THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ADOPTS AN URGENT RESOLUTION ON THE SITUATION IN CHITTAGONG HILL TRACTS. THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT CALLS FOR RESOLVING THE CONFLICT THROUGH ON-GOING PEACE TALKS.

Strasbourg-Brussels, 20 November 1997. The European Parliament has adopted today an urgent resolution on the situation in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT). This resolution calls on the government of Bangladesh to fulfil the principle demands of the indigenous (Jumma) people for regional autonomy in the on-going peace talks, to withdraw and rehabilitate the Bengali settlers from CHT, and to demilitarize the region.

The EP in this resolution, tabled by ARE and Green Groups, also requests the European Commission to monitor the situation and make urgent steps to convince the Bangladesh government in resolving the unresolved issues. The EP also requests the governments of Bangladesh and India to allow the appropriate humanitarian agencies to rehabilitate both the internally displaced Jumma evacuees and Jumma refuges from India.

Declaration of Olivier Dupuis, member of ARE Group and General Secretary of Transnational Radical Party:

"This EP resolution for the first time highlights the situation in this region. It is of the great importance that Europe finally, after 25 years of continuous demand for autonomy by the indigenous people, becomes aware of the conflict and moreover engages itself to contribute to the solution, offering the Bengali government its help to solve that difficult question."

Transnational Radical Party