Sri Lanka invites UN's Ban to assess crisis

by lalith | May 6, 2009 at 10:28 am

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Wed May 6, 7:18 am ET

COLOMBO (AFP) – Sri Lanka's president has invited UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to visit the island and assess first-hand the plight of civilians affected by fighting with Tamil rebels, his office said Wednesday.

President Mahinda Rajapakse, under pressure over allegations that his troops have been shelling civilian areas, spoke to Ban Tuesday evening.

The president told Ban that with a visit he would "then be able to make a better assessment of the conditions faced by Tamil civilians" because of the fighting with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The United Nations last month said that the government had refused its request to visit the combat zone, where it estimates around 50,000 people are still being held by the Tigers as human shields.

It was not immediately clear if the government had changed its stance and if it would allow Ban to travel to the conflict area, where thousands of troops have encircled the remaining Tigers.

If Ban accepts the invitation, it is still felt that it will not be safe for him to travel to the conflict area because of the unpredictability of the Terrorist Leader Prabhakaran. For, it cannot be fathomed how a Terrorist using the very people he vowed to protect as his human shield, would ensure the safety of the Secretary General of the UN.

A Terrorist group which made hundreds of peacetime violations cannot be trusted with a hallowed person as Ban Ki-Moon.

It seems best that everybody including the press is invited once the war is over and it is safe to move freely in the areas of interest.