Sri Lanka yesterday accused Finland and Denmark of giving in to terrorists by withdrawing their ceasefire monitors at the insistence of separatist Tamil Tigers, as both the government and the rebels openly ignored the truce.
"It is a bad precedent for the whole world which considers terrorism as a cancerous menace and is fighting against it," chief government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said.
Peace talks aimed at settling rebel demands for a Tamil homeland have collapsed amid a rebel boycott, and both sides are attacking each other's positions on the ground and at sea. Sri Lanka has in recent days launched air strikes on rebel positions.
Norway formed the five-nation monitoring team after brokering the 2002 truce, which stopped more than two decades of civil war between the rebels and the government that claimed more than 65,000 lives.
The Tigers demanded EU members in the team -- Finland, Denmark and Sweden -- pull out after the EU designated the rebels a terrorist group in May, claiming they could not be objective. Canada and India have also branded the Tigers a terrorist group.
Rambukwella, referring to the decision by Finland and Denmark, said, "This [withdrawal] is something encouraging terrorism."
"You are giving in to the demands of a terrorist group," he said.
Jehan Perera of the independent National Peace Council said the weakening of the monitoring team will have little effect in the short term because neither side is respecting the truce anyway.
"Both sides are violating the ceasefire in an open manner," he said.
Finland and Denmark announced on Friday they were pulling out on Sept. 1. Sweden has not yet made any announcement about its plans, a spokesman for the truce monitors, Thorfinnur Omarsson, said yesterday.
The air force bombed Tamil Tiger rebel positions for a third day yesterday. The air strikes killed seven rebels and wounded 14 other in the Karadiyanaru area in eastern Batticaloa district, a pro-rebel Web site said.
Two bombs were also dropped in Illupadichchenai, also in the same district, the pro-rebel TamilNet said.
On Friday, troops exchanged mortar fire with insurgents in a battle over water supplies for 15,000 people living in government-held villages, officials said.
The rebels said they shut off the water supply from a reservoir because the government had reneged on a promise to build a water tower for areas under rebel control.
Rambukwella, however, said the government was committed to the peace process and it will honor the truce agreement.
"We are trying our best to resolve the crisis through negotiations ... and the international community which renounces terrorism should support us in a tangible and physical manner," he said.
RSS