European Union foreign ministers call for ceasefire in Sri Lanka
| [ Saturday, 21 February 2009, 06:17.17 AM GMT +05:30 ] |
 European Union foreign ministers are set to make a joint call next week for an immediate ceasefire between Sri Lankan security forces and Tamil Tiger rebels to allow aid in and civilians out of the conflict zone. |
| “The E.U. is deeply concerned about the evolving humanitarian crisis and vast number of internally displaced people,” according to a draft agreement prepared for European Foreign Ministers to endorse when they meet in Brussels Monday. The 27 foreign ministers are also set to call on the Tamil Tigers to lay down arms and renounce terrorism. The E.U. calls on Sri Lankan authorities to take decisive action to tackle human rights abuses, to guarantee press freedom and to disarm paramilitary groups in government-controlled areas” the statement says.
The prepared conclusions echo in part those of Sri Lanka’s key international backers, the U.S., Japan, Norway and the E.U., who earlier this month told the island’s cornered Tamil Tiger rebels to surrender. The quartet, known as the Co-Chairs, asked the Tigers in a statement to negotiate terms of surrender with the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who has vowed to crush them. There has been growing international concern for the safety of tens of thousands of civilians caught in the crossfire of the conflict. Sri Lanka’s government has resisted international calls for a truce and said it had entered the final phase of finishing off the Tigers, who have been waging a campaign for a separate state on the island nation since 1972. Military commanders have expressed the hope of defeating the guerrillas by April. |
