Hand-to-hand combat begins in the battle for Jaffna

Hand-to-hand combat begins in the battle for Jaffna
AGENCIES

COLOMBO, MAY 21: Heavy fighting broke out in the Jaffna peninsula as the Sri Lankan Army and the LTTE today engaged in fierce hand-to-hand battles in the war-torn region ahead of a high-level Norwegian delegation's visit, commencing here tomorrow, to broker peace talks between the warring sides.

A Government statement here said today that its troops were engaged in ``almost hand-to-hand battle'' with the rebels on the outskirts of Chavakachcheri, located 15km southeast of Jaffna town, since yesterday in which two important LTTE leaders, Murali and Vasanthan, and nine army soldiers were killed.

Refuting LTTE's last night's claims that Chavakachcheri has been captured by its fighters, the statement said troops have been battling to halt the rebel offensive on the town since yesterday. LTTE had claimed that its fighters had taken control of Chavakachcheri, located in the heart of the peninsula.

A Norwegian delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister Raymond Johansen was scheduled to arrive in Colombo tomorrow for comprehensive discussions with President Chandrika Kumaratunga, Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar and Opposition United National Party (UNP) leader Ranil Wickramasinghe.

Diplomatic sources said cease-fire would be high on the agenda of Johensen, as the fighting endangered the lives of over half a million civilians.

Chandrika, during the past few days, has been expressing her willingness to talk to the LTTE but at the same time firmly ruled out any proposal to pull out troops from Jaffna. The LTTE for its part issued a week-long ultimatum for over 30,000 Government troops to surrender with their weapons, which has been rejected by Jaffna Army commander Maj. Gen. Janaka Perera.

Johensen would be accompanied by Eric Solhiem, who has been designated Norway's special peace envoy to Sri Lanka.

In the meantime, Chandrika chided some of the Sinhalese politicians for branding all Sri Lankan Tamils as terrorists and supporters of the LTTE.

``We refused to call it Tamil terrorism though some of us did it. I do not believe that Tamil people as a whole are terrorists,'' she said.

She believed that the 1983 riots against Tamils in Colombo followed by the disinclination of the successive governments to solve the ethnic problem for the past 50 years constituted the main reasons for LTTE's growth. ``Every government swept this issue under the carpet,'' she said.

Seven prominent Tamil parties which met today said any solution to the ethnic conflict should satisfy the political aspirations of the Tamils to put an end to the long standing sufferings of the community. The Tamil parties were of the opinion that the solution lies in a political settlement within the democratic framework of the Constitution.

Significantly, Eelam People's Democratic Party and Tamil United Liberation Front abstained from the meeting. Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation leader N Srikantha, who was the convener of the meeting, later said they decided to meet periodically to express their views.