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Sri-Lanka

Lord Alderdice plea for cessation of violence and return to talks in Sri Lanka

Manila, 24 June 2006

Following concerns raised at the 23 June 2006 meeting of the Liberal International Executive Committee in Manila, LI President Lord Alderdice made a plea for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the government of Sri Lanka to return to the Talks Table, setting violence to the side.

Lord Alderdice stated: ‘We all looked with hope to the ceasefire in Sri Lanka and the long awaited resumption of Talks between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE in February 2006. It was therefore with deep dismay that we heard that the LTTE had found it necessary to withdraw from the Talks having travelled the whole way to Oslo.   

We are also deeply worried by the recent escalation of violence, including the blowing up of a bus in mid June that took the lives of 64 civilians and also the recent attacks on senior army commanders and on the Sri Lankan ship carrying troops for vacation along with Scandinavian members of the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission. Liberal International does not accept the proposition that the EU ban on LTTE should result in all Scandinavian nationals from EU states being excluded from participation in the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission. Instead we plead with the LTTE to return to the Talks Table, we urge the Government of Sri Lanka to exhibit all possible restraint in responding to violent actions from whatever source, and encourage both sides to intensify the Talks Process.   

I know from my own experience in Northern Ireland and elsewhere how easy it is to make such a call and just how difficult it is to make a Peace Process work but we want people in all sections of the communities in Sri Lanka to appreciate our genuine concern and to know that Liberal International does not stand in support of one side or the other but rather wants to see violence set to the side permanently in Sri Lanka in favour of a negotiated solution to the problem, based on democracy, pluralism and a commitment to international standards of human rights for all the people of Sri Lanka.'