Sri Lanka Tightens Visas After U.S. Journalist Wounded in Battle
The Information Department, which issues accreditation to both local and foreign media, said the Foreign Ministry was asked to be "more prudent and strict" in recommending credentials for visiting correspondents.
The move came after U.S. journalist Marie Colvin, 44, who works for Britain's *********** Sunday Times *********, was hit by shrapnel as she crossed rebel lines to reenter the government-held town of Vavuniya under the cover of darkness on Monday.
A government statement said Colvin obtained accreditation from the Information Department but had no clearance to cross the army defense lines and enter territory held by separatist Tamil Tiger rebels.
Colvin, who suffered at least four shrapnel wounds to her forehead, arm and shoulders, was initially treated at an army field hospital and later taken to a civilian hospital before being flown to the capital Colombo for surgery.
U.S. Embassy spokesman Stephen Holgate said her wounds were not life-threatening and she was recovering at the intensive care unit of the private Asiri Hospital.
"At this time our primary concern is her welfare and safety," Holgate said. "We have informed her relatives in the U.S. A decision to evacuate her will be taken only on doctors' advice."
Colvin, from Oyster bay in New York, was voted foreign correspondent of the year last month in the British press awards.
Since the incident, Sri Lankan foreign missions had been asked to screen journalists applying for visas more carefully, Information Director General Ariya Rubasinghe said.
"We are sorry that she was wounded, but at the same time it must be pointed out that she had overstayed her visa," Rubasinghe said.
"She has not respected the visa requirements. Now we want to tighten the screening process."
However, the Foreign Correspondents' Association (FCA) here urged the government to review its policy of banning travel to rebel-held areas. While journalists are barred from the conflict area for security reasons, international aid agencies have been allowed access to rebel-held areas.
The FCA in a statement issued by its secretary, Dilshika Jayamaha, said Colvin's predicament underlined the difficulties experienced by journalists in covering Sri Lanka's Tamil separatist conflict.
"Whatever the implications of Colvin's actions, this incident need not have happened if the government had a more transparent and regularized policy of allowing journalists to visit rebel controlled territory," the FCA said.
Colvin entered territory controlled by the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) clandestinely. In a report in the *********** Sunday Times ************ she described the journey as an "education in the LTTE networks."
She said 10 Tiger fighters armed with automatic weapons and grenades escorted her through open fields, shrub jungles, a cashew plantation and under a thick green canopy of foliage.
"Scouts ranged ahead across open fields, checked for Sri Lankan army soldiers, then motioned U.S. in single file across at 10-yard intervals -- if one of U.S. were unfortunate enough to step on a mine, at least nobody else would be hurt by the blast," she wrote about her journey to the Tiger heartland.
She was as fortunate on her return journey.
"The woman probably saved her life because she shouted 'Help, Help' in English while the others fled... The soldiers went in and rescued her," an army official said.
There was no immediate reaction from the rebels to the shooting.
Colvin was one of the few journalists to enter the Wanni region in recent years. A BBC journalist also crossed frontlines and reported on the LTTE's child soldiers in July 1998.
The confrontation in which Colvin was wounded came eight hours before the army's unilateral New Year truce expired.
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Medical staff examine Marie Colvin in Colombo's eye hospital, in Sri Lanka Tuesday, April 17, 2001.
Sri Lankan Army's medical staff examine Marie Colvin at a field hospital.