“The
Navy had a legitimate right” say the Monitors
[June
30, 2003 - 9.30 GMT]
Sri
Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) said on Friday that the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN)
has the authority to perform its legitimate tasks at sea according to Sri
Lankan laws, Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) and UN Convention on the Law of the
Sea.
On 14th
June SLN had intercepted two ships around 100 nautical miles off the East
coast of Sri Lanka.
SLN
claims the vessels did not carry visible registration or flag, and that they
did not respond when challenged. After firing warning shots across the
bowline of one vessel, SLN claims that the unknown ship tried to ram the
navy vessel. An explosion was heard from the vessel, which caught fire and
later sank. SLN claims no survivors were seen leaving the ship and that the
other vessel escaped.
The
SLMM ruled that the LTTE had violated the UN Convention by not flying an
appropriate flag and not having visible identification.
According
to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea “the international
waters” (High Seas) “are all the parts of the sea that are not included
in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), in the territorial sea…”
According
to the LTTE, the vessel that was sunk was an oil tanker “MT Shosin”, and
the LTTE claims the ship was sailing in international waters, 266 nautical
miles off the East coast, flying two flags at mast, one LTTE flag and one
“specific flag for international waters”. However according to the UN
Convention a ship can only sail under a flag of a state.
LTTE
claims there were twelve Sea Tigers in it and that the vessel was solely owned by
LTTE.
SLMM
also commented on the right to inspect vessels without nationality and says
that in this particular incident “the
Sri Lanka Navy most probably had a right to inspect the tanker because the
tanker was without nationality.”
SLMM
said that since neither party informed them about the incident in due time,
they could not monitor the incident.
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Last Updated
Date: June 30, 2003 - 9.30
GMT. |
