The Heads of Mission of the European Union in Colombo wish to express their concern at the recent spate of politically-motivated murders in Sri Lanka. The victims have included Tamil politicians, Muslim private individuals and people connected with the security forces. Such atrocities are morally indefensible, jeopardise the Ceasefire Agreement between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, and threaten to undermine international and domestic confidence in the Peace Process.

In that respect, the Heads of Mission take note of the recent findings of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

The Heads of Mission emphasize the importance of the Ceasefire Agreement as a cornerstone of the Peace Process. It is essential that both parties adhere to its provisions and accept the rulings of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission. Such an approach would provide the best means of ending the current impasse over the establishment of the Kurankupanchan Camp.

Recalling the conclusions of the Tokyo Conference, the Heads of Mission stress that assistance by the donor community will be closely linked to substantial and parallel progress in the Peace Process. This progress must include full compliance with the Ceasefire Agreement, the protection of interests of all communities, the effective promotion of the human rights of all people and the respect for democracy and rule of law.

In that context the Heads of Mission hope that the LTTE ‘s current deliberations will lead to their resuming participation in the Peace talks at an early stage.