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Don’t exceed mandate, SLMM told

COLOMBO: At least two soldiers were injured in a shootout by a suspected member of the LTTE here on Friday even as the Government issued a stern warning to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) not to exceed its mandate. It is after considerable time that the suspected LTTE cadres have struck here.

Minister and Defence Spokesperson Keheliya Rembukwella told a news conference here that the Government had taken a very serious view of the recent visit of a diplomat from Iceland to Kilinochchi without permission and said such transgressions would not be tolerated. The diplomat, who was to have taken over as Deputy Chief of the SLMM, had arrived on a visitor’s visa and travelled to Kilinochchi earlier in the week. Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollogamma raised the matter with his Iceland counterpart in Washington and demanded recall of the diplomat.

Mr. Rembukwella said that earlier Norwegian Special Envoy Hansson Bauer exceeded his mandate and misused the immunity granted to the Diplomatic Corps by meeting an LTTE leader. The Minister said that the lapse on the part of the SLMM was more serious as “this is not the first instance” of the SLMM violating its mandate.

Separately, the Sri Lanka Peace Secretariat referred to the “The Weekly Report” of the SLMM which mentions that the SLMM was established by Sri Lanka together with the LTTE and said this was inappropriate as it conveyed the impression that the SLMM was responsible to the government and the LTTE. It also suggests parity on a scale unacceptable given the use the LTTE might make of it, it said.

“The correct position is that the SLMM was established by the Royal Norwegian Government, albeit as a result of the decision in the ceasefire agreement between GOSL [Government of Sri Lanka] and the LTTE to set up such a Mission.”

The Peace Secretariat suggested that SLMM assist the Government in integrating and rehabilitating the former combatants and bringing them into the mainstream of politics.

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