The head of the UN has repeated calls for unrestricted aid access to refugee camps in Sri Lanka

23/05/09 19:51 CET

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Ban Ki-moon spoke as he visited people displaced by the recent brutal climax to the government’s 26-year war with Tamil separatists.

Ban also urged Sri Lanka’s president to engage the civilian Tamil minority in political discussions. More than 200,000 refugees are currently in the camp near Vavuniya that he was visiting. The government has been limiting access to that and other camps, saying it needs time to weed out any rebel infiltrators. Meanwhile Tamil communities living abroad have said they won’t give up the fight for more autonomy and more rights for their people. Thousands took to the streets in Paris on Saturday to demand international aid and intervention.More about: Sri Lanka, United Nations

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Mali: Rebel groups agree to creation of Islamic state

Two Rebel groups have agreed to merge and create an independent Islamic state in Northern Mali. After seizing Azawad – an area larger than France – two months ago, the groups had initially disagreed, with the secular Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA)…