ACF withdraws from Sri Lanka

Action contre la Faim has decided to withdraw from Sri Lanka consequently to the declaration of the members of the IIGEP to quit the process of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry.

A French relief organization that operated in conflict areas in Sri Lanka and lost 17 of their local workers in a single incident two years ago has decided to withdraw, a statement from the organization said Friday.

Action contre la Faim (ACF or Action against Hunger) said it was withdrawing a decision by a group of international experts observing the proceedings of a presidential commission probing 15 violent incidents including the killing of the aid workers.

The international group cited the slow progress of the investigations carried out by the Presidential commission for its decision to pull out.

The ACF statement said it believed that the presence of the international grouping known as IIGEP was an essential condition for the credibility of the process of the commission.

The 17 local aid workers were killed when the military was taking over the rebel controlled area of Muttur, 260 kilometres north east of the capital on August 4, 2006.

Investigations have not established whether the Tamil rebels or the military killed them.

The ACF has been involved in providing relief to the war affected in the north and eastern provinces. Troops recaptured the eastern province last year and are currently fighting the rebels in part of the northern province.