Worst fighting in Sri Lanka since cease-fire leaves 40 rebels, five soldiers dead

Associated Press, Wed August 2, 2006 06:06 EDT . KRISHAN FRANCIS Associated Press Writer. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) _ The Sri Lankan Defense Ministry said its forces have repulsed Wednesday's attacks by Tamil Tiger rebels around a strategic northeastern port, killing 40 insurgents and wounding 70 others.

The latest fighting raised fears that Sri Lanka was heading for a full-scale war.

The rebels said earlier that they had overrun four Sri Lankan army camps around the strategic port of Trincomalee, a day after the guerrillas laid siege to the area, which has seen some of the fiercest fighting in years.

The port is an important lifeline for thousands of troops stationed in the northeast, where the rebels want to carve out a separate homeland for the country's 3.2 million ethnic Tamil minority.

Trincomalee _ with its natural harbor _ is of strategic importance to the military and the rebels. The area falls within the envisioned Tamil homeland. Trincomalee town and surrounding urban areas are controlled by the government, but the surrounding villages and jungle are under rebel rule. During World War II, Trincomalee served as a base for Allied forces.

Meanwhile, there was no independent confirmation of the ministry's claim, but the administration acknowledged that five soldiers were killed in Wednesday's rebel attacks.

In a statement, the ministry said troops had inflicted ``heavy casualties killing over 40 Tiger cadres and wounding 70 other terrorists.'' The statement said the insurgents retreated, leaving bodies behind.

Earlier, witnesses in Muttur, near Trincomalee, said they saw the bodies of five rebels. The witnesses spoke on condition that they not be identified out of fear of violence.

If the Defense Ministry's claim proves to be true, the death toll in recent days will rise to 128 on both sides.

The army Director of Operation, Brig. Athula Jayawardena, denied that rebels overran the army camps.

``They attacked three of our camps, still fighting is going on. But we are 100 percent stable,'' he told The Associated Press.

But local officials reached by the telephone in Muttur said the rebels were trying to advance to take over a jetty in the seaside town.

Navy spokesman Commander D.K.P. Dassanayake said navy has not withdrawn from the area. ``We are there, but the Tamil Tigers are continuously firing mortars.''

Four mortars fell near two hospitals in the area, wounding four hospital workers and civilians.

The government has however said that it is committed to a 4-year-old cease-fire deal that one Tamil Tiger rebel commander has described as over.

``The government reaffirms its commitment to the cease-fire agreement,'' the government said in a statement, adding that it would continue its offensive against the rebels as long as they continued ``acts of terrorism and violence.''

No immediate comment on ending the clashes was available from the rebels, who have accused the government of starting the latest round of fighting.

Around 2 a.m. Wednesday, the rebels began an artillery barrage of army and police posts, TamilNet said.

``Fighting formations of the (Tamil Tigers) ... have overrun four key locations in Trincomalee district after fierce artillery shelling ...'' TamilNet said.

The battle Wednesday seemed to be focused on Trincomalee port, which is the only reliable resupply point for Sri Lankan troops based in the area.

The previous few days of fighting centered on a government push to capture a key reservoir in rebel territory that feeds government-controlled villages near Trincomalee.

The Tamil Tigers surrounded the reservoir near Trincomalee _ which is in guerrilla-controlled territory but supplies about 60,000 villagers in government-run areas with water _ last month.

The military responded with four days of airstrikes on rebel bases in the area before deploying ground forces on Sunday. It has insisted its offensive is not a cease-fire violation, describing it as a humanitarian mission to secure the area's water supply.

The reservoir's canal gate has remained closed.

But a rebel commander said Monday the Tigers considered the cease-fire void.

The rebels took up arms in 1983 to fight for a homeland for Sri Lanka's 3.2 million ethnic Tamils, who had faced decades of discrimination from the country's 14 million Sinhalese.

The civil war killed about 65,000 people before the 2002 cease-fire, which left wide swaths of the north and east under rebel control.

But in recent months the cease-fire has nearly collapsed, and renewed fighting has killed more than 850 people _ half of them civilians _ since December, according to cease-fire monitors.

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Sri Lanka military presses offensive to break rebel blockade of reservoir

Sri Lanka's military pounded rebel positions with bombs and artillery shells as it pressed its offensive to wrest a key reservoir from the insurgents, a push that has sparked the country's most intense fighting in four years.

With Tamil Tiger rebels saying a 2002 cease-fire is done, the two sides also engaged in a brief sea battle in the waters off the northeastern port of Trincomalee, and a pro-rebel Web site the rebels killed 14 sailors.

Another six sailors were killed when the insurgents shelled a nearby navy base, the TamilNet Web site reported.

Amid the violence, Sweden, one of the Nordic countries contributing to a cease-fire monitoring mission, said it was pulling its 15-member team out of the country.

The ground offensive is taking place just outside Trincomalee, and the fierce fighting has kept outsiders away from the battlefield, where the army said its advancing soldiers were coming under artillery bombardment and gunfire from Tamil Tiger rebels.

In response, ``our air force is targeting terrorist bases and our ground troops have started operations today,'' military spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe said, adding soldiers were using artillery to soften up rebel positions.

The bombing and shelling was also intended to prevent the rebels from bringing in reinforcements, he added.

The government's offensive got off to a bloody start Monday, with fighting around Trincomalee to break the 12-day rebel blockade of a canal gate and other clashes killing at least 68 people _ 39 rebels, 27 soldiers and two civilians, the military said.

Despite the ferocity of the fighting and sporadic clashes elsewhere, the large-scale violence for the time being appeared to be contained in the area around Trincomalee and had not spread to other flash points along the frontiers between government and rebel territory.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, as the rebels are formally known, took up arms in 1983 to fight for a homeland for Sri Lanka's 3.2 million ethnic Tamils, who had faced decades of discrimination from the country's 14 million Sinhalese.

The civil war killed about 65,000 people before a 2002 cease-fire, which left wide swaths of the north and east under rebel control.

But in recent months the cease-fire has nearly collapsed, and renewed fighting has killed more than 800 people _ half of them civilians _ since December, according to Nordic cease-fire monitors.

The Tigers surrounded the reservoir _ which is in guerrilla-controlled territory but supplies about 60,000 villagers in government-run areas with water _ on July 20, accusing the government of reneging on a promise to build a water tower for those living in rebel areas.

Following the rebels' seizure of the reservoir, 220 kilometers (135 miles) northeast of Colombo, Sri Lanka's military responded with four days of airstrikes on rebel bases in the area before deploying ground forces on Sunday.

The government has insisted its offensive is not a cease-fire violation, describing it as a humanitarian mission.

But a top rebel commander said Monday the Tigers considered the cease-fire void, and the head of the Nordic monitoring mission warned of an impending disaster.

``In reality, there is no cease-fire agreement in this area in Trincomalee today, but the paper is still valid,'' said Ulf Henricsson, the retired Swedish general in charge of the mission.

``A full-scale war will be a disaster for both sides,'' he added.

Later Tuesday, Sweden said it decided to pull its observers from Sri Lanka because the rebels have demanded the withdrawal of all monitors from countries that belong to the European Union, which in May declared the Tigers terrorists.

``Unfortunately I reached the conclusion that, when one of the partners no longer accepts the presence of Nordic EU countries, it would be very difficult to remain there,'' Foreign Minister Jan Eliasson told Swedish radio.

It was not immediately clear when the Swedish monitors, like Henricsson, would depart, although the Tamil rebels have set a Sept. 1 deadline for their withdrawal.

Denmark and Finland, also EU members, said last week they were pulling out their monitors, leaving Norway and Iceland as the remaining countries in the monitoring mission.

Meanwhile, TamilNet said unidentified gunmen killed two Tamils in separate incidents late Monday and Tuesday in northeastern Sri Lanka.

LTTE cadres attack passenger vessel carrying 854 unarmed soldiers, successfully repulsed.

Munza Mushtaq in Colombo, August 1, 2006, 5.10 p.m.. The LTTE today afternoon fired mortar and artillery shells targeting a passenger vessel carrying 854 unarmed soldiers from Kankasanthurai, Trincomalee while she was entering the Trincomalee Harbour.

The naval troops successfully retaliated the terrorist attack and brought the passenger vessel and the unarmed security forces personnel unharmed. Three boats were destroyed in the process. The incident occurred at around 2.15 p.m.

Tigers failed in a similar type of attack when they targeted the passenger vessel Pearl Cruise which carried 710 unarmed security force personnel on May 11, 2006. Failing for the second time, terrorists later fired mortar and artillery towards the naval base, the centre added, but no immediate details of causalities were available.

Arab support for Hezbollah grows

CAIRO: Rising anger on the Arab street over the Israeli offensive against Hezbollah apparently has prompted conservative rulers in the region to change their tune. Initial slaps against the Shiite Muslim guerrilla movement for igniting the fight have evolved into criticism of Israel and the mounting toll its offensive is taking among Lebanese civilians. The most dramatic turn has come from Sunni Muslim-led Saudi Arabia, a key US ally, where King Abdullah followed an initial rebuke of Hezbollah for carrying out "uncalculated adventures" with a warning this week that "if the option of peace fails as a result of Israeli arrogance, then the only option remaining will be war."

But even Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, an important mediator in the Arab-Israeli conflict for the last 25 years, now mixes his condemnation of Hezbollah's move with sharp criticism of the Israeli response. It was "disproportionate, to say the least," Mubarak said in remarks posted on Time magazine's Web site Friday. "Israel's response demonstrated a collective punishment against the Palestinians and the Lebanese. The bloodshed and the destruction caused by the Israelis went way too far."

As civilian casualties have risen into the hundreds, popular opinion in favour of Hezbollah has swelled as newspapers and television stations have shown graphic pictures of the suffering, including one showing an aid worker carrying the lifeless body of a young Lebanese girl upside down, by the legs with her innards spilling out of a gaping wound in her side. Much of the initial reaction among conservative Sunni Arab rulers was fuelled by a general dislike for the Shiite-Arab Hezbollah and wariness of its Iranian backers, but that has been swept aside in the flood public anger at Israel.

"Arab states are still worried, especially about Iran and Iraq ... but right now we are talking about the destruction of Lebanon," Hassan Al-Ansari, head of the Gulf Studies Centre at Qatar University, said in a telephone interview. "When people see all the stuff going on they cannot sit idle. There is no easy way just to get rid of Hezbollah, therefore those Arab states cannot be quiet, because they have public pressure." The rhetoric has also focused on the United States, whose broad military and diplomatic support that has allowed Israel to prolong and deepen its offensive. Media reports have emphasised that Israel's bombing of Lebanon is being done with US-made warplanes dropping US-made guided bombs - paid for with US tax dollars.

Egypt's semi-official newspaper Al-Ahram published an editorial cartoon yesterday, showing an Israeli hand and American hand clasped together holding a young girl upside down. An arrow pointed at her head says "peace." During US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's brief visit, her statement that the conflict represented the growing pains of a "new Middle East" provided ready-made ammunition for rallying Arabs to unite against Israel. "The Zionist-American plan aims as dismantling resistance and redrawing the map under the banner of a new Middle East where the supreme hegemony is for Israeli entity only," Mohammed Habib, deputy leader of Egypt's main opposition Muslim Brotherhood told AP. "All sects (of Islam) are in need of unity to deter the enemy."

Even Jordan's mainstream Al-Arab Al Yawm newspaper carried a column saying that what Rice really meant was a Middle East free from all kinds of resistance. "So it's important to dismantle all the organisations that fight Israel, especially Hezbollah, Hamas and the other Palestinians factions, because the New Middle East project is an obedient project and everybody must say yes to the American administration!!" the newspaper wrote. "Such projects will never succeed in the region and the people will resist such plans because it is impossible that these people will accept the oppression and the American and Israeli arrogance."

Part of the political difficulty now is that Arab governments have difficulty condemning Hezbollah without appearing at once to condone Israel's response. "The problem is Hezbollah is not an army, it is part of the Lebanese community," Al-Ansari said. "It is not an easy thing to deal with... . What are you going to do, keep quiet, let the Israelis do whatever they want to do?" Some shifts in position have been more subtle than that of Saudi Arabia. Where Jordan initially accused unspecified forces of dragging Lebanon into a conflict, the government's recent focus has been the increasing number of civilian casualties in what King Abdullah II has called a result of Israel's "aggression."

In Egypt yesterday, Mubarak remained critical of Hezbollah, saying "some forces are provoking conflict ... to achieve their private interests." But at the same time he chastised the turn the fight had taken. "Israel will lose a lot ... from the continuation of the military operation, which is concentrating, sadly, on civilian targets," the Egyptian leader said in an interview carried by the official Middle East News Agency. Fatma Hassan Al Sayegh, a professor of modern Gulf history at United Arab Emirates University, said she was surprised by the initial reaction, given that the foe was Israel. But as Hezbollah has shown resilience and garnered support among the masses, the governments have had to back away from their stance, she said.

"Don't forget Saudi has a large Shiite population ... and because of that I think they realize that they have taken the wrong attitude at the wrong time," she said in a telephone interview. "We know that inside they have this attitude to the Shiites and Hezbollah, but we are surprised to see it appear at such a time." And the people seem to have put aside Shiite-Sunni animosities to concentrate on the common enemy: Israel. "Oh Sunni, Oh Shiite, let's fight the Jews," a crowd chanted outside Cairo's Istiqama Mosque yesterday. "The Jews and the Americans are killing our brothers in Lebanon." The protesters carried photos of Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah alongside those of former Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser, whose Arab nationalist policies helped lead to the 1967 war.

Al-Ansari suggested that the shift in position from some Arab leaders could be not only because of public pressure, but also to what many believe has been a disproportionate Israeli response to Hezbollah's actions. "The Arab governments, they look at it from a rational point of view - they know it's going to be a big mess at their doors and they have to deal with it," he said. "From the beginning they made their positions clear (but) nobody was expecting the reaction by the Israelis this way."-AP

Israel pulls back from flashpoint Hezbollah town

Israeli forces pulled back from positions on the outskirts of a Hezbollah stronghold town that was the scene of the deadliest battles of their advance into south Lebanon, police said Saturday.

Tanks and armored vehicles left the hills overlooking the main border town of Bint Jbeil late Friday and returned to Marun Al-Ras, which was captured by Israeli forces on July 23.

But Israeli troops in Marun Al-Ras continued to bombard Bint Jbeil, a stronghold of the Shiite militant group, as well as nearby Aitarun and Ainata with over 350 rockets, police said.

The pullback took place amid clashes which the Israeli military said left six Israeli soldiers wounded, including one in a serious condition.

Advancing Israeli forces have encountered fierce resistance from Hezbollah guerrillas since they moved across the border, stepping up their massive air and ground offensive on Lebanon.

Nine soldiers were killed in the area on July 26 in the heaviest single-day toll since the conflict began on July 12 when Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a deadly cross-border raid.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said Israeli troops "have modified their deployment because of the developments on the ground in the Marun Al-Ras Bint Jbeil sector." She said military operations were underway in the area, but did not elaborate.

Israel's security cabinet decided on Thursday to step up its air war against Lebanon and call up thousands of reserve troops but also said it would restrict ground operations.

After initially vowing to destroy Hezbollah, Israel is now seeking to expel the militia from a two-kilometer (one-mile) strip along Lebanon's side of the border and occupy the zone until a mooted international force can take over.

Early Saturday, Israeli air forces renewed raids on Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, destroying a four-wheel-drive vehicle in a missile strike, the state news agency ANI said.

The driver of the vehicle escaped "miraculously" unharmed when he jumped out of the vehicle which was hit by an air-to-ground missile in the first raid on the area since early Wednesday, the agency said.

Only the burned-out wreckage was left of the vehicle after the explosion of the missile, an AFP correspondent on the scene said.

Israeli forces have repeatedly targeted cars and trucks across Lebanon since the start of the Israeli offensive on the country on July 12 when the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah captured two soldiers.

Israeli forces also bombarded from the air and the sea various regions of southern Lebanon, targeting valleys and houses, police said. There were no reports of casualties.

Early Saturday, the bodies of eight civilians, including a couple and their three children in a car hit by a missile, were found on the roads of southern Lebanon following Israeli bombardments on the region, officials said.

The bodies of three other civilians killed by shrapnel, some partly decomposed, were found on roads near Tyre, he said.

The deaths bring to 439 the number of people killed, including 368 civilians, in Lebanon by the Israeli military onslaught on the country launched after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12.

UN humanitarian coordinator Jan Egeland said Friday that more than 600 people had been killed in Lebanon since the start of the Israeli offensive, citing the Lebanese health ministry.

Rescue workers say dozens more civilians, including a large number of children, are still buried underneath the rubble of houses destroyed in Israeli air strikes around Tyre.

Hezbollah has announced the death of 32 of its fighters, including two rescue workers, while its Shiite ally Amal reported the death of six of its militants since July 12.

A total of 51 Israelis have also died in cross-border fighting, most of them soldiers.-AFP

Stop killings, Britain tells LTTE

The United Kingdom urged the LTTE to bring an end to killings, intimidation, acts of violence and abductions. They raised these concerns during a meeting with the LTTE leadership. "The meeting was an opportunity to discuss the current situation, its impact on civilians and the role of the international community," British High Commission officials said after talks with the representatives of the LTTE. "During the talks, we raised concerns about the continuing high levels of violence including the issue of child soldiers," the High Commission quoted the officials as saying. "We stressed the importance of bringing an end to the killings, intimidation, acts of violence and abductions. The commitments made at Geneva should be fulfilled by both parties and the cease-fire adhered to. We reaffirmed our support for the vital work of the Norwegian facilitators and the important role of the SLMM."

The officials also stressed the need for dialogue. It was imperative that the parties engaged in talks at all levels in order to solve problems, overcome misunderstandings and build trust and confidence. They have also pointed out that a dialogue was necessary if progress was to be made towards a sustainable peace settlement which addressed the aspirations of all communities in Sri Lanka.

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Tamil rebels, Sri Lankan troops exchange mortar fire after airstrikes kill six insurgents

Tamil Tiger rebels and Sri Lanka - 's military exchanged mortar fire Friday, a day after the air force bombed rebel-held areas, killing six insurgents and wounding five others, as the country teetered toward full-scale war.

In the latest violence to menace the island nation, the Tigers fired mortar rounds on government positions early Friday, the Defense Ministry's media unit said. The volley came from an area where tensions are high over a rebel blockade of a key source of water for 15,000 people in government-held villages in the northeast.

The army retaliated with its own mortar fire, but no other details were immediately available, said an official who cannot be named because of military regulations.

The pro-rebel Web site TamilNet said six rebels were killed and five others wounded when airstrikes Thursday hit a camp in Kathiraveli 40 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of Trincomalee town close to the water facility.

Three civilians also were hurt in the attack, it quoted rebel official S. Elilan as saying. The report gave no further details. In a separate air raid on the rebels' unfinished runway, the government said it had acted on information that the insurgents had cleared forests and had already built an unpaved air strip.

On Wednesday, the military launched airstrikes on the rebel-controlled area the scene of the water dispute saying insurgents were blocking the flow of water from a plant there. The Tamil Tigers justified their action by saying the government had reneged on a promise to build a water tower for areas under rebel control.

The government said the rebels' water blockade had affected 15,000 families living in government-controlled villages, many of whom are without water to irrigate rice crops. Local television showed some of the villagers calling on the government to take punitive action against the Tigers.

Meanwhile, military spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe said a foot patrol discovered a 10 kilogram (22 pound) bomb in Trincomalee district late Thursday. Roadside bombs, which can be detonated by remote control, have been the favored weapon of the rebels.

The rebels started their Tamil homeland campaign in 1983, accusing the majority Sinhalese of discrimination. In 2002 a cease-fire halted the conflict, but subsequent peace talks broke down on rebel demands for sweeping autonomy.

In recent months, however, an escalation of violence has threatened a return to all-out war with more than 750 people half of them civilians killed since December.

Finland, Denmark withdraw from Sri Lanka cease-fire monitoring team amid rising violence

Finland and Denmark, two of the five countries in the European monitoring mission overseeing the shaky cease-fire between the Sri Lankan military and Tamil Tiger rebels, have decided to withdraw because of inadequate security, a spokesman said Friday.

Sri Lanka - Monitoring Mission acting spokesman Robert Nilsson said the two countries notified the group that their monitors will withdraw on Sept. 1.

``The foreign ministries back home feel that they don't get proper security guarantees for their monitors, that why they are withdrawing,'' he said.

``This is quite worrying, we will end up with a much smaller SLMM. In the end it's the Sri Lankan people that will be affected by it,'' Nilsson said.

Finland has deployed 12 monitors and Denmark eight, he said.

The 57 members of the mission come from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Finland.

Norway formed the monitoring team after brokering the 2002 truce, which stopped the civil war between the rebels and the government.

The separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have opposed the inclusion of European Union members in the team since the EU designated the rebels a terrorist group in May.

At a June 8 meeting, the rebels said they would give the mission one month to withdraw EU members, but later extended the deadline until Sept. 1.

Of the five countries in the monitoring mission, only Norway and Iceland are not EU members.

On July 21, Swedish diplomat Anders Oljelund met with top Tamil Tiger officials but failed to persuade the guerrilla leadership to drop the demand.

The LTTE demand comes amid a surge in violence between the insurgents and the government, threatening the four-year cease-fire and raising the threat of all-out civil war.

The rebels are already banned in the United States, Canada, Britain and in neighboring India.

The LTTE has been fighting for a separate homeland for the minority Tamils since 1983. The conflict left more than 65,000 people dead before the 2002 cease-fire

Death toll from airstrikes rises to six in Sri Lanka ; powerful roadside bomb found

Sri Lanka - 's air force bombed rebel-held areas, including an unfinished runway and a rebel camp, killing six insurgents and wounding five others, a pro-rebel Web site reported Friday, in the latest violence to menace the island nation.

Tensions also were high over an alleged rebel blockade of a key source of water for 15,000 people in government-held villages in the northeast.

The pro-rebel Web site TamilNet said six rebels were killed and five others wounded when airstrikes Thursday hit a camp in Kathiraveli 40 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of Trincomalee town close to the water facility.

Three civilians also were hurt in the attack, it quoted rebel official S. Elilan as saying. The report gave no further details.

In a separate air raid on the rebels' unfinished runway, the government said it had acted on information that the insurgents had cleared forests and had already built an unpaved air strip.

On Wednesday, the military launched airstrikes on a rebel-controlled area in the northeastern Trincomalee district, alleging insurgents were blocking the flow of water from a plant there. The Tamil Tigers justified their action by saying the government had reneged on a promise to build a water tower for areas under rebel control.

The government said the rebels' water blockade had affected 15,000 families living in government-controlled villages, many of whom are without water to irrigate rice crops. Local television showed some of the villagers calling on the government to take punitive action against the Tigers.

Meanwhile, military spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe said a foot patrol discovered a 10 kilogram (22 pound) bomb in Trincomalee district late Thursday. Roadside bombs, which can be detonated by remote control, have been the favored weapon of the rebels.

The Tamil Tigers have been fighting for more than two decades for a separate state in the northeast, which they consider to be the historical and cultural homeland of the ethnic Tamils. They already control swaths of the region, but are intent on capturing all of what they refer to as ``Tamil Eelam,'' or the Tamil homeland.

About 65,000 people were killed before a Norway-brokered 2002 cease-fire halted full scale hostilities. In recent months, however, an escalation of violence has threatened a return to all-out war.

More than 750 people half of them civilians have been killed since December

News Today

ASEAN agrees to let Sri Lanka participate in Asia-Pacific security meet

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations will let Sri Lanka take part in future meetings of Asia's largest security conference, Malaysia's foreign minister said Tuesday.

``ASEAN (has) agreed to admit Sri Lanka as a new participant'' in the ASEAN Regional Forum, or ARF, Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said, adding that it was subject to consensus approval from ARF members.

If ARF members agree during their two-day annual meeting in Kuala Lumpur starting Thursday, Sri Lanka would be the group's 27th member, he said.

Bangladesh will be participating in the ARF for the first time in this week's meeting, Syed Hamid said.

The 10 ASEAN countries are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Its other dialogue partners in the ARF are Australia, Canada, China, East Timor, European Union, India, Japan, Mongolia, New Zealand, North Korea, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Russia, South Korea, United States.

Petroleum strike ends; Sri Lankan government buys two-week grace period

The Sri Lankan government bought two weeks grace period from petroleum sector trade unions late Tuesday, with fuel stocks expected to hit Colombo city by midnight.

Unions struck work demanding Asantha de Mel, the head of a key petroleum facility is removed, as they feared his appointment was the first step towards privatising petroleum assets.

President Mahinda Rajapakse’s trade union advisor Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra stepped in to resolve the crisis, after petroleum minister A H M Fowzie walked out of heated talks with trade unions earlier in the day.

“Mr. Premachandra promised us in writing that president Rajapakse will look into our grievances within two weeks time. With that assurance we are asking our members to return to work,” A L Ananda, Chairman of the CPC Joint Trade Union Front said.

Union demands agreed to include asking de Mel to stay away from his office and removing his executive powers, Ananda said.

On Monday De Mel took over as chairman of the Common Petroleum Storage Terminal (CPSTL), which is a joint venture between state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corp, Lanka IOC and the government treasury.

Fuel sheds usually hold stocks of diesel for about three days and petrol for about five days, but panic buying could deplete stocks faster.

A prolonged strike would also affect supplies at both Ceypetco and Lanka IOC sheds.

Fears of shortages triggered panic buying in filling stations around Colombo, with most sheds in the city running out of stocks on Tuesday.

Public transport was also on a low key, with some companies allowing staff to leave early.

Ceypetco runs over 600 sheds, including dealer owned filling stations, while Lanka IOC owns 100 sheds with 58 dealer owned stations in its network.

Forgotten and forsaken Sri Lankans in Lebanon

THE absolute raw and brutal misery of the Middle East fills us with despair, depression, revulsion and anxiety. Watching the hellish carnage on television is unbearable, but at times it is hard to take our eyes away.

The spectacle of human beings willfully beheading one another like savages is a melancholy reminder that in the absence of universal respect, hatred will spring up in inevitable evil spasms of destruction.

The current misery in Israel and Lebanon was triggered by Arab provocations but the Israeli war machine went into full battle-dress holy-war vengeance. Having a long time ago wandered in the desert themselves, the Israelis are now in the position of making others into today’s wanderers.

Miles underneath the precision aerial bombing and just below the whistling of the rockets from all sides are all manner of human beings struggling to survive — leaving aside the evil terrorists regrouping for the next kill — who deserve a significantly better fate than the hell that’s surrounding them now.

High on the list of the most miserable are the abandoned colony of Sri Lankans — trapped inside Lebanon as of this writing. To be sure, they are hardly the only ethnic group under the gun — consider the broader misery of the innocent, un-terror-affiliated Lebanese themselves. But their plight is especially poignant nonetheless: They are abject and luckless political and economic refugees from the once-idyllic island nation of Sri Lanka, and they are now apparently sliding as irrevocably towards civil-war hell as perhaps now Iraq — not to mention their own home country.

They fled their small native island, off the southeast coast of gigantic India, to escape the violence perpetrated by minority-rebel Tamil extremists and the Sinhalese government majority, and to find such menial jobs as they could in order to survive.

Of the hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, who have fled over the decades, an astonishing 80,000 appear to have clustered around besieged Beirut, mostly women, finding work as maids, as washer-women, as day labours, as the lumpen-proletariat of this large Lebanese metropolis. They have been arriving in waves of about 10,000 a year, over time creating one of the most intense concentrations of the Lebanese diaspora on earth.

The life they were to inherit in Lebanon was hardly more favorable to them than the one they abandoned in their homeless. Their treatment by their employers was often little better than master to slave. Various human-rights group tried to come to the rescue of these homeless and stateless refugees, but it wasn’t until the well-known Sri Lankan actor Ranjan Ramanayka visited Lebanon and drew the media’s attention to the intense abuse of domestic workers in homes and prisons that their plight began to receive official attention.

Now their statelessness and homelessness has been heightened by the general panic in the Middle East that’s generated the sagas of flight that’s all over the world media. European foreigners were among the first to get out, then the Americans. But the 80,000 Sri Lankans — many without proper visa or passports — cower together, many in mountain hide-ways, praying simply that errant Israel bombs — the "dumb bombs," as it were — will not hit them.

The government of Sri Lanka, at this writing, is asking the government of India for help in evacuating at least some of its citizens, and India’s ships have indeed set sail. Whether the fleet will safely arrive and how many Sri Lankans they will choose to take back to South Asia and what will happen to them once they are back in either India or war-torn Sri Lanka, this is a complex puzzle that cannot be solved right now.

The fact is that dilemma may never arise; they may never escape the hell. Surely, the fate of these poor people somehow inspires pity and caring above and beyond all that we feel about the situation in the Middle East in general. These people simply wandered in search of a little tiny piece of life — a job, a shelter, a relief from war. Destiny, as it happened, took them to one of the places on earth that turned out to be as violent as the hell they left.

They wandered in search of a new home and a better future. If there is anyone on earth that should most sympathise with the Sri Lankans caught in the vile vortex of Lebanon, it must be the Jews in Israel. As if only for them — and for them alone — the government of Israel must find a way to stop this bombing and end this hell.

Her job bombarded and her future shattered, this Sri Lankan worker from Lebanon was flown back to Colombo yesterday with a few important belongings hurriedly packed into cardboard boxes. 

Report: Sri Lanka 's Tamil Tiger rebels draft 'anti-terrorism law'

Sri Lanka - 's Tamil Tiger rebels, listed as a terrorist organization in many countries, are drafting their own ``anti-terrorism laws'' to deal with government military and police personnel who enter their territory, a news report said Sunday.

The separatist Tigers, who run a de facto state in vast swaths of land in Sri Lanka - 's Tamil-majority northeast, often accuse the military of involvement in ``state terrorism'' in Tamil-majority areas.

Hundreds of Tamils have been killed in shadowy circumstances since December, the start of a surge in violence that threatens to drag the country back into full-scale civil war.

The Tigers put on trial in their own courts any government security personnel captured in their territory. In a faltering 2002 cease-fire agreement, the Sri Lankan government agreed to stay out of rebel-controlled areas.

The anti-terrorism law is expected to be finalized by the year end, the independent Sunday Times newspaper reported, quoting Eliyathambi Pararajasingham, in charge of the rebels own legal system.

At least one government policeman and a soldier are currently held by the Tigers despite repeated attempts by European cease-fire monitors to secure their release.

The guerrillas are blacklisted as a terrorist organization by India, the United States, the European Union and Canada.

Also on Sunday, a Tamil civilian whom rebels labeled a military informer was fatally shot.

Unidentified assailants shot dead Sivaprakasam Thirunavukarasu, 66, in northern Jaffna peninsula, according to an official at the Media Center for National Security.

The pro-rebel TamilNet Web site said Thirunavukarasu was a military informant but did not claim responsibility for the killing.

Separately, a sailor was injured when rebels threw a grenade at a guard point in an islet off Jaffna, 300 kilometers (185 miles) north of the capital, Colombo, said the official who requested anonymity because he isn't allowed to speak to the media.

More than 750 people half of them civilians have been killed since December but both sides deny responsibility and blame each other for the violence.

The Tigers began fighting the government in 1983 for a separate state for the country's ethnic minority Tamils, saying they can only prosper away from the domination of majority Sinhalese.

More than 65,000 people were killed until the 2002 Norway-brokered cease-fire

Civilian fatally shot, sailor wounded in latest violence in northern Sri Lanka

A Tamil civilian whom rebels labeled a military informer was fatally shot and guerrillas wounded a sailor in a grenade attack in northern Sri Lanka Sunday, an officials, as the island nation teetered on the edge of full-blown civil war.

Unidentified assailants shot dead Sivaprakasam Thirunavukarasu, 66, in northern Jaffna peninsula, according to an official at the Media Center for National Security.

The pro-rebel TamilNet Web site said Thirunavukarasu was a military informant but did not claim responsibility for the killing.

Separately, a sailor was injured when rebels threw a grenade at a guard point in an islet off Jaffna, 300 kilometers (185 miles) north of the capital, Colombo, said the official who requested anonymity because he isn't allowed to speak to the media.

The incidents are part of surging violence in Sri Lanka's ethnic Tamil-majority north and east that threatens to destroy a fragile cease-fire between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels.

More than 750 people _ half of them civilians _ have been killed since December but both sides deny responsibility and blame each other for the violence.

The Tigers began fighting the government in 1983 for a separate state for the country's ethnic minority Tamils, saying they can only prosper away from the domination of majority Sinhalese.

More than 65,000 people were killed until the 2002 Norway-brokered cease-fire.

Roads a bridge between North, South - President

COLOMBO: President Mahinda Rajapaksa made a clarion call to Road Development Authority engineers to commit themselves to merge the gap between the North and the South through the development of road structures in the island.

He was addressing the Road Development Authority Engineers Association Annual General Meeting at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday.

"When the World Bank President came here I spoke to him about the possibility of getting funds to build a highway linking the North and the South. I hope this would materialise as the Road to Peace," President said.

Reiterating the Government's commitment to development against the backdrop of any adverse implications, the President highlighted the importance of developing road infrastructure as a catalyst to development and peace.

"As a Government committed to development we have paid special attention to the development of infrastructure. Our ancestors received world acclaim for their achievements in engineering. Our duty should be to use this as a catalyst in developing a hassle free and development oriented road structure for our future generation," the President said.

"Roads could be used to bridge the gap between village and the city and could be used as a catalyst to prospective investments both local and foreign".

"As the guardians of the roads in our country,the responsibility of future growth is on your shoulders. As such you should take it to your heart to do justice to the free education you received and the faith we all have placed on you with a committed effort to development," he added.

Highways Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle hailed the occasion as a historic one.

"This is the first time a meeting of this nature is being held at the Presidential Secretariat. That in itself shows the Government's stance on the development of roads as a high priority issue".

"Korea has 4,000 km of highways and China has 40,000 km, but we do not even have one kilometre. As such we should all commit ourselves to developing this most important type of infrastructure. We have launched several highway projects," Fernandopulle added.

Both T.B.Ekanayake Minister of Road development and his deputy Rohana Kumara Dissanayake stressed the importance of developing the 64,600 Km road network in the island. Citing a World Bank report Dissanayake said that poverty was prevalent in areas where the road structure was poor. "We should change the trend and use better roads to develop the villagers."

Chairman of the Association Moses Mariyadasan reiterated their commitment to road development behalf of all his colleagues. A web site was launched depicting the work of RDA.

MPs BLAME MANGALA FOR PORT CRISIS

While the port workers' ‘work to rule' protest is continuing for the eighth successive

day, in spite of court enjoining order against the port workers' trade unions, causing losses of hundreds of millions of rupees to national economy each day, Minister of Ports and Shipping Mangala Samaraweera has come under attack from parliamentarians from the opposition parties as well as the ruling party allies.

Former Ports and Shipping Minister and leader of the SLMC Rauff Hakeem MP said in parliament yesterday , July 20, that the demands of the port workers were justifiable in that they were asking for salary increments in keeping with salary increments given to the government employees. They also have demanded that the anomalies on their salary scales should be rectified. The strike which continues for over one week due to the wrong handling of the issue by the present Minister of Ports and Shipping has gravely affected national revenue, he said.

Hakeem said that 19 ships could not berth in the Colombo port due to the current crisis and warned that shipping lines would bypass Colombo port and opt for Singapore or Dubai if the crisis continued. He said this would cause a grave crisis because the Colombo port facilitated 72 percent of transshipment cargo. He also said that the government should take steps to avoid a possible congestion surcharge being imposed on containers at $ 40 per 200 foot container and $ 80 per 40 foot container.

Government ally JVP's parliamentarian Sunil Handunetti and UNP parliamentarian Dr.Rajitha Senaratne accused Minister Samaraweera of resorting to a blame game with port workers instead of trying to resolve the Colombo port crisis which has cost hundreds of millions of rupees daily.

Sri Lanka evacuates 300 from Lebanon -- 92,700 to go

Sri Lanka is facing a logistical nightmare in trying to contact around 93,000 nationals -- mostly housemaids -- working in Lebanon, and has so far managed to evacuate just 300, officials said on Friday. Around 1.5 million Sri Lankans work abroad, most of them women working in the Middle East as domestic staff, and many are not registered with their local embassies -- which are small anyway and do not have the resources to reach so many people in times of crisis.

There are around 93,000 Sri Lankans currently working in Lebanon, 86,000 of them housemaids, said Jagath Wellawatta, Chairman of Sri Lanka's Foreign Employment Bureau. "It is logistically very, very difficult to get in contact with that many people. We have under 500 people waiting to be evacuated, but we hope that number will increase," he said.

"We have very few officials in the Lebanon embassy ... We don't know where people are staying or if they are injured or not," Wellawatta added. "If it is necessary, we are ready to evacuate all Sri Lankan workers."

Sri Lanka has advised all of its nationals to leave Lebanon in the face of deepening conflict between Israel and Hizbollah. Aid groups including Caritas and the International Organisation for Migration are helping to evacuate those who have gathered at Sri Lanka's Lebanon mission to Damascus.

Sri Lankan soldiers escape Tamil rebels' bomb attack in north, says military

A group of 15 Sri Lankan soldiers on a route clearing patrol in a northern town escaped a Tamil Tiger rebels' bomb attack Friday, when the roadside bomb exploded prematurely, the military said. One soldier was, however, sustained minor injuries in the attack near the northern garrison town of Vavuniya, military spokesman, Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe said.

``The others escaped the attack by the LTTE,'' Samarasinghe said, blaming the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The bomb exploded prematurely, he said.

The failed attack came amid a surge in violence between the insurgents and the government, threatening a four-year-old cease-fire and raising the prospect of all-out civil war.

Sri Lanka 's Tamil rebels stick to their demand for withdrawal of EU peace monitors

A Swedish diplomat met with top Tamil Tiger officials Friday, but failed to persuade the guerrilla leadership to drop a demand for the withdrawal of European Union peace monitors, the rebels said. The issue is the latest flash point in already strained relations between the rebels and Sri Lanka - 's government.

Anders Oljelund met with S.P. Thamilselvan, the political head of the rebels, and Seevaratnam Puleedevan, the head of the rebels' Peace Secretariat in Kilinochchi, the rebel stronghold in the north.

After the meeting, Thamilselvan told reporters that there was no change in the rebels' position that EU monitors should leave by Sept. 1.

Earlier, government chief spokesman, Keheliya Rambukwella, said in Colombo that Oljelund was ``... trying to persuade the LTTE not to insist on their demand that the EU member states should quit the monitoring team.''

The rebels argue that since the EU in May listed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, as a terrorist group, monitors from Finland, Sweden, and Denmark could no longer be neutral.

Norway and Iceland are also part of the monitoring mission, but are not EU members.

Oljelund arrived in the capital Colombo on Wednesday. He will return to Sweden on Monday.

During their meeting, Thamilselvan also asked Oljelund to press the government to stop alleged harassment of Tamil civilians living in the northeast, the traditional homeland of ethnic Tamils.

No comment was immediately available from Oljelund.

Earlier, government spokesman Rambukwella said the administration wants the EU to continue its role as peace monitors. ``Our stand is clear that the EU member states should remain in the monitoring team,'' he said.

The Tamil Tigers demand comes amid a surge in violence between the insurgents and the government, threatening the four-year-old cease-fire and raising the prospect of all-out civil war.

More than 750 people have died since December with both sides accusing the other of violating the truce. About 65,000 people were killed between 1983 and 2002, when Norway brokered a cease-fire.

The rebels have fought the government demanding a separate homeland for the country's ethnic minority Tamils saying they can only prosper away from the domination of majority Sinhalese.

Associated Press writer Dilip Ganguly contributed to this report from Colombo

Imminent cabinet reshuffle in Sri Lanka -Dr. Palitha Kohona a 20-year veteran of international diplomacy to get the Foreign Ministry portfolio

The Sri Lankan President, Mahinda Rajapakse is considering a major Cabinet reshuffle before the end of the month, according to a reliable report received from Colombo. Several senior Ministers are likely to lose the prominent ministerial positions as they are currently holding but will retain some of the Cabinet portfolios. Former MP Wijedasa Rajapaksa, who resigned from the State Bank Development Ministry, will be offered a Cabinet portfolio and National list MP Dallas Alahapperuma is expected to be appointed as the Minister of Information and Media, sources claimed. The decision on reshuffle was reportedly taken by the President with some disappointment over the activities of some Cabinet Ministers.

Among the major changes to the cabinet structure, the Foreign Ministry portfolio will be given to the 20-year veteran of international diplomacy and the former head of UN's Treaty Section Dr. Palitha Kohona. Dr. Kohona recently left his UN post and taken over the post of Special Advisor to President Mahinda Rajapakse on the Peace Process and the Director General of the Secretariat Co-ordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP).

Dr. Palitha Kohona received his secondary education in Sri Lanka, at S.Thomas' College Mt. Lavinia, from where he went on to obtain LL.B (Hons) at the University of Sri Lanka and an LL.M from the Australian National University. He obtained a Doctrate from Cambridge University, UK for the work, 'The Regulation of International Trade through Law', subsequently published by Kluwer, Netherlands. He is also an Attorney at Law, of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka.

Prior to assuming the current position Dr. Kohona was the Chief of the UN Treaty Section in New York. He held this position since 1995. This Section is the largest of five divisions of the UN Office of Legal Affairs, which controls a budget US$7.4 million. The Section is responsible for discharging the Secretariat's mandate to register treaties under Article 102 of the Charter and the depositary functions of the Secretary-General for multilateral treaties, e.g. The Land Mines Convention, Kyoto Protocol, Bio-safety Protocol, Treaties on Terrorism and Organised Crime and Human Rights.

At the Treaty Section, Dr. Kohona implemented major managerial changes, including a move to a highly computerized work environment and significantly improved its performance and output earning the UN21 Medal. Dr. Kohona was the Secretary of the UN Inter-Departmental Group established to report on measures to advance the international rule of law and he headed a working group tasked to make recommendations on improving the performance monitoring mechanisms in the Organisation. He led a UN legal delegation to North Korea in 2005 at the invitation of the DPRK government. In February, he was a key speaker at a seminar organized in Canberra by the Australian Joint Parliamentary Committee on Treaties.

Prior to joining the UN, Dr. Kohona was with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia in 1983. Posted to Geneva in 1989, inter alia, he chaired the negotiating group that developed the compliance mechanism under the Montreal Protocol and was closely involved in the negotiation of major multilateral environmental agreements and in the Rio process. Back in Australia in 1992, he was attached to the Uruguay Round of Trade Negotiations institutional mechanisms and dispute settlement unit and, subsequently, headed the Trade and Investment Section of the Department. Under his stewardship many negotiations on investment protection agreements were initiated, including those with the Russian Federation, the Republic of Korea, Argentina and India. He was also responsible for coordinating advice on trade and environment related issues, including those falling under the GATT/WTO.

Sri Lankan government pledges to investigate deadly attack on rebel-linked newspaper

Sri Lanka - 's government promised Wednesday to bring to justice assailants who gunned down two employees at a Tamil Tiger-linked newspaper, describing the brazen assault as an attack on freedom of expression.

Gunmen stormed the office of the independent newspaper Tuesday in northern Sri Lanka - and opened fire, killing two staffers and seriously wounding a third, the editor of the Uthayan newspaper said.

``The government considers this with utmost importance and believes this attack was intended to harm the government's image as a nation with freedom of expression and media independence,'' an official statement said Wednesday.

``The government ... will take every possible step to bring the culprits to book,'' the statement said.

Dressed in black, the attackers broke into the office of the newspaper based in the northern town of Jaffna, 300 kilometers (185 miles) north of Colombo and began shooting.

Editor N. Vithyatharan said the gunmen demanded to see three reporters who managed to escape the office. He said the newspaper's editorial manager and a circulation assistant died, and another employee was seriously wounded.

Uthayan is an independent newspaper, but is considered to have close links to Tamil Tiger rebels fighting for a separate homeland for the country's ethnic Tamil minority.

``I have no doubts that this is a work of armed groups working with the government security forces,'' Vithyatharan said, adding the reason for the attack may have been a cartoon the newspaper published on Monday depicting a former rebel leader prostrating himself before the president.

The person shown in the cartoon, Douglas Devananda, is now a government minister.

Tamil Tiger rebels accuse the government of using other armed Tamil groups to attack the guerrillas. The groups, which once fought alongside the Tigers for a separate state, gave up their struggle after a failed India-arranged peace accord in 1987.

The government has denied backing such groups.

President Mahinda Rajapakse, scheduled to address an international media freedom conference in Colombo on Wednesday, phoned the newspaper publisher and denied any government involvement in the attack, Vithyatharan said.

``His thinking was that the Tigers had done it ahead of his speech to embarrass him. But we clearly told him that the government should bear the responsibility,'' Vithyatharan said.

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels have fought the government since 1983 to create a separate nation for ethnic minority Tamils, accusing the majority Sinhalese-dominated state of discrimination.

More than 65,000 people were killed in the conflict before a Norway-brokered cease-fire was signed in 2002

Sri Lankan government offers Tamil rebels seaplanes for internal meeting ahead of talks

Sri Lanka - 's government, trying to salvage a fragile truce, said Wednesday it has offered the separatist Tamil Tigers seaplanes to use for the insurgents' internal meeting ahead of planned government-rebel peace talks.

The Tigers have said they must hold a meeting among themselves before they agree to attend the planned peace talks in Geneva.

But the talks, originally scheduled for April 25, became mired in disputes over travel arrangements and spiraling violence, as the country teeters on the edge of a return to civil war.

The Tigers had demanded that government helicopters fly their commanders to the rebels' headquarters for the internal meeting before any future peace talks are held.

The government had instead proposed using private helicopters, but the rebels rejected the idea. The dispute strained relations, and the insurgents pulled out of the talks.

On Wednesday, government peace secretariat chief Palitha Kohona said, ``We have offered them (the Tigers) seaplanes and have agreed on the landing site.''

``On behalf of the peace secretariat, we hope the LTTE will take this opportunity to complete their internal consultations so that (they) could proceed to Geneva for the talks,'' said Kohona, referring to the rebels by the initials of their formal name, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

There was no immediate comment from the rebels.

Kohona's comment came a day after President Mahinda Rajapakse urged the Tigers to resume peace talks.

The talks are meant to salvage a 2002 cease-fire that appears to be on the verge of collapse amid violence which claimed about 150 people, including 79 government troops, in April.

The Tigers began fighting in 1983 for a separate state for minority Tamils, claiming discrimination by the country's Sinhalese majority.

More than 65,000 people were killed in the fighting before Norway brokered the 2002 cease-fire

Sri Lankan elections to judge government's popularity, peace process' direction

At least five people were hurt Thursday in assaults during local elections seen as a referendum on President Mahinda Rajapakse's governing coalition and its support of a peace process with Tamil rebels.

Over 10 million people were eligible to vote in the elections for 226 local councils, which come as spiraling violence threatens a four-year-old cease-fire between the government and the Tamil Tiger rebels.

Elections in the north and east where the Tigers operate have been postponed due to security concerns.

The ruling United People's Freedom Alliance faces competition from the Marxist People's Liberation Front, a coalition member that backed Rajapakse during the presidential elections but is running its own candidates in the local polls.

The Liberation Front has 40 seats in the 225-member national legislature, and its support is crucial for Rajapakse.

However, a strong showing by the Marxists who oppose Rajapakse's support for Norway's involvement in the island's peace process could compel them to break away from the coalition.

Meanwhile, the main opposition United National Party, or UNP, which signed the Norwegian-brokered cease-fire with the Tamil Tigers in 2002, also faces internal rifts following its defeat in the last presidential election. The UNP currently holds a majority of local councils.

The polls closed at 4 p.m. (1000 GMT) and voter turnout was estimated at about 50 percent, said a government official who declined to be named as he is not authorized to speak to the media. Results were expected early Friday.

Upali Ratnayake, a spokesman for The Peoples' Action for Free and Fair Election, said the poll monitoring group has received reports that five people were injured in election violence around the country. No other details were available.

Police spokesman Rienzie Perera confirmed that five people were injured and said authorities were investigating the incidents.

The local elections come as spiraling violence threatens the truce between the government and the rebels. More than 166 people, including 87 government security personnel, have been killed since December.

The rebels began fighting in 1983 to create a separate state for ethnic minority Tamils, accusing the majority Sinhalese of discrimination. More than 65,000 people were killed before the cease-fire.

Both sides agreed in Geneva, Switzerland last month to scale down violence and meet again for talks next month.

Tamil Tiger rebels, Sri Lanka navy exchange gunfire; no known casualties

) Tamil Tiger rebels in a boat fired at a Sri Lankan navy post in the port town of Trincomalee on Thursday but retreated when the navy retaliated with gunfire, a navy spokesman said. Norwegian Minister of International Development Erik Solheim, whose peace efforts led to a 2002 cease-fire in Sri Lanka - , is scheduled to visit Colombo April 6 to meet with President Mahinda Rajapakse, the Norwegian Embassy said in a statement.

Solheim's trip will be preceded by a visit by another peace envoy, Jon Hanssen-Bauer, starting Monday. He will look after the day-to-day issues relating to the peace process.

The truce has come under severe strain due to spiraling violence, with more than 166 people, including 87 government security personnel, killed since December.

Both sides agreed in Geneva, Switzerland last month to scale down the violence and meet again for talks in April.

The Tamil Tigers began fighting in 1983 for a separate state for minority Tamils, claiming discrimination by the country's Sinhalese majority. The conflict has cost an estimated 65,000 lives.