children," an end-of-decade review of the achievements made since the 1990 World Summit for Children, paints a mixed picture but emphasizes that overall, "a good foundation has been laid" to reach the Summit's objectives and to tackle emerging concerns.

Introducing the report at a press conference in New York, UNICEF chief Carol Bellamy called it "without a doubt, the most comprehensive study of what is happening to the world's children today."

She called attention to the progress made over the past decade, noting that some 63 countries had achieved the Summit goal of one third reduction in mortality among children under the age of five, and that in over 100 countries, under-five deaths were cut by one fifth. In terms of education, there were more children in school than ever before, she said.

But the report also warns that "for all the millions of young lives that have been saved, and for all the futures that have been enhanced," many of the Summit's goals remain unfulfilled.

Over 10 million children still die each year from "readily preventable causes," while some 150 million children are malnourished. Over 100 million are still out of school. The report blames these problems on a lack of adequate funding.

Ethnic split over Solheim

The controversy over Solheim's removal has arguably risen to the forefront of the Oslo's peace initiative in Sri Lanka. The matter is now likely to reflect the ethnic chasm in Sri Lanka: whilst Solheim has earned the affections of considerable sections of the Tamil community for his indefatigable efforts to bring about peace talks, the Sinhala-Buddhist leadership has long sought to have him deemed persona non grata.

Subsequent to Oslo's agreement to sideline Solheim, Tamil political parties were angry with the Sri Lankan government, accused it of insulting the Norwegian envoy and blocking the peace process. "This is another tactic by the government to drag on the issue.

It is an utter insult to the Norwegian government and they have treated Solheim, who did so much for the [Sri Lanka], very shabbily," said V Anandasangari Vice President of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF).

Meanwhile, in the past few weeks, Solheim has come under strong criticism from Sinhala extremists and the influential Buddhist clergy. The nationalists took objection to Solheim raising stakes in the Sri Lankan conflict by discussing his peace initiatives with the US deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage and urging Washington to pressure the parties to talk.

"The government must immediately stop the authority they seem to have given Mr. Solheim to discuss with Western powers," the Sinhala Council, a body representing the Buddhist chief priests' sentiments said two weeks ago. ""If the government fails to do so, they must resign."

Their sentiments were echoed by Sri Lanka's right wing Prime Minister, Ratnisiri Wickremenayake, who last week mysteriously asked reporters to quote an unidentified source as saying: "What the Norwegian envoy must now do is realise that he cannot solve this problem and leave without further internationalising the issue."

Shell Grp seen shy

Royal Dutch/Shell Group said Monday it is "not interested" in acquiring a remaining 49 pct stake in Shell Gas Lanka Ltd which the Sri Lankan government is planning to divest.

"About 10 pct of Royal Dutch/Shell's investment in LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) is made in Sri Lanka, and we are therefore not interested in expanding on this," said Royal Dutch/Shell spokesman Reinier Treur. He added that the company told the Sri Lankan government that it should look for an "interesting local party" which would be able make a "positive contribution (to Shell Gas Lanka)."

ABN Amro sells Lankan activities

The Dutch banking group ABN Amro is to sell its activities in Sri Lanka to NDB Bank for 14 million dollars (17 million euros), the Dutch firm said in a statement last week.

The accord announced on Tuesday faces scrutiny by Sri Lankan competition regulators, and requires approval by the central bank of a license allowing NDB Bank to operate as an investment bank.

The deal is part of an ABN strategy to increase share value by re-centring its activities and shutting down operations in 11 countries, reported AFP. ABN Amro has pledged to double its share value in four years while increasing net earnings per share by 17 percent per year, and net profit by 18 percent each year.

JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter are two other major investment banks which have abandoned Sri Lanka over the past few months.

Foreign capital was put to flight last year by a dramatic escalation in Sri Lanka's protracted ethnic war and the stock market has since touched several new lows.

India launches first electric car

An Indian firm launched the country's first electric car last week, saying it was cheaper than conventional vehicles and would reduce emissions on the country's polluted roads, reported AFP.

The small, two-seater car costs just 40 paise (less than one cent) per kilometre to run, which is up to six times less expensive than a normal car, according to the manufacturers. The car, named Reva, can run for 80 kilometres (50 miles) on a single charge using a 220-volt 15-amp power source. Its total battery life is 40,000 kilometres (24,800 miles).

Vehicles account for 70 percent of air pollution in Indian cities, and the capital New Delhi has been ranked as one of the most polluted cities in the world.

Chetan Maini, managing director of the Reva Electric Car Company (RECC) said they had set a break-even sales target of 3,000 vehicles within two years. The car costs about $5,400.

The Bangalore-based firm has already invested 800 million rupees in the project and hopes to make 1,500 cars by June 2002 and subsequently step up production to 12,000 cars by the third year.

Constitutional crisis deepens

SRI LANKA'S parliamentary Speaker Anura Bandaranaike has put off a foreign tour amid a deepening constitutional crisis after the Supreme Court issued a ban on him, reported AFP quoting officials on Saturday.

Bandaranaike who was due to leave for London later Saturday delayed his travel plans amid fears that the ruling party may pull off a surprise in his absence, parliamentary sources said.

"A state attorney had appeared on behalf of the speaker without his consent and agreed to a Supreme Court order restraining him from proceeding with an impeachment of the chief justice," a parliamentary official said.

He said under the circumstances, Bandaranaike feared that his absence would leave room for the ruling party to manoeuvre and even reject the impeachment resolution against the chief justice.

Ruling party stalwarts, however, said they were opposed to the Supreme Court's interference with the legislature while making it clear that they were prepared to block opposition attempts to remove Chief Justice Sarath Silva.

The battle between parliament and the Supreme Court began after the opposition Wednesday tried to begin impeachment proceedings against the chief justice who is a personal appointee of the president.

The Marxist JVP, or People's Liberation Front, joined forces with the right-wing United National Party (UNP) to hand a petition to parliamentary speaker Bandaranaike charging Silva with misconduct, including adultery.

But on the same day, the Supreme Court, which is also appointed by the government, issued an interim order preventing the speaker from setting up a panel to investigate the allegations. The full case will be heard on September 3.

Bandaranaike is expected to give a ruling on whether he will abide by the Supreme Court or will press ahead with the impeachment inquiry when parliament resumes sitting in 10 days.

The opposition Thursday made use of a routine debate to assert parliament's authority and criticised the Supreme Court's move to block impeachment proceedings. Behind closed doors, ruling party MPs objected to the controversial order, causing a rift within the already shaky coalition of President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

On May 28 the Supreme Court rejected a case in which three petitioners, including two journalists, had demanded the removal of the chief justice. The rejection was issued partly on the basis that the removal of judges can only be done through an impeachment process in parliament.

But on Wednesday, the three-judge bench, which included two judges who heard the May 28 case, issued the order against the speaker on the basis that parliament could not investigate judges. "This clearly shows the duplicity of the state attorney general. Can we have any faith in a legal system like this?" opposition legislator Rajitha Senaratne asked parliament.

No confidence motion looms as UNP gathers allies

SRI LANKA'S main opposition, United National Party, last Friday collected nearly 60 signatures from its members for a no confidence motion against the government. The UNP says the Peoples Alliance government led by President Chandrika Kumaratunga has no moral authority to rule. The motion will be presented this week to parliament.

The UNP says it is confident the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) and the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) will support the motion.

The party is certain the motion of no confidence will gather momentum once the parliamentary debate on the issue begins and that members from the coalition Peoples Alliance will also lend support.

Meanwhile, both the opposition and members of the ruling party will challenge a Supreme Court ruling which issued a Stay Order on Speaker Anura Bandaranaike from appointing a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) to probe allegations of misconduct and adultery against the Chief Justice.

Deputy Speaker Sarath Munasinghe told Bandaranaike that the Speaker should not entertain the Stay Order as it violates the supremacy of Parliament and its legislators.

Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and D. M. Jayaratne were Friday given a copy of the letter initiated by the opposition parties to gather signatures calling upon the Speaker to ignore the court ruling and appoint a PSC to study the impeachment motion against Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva.

Meanwhile, a rift in Sri Lanka's ruling coalition widened last week over a pledge which a key Muslim ally said President Kumaratunga had made. The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), which holds the balance of power in the hung Parliament, said Kumaratunga had back-pedalled on a promise to create a separate administrative district for minority Muslims in the island's east. The SLMC controls 11 of the Parliament's 225 seats.

''It was the President who said arrangements for the new district would be finalised by the end of May. That deadline has not been met,'' said the SLMC's R. Sinnalebbe, a lawmaker of Kumaratunga's Peoples' Alliance (PA). ''This development casts serious doubts on our agreement with the PA,'' Sinnalebbe said. He added that the dispute would be decided when government parliamentarians meet Kumaratunga later. ''It's really now up to the President,'' he added.

World bank provides $130m for Lanka

THE World Bank has allocated 100 million U.S. dollars for the infrastructure development of Sri Lanka's state universities, the official Daily News said on Friday. Two days earlier the World Bank said that it plans to grant a loan of $30 million toward the recently initiated restructuring of Sri Lanka's central bank.

Minister of Education and Information Technology Indika Gunawardena said on Thursday that the $100 million University infrastructure grant will be used for improving university libraries, research units, auditoriums, hostels and curriculum development in the war-torn country.

The restructuring will keep universities in the country up with global trends, he said. The minister gave the lie to rumors that state universities were to be privatized. He said the cabinet had decided that all universities would remain under the aegis of the state.

Speaking about the loan to the central bank, Sriyani Hulugalle of the World Bank office in Colombo told Dow Jones Newswires "final negotiations have been completed and the loan package will be going to the board this month."

Hulugalle said the proposed $30 million four-year loan should be available from July.

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka has embarked on a restructuring with its key objective of using monetary policy to contain inflationary pressures. The reorganization will see the bank focus on ensuring domestic price stability within a flexible exchange rate mechanism. After the changes the bank will gradually shed some of its other roles.

Lanka, India deal over fishermen

SRI Lanka and India are examining a proposal to exchange fishermen arrested for poaching in each other's territorial waters in a bid to untangle a long-standing bilateral issue, the India Abroad News Service said quoting a government official.

The suggestion to free the fishermen was made by Fisheries Minister Mahinda Rajapakse during a visit to New Delhi last week when he met with Agriculture Minister Nitish Kumar and senior officials there.

"The minister made the request and the details have to be worked out now," said fisheries ministry secretary S. Amarasekara. He said some 72 Sri Lankan fishermen who were arrested by the Indian coast guard are behind bars in coastal towns like Kochi, Rameswaram and Tuticorin.

Several rounds of high-level negotiations between Colombo and New Delhi were held last year to secure the release of scores more, as relatives of the jailed fishermen grew increasingly restive and mounted protests in Colombo demanding government action.

The northern area navy commander Upali Ranaweera said during recent talks with his counterpart from Tamil Nadu, he was told to arrest some of the hundreds of trespassing fishermen.

In Sri Lanka, some 47 Indians who had crossed the maritime boundary between the two countries to fish were nabbed by the navy in the last three weeks.

The area, rich in shellfish like prawns, has been out of bounds to local fishermen for security reasons with the military alleging that smugglers posing as fishermen bring supplies from the Indian mainland to the Liberation Tigers.

Ministry official Amarasekara also said India was mulling over a proposal made by Sri Lanka to define a safe path through Indian waters that the island's fishermen could traverse with impunity.

Poor response to drive for more Buddhist monks

THE SRI Lankan government has postponed a special full moon day ordination of Buddhist monks after only a little over half the number expected answered advertisements calling for applicants, said the India Abroad News Service last week.

Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake last month launched an unprecedented advertising campaign calling for 1,000 candidates to swell the ranks of the Buddhist clergy.

Wickremanayake, who also wanted lay sponsors to help with donations to maintain the monks, said the monks would be ordained on Poson Poya, falling on Tuesday and marking the day Buddhism came to Sri Lanka.

The mass ordination was put off, however, with only some 671 aspirants applying. "We will have a ceremony to hand them over to temples but the ordination itself will take place later," said a spokesman for the ministry of Buddhist Affairs which comes within the prime minister's purview.

Boys, some as young as eight-years-old, were ordained as monks. The boys, aged between eight and 15, were shaved and bathed by senior monks at a temple in the town of Ingiriya, 60 kilometres (37 miles) southeast of here, as a token of Wickremanayake's ambitious plan. The move to advertise for monks drew murmurs of protest from members of the Buddhist clergy and laymen who objected to the prime minister's short circuiting the strict process of choosing aspirants. Wickremanayake said he was responding to "reports of various conspiracies to prevent the forward march of Buddhism."

With only 39,000 monks to administer to some 13.7 million Buddhists in the island, he said it was his duty to help replenish the dwindling numbers, which have caused a shortage of younger monks to take over from older chief priests.

Despite the shortfall in volunteers to take up saffron robes, there was a good response from donors to finance the upkeep of the young men who are prepared to lead the celibate life of a monk.

"The prime minister has received pledges from over 1,000 people who are willing to pay over 1,000 rupees (11 dollars) a month for the up keep of each monk," Wickremanayake’s spokesman, Seelaratne Senarath said. "The prime minister will undertake a coordinating role so that donors will be able to finance monks from their own home towns," Senarath said.

In April, Sri Lanka's Supreme Court rejected a petition by a Buddhist monk who argued that his fundamental rights had been violated because the government failed to provide him with a job. The court said university graduate, Rupaha Pemananda, should be spreading the message of Buddha, rather than seeking state employment.

"If a monk wants employment he can give up the robes and take up a lay job," Chief Justice Sarath Silva said. But many monks have left the order, with some even joining the military as foot soldiers.

"This is not something that can be done like recruiting for the army," said Venerable Thiniyawala Palitha, chief monk at Colombo's Nalandaramaya temple about the failed recruitment drive. "We agree there is a shortage.... But you cannot rush it."

Satisfaction for Sinhala far right as Solheim is sidelined

There was intense diplomatic activity last week as Sri Lanka sought the removal of Erik Solheim as Norway's peace envoy, write Tamil Guardian staff writers.

The sudden announcement last week that the Norwegian Foreign Minister, Thorbjoern Jagland was to make a hurried visit to Colombo last week was received with optimism by the peace lobby.

With the peace process at an impasse following Sri Lanka's refusal to lift the proscription on the Liberation Tigers, hopes for negotiations were fading. However, it soon became clear that a separate set of issues had arisen.

Jagland was accompanied by Erik Solheim, the veteran peace envoy who has been involved in prolonged shuttle diplomacy for over two years. But when Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunge, accompanied by her attentive Foreign Minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar, met Jagland on Thursday night, Solheim was deliberately excluded.

"It was an invitation to the (Norwegian) Foreign Minister and not for Mr. Solheim," reported the BBC, quoting embassy spokesman Tomas Stangeland.

Asked about the significance of Solheim being left out of the high-level talks, Tomas said: "I can't comment on that."

A marathon session of discussion ensued. After four hours, Jagland boarded a redeye back to Oslo, with Solheim in tow. In Colombo meanwhile, the government informed the press about the discussion in a brief and terse press release, which concealed more than it revealed.

"It was decided that the Government of Norway will henceforth participate at a high level to advance the peace process involving the LTTE," the government statement said.

What precisely was meant by that became clearer when Jagland spoke in Oslo on Friday, but in any case the Colombo-based press were already filing the reports.

"Solheim sidelined in peace process?" asked the Hindu. "Envoy dropped as Norway tries to revive Sri Lanka peace bid," said the AFP.

Political and diplomatic sources saw the one-paragraph government statement as a clear indication that Solheim had been sidelined after 15 months of shuttling between the LTTE and Colombo.

The envoy's own denials that his role had been reduced failed to shore up confidence, especially as Jagland admitted he would be playing a more prominent role.

Colombo's irritation with the indefatigable peace envoy has been growing for several weeks, as Solheim has continued his efforts to bring about negotiations between the protagonists.

It was the envoy's refusal to play along with Colombo's efforts to reap propaganda mileage out of the peace process by painting the LTTE as intransigent and opposed to peace, that seems to have been the main reason for Sri Lanka to seek his removal.

Kadirgamar is said to be a key backer of the Sri Lankan demand. It was only a month ago that the Foreign Minister heaped praise on Solheim and the Norwegian Foreign Minister, Jon Westborg - reportedly a close friend of Kadirgamar - for their efforts.

"The indefatigable endeavours of these two gentlemen and their associates towards that end have earned the deep appreciation of the Government of Sri Lanka", Kadirgamar said on May 10, in a statement claiming that agreements had been reached between his government and the LTTE.

In fact there was no agreement and the LTTE angrily denied it, triggering a wave of confusion which replaced the euphoria in Colombo. The crisis broke when Solheim also denied that any agreement had been reached, humiliating Kadirgamar.

Kadirgamar's animosity snowballed when Solheim was called by the United States' Department of State to provide an update on Oslo's peace process.

In an intense series of meetings, Solheim had briefed and answered questions by officials at several senior sections. Some press reports said that Solheim had requested the US to urge both protoganists in Sri Lanka to seek a political settlement.

But it was clear that speaking in the wake of an abortive Sri Lankan offensive and Colombo's refusal for four months to reciprocate the LTTE's ceasefire, on whom the pressure was needed.

Whether Solheim made the request or not became irrelevant, the reports earned him the fury of the Sinhala far right, which in any case, has always been opposed to foreign peace efforts in the Sri Lanka's conflict - and Kadirgamar.

Sri Lanka's hawkish Prime Minister, Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, last month suggested Solheim should admit his "failure" to broker talks and quit. "What the Norwegian envoy must now do is realise that he cannot solve this problem and leave without further internationalising the issue," the prime minister quoted an unidentified source as saying.

The Sinhala nationalist press has been increasingly vitriolic, calling for punitive action against Solheim for seeking US assistance in Oslo's peace efforts. The sentiments have been echoed by the Buddhist leadership which called for him to be declared persona non grata.

The victory of the Sinhala far right in getting Solheim, now a household name amongst the Tamils and Sinhalese alike, removed now threatens to become another issue across Sri Lanka's ethnic divide.

Distress of war proves mother of invention

A Palmyrah leaf cutter, a new device invented by a fifteen-year-old girl from Mannar district won the first place in the new invention competition held among students in the northeast province, reported TamilNet last week.

"The distress caused by war activates human minds to explore new devices to overcome the difficulties in the day to day life; and in the process new inventions are made", said Mr.M.Selvin Irenius, Provincial Director of Industries delivering keynote address at the award distribution event held Monday at Trincomalee St.Mary's College Monday.

The Sri Lanka Invention Commission in collaboration with the Provincial Ministry of Education, Cultural Affairs and Sports Monday announced the winners of the competition at the end of two-day exhibition of new inventions. Provincial Director of Education of the Northeast Mr.E.Sivanandan presided.

Palmyrah leaves are used for knitting mats, boxes, winnowing fans and other products widely used by Tamils in the rural parts of the north and east of Sri Lanka. Palmyrah leaves are cut by hand to produce these items.

This process is not satisfactory, as all the leaves cannot be cut to standard size. This practical problem has now been overcome by the invention of a new device called Palmyrah Leaf Cutter by Miss.J.Renika Croos of St.Mary's Maha Vidyalayam in Pesalai in the Mannar district.

The new device, apart from securing a refined finish, also saves considerable time spent on cutting the leaves manually.

Mr.Selvin Irenius said, "Palmyrah products lacked export markets because the products were rugged. The new invention would help refinement and also save time and cost."

Miss Renika Croos won the first prize for her invention in the senior competition. In the junior competition Master T.Samithan of Mannar Siththivinayagar Hindu College won the first prize for his invention - a Motor driven drawing pen.

Mannar rape suspects secure ‘safe’ trail

The Mannar judge M.H.M Ajmeer instructed the Superintendent of the Anuradhapura prison that the 14 Police and Sri Lanka Navy personnel accused in the rape and torture of two women in Mannar on 19 March need not be produced in court Wednesday following an interim order by the Court of Appeal, legal sources told TamilNet last Tuesday.

The Sri Lanka Navy in Mannar also sent a certified copy of the interim order dated 31 May 2001 to the magistrate on behalf of a naval rating who had petitioned the Court of Appeal that the case in which he and 13 security forces personnel are accused of raping and torturing two women in custody be transferred to "Anuradhapura or an appropriate Court" for security reasons.

Human rights activist say that by getting such cases against them transferred to courts in Sinhala areas or in Colombo is a standard ruse by Sri Lankan security forces personnel to effectively stymie prosecution.

The naval rating Noroshan Kollure states in his appeal that he would not be safe in Mannar because a Sergeant of the Police Counter Subversive Unit (CSU) was killed there on 24 May. Human rights sources in Mannar, however, say that the circumstances of the CSU sergeant's killing sho uld be properly investigated.

On 23 May, the day before the 14 suspects were to be produced in court, Inspector of Police of the Criminal Investigation Department Kamal Perera had informed the Superintendent of the Anuradhapura prison he had intelligence that there was a threat to their (the suspects') lives in Mannar and hence requested him (the Superintendent) not to send them to court on 24 May when the case was scheduled to be heard. The two women were arrested on the night of 19 March and were gang raped and tortured by several service and police personnel from about 11 p.m. that night till around 5 a.m. the next morning, human rights workers and lawyers said.

Refugees fight relocation

Sri Lankan security forces told government officials in Trincomalee to transfer over 1500 internally displaced Tamil persons from Alles Garden refugee camp to Kuchchaveli, 38 kilometres north of Trincomalee town. "The security forces in Trincomalee have taken this step to ensure the security of army and navy camps in the area", TamilNet quoted a government official as saying, last Wednesday.

Refugees protest that they won't leave the Alles Garden refugee camp at any cost as their lives would be in danger if they are resettled in the Kuchchaveli division. The decision to relocate the refugees comes in the wake of an accidental explosion of a landmine on Farm Road, Uppuveli on 27 May, according to a senior government official.

There are five Sri Lanka army and Navy camps and four sentries in the general area of Uppuveli-Thuvarankaadu where the Alles Garden refugee camp is situated.

Civil authorities in Trincomalee are not in favour of the army's move. Officials say that internally displaced persons (IDP) cannot be resettled in their villages without their (the IDPs) consent. Most of their villages were destroyed in SLA operations in 1986 and 1990-1992.

The SLA does not favour resettlement of civilians in the destroyed Tamil villages north of Trincomalee. The large Tamil villages of Thennamaravaadi and Thiriyai in the northern Trincomalee have remained derelict for more than fourteen years due to SLA opposition to resettlement here.

The SLA has also opposed and discouraged resettlement of Tamils in northern Trincomalee to promote the interests of Sinhala colonists whom it settled here following the systematic destruction of the traditional Tamil villages since 1985.

The International Committee of Red Cross maintains that the present conflict should come to an end for the displaced living in camps and welfare centres in the Trincomalee to return their own villages. At a press briefing held in the eastern port town on 25 April, Mr. Daniel Schriber, Head of the Sub Delegation of the I.C.R.C in Trincomalee categorically stated that the International Committee of Red Cross cannot ensure security for resettling people in Kuchchaveli, Thiriyai villages in the north of Trincomalee district.

Mr. Schriber said that the Sri Lankan Government security personnel would not prefer resettlement of the displaced in this part of the district at this juncture.

Light work of necessity in Vanni

An improvised tin-lamp using waste plastics to produce light is one of the 72 new inventions of the students in the northeast province displayed at the two-day exhibition inaugurated Sunday morning in Trincomalee St.Mary's College, reported TamilNet last week.

The improvised lamp is one of the inventions by students of Vanni region held by Liberation Tigers, which is under an economic blockade by the Sri Lankan government.

This type of lamps is currently used by the people of Vanni region to overcome the acute shortage of kerosene due to embargo. Electricity supply is not provided to Vanni region.

People in the region depend on a small quantity of kerosene permitted to be taken in. Students find difficult to study without proper light facilities, and hence the invention of a lamp manufactured from discarded tins, using waste plastics to produce light.

The Sri Lanka Inventors' Commission in collaboration with the Northeast Provincial Ministry of Education has organized the two-day exhibition. North-east Provincial Director of Education Mr.E.Sivanandan declared the event open Sunday morning

"The exhibition of this nature are being held throughout the country on provincial basis to bring the hidden skills of the students to light, to create an awareness among school children about the invention and to eliminate the fear that exist in students to make invention", said a spokesman of the Sri Lanka Invention Commission.

Vavuniya quota fuels corruption

The restrictions on the issue of fuel to the public in the Sri Lanka army controlled areas of the Vavuniya region is contradictory to the principles of governance and therefore should be removed forthwith, said the Union of Christian Churches in Vavuniya in a letter addressed to Major General S.H.Shantha Kottegoda, Commander of the Security Forces in Vanni this week, reported TamilNet.

The Union says that unscrupulous elements, including government soldiers are profiteering from the restricted quota system of the SLA under which fuel is issued to civilians in the northern border town.

Each registered motorbike in Vavuniya is issued 15 litres of petrol per month, each car 50 litres of petrol, each lorry 200 litres of diesel, auto-rickshaws 100 litres of petrol, tractors 100 litres of diesel and vans are issued 100 litres of diesel per month under the fuel quota system of the SLA.

Farmers who own water pumps which run on kerosene are issued 3 litres of petrol per month. Residents and businessmen in the northern border town say that the restrictions are unrealistic and gives rise to a lot of corruption.

"Vavuniya and its suburbs are saturated with Sri Lankan security forces. So why restrict fuel? After all these years it would be foolish on the part of the army to still believe that the LTTE expects to survive on the minuscule quantities of fuel that may slip out of the saturated security network of the army and Police in Vavuniya. This is a busy and populated town and everyone needs fuel", said a senior government official.

The fuel restriction is the bane of travellers who arrive in Vavuniya in their vehicles unaware of the quota system. If they are short of fuel for their journey they cannot buy petrol or diesel in Vavuniya town without a permit

US court says anti-terrorism law violated rights

IN a victory for opponents of the Iranian government, a U.S. federal appeals court ruled on Friday that the U.S. State Department cannot designate "foreign terrorist organizations" without giving the organizations a chance to answer the allegations against them, reported Reuters.

The unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia could complicate Washington's use of the designation as a tool against political violence.

The court ruling stemmed from a suit against the State Department by the National Council of Resistance of Iran, which is closely linked with the People's Mujahideen, an Iraq-based guerrilla group that frequently attacks Iranian government targets.

The 25-page ruling concludes that the Secretary of State must give the National Council an opportunity to answer the evidence against them and to file counter-evidence that they are not a "foreign terrorist organization" (FTO).

"They (must) be afforded an opportunity to be meaningfully heard by the Secretary," it added, ruling that the current process under a 1996 law violates constitutional due-process rights.

The court did not overrule the designation, however, saying that it recognized "the realities of the foreign policy and national security concerns asserted by the Secretary" and that the designation comes up for review in October anyway.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran, which has an office two blocks from the White House, has campaigned vigorously against the State Department's 1997 decision to designate it as an FTO, a listing that severely limits its U.S. operations.

The U.S. government can block any funds a designated group has on deposit in this country and the group's representatives can be barred from entering the United States.

Additionally, people in the United States cannot provide any "support or resources" to the group. Twenty-nine organizations are now on the list.

Ali Reza Jafarzadeh, a congressional liaison at the National Council of Resistance office in Washington, said: "It is a great victory and I think clearly we have come to the end of the era of this designation."

"This designation, which took place when Secretary Madeleine Albright was in office, was the result of a U.S. policy of appeasing (Iranian President Mohammed) Khatami and of putting all its eggs in the basket of Khatami," he added.

The ruling landed on the day Iranians went to the polls in a presidential election expected to give Khatami another four years in office.

The court's opinion appears to go well beyond the Iranian case, covering all future decisions to designate guerrilla groups as FTOs.

"While not within our current order, we expect that the Secretary will afford due process rights to these and other similarly situated entities in the course of future designations," the judges said.

They said that in the future, when the Secretary of State has made a tentative decision to designate an organization, he or she should provide notice of the unclassified evidence on which the designation will be based.

"We require the Secretary afford to entities considered for imminent designation the opportunity to present, at least in written form, such evidence as those entities may be able to produce to rebut the administrative record," they added.

Jafarzadeh noted that many members of the U.S. Congress have challenged the designation of the People's Mujahideen.

In October 2000, 225 of the 435 members of the House of Representatives and 28 of the 100 senators urged the State Department to drop its policy of quiet rapprochement with Tehran and support the National Council of Resistance.

Macedonia urged to protect Albanians

ALBANIA urged Macedonia on Thursday to protect its Albanian minority and refrain from declaring a state of war with ethnic Albanian guerrillas, reported Reuters.

The Albanian government condemned what it called acts of vandalism by extremist Macedonian Slav groups who torched 110 Albanian houses and two mosques in Bitola, Macedonia's second biggest town.

Albania, which has won Western praise for condemning ethnic Albanian gunmen fighting in Macedonia, said the fierce ethnic violence and hatred could not be justified.

Up to 3,000 people bent on vengeance for the killing of five soldiers by guerrillas rampaged through Bitola on Wednesday, attacking ethnic Albanian businesses and homes.

"The government of Albania calls on the Macedonian authorities to take measures to secure the lives and properties of Albanians in Bitola," an official statement said.

Albania also urged the Slav-dominated Macedonian government not to declare a state of war to fight the rebels.

"We agree with the European Union and the United States that any steps taken to establish a state of war in Macedonia would not only be unsuitable but might also have negative effects."

The Albanian government said the crisis could only be solved through dialogue and democratic reforms that would elevate the rights of Macedonia's Albanians to European standards.

Albania's comments came a day before Macedonia's president outlined a plan to end a four-month insurgency by Albanian rebels as his armed forces ignored guerrilla calls for a ceasefire by launching fierce assaults on rebel positions.

President Boris Trajkovski unveiled a three-point plan involving an overhaul of the security forces, measures to encourage rebels to disarm and an acceleration of political reforms to address grievances of ethnic Albanians, who make up 30 percent of the population.

Parliament marked a minute's silence before the speech to mourn the deaths of five Macedonian soldiers killed on Tuesday in the worst clash since April. The conflict has raised fears it could trigger a new Balkan war.

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana arrived in Skopje on Friday evening for talks with political leaders and praised Trajkovski's plan.

"The plan with three tracks is a very good one and it has our support," he said, adding that Macedonia needed simultaneous progress on political reform, security and disarmament.

The rebels say ethnic Albanians suffer discrimination by the majority Slavs in education, employment and language rights. Major western powers back a twin-track policy of a measured military response and political reforms. However, the conflict has continued to spiral with increasing casualties and bitterness on both sides.

Rwanda trial creates legal crisis

BELGIUM fears its new-found reputation for meting out justice to international war criminals could prompt a flood of cases clogging up its creaking legal system and jeopardising its diplomatic relations, reported Reuters.

As a Belgian civilian jury convicted four Rwandans on Friday of war crimes in the 1994 genocide, politicians and legal experts were debating whether to change the law which allowed the groundbreaking trial in the first place.

In 1993, Belgium, the former colonial power in Rwanda, gave its courts universal jurisdiction over war criminals, whatever their nationality and wherever the crimes were committed.

The law was amended in 1999 to cover human rights violations and genocide. It also stripped government ministers of immunity from prosecution.

The case of the "Rwandan Four" - two nuns, a professor and a former minister - is the first to be successfully brought before a Belgian jury.

Olivier Slusny, lawyer for a group of some 25,000 Rwandan "genocide widows", strongly backed the Belgian model. "This law has come under fire for giving Belgium super powers to meddle in others' affairs, but today it has been shown to be a wise law," he said. Earlier this week, lawyers said a request to try Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for crimes against humanity was being examined by a Belgian magistrate.

Critics argue the law blurs the line between judicial and federal powers and say Belgian courts, already burdened with a heavy case backlog, should not be the platform for judging crimes against humanity.

Supporters of the law argue that, rather than rein it in, other countries should adopt it and take some of the strain off Belgium's judicial system. "We can't pay lip service to the argument that people suspected of crimes against humanity should be punished, then do nothing when we get hold of them, "Christine Van den Wyngaert, international criminal law professor at Antwerp University, told Reuters.

In a report slamming the United Nations warcrimes tribunal in Arusha, Tanzania for "incompetence and bureaucratic infighting", the authoritative International Crisis Group applauded Belgium's initiative.

"The Belgian model deserves promotion and encouragement," said Fabienne Hara, co-director of ICG Africa programme.

The ICG criticised the Arusha tribunal, set up in 1994 to try primarily the major architects of the genocide, for failing to process key cases quickly enough.

Vatican ‘surprise’ at verdicts

THE Vatican says it is surprised that two Rwandan nuns convicted of war crimes should have been singled out for blame when so many people were responsible for the genocide there in 1994, reported the BBC .

The Holy See cannot but express a certain surprise at seeing the grave responsibility of so many people and groups involved in this tremendous genocide in the heart of Africa heaped on so few people.

In a formal statement, the Vatican referred to a letter from Pope John Paul to Rwandans in 1996, saying that the church could not be held responsible for the misdeeds of individual members."The Holy See cannot but express a certain surprise at seeing the grave responsibility of so many people and groups involved in this tremendous genocide in the heart of Africa heaped on so few people," a statement by Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said.

Indonesia denies Timor refugee intimidation

INDONESIA on Friday denied accusations of widespread intimidation by pro-Jakarta gangs and said most East Timor refugees in the western, Indonesian part of the island had chosen to remain under its rule, said a report by Reuters.

Indonesia this week embarked on the registration of more than 80,000 refugees, living in camps in West Timor where they were herded in late 1999 after a majority in their homeland across the border voted to break from often brutal Jakarta rule.

In the registration the refugees were asked if they wanted to stay in West Timor or go home to East Timor. Organisers say the process was fair and early indications suggest a large majority of the refugees want to stay in West Timor.

U.N. officials had estimated that probably no more than 10 percent of the refugees would choose to stay in the country, which invaded their country in 1975 and ruled it with an iron fist for the next 23 years.

The claim that most refugees do not want to go home is certain to be greeted with scepticism by the international community. U.N. and aid officials say the camps are largely under control of the pro-Jakarta militias who had driven up to 300,000 East Timorese across the border after the vote for independence from Indonesia in 1999.

Speaking at a news conference in New York on Thursday, the head of the Center for Internally Displaced People's Services in West Timor said threats to refugees were largely undetected because there were only 12 international observers monitoring 507 registration sites.

"The civilian refugees are threatened with murder or kidnapping if they choose repatriation," said Winston Neil Rondo, an Indonesian who leads the centre. Indonesia estimates that 130,000 refugees still live in West Timor, though the UN puts the figure nearer 90,000.

Russia ‘no longer enemy’

PRESIDENT George W. Bush on Friday urged a reluctant Europe to give his missile defense plan due consideration, saying it was time to move beyond a Cold War mentality, a Reuters report.

In a speech largely devoted to his tax cut program, Bush gave a sampling of some of the arguments he will make to European leaders next week to convince them of the need for a missile defense system capable of shooting down incoming missiles from states like North Korea and Libya.

Many leaders are concerned a missile defense system would upset the global strategic balance and trigger a new arms race.

Bush wants to replace the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty, in order to deploy a missile defense system but the fear in Europe is it would lead Russia and China to build more nuclear weapons to overcome such a system.

"I can't wait to describe to the people of Europe and the leaders of Europe how important it is for freedom-loving people to think differently about how to keep the peace, that Russia is not our enemy," Bush said. "In my attitude that's old, that's tired, that's stale.

Our United States and our allies ought to develop the capacity to address the true threats of the 21st century. The true threats are biological and informational warfare," he said.

He added: "The true threats are the fact that some rogue nations who can't stand America, our allies or our freedoms or our successes, will try to point a missile at us. And we must have the capacity to shoot that missile down. It's time to think differently about defense."

Africa faces water crisis

MILLIONS of poor African families desperately need clean water, hiking for miles to fetch it or buying exorbitantly priced bottled water, even as wealthy Africans wash their cars and water their lawns, reported the Associated Press last Wednesday. Many slum dwellers simply steal water from pipelines.

What Africa needs to solve the problem is privatised water companies that would make people pay for what they use, even if it means putting water meters in every household, an expert panel said at the United Nations on Wednesday.

Most African cities provide running water to only a portion of their residents. Other citizens, mostly those living in shantytowns on the outskirts of town, make enormous sacrifices to get their daily drinking water supply. Or they go without.

"It is unbelievable but true that an inhabitant of Kibera slum in Nairobi, earning less than a dollar a day, pays as much as five times the price paid by an average U.S. citizen for a litre of water," said Anna Tibaijuka, director of the U.N. Centre for Human Settlements.

That wouldn't be the case if everybody had to pay a fair price for what they used, water managers from several African nations told the U.N. Conference on Human Settlements. The three-day conference opened Wednesday. There is plenty of room for improvement. Half of Accra's water simply disappears between the treatment plant and the customers, lost to leaks and theft. Only 10 percent of Dar es Salaam's customers even have water meters.

The inequitable distribution of water has unexpected and long-lasting effects on African society, Tibaijuka said.