Sri Lanka army pledges to guarantee safety of voters

The Sri Lankan army has pledged to guarantee the safety of voters in the Jaffna peninsula in elections due on January the twenty-ninth.

The local commander, Major-General Lionel Balagalle, said the security presence was being increased to give people the confidence to go to the polls.

The local elections are the first to be held in the area since the Sri Lankan army seized it back from the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels.

The Tigers are opposed to the elections; four other Tamil parties have entered the contest but a BBC correspondent in Jaffna says many of their candidates are too scared to go out canvassing support.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service