The following article appeared in a Human Rights journal in Geneva. It is reproduced here with the following clarifications by SCOPP Secretary General, Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha.

a) As noted later in the article, the manner in which the TNA got so many seats in the North and East was explained to Isolda Agazzi during the telephone interview, and that monitors, including the European Union ones, had pointed out how flawed the election in those areas was. The manner in which Eastern representation was particularly flawed was also pointed out, and how the citizens of the East had, to some extent, compensated for that in electing as Mayoress of Batticaloa, the daughter of an Eastern Province politician killed by the LTTE, though he had been on the TNA slate, to be replaced by someone they could control.

Stewart Bell, Canwest News Service

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - A former commander of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers has admitted the guerrillas used money meant for humanitarian aid to buy weapons.Col. Karuna Amman said in an interview the rebels routinely bought arms with donations from abroad that were meant to help civilians in guerrilla-held areas.He called Canada the No. 1 one source of external income for the guerrillas, who are fighting for independence for Sri Lanka's ethnic Tamil minority.

New York, 22 September, (Asiantribune.com):

President Mahinda Rajapaksa arrived in New York yesterday to attend the 63rd session of the United Nation General Assembly. When he arrived at the John F. Kennedy Airport, New York, in a scheduled flight, he was met on arrival at the airport by representatives of United Nations Protocol Division. Later at the Hotel, he was received by Rohitha Bogollagama- Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister, Jaliya Wickramasuriya - Sri Lankan Ambassador in Washington, H. M. G. S. Palihakkara - Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka’s UN Mission and the staff of the New York Mission. At the entrance to the hotel, he was garlanded by four Sri Lankan children from New York.

“No Indian troops in Sri Lanka”

by: C. Jaishankar

Tamil Nadu – RAMANATHAPURAM:

Lt. Gen. Milan Lalithkumar Naidu, Vice Chief of Indian Army, has said that there are no Indian troops in Sri Lanka to assist its Army in the ongoing war. Speaking to The Hindu at Mandapam near Rameswaram on Saturday, he said there was no truth in the allegation that the Indian Army had sent its troops. When his attention was drawn to the recent attack by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), in which two Indian technocrats were injured, he said, whoever was there in Sri Lanka could have been “civilians.” However, he said, “some Army personnel go to Sri Lanka from time to time. They go for advice and come back.”