India offers Lanka help to redesign air-defence
Donors postpone talks with Tigers
AFP, New Delhi
India has offered to assist its southern neighbour Sri Lanka redesign its air-defence network after allegations that Tamil Tiger rebels have acquired at least two aircraft, a report said yesterday. New Delhi told visiting Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kuma-ratunga it is willing to consider all proposals from Colombo, including training Sri Lankan personnel or guidance and advice in designing air defences, the Indian Express daily reported. Colombo will send a team of senior defence officials to India to discuss the technical details, it said. The offer was made during talks in New Delhi late Thursday between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Kumaratunga, who is on a three day-visit to India. Kumaratunga's government charges that the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have built an airstrip in the north and possess at least two light aircraft. European truce monitors say they have seen the airstrip from the air but have been denied access by the rebels to investigate allegations they have aircraft. "Those two aircraft, if they have any, represent a very serious threat," Monitoring Mission chief Hagrup Haukland said last week, adding that the issue could re-ignite the war between the Tigers and government troops. India, which once armed and trained the Tigers, warned last month that they 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. The Indian Express, quoting unnamed sources, said India would also help provide Sri Lanka, which has focused more on maritime than air security, with radars to improve its air-space coverage. The island's existing radar network is used for civil aviation purposes leaving a gap for small aircraft to operate at low altitudes, it added. Meanwhile, international donors said Thursday they had postponed a meeting with Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels amid moves by Colombo to enter into a controversial aid-sharing deal with the guerrillas. Representatives of the World Bank and other lending institutions cancelled a planned visit Friday to the rebel-held town of Kilinochchi, where they had been expected to discuss disbursement of tsunami relief.
| 
