Brussels, 06/02/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 5 February, the European Parliament adopted a joint resolution on Sri Lanka to which PES Group members are opposed. Taking the view that “recent development may constitute a turning point in the crisis in Sri Lanka”, it endorses the statement by the Tokyo conference aimed at resuming talks between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) with a view to a temporary ceasefire and the end of hostility through the definition of conditions for a fair and lasting peace. It welcomes the fact that the Sri Lankan government has pledged to ensure full, open and transparent investigations into all alleged violations of media freedom after the assassination in January 2009 of Lasantha Wickrema-tunga, Editor of the Sunday Leader. MEPs stress the need for “international monitors to assess the humanitarian needs of a quarter of a million people trapped in the Wanni region”. They call on the Sri Lankan authorities to sign the Ottawa Treaty (convention on prohibition of the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines and on their destruction).
The Socialist Group refused to take part in the vote on a text that it considers lacks balance. In a press release, British Labour member Robert Evans says both sides are to blame not just the Tamil Tigers. “European Conservatives”, he says, “see the Tamil Tigers as the sole culprits and want them to be destroyed, no matter how many innocent lives it may cost. They would not even condemn unreservedly the bombing of hospitals”. British Conservative Geoffrey Van Orden explained that the British government in particular, as well as the EU and other friendly governments “must do all they can to assist the Sri Lankan authorities in humanitarian relief in the northern areas that have now been liberated from the grip of the Tamil Tigers. To prevent further carnage, for the sake of all the civilians now trapped by the fighting (…) the remaining LTTE elements should now give up”, he added. The resolution errs on the side of excessive indulgence towards Colombo, said Raül Romeva i Rueda (Greens/EFA, Spain). “There were no hospitals bombed” while “113,000 people were used as a human shield” by the Tamil Tigers, retorted Nirj Deva (EPP-ED, UK). (M.B./transl.jl)