SLMM denies media reports on removing LTTE's camp

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 July 2003, 13:22 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission on Wednesday said that some media had misquoted its acting head, Mr. Hagrup Haukland, on Tuesday and Wednesday, on the possibility of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces using force to remove the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam camp in Kurankupanchan in the Trincomalee district, re-emphasizing that the SLMM had not made even “the slightest suggestion of using force" and the parties should continue to use "negotiations and dialogue to solve their disputes."

In a press release, the SLMM said that there were several media inquiries directed to its headquarters, and it was compelled to state the following:

“[The] SLMM wants to emphasize that [it] has not even made the slightest suggestion of using force. Such a suggestion would be completely contradictory to the role of SLMM in this country.

“[The] SLMM constantly advises and urges the two Parties not to use force, but to solve their disputes via negotiations and dialogue. The Government of Sri Lanka, at different meetings with SLMM, has never mentioned the possibility of using force.

“The Government of Sri Lanka and the Ministry of Defense have always requested SLMM's and/or the Facilitators' intervention as the appropriate means of settling disputes. That has not changed in any ways, and in this case, that is exactly what the Government of Sri Lanka requested of SLMM.”

Related Articles:
29.07.03   LTTE denies SLBC report on Kurankupanchan camp
14.07.03   SLMM head begins three-day visit to the Vanni
08.07.03   SLA-LTTE meet Wednesday to resolve Kurankupanchan standoff
07.07.03   SLMM head meets LTTE Trinco commander Pathuman