Release date: 10 October 2002
Release time: Immediate

7 LOSE THEIR LIVES, 14 WOUNDED AS CROWD FORCEFULLY ENTERS STF CAMP IN AMPARA DISTRICT.

Seven people tragically lost their lives and fourteen people were injured when a large crowd of people forcefully entered the Kanjirankudah STF (Special Task Force of the Sri Lanka Police) camp south of Thirukkovil shortly after 17.00 on Wednesday. A demonstration of an estimated 500-1000 people crowd outside the camp got out of control when the crowd broke through the main entrance and a barbed wire fence and entered the camp. According to the STF officer in command of the camp, the members of the crowd were throwing stones, burning tyres and shooting with firearms. The STF used teargas and fired rubberbullets at the crowd and eventually fired at the people with live ammunition.

SLMM Monitors arrived at the camp before 20.00 and found three bodies inside the camp and one body 5 metres outside the camp’s fences. SLMM findings indicate that these 4 people had lost their lives exactly where their bodies were found. After initial examination it was thought that one of the dead persons was a member of the LTTE, due to his clothing. However, now it is thought that this person was a civilian, as his clothes were only similar, but not the same as the LTTE cadres frequently wear. SLMM Monitors observed that most things that could burn on the outside of the camp were still on fire at that time and tyres were still burning inside the camp. Communications antenna and lights belonging to the camp were damaged and windows broken in houses inside the camp. One assault rifle was also found on the ground outside the camp.

SLMM Monitors in Ampara district have confirmed that seven people from the crowd died during and after the attack on the STF camp. Furthermore, fourteen people are confirmed as injured and are in Hospital in the town of Kalmunai. According to a medical officer in Kalmunai Hospital seven of them have bullet wounds but all are expected to be discharged in 2-3 days. Today, unidentified members of the public have establish some roadblocks with burning tyres in this area on the East Coast. The situation has remained very tense but so far without violent incidents. The Officer in Command of the STF camp has stated that there were LTTE members from the Rufus Kulam camp in the attacking crowd. SLMM has no evidence of this at this time and nothing indicates that the LTTE leadership knew of this attack beforehand.

“This is a tragic event and extremely sad loss of lives” says Major General Trond Furuhovde, Head of SLMM. “Because of an uncontrolled demonstration people are now griefing their loved ones. During only one night, Hope and Reconciliation is turned into fear and uncertainty. This calls for the restraint of the people and courage to keep our will for peace alive through these difficult times. The actions of everyone now must show that we can make these losses bearable by trying to contribute what we can to peace and a better future. This is truly a tragedy, but it emphasises that not only the parties of the conflict, but each and every person in Sri Lanka is responsible for making lasting peace a reality in this country.” Due to these events, Head of SLMM will be in Ampara and Batticaloa districts on Friday and Saturday.

Released By
SLMM HQ
Colombo

Ref: SLMM HQ/10th Oct. 2002/MED/6014

The Road to Reconciliation, 2010

Investment and Education for Development
(January 21, 2011)

Speech by Prof Rajiva Wijesinha at the BizPact Investment Forum, Public Library Jaffna, January 6^th 2010.
Stability and Confidence for Revitalization - entrepreneurship and education amongst the resettled
(January 21, 2011)

The process of resettlement is proceeding apace now, with well over 120,000 persons having gone back to locations in the Northern Province. Of these the more complex returns were to areas previously under the control of the LTTE in sections of Mannar and Vavuniya and in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu.
Civil Military Liaison - The key to social progress
(January 21, 2011)

In the long hard haul that the process of resettlement has entailed, perhaps the most remarkable factor is the role played by the military. After the enormous effort involved in defeating the LTTE, there was no respite for the soldiers. Instead they have continued to work at a level of intensity that is sadly not recognized.
Overcoming constrictions and tyranny - The oppression of the LTTE in Mullaitivu
(January 21, 2011)

One reason why I suspect reconciliation will be easier in Sri Lanka than in many places that have suffered conflict is the level of suffering inflicted by the LTTE on the Tamil people. There was also an extraordinary hierarchical system, which gave great advantages to the privileged whilst the others had to serve them unquestioningly.
Promoting Contact - English programmes for all communities in the East
(January 21, 2011)

There has been so much interest about resettlement and rebuilding in the North that the East has been comparatively neglected. I had not been there for six months myself, which was sad for that was an area I had been in constantly from the eighties onward.
Making Connections - The revival of Trincomalee
(January 21, 2011)

Trincomalee has always struck me as a magical place, and I have often wondered whether we might not all have been much better off had President Jayewardene moved the capital there rather than ten miles down the road from Colombo to a place that had no merit, even in his eyes, except for its name. And, even if that idea might be fanciful, our failure over nearly half a decade to develop decent communications, to improve connections between the different areas of Sri Lanka, has struck me as a mark of monumental foolishness, which certainly contributed to the spread of resentment and then terror.
Individual Innovations and Initiative
(January 21, 2011)

Trincomalee is associated in my mind with two individuals, whose life and work continue to provide guidelines for effort. The first was Denzil Kobbekaduwa, who was in charge of the area when I visited in 1988, to check on the schools furniture project. That was the time of the IPKF, and one could sense some tensions, even though in general officers on both sides behaved with perfect conviviality at army headquarters.
Independence Day Celebrations at the Rehabilitation Centres
(January 21, 2011)

I was in Vavuniya on Independence Day, to join in celebrations at a couple of the Rehabilitation Centres. These had been planned by the officials administering the camps under the authority of the Commissioner General of Rehabilitation, but our Confidence Building and Stabilization Measures Project had assisted with the arrangements. Ironically, the main funding we receive, from UNHCR, cannot be used for these youngsters, just as for some strange reason the World Food Programme does not feed them. Fortunately the government is more enlightened and sees these victims of the LTTE’s forced recruitment as deserving of all possible assistance and encouragement.
Returns for the Old and the Recently Displaced
(January 21, 2011)

After the Independence Day celebrations at the Rehabilitation Centres in Vavuniya, I visited a couple of areas that had been resettled. I had been particularly anxious to get to the Rice Bowl in Mannar, since that had been the initial target for rapid resettlement. In the days when the hostile claimed that we intended to keep the displaced permanently in Vavuniya, we were well aware that the President was pressing for rapid cultivation by the returnees.
Promoting Prosperity and Reconciliation in Amparai
(January 21, 2011)

I had not been to Amparai for the whole of 2009, so I was wholly unprepared for the tremendous progress the District had registered since my previous visit in the middle of 2008, as Head of the Peace Secretariat. Then the citizens’ committees we met were still worried about security considerations, about restrictions on movement that restrained economic activity, even about the occasional massacre perpetrated by the tiny groups of Tiger guerillas who had survived the clearing of the East.

View all articles in this section

Disclaimer

The material presented on this website is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license , which allows free use, distribution, and creation of derivatives, so long as the license is unchanged and clearly noted, and the original author is attributed. Some of the works on this server may contain live references (or links) to information created and maintained by other organizations, the accuracy for which we are not responsible.The views expressed in the material on this website are personal to the respective authors and do not necessarily reflect any official view.

Processing Request
Please Wait...

Release date: 10 October 2002Release time: Immediate

7 LOSE THEIR LIVES, 14 WOUNDED AS CROWD FORCEFULLY ENTERS STF CAMP IN AMPARA DISTRICT.

The Road to Reconciliation, 2010

Disclaimer

Release date: 10 October 2002
Release time: Immediate