Jelko Kacin (ALDE). – (SL) We have seen and heard reports that the long-standing civil war in Sri Lanka is coming to an end. However, it was military predominance, not political achievement or any lasting solution, that drove the Tamil Tigers out of their last major stronghold. This military solution is fraught with problems. We see winners and losers, the losers being the tens of thousands of local civilians who are withdrawing or fleeing in fear of government units.

Experience from the Western Balkans teaches us that military victories and formal cessations of military hostilities are often followed by the killing of the losers or their supposed sympathisers by the winners. Victories can leave a trail of individual, uncontrolled acts of retribution, but frequently also organised killings, which the perpetrators usually seek to conceal.

I am not trying to accuse anyone ahead of time. I am just trying to point out that the European Union must also take immediate action to ensure an international presence and international supervision during this most critical post-conflict period, a period which leaves the civilian population, who are fleeing in fear, in the greatest peril.