French NGO reassess its Lanka operations after the 'massacre'

Colombo, Aug 11 (UNI) A French non-governmental charity agency, Action Contre La Fiam (ACF) today claimed that it was 'reassessing' its operations in Sri Lanka after the execution-style killing of 17 local staff in the battle-ravaged Eastern Trincomalee district last week.

The agency stressed that the international community was keen to see the 'bottom' of the investigation into the massacre.

''I am here to assess whether it is still possible for an NGO like the ACF to continue working on the field despite this brutal massacre. I want to know whether the security of my national and international staff is guaranteed or not. We are reassessing our position here,'' visiting Executive Director of ACF, Benoit Miribel told mediapersons here today.

Claiming that the agency has over 5000 local staff all over the world, the ACF head said that the international community, including the United Nations and the European Union, was deeply concerned about the massacre and keeping a close watch on the proceedings of the investigation.

''I commit myself as ACF and most of international community wants to follow the investigation. Everyone wants a light to have focused on this investigation to get to the bottom of this,'' Mr Miribel said, adding that the ACF has already suspended its operation in Sri Lanka.

He said the Sri Lanka government ''is taking the investigation very seriously'' and was seeking international expertise to assist the probe.

Seventeen Tamil local aid workers of the ACF, including four women, working mostly as engineers on water sanitation and agronomy projects, were found shot dead in the war-hit Muslim-dominated town of Muttur in the Trincomalee, where the government troops and the Tamil Tigers fought a bitter battle last week.

The highly decomposed bodies of the aid workers found inside the agency's office premises were brought to the Trincomalee base hospital on Monday after the fighting subsided. The government troops and the Tigers have blamed each other for the killings that have attracted wide-ranging international condemnation.

''I am travelling to Trincomalee today and will meet the bereaved family members of the victims. We will observe a moment of silence at 1630 hrs as a mark of respect for the victims,'' Mr Miribel said.

The Country Representative of the ACF, Eric Fort, denied reports that the victims were ordered by their superiors to stay back in the Muttur office when they wanted to leave as soon as the fighting started.

''I was in Colombo at that time. I was requested by the team whether to leave the area. I told them it was not such a good idea to leave, but that does not mean it was an order,'' he said.

When asked as to how could he give such recommendation from Colombo at a time when the fighting was raging on the ground, he said it was ''only a recommendation from my side''.

''I am not in the field. It is up to them to better know the situation there. That's it,'' Mr Eric Fort said.

The government has already announced that it would launch an ''independent probe'' into the killings to bring the perpetrators to book.

UNI XC SB RN1332