SRI LANKA: Mr Kofi Annan, the United Nations' secretary-general, yesterday appealed for unity between Sri Lanka's government and Tamil Tiger separatists, amid rising tensions over the control of aid to tsunami-ravaged parts of the island.
Mr Annan finished his tour of Sri Lanka at the weekend but, under government advice, did not visit Tamil Tiger-controlled territory in the island's devastated north and east coasts.
"The world wants to help Sri Lanka in the task to recover and rebuild," Mr Annan told reporters in the capital, Colombo.
"I hope that Sri Lanka will use the support and the goodwill, not only to recover from this tragedy but as an opportunity to unite to work for peace."
Mr Annan's itinerary was controlled by the government but he said he hoped to return and "visit all parts of the country". He stressed that the UN did not want to take sides in Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict, which has claimed more than 64,000 lives over two decades of civil war. The government and the Tamil Tigers are not at war, and a three-year-old Norwegian-brokered ceasefire remains intact.
But both sides are engaging in an escalating propaganda campaign that is complicating relief efforts on the island.
Mr Annan's inability to visit devastated areas in Tiger territory has highlighted the increasingly sensitive issue of who controls the aid promised for Sri Lanka. The government believes it should direct and manage aid across the whole island.
The Tigers, who are considered a terrorist organisation by the US, the UK and neighbouring power India, are unlikely to receive direct foreign aid. But aid groups active in Tiger-controlled territory say the group has put its military discipline to good use in co-ordinating emergency relief.
Political analysts say the Tigers are keen to demonstrate their self-reliance as the recovery effort gets under way. But at the weekend, the group also warned of "serious consequences" if government troops were not withdrawn from Tamil refugee camps.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) has become the first international agency to be allowed to treat tsunami victims in India in spite of a refusal by New Delhi to accept foreign humanitarian relief.
UN doctors were flown to one of the worst-hit islands of the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago in the Bay of Bengal last Wednesday, nearly two weeks after the tragedy, as the islands' political leadership continued to insist on restrictions on foreign aid groups.
India has refused permission to Oxfam, Medecins sans Frontieres and other non-government organisations to travel to the more remote, sparsely-inhabited islands, arguing it does not require outside help. An official in Port Blair, the administrative centre of the Andaman and Nicobars, confirmed the UN agency's involvement. But the official said: "Unicef's on a different footing - we do not regard it as an NGO. It is a stakeholder with us [in India]."