ENB TODAY 210308

Sri Lanka to re-deploy elite police against rebels
Fri Mar 21, 2008 2:50am EDTBy Rob Taylor
COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka will re-deploy thousands of elite police commandos from the country's east and move them north to help combat Tamil Tiger
rebels as civil war fighting intensifies, security forces said on Friday.
Around 2,000 Special Task Force police, or STF, would move from formerly Tamil-controlled eastern provinces, now held by government troops, to areas
threatened by Tiger fighters in the north, the military said.
"By redeploying the STF we will be able to free some troops for future operations in other areas," military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanyakkara told Reuters.
Since the 2006 resumption of a 25-year civil war between ethnic Tamil separatists and government forces in which 70,000 people have died, the military has
recaptured the country's east.
Security forces are now pressing back Tiger rebels in their northern strongholds and have vowed to end the bloody conflict by this year or early in 2009.
Nanyakkara said 50 Tiger separatists had been killed in fighting since Wednesday, although casualty numbers are hard to verify since Nordic ceasefire monitors left
the country after the government abandoned a truce agreement in January.
Both sides regularly inflate the numbers of those killed by their own fighters to maintain frontline morale. A Tiger spokesman could not immediately be reached to
verify the military's claim.
But as the conflict turns increasingly vicious and atrocities blamed on both sides by international rights monitors mount, a police spokesman said recent local elections
in the east had brought a degree of security "normalcy".
That would allow regular police to replace the STF in some eastern areas, the spokesman said. Government forces have claimed full control over the area since mid-
last year.
Re-deployed STF commandos would help end a spate of roadside bombings by the Tigers, targeting what he said were mainly civilians in the northern districts of
Vavuniya and Anuradhapura, Nanyakkara said.
Government-backed former rebels won nine local contests in March in a dry run for wider provincial elections in May underpinning the government's aim to defeat
the Tigers using both the ballot box and the current offensive.
The result was a blow to the Tigers, who are fighting for an independent homeland in the country's north and east.
(Additional reporting by Ranga Sirilal; editing by David Fox)
LTTE builds massive trench
Friday, 21 March 2008
Military Intelligence sources confirmed to DefenceWire that the LTTE has constructed a large trench to prevent Main Battle Tanks and Armoured Personnel Carriers
from the Armoured Corps and the newly formed Mechanized Infantry Division from crossing into LTTE's 2nd Forward Defence Line in Muhamalai and Nagarkovil. Mechanized Infantry T63/YW 531 APC
The 1st FDL of the Tigers was captured in a combined operation launched by the 53 and 55 Divisions on 30th January 2008. On 31st January morning, troops from
the Mechanized Infantry and Armoured Corp launched a second attack using MBTs and APCs. A total of 35 bunkers and 25 cadres were lost to the Tigers.
Meanwhile sources inside the Armoured Corps told DefenceWire that special training on crossing trenches and other techniques of tactical tank warfare are presently
being imparted to the Mechanized Infantry Division units stationed in Jaffna.
In another interesting development, Military Intelligence sources have uncovered an order issued by Prabhakaran than effectively bans TNA MPs from contesting the
forthcoming April 10th Provincial Council elections.
Addressing TNA MPs at a secret bunker immediately after MP Sivanesan's funeral, LTTE leader Prabhakaran has informed the MPs that their contesting the
elections would signal that Eelam has been given up.
In a separate turn of events, Prabha's deputy, Poddu Ammaan had approached TMVP Supreme Commander Pillayan, soon after the eastern liberation, asking him to
rejoin the Tigers.
Pillayan had previously been asked to kill Karuna in return for a large sum of money and asylum in a foreign country. In response, Pillayan had offered an even better
deal to Poddu for killing Prabhakaran.
-defencewire
Growing Govt.- TMVP relationship jolts UNP
TMVP demand to shift STF out of East before PC poll claim rejected
by Shamindra Ferdinando
In the aftermath of the breakaway LTTE faction TMVP sweeping the recent local government elections in the Batticaloa district, the government was planning to
enhance its hotly disputed relationship with the group, political sources said.
Government sources said an alliance with the group was on the cards ahead of the forthcoming elections to the Eastern Provincial Council. With the Elections
Department declaring that nominations would be accepted from March 27 to April 3, the government and the TMVP were in a hurry to conclude an electoral
agreement. A lasting relationship was being sought by both parties, the sources said.
The sources said the UPFA-TMVP alliance had easily secured the Batticaloa Municipal Council, thereby paving the way for a bigger alliance ahead of the PC
election.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa's recent meeting with TMVP members who had been elected to the Batticaloa MC and eight Pradeshiya Sabhas emphasised the
government's willingness to work with LTTE
dissidents, an official said. Although their leader Pillaiyan hadn't turned up at the Presidential Secretariat for the meeting, the government was in the process of
working out an agreement.
A highly placed official said the government and the TMVP had no option but to work together in the East to thwart the Vanni Tigers' efforts to destabilise the region.
Otherwise there would be chaos, he said emphasising the importance of joint government-TMVP action to isolate the Vanni Tigers. In fact, this would be a critical
part of the government's overall strategy to defeat the Vanni Tigers, he said. The official expressed belief that the forthcoming PC election in the East, which was
being held for the very first time, would deliver a heavy blow to the Vanni Tigers and their supporters, both here and overseas.
Authoritative sources said the UNP would try to cause a rift between the government and the TMVP. Stressing the importance of defeating the UNP conspiracy, the
sources said the UNP's claim that the TMVP wanted the government to withdraw the elite Special Task Force (STF) from the East to facilitate the proposed
electoral agreement with it, was a blatant lie.
The UNP, during the presidency of Premadasa gave in to LTTE demand to close down strategic army camps at Point Pedro and Valvettiturai, the sources said. But
that wouldn't be our style, the sources said.
UNP spokesman Lakshman Kiriella yesterday told a press briefing the TMVP had demanded the removal of the STF to make way for an alliance with the
government.
The STF plays a critical role in the Ampara-Batticaloa region where commandos are engaged in counter-insurgency operations to neutralise the threat posed by
isolated Vanni Tigers. The STF, during the recently concluded local government elections, thwarted LTTE attempts to carry out attacks, the military said, accusing the
UNP of resorting to cheap tactics that would be detrimental to national security.
The sources said the Karuna faction played a significant role in the war against the Vanni Tigers in the East. They said the government was determined to maintain a
close relationship with them as that would be essential to thwart Vanni Tigers staging a comeback in the East.
Minister Rajitha Senaratne recently told The Island that there was absolutey nothing wrong in the TMVP carrying arms as the UNP had allowed the EPDP, the
PLOTE and the EPRLF to retain their arms even after they entered the political mainstream.
Mannar claymore blast
on army bus Two soldiers were killed and 11 others sustained serious injuries when a suspected LTTE claymore mine exploded targeting an army bus in South Bar area Mannar
in the evening.
March 20, 2008
Ex-army officer and former Director General of SLBC Sunil Sarath Silva has been appointed as Director of Administration at Rupavahini Corporation.
Media rights groups condemned the appointment saying that it shows the militarisation of the media institution. However the Govt. denied these allegations. Rupavahini
Corporation was recently was sealed off by the security forces barring entry to over 200 employees who threatned strike action.

Numbers game clouds Sri Lankan war
By Roland Buerk BBC News, Colombo

Last Tuesday was a typical day at war in Sri Lanka.
Troops and the Tamil Tigers continued to face each other across the front lines that fringe territory held by the separatists in the north.
There were sporadic confrontations and the military said 35 Tiger fighters were killed as well as two soldiers.
But some have doubts about the casualties being reported.
"If you add up all the figures given by the government from the beginning of the separatist war until now, it would have wiped out the population of the north twice
over," says Iqbal Athas, consultant editor and defence correspondent of the Colombo Sunday Times and correspondent for Jane's Defence Weekly.
"Similarly if one were to adopt the figures put out by the Tamil Tiger rebels, that would have depleted the ranks of the military considerably."
Journalists barred
Since the start of 2006, when a new chapter opened in the civil war between the government and the rebels who want an independent state for the Tamil ethnic
minority, the government's Media Centre for National Security says 6,867 Tiger fighters and 1,501 soldiers have been killed.
Your propaganda or your reports must be based on truth Maj Gen Perera
Of the rebel losses, just over 2000 have taken place this year up to the 19 of March, the Media Centre reports. The centre says the armed forces' losses since the
first of January are number 186.
A news agency which has counted up casualty figures posted on the Ministry of Defence website has come up with slightly different numbers.
Journalists are barred from the conflict areas, and Nordic ceasefire monitors left the island when the truce formally came to an end in January, so there can be no
independent confirmation.
The Tigers themselves are not putting out many figures of their own.
Intercepted transmissions
The military recovers few bodies of dead rebel fighters, saying doing so would pointlessly risk the lives of troops.
Instead, they say they rely on reports from soldiers on the ground, and intercepted radio transmissions.
"When an incident occurs when they got a beating, the immediate tendency is to inform how many they lost, how many they got injured and to inform their cadres and
get the reinforcements back," said the military's spokesman, Brig Udaya Nanayakkara.
"If they try to use the codeword, it will take some time therefore they use the quickest possible method to inform their higher ups, so that's how we get to know."
Brig Nanayakkara said he stood by the military's figures and that the Tigers were down to around 5-6,000 fighters at the beginning of this year from an estimated
12,000.
The government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa has promised victory against the Tamil Tigers and soon.
The casualty reports help sustain an aura of confidence seen as necessary to maintain the support of the majority ethnic Sinhalese who are dominant in the south.
"Even in World War Two, [British PM Winston] Churchill at the most critical time at the battle of Dunkirk said 'I will give you blood, sweat and tears and ultimate
victory'," said retired Maj Gen Janaka Perera, a former chief of staff.
"I think if you carry the people and the people are convinced of what you are doing and ultimate victory, people will be prepared to sacrifice."
'Based on truth'
Inflation is high - 21.6% in February - the cost of food, cooking gas and fuel is a major concern, but there have been few protests on the streets.
In the south opinion is divided, some believe the government strategy is wrong and the war will drag on.
But others, like Mohamed Mubarak, a Muslim who was shopping at a fruit and vegetable market in Colombo, are willing to tighten their belts for victory against the
rebels.
"If they are defeated, we can have a good life and the cost of living will automatically go down I hope," he said.
"We have to suffer now but at least my children will have a happy life. Hopefully the government should win."
Maj Gen Perera says: "As a general who commanded in this army in the most critical battles, I sincerely wish to believe what is in the best interest and what is
advantageous to us... I sincerely wish to believe¿ I personally feel, if I am doing something, your propaganda or your reports must be based on truth. That is
something I firmly believe in."
Fri, 21 March 2008 23:29:24
LBO >> Transport Warning Signs 21 March 2008 13:46:16
Sri Lanka shipping community sounds alarm over new port, equipment delays March 21, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka's shipping community is getting increasingly concerned over delays in upgrading Colombo port equipment, building a new birth
and the opening of another entrance for navigation. Further delays could endanger Colombo's status as south Asia's transshipment hub especially with India expanding its own ports and building new ones to cater to the
cargo boom, shipping industry officials said.
Port customers said the re-opening of the northern entrance channel, closed for years owing to security threats, remains their main and most critical concern.
The closure means that vessels calling Colombo can use only one channel to enter or leave the port, causing delays on days when the number of callers increase or
tend to 'bunch up' as the trade calls it.
Sri Lanka Shippers' Council officials and representatives of lines calling at Colombo said the port could face congestion with the number of ship calls increasing.
Ship traffic went up 2.8 percent or by 124 ships to 4,576 vessels in 2007.
"The north entrance is closed permanently so pilots can only bring one vessel at a time," said a Shippers' Council official who spoke on condition of anonymity. "With
more vessels calling Colombo, congestion will increase. Some lines have already decided to bypass Colombo."
Big lines like Maersk reduced calls at Colombo and began calling direct at Indian ports last year.
This was partly owing to congestion in Colombo and also because of the cargo boom in India.
Feeder vessel operators said that right now there are no delays but anticipate congestion will start when the south-west monsoon starts in April.
Rough seas brought on by the monsoon means traffic in and out of port will be restricted to periods of good weather.
Port users also note that only one vessel can navigate to berth at the docks at any given time because of the restricted space in the harbour basin and the large size of
modern container vessels.
"When people talk of Colombo reaching a capacity crunch by 2012 they are only referring to the land capacity – the number of containers that can be handled within
the existing yards in the port," said an official from the Sri Lanka Shippers' Council, which represents importers and exporters.
"But no one is talking of port basin capacity which can now handle only one ship at a time. The turning circle is not enough. So already that capacity is gone."
Furthermore, he noted, the harbour basin can't be dredged any deeper, which means Colombo cannot handle vessels with a capacity of over 8,000 containers with
full load.
Modern cargo ships are getting even bigger with 10,000 – 12,000 container capacity ships now being built.
Industry officials said the planned new deep-water port next to Colombo has been delayed by several years and is now delayed even further.
This was after the government cancelled bids for the first container terminal in the new port because of disagreement over awarding the contract.
"The first container terminal of the new port was actually supposed to be operating by 2007 according to the original plan," said a Shippers' Council official. "The
project is way behind time."
Representatives of vessel operator also complain that much of the equipment in government terminals at the port is old, break down often and need replacement.
"We have been promised new equipment like cranes for the last 2-3 years but nothing has happened."
Fri, 21 March 2008 23:34:34 LBO >> Commodities Water Water 21 March 2008 13:40:43 By Charitha Fernando
Sri Lanka paddy crop under water; quality drops and high prices likely Mar 21, 2008 (LBO) – Torrential rains lashing Sri Lanka during an ongoing crucial harvest season is likely to lower the quality of rice but keep prices high in the
domestic market, an official said. "In some districts around 50 percent of the crop has been harvested and the remaining 50 percent has to be harvested," C. Kudagamage, Director General of the
Department of Agriculture said.
"According to our field officers, around seven percent of the harvest in major paddy producing areas has been destroyed," he said.
The reduction of the harvest is likely to prevent steep falls in prices, which were widely awaited after the ongoing so-called Maha or main paddy harvest season.
Farm gate Prices
However, crop failure due to bad weather is unlikely to have a significant impact on farmers, Kudagamage said.
"Prices are good for farmers at 32 to 35 rupees a kilo, so I don't think crop failure will have a significant impact on farmers, but I think consumer prices will go up" he
said.
"There could also be a quality drop in the yield already harvested as farmers can't thresh the crop because of the rain," he said.
Sri Lanka has imposed a 20 rupee tax per kilogram of rice imported to the country to protect local farmers and also gives them fertilizer subsidies valued at around
12 billion rupees a year.
In most countries where central banks print money heavily to bridge budget deficits, prices of foods which are not readily traded, usually called non-tradables, tend to
increase first.
State control of rice imports has prevented cheaper foreign rice from moderating prices. In November the government exempted the 20 rupees import tax on rice for
a state firm and decided to import 75,000 metric tons of rice from India.
The rice was expected to be sold through the co-operative system, but later large stocks were found to be sold through private wholesalers.
Economic analysts point out that having two price structures and tax rebates for only state firms creates opportunities for 'rents' or monopoly profits for state firms.
Allegations are now being made that 20,000 tonnes of the rice imported by state firms ended up in the private wholesale markets.
Economic analysts say this is almost inevitable given the opportunity for 'arbitrage' available for private traders who can buy from a state firm and re-sell at a margin
with no risk, and no one should be surprised at such a turn of events.
Commodity Bubble
In the recent past Sri Lanka has relied heavily on the central bank credit to bridge the budget deficit, by selling treasury bills and getting printed money to meet
government expenses.
In both 2006 and 2007 Sri Lanka's inflation has been around 20 percent.
Heavy money printing also causes foreign exchange shortages and rupee depreciation.
In the 1970's heavy money printing was followed by price controls to keep inflation down, which automatically caused shortages and traders hoarded goods to sell in
the black market.
At the moment the world is going through a commodity bubble fired by loose monetary policy from the US Federal reserve which has increased the price of anything
from wheat to rice, to copper to gold.
However, a house price bubble has already collapsed in the US, and there are signs that a credit bubble is also set to burst despite Federal Reserve money printing to
save the banking system which is showing billions of dollars of bad loans.
Wrong Flood
At the moment, torrential rains have generated floods in Sri Lanka's major paddy cultivating areas of Rajangana, Tissamaharama, Polonnaruwa, Ampara and
Batticaloa.
In the Ampara district there are 67000 hectares of paddy cultivated land and 90 percent of its crop has already being harvested, Shantha Amethiyagoda of the
department of agriculture said.
Farmers have delayed harvesting of the remaining 10 percent of the crop in the Samanthurai, Nindavur and Ampara areas, officials said.
Three to four percent of the total harvest in the Ampara district has been damaged, officials said
It was also reported that 3000 acres of paddy have already being inundated in the Tissamaharama area in the island's southern region.
The principal Maha cultivation season, is October to March while second cultivation season, known as "Yala", is from April to September.
According to the Department of Census and Statistics, paddy production in Sri Lanka showed a decline of 4.1 percent owing to hostilities in the Eastern province and
bad weather in the North Western provinces in the third quarter of 2007.
The estimated total paddy production for the 2007-2008 Maha season is 2,068,000 metric tons, the country's statistics office said.

Price of wheat flour to be increased by 10 rupees
Friday, March 21, 2008, 16:41 GMT, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Mar 21, Colombo: Prima Company (Private) limited, the monopoly in wheat flour trade in Sri Lanka has requested a price hike by 10 rupees per one kilo of wheat
flour.
According to the company sources, a written request has been made with this regard to the Consumer Services Authority to which the approval is yet to receive.
The company says that the increasing of wheat prices in the global market and the shipping costs are the reasons for this decision.
Two months earlier, the company increased the price of one kilo of flour by 13 rupees. The retail price of one kilo of wheat flour is 75 rupees in the present market.
Poor weather conditions in wheat producing countries have resulted in shorter supplies of wheat flour and higher grain prices.
=============== SR04594.1489 March 20, 2008 45 EM-lines (557 words) SRI LANKA Annual Fest On Isolated Island Cancelled Again In War-Torn North JAFFNA, Sri Lanka (UCAN) -- The Feast of Saint Anthony is an opportunity to meet and pray together for Tamil fishermen and their families on both sides of the
Palk Strait that separates Sri Lanka from India. The festival is normally celebrated in March on a deserted island off the Jaffna peninsula, but the governments of both Sri Lanka and India, citing increased hostilities,
have banned travel to the island this year. "We tried reasoning with the state, but finally dropped the idea since state forces do not allow anyone, even pilgrims, to enter the island," Father Justin B.
Gnanapragasam, vicar general of Jaffna diocese, told UCA News on March 3. The feast honoring the guardian of fishermen officially falls on June 13 but is observed in the first week of March due to calmer seas. This is the second consecutive
year it has been banned for Sri Lankans and the first for Indians. The pilgrimage to the Saint Anthony shrine on Katchatheevu Island, about 70 kilometers southwest of Jaffna City, has a checkered history. From 1983 to 2002, the
Sri Lankan government prohibited people from visiting the island due to the conflict between the Tamil rebels and the state. A ceasefire in 2002 allowed a temporary
revival, but the ban was reinstated four years later. "They imposed a fishing ban on Jaffna peninsula, and barred any subsequent movement in the sea as of August 2006," Father Gnanapragasam pointed out to UCA
News. He said the government imposed the restriction due to heavy fighting with Tamil rebels. "Fishermen are allowed to fish only during daylight, no more than two
kilometers from the beach," he added. According to media reports, installation of a regional underwater defense system further influenced the government decision. The Sri Lankan navy set it up between
Katchatheevu and other small islands around the peninsula to check arms smuggling and the movement of "Sea Tigers," a unit of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE). The Sinhala-led government has been battling for more than 25 years against the LTTE struggle for a separate homeland. The highlight of the weeklong festival on the island was a "get-together" of Indians and Sri Lankans of various faiths without the need for visas or other documents.
Pilgrims coming to see relatives and friends camped on the island and exchanged goods from both countries. The two-day festival ended with Mass. "In 2006, some 2,000 pilgrims from India attended," Father S. Roy Ferdinand, in charge of St. Anthony's shrine on the island, told UCA News by phone. "From the
Sri Lankan side, some 50 people came, including priests and officials who coordinated the festival," said Father Ferdinand, parish priest of St. John's Church in Delft,
a larger island northeast of Katchatheevu in the Palk Strait. The shrine is a "miraculous" church, says Gregory Philip Ferminus, 68, who coordinates the Centre for Performing Arts, a well-known Church-run art center in Jaffna.
He told UCA News today's younger people are unlucky because they cannot make the journey to the island and pray with Indian Catholics. Thangaraja Sebastiampillai, a poor 47-year-old Tamil fisherman, told UCA News he was disappointed, because "I had planned to attend the festival and meet my
nieces." His nieces had fled to India due to the war, he explained, and he cannot afford the air ticket to visit them there. END