02-26-2010, 06:21 PM
[size="6"]EU calls for investigation into Bangladesh ethnic violence[/size]
Brussels - The European Union called on Friday for a full investigation into ethnic violence in Bangladesh earlier this month which was allegedly led by government forces. The fighting in parts of the Chittagong Hills Tracts (CHT) over the last week left at least two people dead and 15 injured, with hundreds of homes torched. Soldiers were sent in on Tuesday to quell the violence.
"The EU strongly condemns the acts of violence that took place in the Chittagong Hill Tracts ... The EU is aware of allegations that the incident involved army personnel and labourers employed by the army," Lutz Guellner, spokesman to EU foreign policy director Catherine Ashton, said in a statement.
"The EU calls upon the government of Bangladesh to swiftly and thoroughly follow up with an independent investigation of this incident and of the allegations that the armed forces were involved ... to ensure that the perpetrators of these shameful acts are brought to justice," the statement said.
Fighting broke out on February 19 in the CHT district of Rangamati, apparently in a feud between rival ethnic groups. It spread to the neighbouring Khagrachhari district on Tuesday.
Long-standing animosity exists between indigenous communities and Bengali settlers in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, home to at least 12 ethnic minority groups.
The region was battered by insurgency for more than two decades until a peace deal was inked between the government and the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti, a political platform of the tribal people, in late 1997.
Read more: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/...z0ge6aE6U4
Brussels - The European Union called on Friday for a full investigation into ethnic violence in Bangladesh earlier this month which was allegedly led by government forces. The fighting in parts of the Chittagong Hills Tracts (CHT) over the last week left at least two people dead and 15 injured, with hundreds of homes torched. Soldiers were sent in on Tuesday to quell the violence.
"The EU strongly condemns the acts of violence that took place in the Chittagong Hill Tracts ... The EU is aware of allegations that the incident involved army personnel and labourers employed by the army," Lutz Guellner, spokesman to EU foreign policy director Catherine Ashton, said in a statement.
"The EU calls upon the government of Bangladesh to swiftly and thoroughly follow up with an independent investigation of this incident and of the allegations that the armed forces were involved ... to ensure that the perpetrators of these shameful acts are brought to justice," the statement said.
Fighting broke out on February 19 in the CHT district of Rangamati, apparently in a feud between rival ethnic groups. It spread to the neighbouring Khagrachhari district on Tuesday.
Long-standing animosity exists between indigenous communities and Bengali settlers in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, home to at least 12 ethnic minority groups.
The region was battered by insurgency for more than two decades until a peace deal was inked between the government and the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti, a political platform of the tribal people, in late 1997.
Read more: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/...z0ge6aE6U4