Though the war has been absent for the past one year, there has not been a significant reduction in the number of desertions, military spokesman Sanath Karunaratne said.

He said employing military deserters by the private sector and certain powerful personalities was one of the factors that encouraged desertions.

According to the spokesman, 4,678 military personnel, including 43 officers, deserted the Army during 2002 while the figures for 2000 and 2001 were 4,985 and 5,902.

Brigadier Karunaratne said that several nightclubs in the country employed army deserters as bodyguards because of their ability to use weapons and some security firms also were offering jobs to deserters.

Warning that employing a deserter was an offence punishable under the law, the Brigadier said the Army would soon launch a crackdown on the firms which employed deserters.

"Army deserters are partly responsible for the escalating crime rate in the country. They are employed by some people\ to settle personal scores or to engage in robberies and other crimes," he said.

According to the spokesman, another factor that contributes towards desertion is the lack of transport facilities when the soldiers want to go on leave.

"The Air Force is unable to meet our requirement. The Air Force provides eleven turns a day where as it should be 20, he said.

The Brigadier said that every month a list of deserters was sent to police stations but noted that a Rs. 250 incentive given to a police officer for arresting a deserter had been stopped.

SLMC factions toughen stance

By Nilika Kasturisinghe
Despite party leader Rauff Hakeem's assurances to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe that the crisis in the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress would be resolved before the end of the month, problems persist within the party that has been split down the middle.

Making any reconciliation more problematic, if not more confusing, a third group emerged within the party with Parliamentarians Anwer Ismail and H. M. M. Harris threatening to sit as a separate group independent of the two warring factions.

While the Hakeem group dismissed the threat as a minor hiccup, Athaullah group spokesman Noordeen Mashoor expressed confidence that the two MPs who were in the Hakeem group would join them soon.

Mr. Mashoor also said that when the prime minister returned to the country, they would meet him again and press ahead with their demand that a representative nominated by them should represent the Muslim community at the upcoming peace talks. He said a resolution to this effect was passed at what he described as the party's delegates conference which was held at the Athaullah stronghold of Akkaraipattu on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Mr. Hakeem fired out a letter to the Prime Minister on Thursday insisting that the Muslim community too be be given equal representation at the peace talks.

The Hakeem faction at a party high command meeting on Christmas Day suspended six members from the high command and two from the politburo.

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