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Lanka should respect its commitments: France
Accusing the Rajapaksa Government of not adhering to the promises being made to the international community, France has asked Sri Lanka to "behave" and "respect" its commitments.
Accusing the Rajapaksa Government of not adhering to the promises being made to the international community, France has asked Sri Lanka to "behave" and "respect" its commitments.
"Once again we are drawing the attention of the government of Sri Lanka to the fact that this is not an acceptable behaviour," the French Ambassador to the UN, Jean-Maurice Ripert, told reporters outside the UN Security Council headquarter in New York after an informal meeting of the 15-member body on Sri Lanka.
Observing that the international community is not putting LTTE and Colombo on the same footing, Ripert said: "That doesn't change anything to the fact that the government of Sri Lanka has to behave and respect its commitments."
"We have heard a series of commitments by the government of Sri Lanka -- on the cessation of the use of heavy artillery, on the opening of the area to the UN team for humanitarian purposes, on the possibility for international observers to be in the first screening area for the IDPs and to let all the humanitarian agencies act freely in the area.
"Unfortunately, some of those commitments are still not implemented," he said.
Referring to the briefing by John Holmes, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator to the Security Council, Ripert said the UN official told that "the Lankan commitment about the use of heavy artillery was not respected."
"All of us are also pre-occupied by the fact that while they are obviously winning the war, they have to win the peace. And if they want to win the peace, they have to treat their own people in a way which will allow the government to create the conditions for national reconciliation and reconstruction process of the North," Ripert said adding that the Security Council would be monitoring the commitments of the Lankan Government.
When asked if France would support appointment of a UN Envoy, Ripert said, "It is not a question of sending one more special envoy. It is a question of implementation of commitments by the Sri Lanka. We ask the LTTE to surrender, to stop fighting, to give back the arms and to free the hostages - which is the immediate requirement."
