Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, SLMM, has not requested the LTTE leadership to stop Hartals and demonstrations, as might be understood from two separate newsreports today 2nd of July. Major General Trond Furuhovde, head of SLMM, met with the political leadership of LTTE in Kilinochchi on Friday and raised the issue of Hartals and demonstrations in general and the risks related to them. General Furuhovde asked the LTTE to support the Government and the people on the East coast of Sri Lanka in calming down the recent unrest in the area. Mr. S.P. Tamilchelvan, head of LTTE’s Political Section reacted very positively to this request and promised that the LTTE would use their influence to calm things down and keep the situation under control.

The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission is not opposed to Hartals, demonstrations, meetings and other activity that can be considered as political and peaceful means of people to express their opinions. However the SLMM would like to stress that those who organize and participate in such activities must be responsible for keeping them under control and never let them lead to violent and tragic events where lives are lost and property damaged. The Government, LTTE, Muslim leaders and many other parties have cooperated quickly and succesfully with the public in the last few days when stopping the unrest in Valaichenai and Mutur from escalating, and now the situation there is again calm and quiet. All parties can agree that such violent events only lead to escalated tension and human tragedy, that eventually harms all the people of Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, SLMM, monitors the implementation of the Ceasefire Agreement, reached by the Government of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, on 22nd february 2002. SLMM has six district offices and local monitoring committees in the Eastern and Northern part of Sri Lanka, two naval monitoring teams based in Jaffna and Trincomalee and Liaison officers to both the LTTE and the Sri Lankan Government. All people in Sri Lanka can make complaints to the SLMM if they believe they can point out a possible violation of the Ceasefire Agreement by the LTTE, the Sri Lankan Government or any other party.

Released By
SLMM HQ
Colombo

Mr. Teitur Torkelsson. GSM: +94 (0) 77 712 080
Press & Information Officer (PIO) of SLMM
SLMM HQ, 399 Galle road. Colombo-3
Teitur.Torkelsson@mfa.no

Ref: SLMM HQ/2nd July 2002/MED/6005