Henriccson blasted for false accusations against Forces

COLOMBO: The outgoing Maj-General Ulf Henricsson, the Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) is now facing a barrage of criticism from media analysts, the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Peace Secretariat for ignoring the basic evidence related to the killing of the 17 aid workers of a French charity organisation in Muttur on August 4, 2006 - an area held by the Tamil Tigers till August 4, according to TamilNet.

Ulf Henriccson is known for mouthing Tamil Tiger line. He shot his mouth blaming the EU for banning the Tamil Tigers A news item posted on TamilNet, August 05, 2006 08:02 GMT, under the title Fighting ceases in Muttur, ICRC resumes food supply states categorically: "Initial reports from Muttur said the LTTE fighters returned to their positions Friday (August 4, 2006).

The autopsy report of the JMO Anuradhapura states that the possible date of crime was late night August 3 or August 4. TamilNet report also stated that there was firing of shells even on August 5.

Kalinga Seneviratne, a media analyst based in Singapore, asked: "How could the Security Forces have killed the 17 aid workers on August 4 if the Tamil Tigers were in command of Muttur till August 4? There is something fishy about Henricsson's statement if the available evidence is correct."

The Tigers launched an offensive to clear Mutur of Muslims whom they suspected were anti-LTTE and pro-government. Official reports establish that they were in control from August 2 to August 5. Though they claim to have withdrawn on August 4 firing was still going on till the August 5, according to TamilNet. The killing of the aid workers attached to a French charity occurred on August 4.

The autopsy conducted by the Anuradhapura JMO has also established that the crime took place on either late in the night of August 3 or August 4.

Analysts state that Henriccson, who is merely a solider trained to kill, has no competence in conducting autopsies which is a scientific exercise. "He has ignored the basic evidence available and gone on hearsay," said another Sri Lankan journalist.

The government spokesperson, Minister Rambukwella, went further and said: "The SLMM Chief had stretched far beyond his imagination when giving the ruling on the killing of the 17 local aid workers attached to the French charity. There should be a limit to his imaginations."

The Peace Secretariat too has exposed the unsubstantiated attempt of Henricsson to pass judgment even before evidence of investigations and forensic results have been examined.

The Peace Secretariat added: "The determination lacks any factual evidence to substantiate its conclusion. The determination is based on misleading inferences that the SLMM was prevented from travelling to Muttur, and speculates that the inability to travel to Muttur as sufficient evidence of culpability in the deaths of 17 aid workers.

There was an advice against travel to Muttur for safety reasons during operational periods. Immediately after securing the town journalists, humanitarian workers and community leaders travelled to Muttur without any restrictions.

"This may be a unique occasion in which a Monitoring Mission has first made a determination and subsequently requested that an investigation be conducted to establish the facts.

"The Government of Sri Lanka categorically rejects this sweeping generalization of a very speculative conclusion reached even before the necessary forensic and other investigations have been concluded.

"The Government also deeply regrets that the Head of SLMM who is charged with an extremely sensitive and responsible task of giving professional and objective observations after due diligent investigation, has rushed to hasty conclusions on what is clearly a most reprehensible attack on these aid workers."

Earlier, Henriccson is known for mouthing Tamil Tiger line. He shot his mouth blaming the EU for banning the Tamil Tigers - a line propagated by the Tamil tigers. He said it was a "mistake". The available evidence proves that the banning or not banning has had an impact on Tamil Tiger violence.

"There is no evidence to prove that the Tamil Tigers would have stopped its inhuman violence if the EU did not ban the Tigers. Henricsson is consistent in his inability to assess the available facts," said Ranjith Soysa, spokesperson for Society for Peace Unity and Human Rights. "The Tamil Tigers had violated the Ceasefire Agreement 95% long before the EU ban was imposed.

There was no evidence to prove that the Tamil Tigers would ever abandon committing war crimes and crimes against humanity with or without a ban.

Even after it was banned by India, UK, and USA etc the Tigers committed these crimes with impunity," he said.

Here's the full text of Tamil Net report Fighting ceases in Muttur, ICRC resumes food supply [Tamil Net, August 05, 2006 08:02 GMT] Fighting ceased between the Sri Lanka Army (SLEIGH) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Trinomial and humanitarian agencies resumed food supplies to 18 000 Muslim and Sinhala refugees staying in 5 different schools in Kantale and 15 000 Tamil refugees staying in Kiliveddy.

Initial reports from Muttur said the LTTE fighters returned to their positions Friday. No official comments were available from the LTTE or Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) regarding the military situation.

Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission(SLMM) Head Major General Ulf Henricsson was on his way to Muttur and Norwegian Special Envoy Jon-Hanssen Bauer was en route to Kilinochchi via Jaffna.

Only a single shell explosion was heard close to Muttur East, a civilian who reached Kantale Saturday noon said. CRC has resumed food convoy towards Kantale.

Asian Tribune