The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission is reportedly regrouping in Colombo this week to seriously reconsider its mandate to observe the Ceasefire Agreement, in the face of renewed violence in the north east.
Truce monitors remained incommunicado yesterday, making confirmation of the day’s confrontations in the north and east impossible. The SLMM’s field offices in Batticaloa, Kilinochchi and Jaffna remained closed over the last two days and its Colombo office was also unreachable. The SLMM Head of Mission and its official spokespersons and their substitutes were reported to be out of the country.
Sri Lanka Army sources confirmed that the defence establishment was irked by the monitors’ sudden disappearance, claiming that they had not been given prior warning about the ‘leave of absence.’