The European Union (EU) has asked Sri Lanka at a meeting with foreign aid donors in Paris to improve its human rights record and enter into peace talks with Tamil rebels.
In a statement, the EU, whose rotating presidency is currently held by France, encouraged Sri Lanka to forge a national consensus on a peace plan to be presented to the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
"The EU is conscious of Sri Lanka's predicament," the statement said. "Apart from the consequences of the ethnic conflict which has been raging since 1983, shortcomings in government are also hampering the country's development."
The declaration was made at the two-day World Bank-organized Sri Lanka development forum, earlier known as the Paris Aid Group meeting, which opened in the French capital on Monday.
It is a forum for donors to review, among other things, Sri Lanka's economic performance.
The European Union used its declaration to slam the separatist Tamil Tigers guerrillas for carrying out terrorist attacks and expressed the hope that LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran's willingness to enter talks was sincere.
"The EU reiterates its firm condemnation of the terrorist acts and the violations of human rights and international humanitarian law perpetrated by the LTTE, especially the conscription of child soldiers," the EU said.
It said EU member states were willing to provide "constructive support" to efforts by Norway, a non-EU member nation, to bring the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government to the negotiating table.
The EU said it recognized the efforts of President Chandrika Kumaratunga in "endeavoring to remedy the repeated violations of human rights perpetrated by members of the army, the police and para-military organizations."
However, the EU wanted the government to urgently provide the necessary facilities to the country's human rights commission to carry out its work independently.
The EU singled out the October massacre of some 26 Tamil inmates at a rehabilitation center run by the government and urged the authorities to bring to justice those responsible for the crime.
The EU also referred to its election monitoring role in the October parliamentary polls here and said more was needed to improve transparency and uphold democracy.
"The EU would remind the Sri Lankan government of its hope that the 16 post-election recommendations made by the (EU) observer mission will be implemented in order to guarantee greater transparency in future elections."
"The EU regrets and condemns the anomalies observed during the (election) campaign and the violence that took place during the voting, which threaten to weaken democracy," it said.
However, it added that the results that showed Kumaratunga's party had narrowly won the October 10 polls was a "relatively reasonable reflection" of the wishes of Sri Lankans.
At the last Paris Aid Group meeting in May 1998 donor countries pledged 780 million dollars to Sri Lanka, 80 million more than the government was expecting -- COLOMBO (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
