Sunday, December 03, 2006

Sri Lankan genral now stationed in Phnom Penh to work on combatting terrorism

CAMBODIAN GOVERNMENT SAYS A SENIOR SRI LANKAN GENERAL IS STATIONED NOW FOR AN UNSPECIFIED PERIOD IN PHNOM PENH TO WORK ON COMBATTING TERRORISM

By Walter Jayawardhana
LankaWeb News (Sri Lanka)


Cambodian Prime Ministers spokesman Khieu Kanharith said the Sri Lankan Prime Minister has left behind a senior Sri lankan General in Cambodia for an unspecified period of time to work closely with the Cammbodian Defense Ministry and Police to exchange knowledge on combatting terrorism and “counterespionage.”

He did mention specifically on what subjects the Sri Lankan General will be working on.

But earlier reports said the two governments agreed to exchange intelligence regarding illegal Tamil Tiger weapons smuggling from Cambodia.

Kanharith said Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen had told his counterpart that Cambodia understood that fighting terrorism was “important to assure the safety and stability of a country” . The DPA news agency said he declined to give the cost of anti-terrorism cooperation between Sri Lanka and Cambodia , November 30.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wikremanayake finished a visit to the Cambodian capital Thursday with a tour of a genocide museum after finalizing an agreement with Cambodia to cooperate on combating terrorism.

In his last day in the capital before heading for the northern tourist town of Siem Reap and the famous Angkor Wat temples, Wikremanayake toured S-21, or Toul Sleng Genocide Museum, Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot's secret prison where thousands of prisoners were tortured before being executed.

Agency reports said a visibly moved Wikremanayake told reporters as he left that "S-21 is a terrible place," but his attention was soon drawn back to his country's own civil war involving the Tamil Tiger rebels, which has been fighting the government for a separate state for the minority Tamils.

"The Tamil Tigers are terrorists," he said. "We have asked them to come and negotiate for the sake of the stability of the country."

Both Cambodia and Sri Lanka are theravada Buddhist countries and historically linked with each other. Wickramanayaka is visiting these countries to strenthen those cultural relations amd make them partners to combat terrorism.

Earlier in the day, Wikremanayake met with Prime Minister Hun Sen and thanked him for ensuring that weapons smuggling that had once helped supply the Tamil Tigers from war-torn Cambodia had been stopped, government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said.

The two delegations also signed off on memorandums on education and scientific and technology exchange, and Wikremanayake extended an invitation for Hun Sen to stage a return state visit to Sri Lanka.

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