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Saturday, February 21, 2009 - 8.30 GMT |
Our main concern is safety of IDPs
– President to Sir John Holmes
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“Our main concern is the safety of the
civilians that the LTTE is holding hostage
for their human shield, and we are taking
every precaution to ensure their safety,"
said President Rajapaksa to Sir John Holmes,
the UN Under-Secretary General for
Humanitarian Affairs when they met at the
Presidential Secretariat this morning.
The meeting followed the visit of Sir John
to the IDP camps at Vavuniya yesterday, when
he saw at first hand the facilities,
provided to them and the arrangements made
for the reception and care by the
government.
Referring the last night’s LTTE air borne
attack on Colombo and Katunayake, when the
Sri Lankan Air Force downed two aircraft
that had come to strike selected targets,
the UN Under-Secretary General expressed his
sympathies to the President to the civilians
killed in the air attacks and the injury
caused to civilians.
President Rajapaksa told Sir John that it as
now evident the LTTE was using the civilians
for its gain as it they were all it had to
bargain. He said "The Government would
cooperate with any moves to have these
civilians released from the LTTE’s clutches,
and said it was necessary to bring about as
much pressure as possible on the LTTE, by
all those interested in their safety to do
so."
“These are all my people, they are citizens
of my country and their safety is foremost
to me” the President said.
He said that there cannot be an accurate count of
the number of civilians killed or injured in
the military action against the LTTE, as the
LTTE was known to be using civilians and
even children to carry weapons for it, and
was now putting them into action in the
front. When they where injured or killed, or
if such injured persons came to government
held areas they would come and be counted as
civilians.
“These civilians can be brought to safety if
the LTTE, lays down arms, as we have
repeatedly called on them. If this is done
we will ensure that they are brought to
safety," the President said.
In discussing the possibility of a political
solution to the prevailing crisis, President
Rajapaksa said he was keen to a political
solution that was in keeping with the
aspirations of all the people, especially
the people in the north who needed a
solution most. He said he was keen to listen
to the view of the people who were actually
affected and not the views of those who
living in comfort away from the areas where
the people were suffering and offering
various solutions. "I am keen to restore the
rights of the people, re-settle them as soon
as possible in their homes, and ensure that
there are elections at the local government
and provincial levels for them to elect
their own representatives, to bring about
the actual return to normalcy," he said.
Sir John Holmes said the UN was donating a
further US $10 million for the welfare of
the IDPs, in addition to nearly USD$ 145
million given recently, and said he looked
forward to a continuing dialogue between Sri
Lanka and the UN on the matters affecting
the IDPs and other related matters.
Sir John Holmes arrived in Sri Lanka on the
invitation of President Rajapaksa to the UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to send a
colleague of his conversant with the
situation in Sri Lanka to have a first hand
understanding of the situation regarding
IDPs in the North. |
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