Colombo, Aug 02: Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels have for a second time rejected a call by European ceasefire monitors to evacuate a disputed camp, saying it is in their territory, according to the rebels' web site today. Sri Lanka's military claimed in June that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had encroached on their territory and built a camp in violation of a Norway-brokered ceasefire agreement.
The truce monitors subsequently inspected the Wan Ela camp in Trincomalee, 230 km northeast of the capital Colombo, and ruled was on government land. The monitors asked the rebels to withdraw, but they refused.
Tamilnet web site, which reports on Tamil affairs, quoted the rebels' political wing leader S P Thamilselvan as saying they would not move because the camp was inside rebel-held territory.
Speaking in Trincomalee yesterday, Thamilselvan said the monitors had not investigated properly, Tamilnet said.
"It is advisable for the parties concerned to leave the matter aside," Thamilselvan said.
A cease-fire signed by the government and the Tamil Tigers in February 2002 bars both sides from building camps in each other's territory. Bureau Report