MANY DIPLOMATS REFUSE THE LTTE CONTENTION THAT THE LTTE FIRED AT THEM DUE TO IGNORANCE OF THEIR ARRIVAL

By Walter Jayawardhana

German ambassador Juergen Weerth (left) Italian ambassador Pio Mariani (center) and European Union Delegation head Julian Wilson arrived in Colombo after the LTTE mortar attack (photo AFP)

Replying the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) charge that it was the Sri Lanka government that put the ambassadors who were attacked by them were put in harm’s way by not informing about their flight to Batticaloa a former head of the Sri Lankan Peace Secretariat said there had never been such a practice of informing the Tamil Tigers of the advanced flight details of ambassadors traveling inside Sri Lanka.

Ambassador Bernard Goonetilleke, the Sri Lankan envoy in Washington DC who formerly headed the Peace Secretariat in Colombo, commenting on the LTTE excuse that the government had failed to inform them in advance of the movement of aircraft, stated, “Since signing the Ceasefire Agreement in February 2002 and even prior to that, there was never a practice of providing information in advance to the LTTE of aircraft movement.”

After a mortar attack on the ambassadors and UN workers who were on a humanitarian mission to Batticaloa in Eastern Sri Lanka the LTTE admitted to the attack and expressed their deep regret about it but blamed the government for putting them in a harm’s way by not informing them about their flight to a government controlled province from Colombo to help in the re-settlement activities of war refugees in the area.

Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe, Sri Lanka Military spokesman said the LTTE’s attack on the ambassadors were deliberate since their trip to Batticaloa was well publicized among government officials, NGO’s, civil committee representatives and other public institutions in the area over a week before with scheduled program details. Recalling the ordeal in Batticaloa, he said quoting eyewitnesses that LTTE with precision targeted the bigger helicopter (MI 17) that was carrying the majority of the delegation that were to discuss matters related to resettlement of displaced Tamil people. The first small helicopter (212) after dropping several state officials at the same location at first flew away facilitating the VIP entourage to land afterwards. `So how could one argue that it was not targeted? This was a deliberate attempt of homicide planned by terrorists after learning the air movement of the VIPs,` Military Spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe further said.

The delegation on a humanitarian mission comprised the Ambassadors of the US, the EU, Germany, Japan, Italy and France, Resident Coordinators of the World Food Program, UNICEF, FAO and UN security staff. Sri Lanka’s Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights, Mr. Mahinda Samarasinghe led the delegation. The mission was to assess the ongoing resettlement program currently in progress in the Eastern Province. These areas have now been substantially cleared of Tamil Tigers, and internally displaced persons (IDPs) are currently being resettled there.

The US Ambassador in Sri Lanka Mr. Robert Blake and the Italian Ambassador in Sri Lanka Mr. Pio Mariani and the UN Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka, were slightly injured in the attack as were several police, air force and army personnel and personnel attached to the government Peace Secretariat and the Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights. Altogether, ten persons were wounded in the attack.

The Sri Lankan Consul General in Los Angeles , Jaliya Wickramasuriya further commenting about the LTTE assertion said it was a surprise that the LTTE who are having an elaborate spy network in the Eastern Province claim to say that they did not know the arrival of the most important foreign ambassadors in Colombo for a conference in Batticaloa. He said he was hundred per cent sure that the ambassadors and the UN workers were deliberately attacked.

Michael Lummaux, French Ambassador in Sri Lanka who narrowly escaped unhurt in the Tiger terrorists` mortar attack along with several others vowed that his country with the help of international community would do everything possible to wipe out terrorism.
Talking to media personnel in Colombo minutes after his abrupt return to Colombo with others following the LTTE mortar attack earlier on the day said that this was the first-ever terrorist attack experienced in his life in the execution of his legitimate duties as an Ambassador.

“This is the first time in my life I got caught to a terrorist attack of this nature. I was terribly frightened. This act goes against all conventions of war. Before we proceeded to Batticaloa we informed all our corresponding agents in Batticaloa, both diplomatic and state levels of the pending meeting. We have now had first-hand experience of LTTE terrorism, and we would definitely take it up at international level,” he said.