S.Lanka Tamil aid agency says more workers missing
COLOMBO, Feb 1 (Reuters) - A second group of workers from an an aid agency linked to Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers are missing, the agency said on Wednesday, a day after the rebels warned that the abductions could make talks with the government difficult.
The Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) said five employees failed to turn up for a meeting in the rebel capital of Kilinochchi that was scheduled for earlier in the week.
"We assume that they are missing, but we have no idea where they are," said TRO consultant Arjunan Ethirveerasingam.
The latest report comes after the Tigers said paramilitaries had kidnapped five other TRO staff near an army checkpoint and warned that the abductions could make it difficult for them to attend peace talks with the government this month.
The Sri Lankan army denied there had been any kidnapping near the checkpoint on the road to the east of the country, and said it had no knowledge of the latest report of missing aid workers.
"It is a baseless allegation against the security forces," army spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe said. "It never happened close to our checkpoint. If it had, a lot of civilians would have seen it."
The talks between the government and rebels, due to take place in Geneva later this month, are seen as key to preventing a return to civil war, with a 2002 truce stretched to its limit by a string of suspected rebel attacks on troops.
Before Norwegian envoy Erik Solheim brokered a deal on the venue for talks a week ago, both sides had said they were ready to fight and win a war.
But analysts fear a more likely outcome would be a bloody stalemate that would ruin the economy and devastate areas already hit by conflict and the 2004 tsunami.
Based in the rebel capital Kilinochchi, the TRO is close to the Tigers and runs schemes to help those hit both by war and the tsunami in 2004 in rebel territory and in nearby army-held minority Tamil dominated areas.
The rebels say either the army or the Karuna group, a breakaway rebel faction they say is now a government-backed paramilitary force, was behind the kidnapping of aid workers.
Diplomats say that with little clear role in a peaceful Sri Lanka, Karuna may be among a number of parties -- ranging from majority Sinhalese nationalists to distrustful frontline commanders -- who want the Geneva talks dead before they start.
The Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) said five employees failed to turn up for a meeting in the rebel capital of Kilinochchi that was scheduled for earlier in the week.
"We assume that they are missing, but we have no idea where they are," said TRO consultant Arjunan Ethirveerasingam.
The latest report comes after the Tigers said paramilitaries had kidnapped five other TRO staff near an army checkpoint and warned that the abductions could make it difficult for them to attend peace talks with the government this month.
The Sri Lankan army denied there had been any kidnapping near the checkpoint on the road to the east of the country, and said it had no knowledge of the latest report of missing aid workers.
"It is a baseless allegation against the security forces," army spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe said. "It never happened close to our checkpoint. If it had, a lot of civilians would have seen it."
The talks between the government and rebels, due to take place in Geneva later this month, are seen as key to preventing a return to civil war, with a 2002 truce stretched to its limit by a string of suspected rebel attacks on troops.
Before Norwegian envoy Erik Solheim brokered a deal on the venue for talks a week ago, both sides had said they were ready to fight and win a war.
But analysts fear a more likely outcome would be a bloody stalemate that would ruin the economy and devastate areas already hit by conflict and the 2004 tsunami.
Based in the rebel capital Kilinochchi, the TRO is close to the Tigers and runs schemes to help those hit both by war and the tsunami in 2004 in rebel territory and in nearby army-held minority Tamil dominated areas.
The rebels say either the army or the Karuna group, a breakaway rebel faction they say is now a government-backed paramilitary force, was behind the kidnapping of aid workers.
Diplomats say that with little clear role in a peaceful Sri Lanka, Karuna may be among a number of parties -- ranging from majority Sinhalese nationalists to distrustful frontline commanders -- who want the Geneva talks dead before they start.
posted by Marko at 2/01/2006 12:08:00 AM
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