Special report: Ceasefire over in Sri Lanka
COLOMBO, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- The Tamil Tiger rebels on
Sunday said that they had decided to open an irrigation sluice gate in eastern
Sri Lanka to end a 17-day military confrontation with the government.
Daya Master, media spokesman for the Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), said that the group would open the gate, closed
since July 20, at 4 p.m. local time (1030 GMT) Sunday.
The decision was made after their meeting with
visiting Norwegian special peace envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer in the rebel-held
Kilinochchi district Sunday.
"As a humanitarian act, we will open the gate", Daya
Master said, adding that the LTTE had forwarded four conditions to the
government through Hanssen-Bauer.
The LTTE told the Norwegian envoy that any future air
strikes and artillery attacks by government troops would be considered as
declaration of war against them.
Also the LTTE wanted the government to look into the
water needs of the population under areas of their control in the eastern
province.
The rebel act in closing down the sluice gate was
described by the government as "an act of crime against humanity". The
government said some 15,000 families and 30,000 acres of cultivation land were
deprived of water as a result of the gate's closure.
It resulted in the army's first open advance into the
rebel territory since the February 2002 ceasefire accord and it was met with
stiff resistance by the rebels.
The water spat also led to two other bloody attacks
between the rebels and the government troops. Last Tuesday, the LTTE attacked a
troop carrier vessel at the eastern port of Trincomalee with mortar and
artillery fire which lasted several hours.
In the early hours of Wednesday, they began attacking
the Muslim-dominated town of Muttur causing over 20,000 people to flee the area.
At least 200 people were believed to be killed in the
attack which lasted for 3 full says.
The military stand-offs were the worst since the two
sides entered the Norwegian backed ceasefire and the direct talks process to end
the long drawn out separatist armed conflict that had claimed over 64,000 lives
since mid-1980s. Enditem
