SLMM warns air assets of LTTE could re-ignite war

COLOMBO, Friday (AFP) - European truce monitors in Sri Lanka have warned that the "air assets" of the LTTE could re-ignite war on the island and destabilise security in South Asia.

The Norwegian-led Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission said the LTTE possess an airstrip in the island's north, but warned that any move by government forces to bomb it could lead to the resumption of war.

"We have seen the air strip from the air while flying in a Sri Lankan military helicopter," Monitoring Mission chief Hagrup Haukland told the Foreign Correspondents' Association of Sri Lanka on Thursday night.

He said his mission, which monitors a truce that started on February 23, 2002, had been denied access by the rebels to verify government charges that they possess at least two light aircraft.

Haukland said an air capability would "mean a hell of a lot" to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). He warned that "it not only destabilises Sri Lanka's security, but India's security as well".

"If the Tigers fly, it will be a violation of Sri Lankan airspace and also of international law because the air space is a matter only for the Sri Lankan government," he said.

"If the (government) air force bombs the air strip, then it will be war. If bombs fall, we pull out."

He said the 60-member Scandinavian truce monitoring team had repeatedly asked the Tigers to allow them access to the island's northern Iranamadu area, where the air strip is located.

"We have asked for access and we have been denied," he said. "That alone is a ceasefire violation."

He added that he was still hopeful the LTTE would eventually allow in the monitors, who have no executive powers to enforce the ceasefire and rely on the goodwill of both parties. India, warned earlier this month that the Tigers were acquiring aircraft.

"We are concerned about the LTTE having built an airstrip and having two aeroplanes, and there's news about more coming," India's Foreign Minister Natwar Singh said.

New Delhi armed, trained and provided safe haven to the separatists in the mid-1980s but moved to disarm them after its 1987 peace pact with Colombo.

The LTTE repudiated the peace plan and ended up fighting Indian troops.

The Indian army withdrew after a 32-month deployment that saw 1,200 of their troops killed in clashes against the Tigers.

Since then, India had maintained a hands-off policy towards its southern neighbour. However, Sri Lanka and peace broker Norway have ensured New Delhi is kept fully informed in the current peace process.

Diplomats say that any peace deal in Sri Lanka will need India's tacit approval, because New Delhi considers the island of 19.5 million people as part of its sphere of geo-political influence.

Haukland said that, although peace talks had broken down in April 2003, he believed neither party was likely to withdraw from the truce any time soon.

"The no-war, no-peace situation can last for a year, two or longer," Haukland said. "There have been ceasefire agreements that went on for longer without peace talks." The monitors have found that the Tigers were responsible for 2,837 truce violations up to April, compared to 129 violations by government forces.

Most of the Tigers' violations related to the recruitment of child soldiers.