81.   For the first time in more than a year, the government on Wednesday allowed journalists to travel into areas of the north where soldiers are fighting Tamil rebels.

82.   Government forces have been fighting rebels for the past four years.

83.   Government reinforcements arrived, fighting the rebels from two directions, Dewage said.

84.   He has said that former Rwandan soldiers and Hutu militiamen among the refugees were armed by Zairian government and sent to fight the rebels.

85.   He said that Colombia would, at least for now, have to fight the rebels on its own.

86.   He said Rwandan-backed rebels there are fighting to dislodge fighters loyal to Patrick Masunzu, head of another group fighting the rebels, the Congolese Tutsi Banyamulenge.

87.   He said the government will counter them by opening more camps to train able-bodied young men in military craft to help regular soldiers fight the rebels.

88.   He said Rwandan-backed rebels there are fighting to dislodge fighters loyal to Patrick Masunzu, head of the Congolese Tutsi Banyamulenge, another group fighting the rebels.

89.   However, residents said two more people were killed there when some of the surrendered militants, who are now fighting separatist rebels, fired from automatic weapons.

90.   If true, it would have been the first time a village had fought the rebels, a strategy the army was pushing hard.