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Message: <blockquote data-quote="lkdood" data-source="post: 4016125" data-attributes="member: 92282">EU foreign ministers are set to make a joint call next week for an immediate ceasefire between Sri Lankan security forces and Tamil Tiger rebels to allow aid in and civilians out of the conflict zone."The EU is deeply concerned about the evolving humanitarian crisis and vast number of internally displaced people," according to a draft agreement prepared for European foreign ministers to endorse when they meet in Brussels Monday."The EU calls for an immediate ceasefire thereby providing for the establishment of full and unrestricted access" to allow humanitarian aid in and traumatised civilians out of the narrow strip of coastal jungle area in northern Sri Lanka.Government forces are keeping up a major offensive there against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) guerrillas who have been hemmed into an increasingly smaller zone.The EU foreign ministers, in their draft agreement seen Friday, also urged the Sri Lankan government to ensure that camps for the displaced come up to international standards and can be independently monitored.The 27 foreign ministers are also set to call on the Tamil Tigers to lay down their arms "and renounce terrorism."The EU remains convinced that the longstanding conflict in Sri Lanka cannot be resolved by military means," the statement asserts.The ministers will also highlight human rights abuses in the country, including "enforced disappearances," extra-judicial killings and harassment of media and human rights workers."The EU calls on Sri Lankan authorities to take decisive action to tackle human rights abuses, to guarantee press freedom and to disarm paramilitary groups in government-controlled areas" the statement says.The prepared conclusions echo in part those of Sri Lanka's key international backers, the United States, Japan, Norway and the European Union who earlier this month told the island's cornered Tamil Tiger rebels to surrender.The quartet, known as the Co-Chairs, asked the Tigers in a statement to negotiate terms of a surrender with the government of President Mahinda Rajapakse, who has vowed to crush them.There has been growing international concern for the safety of tens of thousands of civilians caught in the crossfire of the conflict.Sri Lanka's government has resisted international calls for a truce and said it had entered the final phase of finishing off the Tigers, who have been waging a campaign for a separate state since 1972.Military commanders have expressed the hope of defeating the guerrillas by April.<a href="http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/1235148422.49" target="_blank">eubusiness</a></blockquote>

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