| Media Statement, 9th August 2006
GOAL today confirmed that the 16 GOALies (nine from
Ireland, five from Britain, and one from Holland) in Sri Lanka were
safe and well after seventeen aid workers with the French agency
Action Against Hunger were shot dead.
GOAL CEO John O’Shea said that the situation
was being kept under review, but that all GOAL volunteers were safe
and well approximately 150 kilometres away from the town of Muttur
where the killings took place.
“This is a terrible tragedy. I condemn this
savage and brutal act. The deliberate targeting of humanitarian
workers marks a new low in the history of that troubled country,
and is a black day for everyone who has ever volunteered or supported
the work of aid agencies,” said GOAL CEO John O’Shea.
GOAL Sri Lanka Country Director John Wain in Ampara
said : “Everyone in GOAL is fine, we are about four hours
away from the town of Muttar where there has been ongoing fighting.
This was an atrocious act .”
In the wake of the Tsunami, GOAL is working with fisher
and farming communities in the east and south, reconstructing paddy
cultivation and vegetable farming, and constructing community centres
and market places. GOAL is also providing water to villages and
schools, constructing roads, drains and bridges and implementing
a waste management programme to benefit 1,500 households directly.
GOAL is also building three new schools and renovating 59 damaged
schools, benefiting 31,800 children.
Fighting in the Muttur region between the government
and rebels has most recently centred on a water dispute.
The Sri Lankan government has promised an independent
investigation into the killings of the 13 male and four female civilian
aid workers. Amnesty International has also pressed the Sri Lankan
government to seek international help in its investigation.
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