The FINANCIAL — According to EU business, the European Commission on May 18 called for the United Nations to be given full access to the conflict zone in northern Sri Lanka where the government was routing the Tamil Tiger rebels.
"I'm very relieved that at least it seems that the heaviest fighting is over. At the same time the situation of the civilians is still very difficult and fragile," said EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, as she arrived for talks with European foreign ministers in Brussels.
"We know there are still people in the war zone and many have come out. What is very important now is that the UN can have full access there," she added.
The Sri Lankan military announced on May 18 that the government was in control of the whole of the country, after mopping up the last pockets of resistance among the Tamil fighters.
The conflict has left more than 70,000 dead from pitched battles, suicide attacks, bomb strikes and assassinations. The LTTE Tamil Tigers emerged in the 1970s, with all-out war breaking out in the early 1980s.
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bidlt, whose country will assume the rotating EU presidency in July, said that "there must be immediate access for international humanitarian organisations, the UN organisations and the International Committee of the Red Cross because tens of thousands of people are really in desperate need of help."
Last month the Sri Lankan authorities refused to issue a visa for Bildt, who had been hoping to join his British and French counterparts on a visit there.
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