23 April,2009 04:41 PM IST | | PTI
UN Security Council on Thursday asked the Tamil Tigers to immediately surrender, renounce terrorism and join the political process through dialogue to put an end to the decades old ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.
"We demand that the LTTE immediately lay down arms, renounce terrorism, allow a UN assisted evacuation of the remaining civilians in the conflict area, and join the political process through dialogue," UNSC President Claude Heller, who is also Mexican Ambassador, told reporters on Thursday after a meeting convened at the request of France.
The meeting of the 15-member council discussed the current crisis in Sri Lanka in the wake of the human rights groups raising concerns over the deteriorating humanitarian condition in the conflict zone in the island nation and avoid the possibility of 'blood bath' in terms of an UN official.
Heller's remarks express the sentiments of the Security Council members and do not hold any official clout unlike in the case of a Presidential Statement; on which there were apparent differences among the five veto-wielding members of the council - the US, France, Britain, China and Russia.
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Expressing concern over the humanitarian situation in the Wanni region and the plight of the civilians trapped within the conflict zone, Heller said the Security Council calls on all member states to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the trapped civilians.
