Untitled Document

Extended term for Army chief
Army Commander, Lt. Gen. Shantha Kottegoda reached 55 years yesterday but has been assured of an extended term in office.
Insiders say Defence Secretary, Cyril Herath, has recommended to President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, an extended period of one year.

Though President Kumaratunga has not sent a formal letter to the MoD yet, according to insiders, she has requested Lt. Gen. Kottegoda to continue in office. This until her official intimation upon her return from the official visit to India.

Lt. Gen. Kottegoda assumed duties as Commander of the Sri Lanka Army from July 1, this year. He has skipped a birthday bash with friends and colleagues. There was only a family religious ceremony to mark the occasion.

An oil for weapons deal
Iran and Sri Lanka are exploring the possibility of a bi-lateral deal where the former will supply crude oil on concessionary terms. In return Sri Lanka is to agree to purchase some of the country’s defence needs from Iran.

Insiders say an official delegation will visit Teheran shortly for talks in this regard. These talks are a prelude to a proposed visit to Iran by President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga.

The tiger camp bust
Even if it does not draw an official protest, the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission is somewhat embarrassed. New recruits to the Navy’s elite Special Boat Squadron was training in the jungles off the headworks in Kantalai. As they went deep inside, they discovered some abandoned huts. The men returned and sought instructions from Navy Headquarters on what to do.

Orders went to them to ask the SLMM monitors to accompany a team to the spot. It was done. In the presence of the SLMM monitors, the commandos destroyed what was left of the abandoned huts, suspected to belong to the LTTE.

Publicity to this event was to draw an angry response from one of LTTE’s Trincomalee leaders, Elilan. He said that the Tiger guerrillas had no such camps in the jungles off the naval headworks.

To prove their claims, Navy Headquarters released a photograph that showed the remains of what appeared to be a hut. Two persons on the photo were identified as SLMM members. One was posing for the picture. The other was busy with his back to the camera easing himself.

Doing that on the very ground where the Tigers reportedly held a camp was bad enough. Imagine that becoming a photo opportunity. That seemed worse for the embarrassed monitor.

Back to Columns