Sri Lanka's President wants SLMM head sacked

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 October 2003, 17:33 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunge, has requested the Norwegian Prime Minister to remove the head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, Major General (retd.) Triggve Teleffsen, immediately from his post, saying his actions have caused serious doubts in the implementation of the ceasefire agreement, the Presidential Secretariat said Thursday.

Ms. Kumaratunge has written to the Norwegian Prime Minister following the allegation made by the Sri Lanka Navy commander that the SLMM had thwarted an attempt by the Navy to capture a ship of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) that, the Navy alleges, had been carrying arms last week, sources said.

According to the sources, the President has informed the Norwegian Prime Minister that the SLMM head was not impartial, and his action regarding the security of her country was not satisfactory.