Japan envoy calls for end to fighting in Sri Lanka

Japan envoy calls for end to fighting in Sri Lanka

In an interview to Associated Press in Tokyo he said that the whole country is on the cliff of a major catastrophe. Yasushi Akashi told The Associated Press in an interview in Tokyo.

Asked if Japan was considering cutting economic and humanitarian aid to Sri Lanka to try to push the government and rebels into ending the simmering conflict, he said that wasn't the immediate plan, the AP reports.

Similarly, he said Tokyo had no plan to follow the European Union's example and name the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam as a terrorist organization - a move allowing the 25-nation bloc to freeze the group's assets. The United States and Canada already list the Tigers as a terrorist organization.