World outraged at insane killing of Kadirgamar

AFP, Oslo
Sri Lankan soldiers enter a house as they conduct a door-to-door search for snipers following the assassination of Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar in Colombo yesterday. The assassination of Sri Lanka's foreign minister is a major blow to the faltering peace process with Tamil Tiger rebels and could re-ignite the island's three decade-old civil war, analysts said. PHOTO: AFP
World leaders yesterday strongly condemned the assassination of Sri Lanka's foreign minister, blamed on Tamil rebels, and expressed fears for the island's shaky Norwegian-led peace process.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan was "shocked and saddened" by Lakshman Kadirgamar's murder while peace sponsor Norway described it as "completely insane".

Erik Solheim, a leading Norwe-gian mediator trying to engineer a lasting peace between the government and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), said: "It is completely insane, it is a major setback for the peace process."

The 73-year-old foreign minister, a leading critic of the Tamil rebels, was shot at his private residence in Colombo on Friday evening and died later in hospital.

The government blamed rebels but they later denied carrying out the attack.

US Secretary of State Condole-ezza Rice described the killing, which prompted a state of emergency in Sri Lanka, as a terrorist act.

"This senseless murder was a vicious act of terror, which the United States strongly condemns. Those responsible must be brought to justice," Rice said.

The assassination of Sri Lankan Foreign Minister was a brutal and senseless terrorist act, the European Union's foreign affairs commissioner said.

Neighbouring India also condemned the "terrorist crime," but expressed hope that Sri Lanka would maintain political stability.

"We have every confidence the government and the friendly people of Sri Lanka will rise to the challenge and defeat the forces which seek to undermine Sri Lanka's unity and political stability," the foreign ministry said.

Many countries including Australia paid tribute to Kadirgam-ar's efforts to bring peace to Sri Lanka.

Maldives, the Indian Ocean atoll nation which lies south-west of Sri Lanka, described the killing as a "senseless, barbaric act" and Canada also expressed outrage.

"Canada urges restraint by all parties. The perpetrators of this terrible act must be brought to justice," said Canadian Foreign Minister Pierre Pettigrew.

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said that Paris strongly condemned the assassination of his Sri Lankan counterpart Lakshman Kadirgamar, and called for the continuation of the country's peace process.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw condemned the assassination of Kadirgamar, calling his death "a great loss" for his country and the international community.

Sri Lanka has lost a national hero with the assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said Saturday.

South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma condemned the "callous murder" of her Sri Lankan counterpart and said the government joined the international community in expressing its "shock and outrage."

"Quite clearly the objective of this assassination was to derail the current peace process between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers," she said in a communique.