17 aid workers belonging to the French agency ‘Action Against Hunger’ (ACF) are killed in Muttur. Allegations are made against the returning Sri Lankan troops.
Sources
Action Against Hunger International Network mourns and demands full inquiry into Muttur “war crime”, ACF, 10 August 2006; Europe accuses Sri Lankan army of assassinating aid workers, The Independent, 31 August 2006; Sri Lanka: ICJ calls for justice as inquest into killing of 17 aid workers concludes, Press Release, International Commission of Jurists, 9 March 2007.
Quotations
“[We are] convinced that there cannot be any other armed groups than the security forces who could actually have been behind the act. Consequently, the killing of the 17 civilian aid workers in Muttur on 4 August 2006 is ruled as a gross violation of the CFA [ceasefire accord] by the security forces of Sri Lanka. The committed act of assassination has approved to be one of the most serious recent crimes against humanitarian aid workers worldwide and has been strongly condemned internationally. I urge the GoSL to take all necessary actions to immediately stop any kind of violence against the civilians of Sri Lanka and to do its utmost that the matter is thoroughly investigated by the Sri Lankan authorities.” SLMM statement, 30 August 2006.
“The Government also deeply regrets that the Head of SLMM who is charged with an extremely sensitive and responsible task of giving professional and objective observations after due diligent investigation, has rushed to hasty conclusions on what is clearly a most reprehensible attack on these aid workers.” Government of Sri Lanka, statement, 30 August 2006.
Related events
6 November 2006
5 July 2007
6 March 2008
1 April 2008
kannan said,
ACF decides to withdraw its operations from Sri Lanka, following the decision earlier of the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IGGEP) to resign from its mandate to oversee the Commission of Inquiry’s probe, inter alia, into the killing of 17 ACF employees.
In its statement ACF said: “Everything was consciously and brutally planned. The victims were kneeling, unarmed and defenceless. The culprits of this massacre are the ones who were carrying the arms. We can assert that this massacre is a war crime in violation of the Geneva Conventions.
“ACF carries out its role in regions like Darfur and Chechnya, but no accident such as the one that happened in Mutur has ever been reported.”
Source: ACF quits in disgust, Daily Mirror, 19 April 2008.