Published on - 2/22/2005
The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), truce monitors that have been mandated to observe the Cease-fire Agreement (CFA) in Sri Lanka, say that LTTE within a matter of nearly three years (1st February 2002-31 December 2004) have violated the CFA fourteen times by denying the SLMM of its free movement.
Sri Lanka government forces and the Police during the same period have lodged 5459 formal complaints of LTTE violations with the SLMM whereas the number of LTTE complaints against government forces and the Police was as low as some 1012, of which only 115 were ruled as violations. Those LTTE acts, ruled as violations by SLMM, centred round Child Recruitment, Abduction of Children and Adults, Harassment, Hostile acts against the Civil population, Extortions, Intimidations, Other Measures to restore normalcy, Moving military equipment, Provocative acts, Occupation of private property, Movement in zone of separation, Forced recruitment of adults, Confiscations, Restriction of movement for SLMM, Torture, Construction of new positions, Illegal carrying of arms, Activities of checkpoints, Firing of weapons, Offensive naval actions, Denied access to specified military areas, Assassinations, etc.
However, the SLMM notes that instances of LTTE violations such as Child Recruitment, Abduction of children and adults, Harassment, Provocative acts, Other Measures to restore normalcy (i.e. flag hoisting), and Confiscations have drastically gone up during January, this year.
Batticaloa, Jaffna and Trincomalee recorded the highest number of LTTE violations during the specified period mentioned above. Six hundred and ninety eight violations from Batticaloa, six hundred and twenty four from Jaffna and two hundred and thirteen from Trincomalee have been ruled as LTTE's gross violations of the CFA.
The SLMM has officially ruled that the LTTE during past 34 months (February 2003 – 31 December 2004) has violated the CFA agreement 2668 times whereas the government security forces and the police, according to the SLMM figures, had done so 115 times. SLMM ruled that government authorities violated CFA provisions 44 times by way of 'Harassment' but no other major violations have been reported, though the number of instances of such violations remains as follows. Other measures to restore normalcy (10), hostile acts against the civilian population (09), other restrictions of movement (09), intimidation (07), extortion (06), construction of new positions (05), occupation of private property (04), fishing restrictions (03), movement in zone of separation (03), abduction of adults (03), firing of weapons (02) and failure to vacate public buildings (02) are the rest of such violations. (ends)
SUMMARY OF RECORDED COMPLAINTS AND VIOLATIONS OF CEASEFIRE AGREEMENT BY THE LTTE AS PER THE SRI LANKA MONITORING MISSION REPORTS PERIOD :- FEBRUARY 2002 TO 31 DECEMBER 2004 CATEGORY TOTAL NO OF COMPLAINTS AGAINST LTTE OFFENSIVE MILITARY OPERATIONS
Firing of weapons 76 Abductions of soldiers and cadres 07 Sabotage 06 Offensive naval actions 11 Illegal carrying of arms 42 Offensive army, air force and STF actions 05 Abductions, military related 03 FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT Passage between Jaffna and Vavuniya on A 9 02 Denied access to specified military areas 06 Other restrictions of movement 17 SEPARATION OF FORCES Movement in Zone of Separation 49 Status quo on 24 Dec 01 01 Construction of new positions 46 Deployment of Weapons 02 Moving military equipment 17 Other (Separation of forces) 16 Hostile acts against the civilian population 199 Torture 18 Intimidation 95 Abduction of adults 985 Abduction of children 137 Extortion 87 Harassment 698 Child recruitment 1889 Other, Measures to restore normalcy 445 Forced recruitment of adults 75 Provocative acts by the Parties 88 Assassinations 44 Confiscations 28 Failure to vacate places of worships 0 Failure to vacate public building 01 Flow of non military goods 0 Activities at checkpoints 12 Fishing restrictions 05 Family members denied access to detainees 02 SRI LANKA MONITORING MISSION Restriction of movement for SLMM 15 Failure to establish communication between GOSL and LTTE 01
