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.