Security Council urges Sri Lankans to maintain ceasefire after minister’s murder

The United Nations Security Council has called on the parties in Sri Lanka to fully observe the ceasefire agreement between the Government and Tamil separatists following the assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar.

“The members of the Security Council strongly condemn this senseless act of terrorism,” the Council President for August, Kenzo Oshima of Japan, said in a press statement yesterday. “They expect that the case will be speedily investigated and the perpetrators, organizers and their sponsors brought to justice.

“The members of the Security Council call on the parties concerned to implement fully the provisions of the ceasefire agreement and to continue their dialogue, in order to attain sustainable peace and stability in the country,” the statement added.

The ceasefire accord of February 2002 ended two decades of fighting between Government and Tamil separatist forces in which tens of thousands of people are reported to have been killed.