There’s no poison in our tea, Sri Lanka tells buyers
NZPA-AFP Colombo The Sri Lanka Government has called in envoys from tea-buying countries to reassure over the Tamil separatist claims that Sri Lankan tea shipments wre being poisoned, informed sources said.
The Minister for Plantation Industries, Mr Montague Jayewickrema, has invited the heads of diplomatic missions from numerous countries to hear him give a briefing on steps taken to ensure that poisonings had not and would not
be carried out, the sources said. The Tamil Eelam Army, one of many Tamil militant groups seeking a separate state in Sri Lanka’s north and east, has said that it laced tea shipments with cyanide. Some tea buyers have halted imports and the United States is inspecting its shipments. Some buyers, such as Egypt, Iraq and Pakistan, were active in tea auctions in Colombo this week but Britain, Canada, Australia and European countries stayed away, tea trade sources have said.
The sources said yesterday that delays to Sri Lankan shipments would affect teas from other producer countries because tea from Sri Lanka was often used to blend with those of other countries. The English-language daily, “The Island,” said in an editorial that Sri Lankan teas were blended with those from countries such as Kenya, Indonesia and India and that “terrorists” were “sabotaging the world tea industry on which millions of starving workers are dependent for their basic requirements.”
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19860111.2.86.9
Bibliographic details
Press, 11 January 1986, Page 9
Word Count
235There’s no poison in our tea, Sri Lanka tells buyers Press, 11 January 1986, Page 9
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Press. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Copyright in all Footrot Flats cartoons is owned by Diogenes Designs Ltd. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise these cartoons and make them available online as part of this digitised version of the Press. You can search, browse, and print Footrot Flats cartoons for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Diogenes Designs Ltd for any other use.
Acknowledgements
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Christchurch City Libraries.