An imbroglio over the fate of civilians trapped in the northern battle zone is holding up a US-marines-led humanitarian task force operation to evacuate them.
The Government has insisted that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) lay down arms and surrender. It has taken up the position that there will be no dialogue with the LTTE. However, the LTTE approached by diplomatic channels, has continued to maintain that talks should precede any civilian evacuation. Until then, the guerrillas are not in favour of allowing the civilians to leave.
The Sunday Times revealed exclusively last week that a Donor Co-chair-backed humanitarian operation, headed by the US, to evacuate civilians trapped in the fighting in the Wanni was taking shape. The task is to be carried out by a Marine Expeditionary Brigade attached to the US Pacific Command in Hawaii.
Foreign Minister Rohita Bogollagama, who confirmed the US effort last week, told The Sunday Times yesterday that France had also offered assistance to evacuate civilians. The humanitarian evacuation exercise will be “a complicated and gigantice task,” he said.
It is partly to break this deadlock that India changed its stance. An official spokesperson in New Delhi declared last Tuesday that they appealed “to the Sri Lankan Government and to all concerned to work out appropriate and credible procedures for the evacuation of IDPs to safety.”
The remarks were viewed in Government quarters as “trying to provide a window of opportunity” to the LTTE at a time when the Government wanted them to surrender and lay down arms. Mr. Mukherjee again re-iterated Indias call in a statement issued in New Delhi yesterday.
On Friday, the UN’s Humanitarian Affairs Chief Sir John Holmes told the Security Council, “I expressed my extreme concern about the fate of tens of thousands of civilians trapped in the Wanni pocket. I called on both sides to respect international humanitarian law, to ensure the protection of the civilians there, and to do everything possible to avoid further civilian casualties.”
He briefed the Security Council on his visit to Sri Lanka last month. The briefing, though not listed on the SC agenda, was done under the subject of “any other matters” and was only intended to apprise members of his findings.
However, a Government spokesman claimed “there was a call for the LTTE to lay down arms but there was no consensus for a ceasefire.” In reality the SC sessions were meant neither to take decisions nor make joint appeals.
Sir John said he called on the need to “guaranteeing the safety and the security of a number of UN national staff and their dependents, and of NGO staff and their dependents, still trapped with the rest of the population”.
He added: “I called in particular on the LTTE to let the civilian population leave freely, amid credible reports of shootings of some trying to flee, and to stop forced recruitment, especially of children. I also urged the Government to do all it could to make it possible for the civilian population to get out safely, including by means of agreement to a temporary halt to hostilities or a humanitarian corridor to allow people to leave, if this could be arranged and agreed, and in general ensure a peaceful, orderly and humane end to the fighting. This risk of a very bloody end to this long running conflict is otherwise unacceptably high.”
Sir John said estimates vary of the number of civilians trapped, from 70,000 according to the Government, through around 200,000 according to UN estimates, upto 300,000 or more according to Tamil groups.
Security Council President and Japans UN Ambassador Yukio Takasu made clear that the Sri Lanka situation was not on the agenda. It was only a briefing by Sir John Holmes who had visited Sri Lanka. He opined that the LTTE laying down arms would be the “most practical way” to bring an end to the conflict in Sri Lanka.
|
E-mail