Sri Lanka: UN calls for warring parties to resume talks after at least 14 more are killed

Following the killing of at least 14 civilians in Sri Lanka today, the United Nations called on the Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to stop fighting, protect the innocent and resume talks.

“Sri Lankans continue to suffer deeply due to this conflict, and today’s loss of life is a source of deepest concern,” said Margareta Wahlström, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Acting Emergency Relief Coordinator.

“It is imperative that both sides to the conflict take all measures to fulfil their obligations under international law to protect civilians in this conflict; we have too often seen them fall short in this duty,” she said.

Today’s killings took place in north-western Sri Lanka during the aerial bombardment of the LTTE-controlled coastal village of Illupaikadavai in Mannar District by the Sri Lankan Air Force, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). A number of children were reported killed and at least 35 other civilians injured.

Some 3,000 civilians have been killed in the conflict since the resumption of armed hostilities last year, bringing the total number killed to 67,000.

More than half a million Sri Lankans have been forced to flee their homes throughout the country, nearly 213,000 of them newly displaced since the resumption of armed conflict. Additionally, 120,000 to 140,000 people remain displaced after the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which ravaged the nation’s southern and eastern coastal areas, and nearly 315,000 remain displaced since previous stages of the conflict.

“The UN calls once more for a cessation of hostilities between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and resumption of the peace process, and recalls the responsibility of all parties to the conflict to protect civilians and uphold international human rights and humanitarian law,” OCHA said in a statement.

The statement also spotlighted deteriorating conditions on the Jaffna Peninsula in northern Sri Lanka – home to more than 500,000 civilians – as well as all those who have been displaced in the country. Limited access by land to the peninsula has impeded the population from receiving sufficient food, medicine and other essential supplies since August, OCHA said, while noting that the Government has recently committed to improving the situation.