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Sri Lanka offers probe into aid killings

by Staff Writers
Colombo, Aug 7, 2006
Sri Lanka will order a "clean and independent" investigation into the reported killing of 15 workers of a French charity during fighting in the northeast, the human rights minister told AFP Monday.

The government will grant "very high priority" to probe charges that 11 men and four women, all locals employed by the French group Action Against Hunger, were gunned down in the town of Muttur, Mahinda Samarasinghe said.

"We can't come to conclusions right now but if the story is correct, it will be a very high priority investigation," the minister said. "I can assure a clean and an independent investigation."

Paris-based Action Against Hunger (ACF) said the 15 employees, all Sri Lankans, had been shot over the weekend in Muttur, where they helped survivors of the December 2004 tsunami as well as those affected by the violence in the country.

The minister said he was working with the International Committee of the Red Cross to get access to Muttur, where heavy fighting between government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels has killed dozens of civilians.

"I am in contact with the defence authorities to see that the ICRC is able to have access to the area," Samarasinghe said. "I am relying on the ICRC to go in and find out what exactly happened."

He said he was also seeking ICRC help to evacuate the wounded and clear the corpses in areas over which the security forces have no control.

However, the ICRC said it still had no access to the Muttur area, where shelling was reported Monday. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said that 15 civilians had been killed.

"We still have not been able to have access to Muttur," ICRC spokesman Sukumar Rockwood told AFP. "We have asked guarantees of safety for our staff from both sides and we are still awaiting a response."

He said a priority for the ICRC would be to evacuate the wounded and remove unclaimed bodies.

Rockwood said their estimates showed that about 50,000 people from Muttur and neighbouring areas have fled to the safety of a bigger town and were being provided food and other essentials by the Red Cross and other charities.

Civilians who fled the Muslim majority fishing town of Muttur have spoken of being attacked.

The government has accused the LTTE of killing over 100 Muslim civilians while the rebels have blamed the government for the killing of aid workers.

Fighting resumed in the area Monday despite efforts by peace broker Norway to resolve a water blockade which is at the root of clashes that began July 26. Around 60,000 people in all have been killed in some three decades of fighting.

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Ethiopia flood toll rises, rescuers seek hundreds missing
Addis Ababa, Aug 7, 2006
Rescuers clawed through mud and debris with their hands, garden tools and heavy equipment in eastern Ethiopia on Monday, searching for hundreds of people missing after lethal flash floods.







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