Sri Lanka: Ceasefire and Negotiation, the only alternatives
In light of the recent dramatic escalation of the civil war in Sri Lanka Helmut Scholz, board member of DIE LINKE, clarifies:
DIE LINKE supports the international demands for an immediate ceasefire and the defence of humanitarian standards. In this conflict, as with any other: the first people to be victimized are women, children, and innocent civilians. In the course of the continuous military offensive furthered by Colombo government, over 250,000 civilians in the north-east of Sri Lanka have been enclosed in the combat zone; without any protection from fighting and without humanitarian aid. Both opposing parties are directly responsible for the immediate settlement of these hostilities. The protection and care of the civilians who are suffering, remains the most urgent task. For this very reason, aid organisations should be granted safe passage to the region in order to assist the innocent.
It is an erroneous belief that the Sri Lankan government can solve the decade long conflict between the Sinhalese majority and the Tamil minority, through military action. Trying to reduce the hostile conflict to be viewed in the terms of "a war on terror", does not justify the character of this engagement. DIE LINKE, as in response to all conflicts, calls for a national and regional based conflict analysis. An analysis which for both sides will be acceptable, just, and that can lead to negotiations through a political basis, is the only alternative. In this context, DIE LINKE acknowledges the experiences and the achievements of the Norwegian government, who put forth their efforts of intervention for the opposing sides.
It is not acceptable that the work of the national and international media representatives is being hindered in Sri Lanka, to the point of which critical journalists are being killed. Independent and objective news coverage is essential in bringing the conflict into the eyes of the public, so that new approaches towards harmonizing the deadlocked opposition can be developed. DIE LINKE calls for the Government of Germany, together its partners both in and outside the European Union, to create dialog with the government in Colombo and to convince the LTTE to pull out of the battlefield and sit themselves back at the negotiating table.