Trinco NGO Consortium urges probe into Aid workers' killing

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 August 2006, 14:57 GMT]
The Consortium of Non-Governmental Organizations of the Trincomalee district in a statement released on Tuesday urged the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) to probe into the killings of 17 innocent field workers of the Action Contre La Faim (ACF) and bring the culprits to book without delay.

The statement further states:-

We are gravely concerned about the killing ACF workers in Muthur. The humanitarian agencies have a common mandate to serve the people in need in the society. The humanitarian workers risk their life in serving the needy in a warring situation. The conflict in the North and East is continuing for more than two decades. The humanitarian agencies were involved in relief, rehabilitation and development activities since 1983 in the province.

The ACF is one of the leading INGO working towards the betterment of the affected community in Muthur area. The humanitarian community was shocked to hear the brutal killing of ACF field workers on 5th August in Muthur. The morale of the humanitarian workers was down with this incident.

We, the humanitarian workers, move into war zones to serve affected people. We are unarmed. We request the GOSL to make all possible endeavours to ensure the safety of the humanitarian workers all the time.