No Fire Zone

A TERRIBLE ANNIVERSARY

I am writing this in Addis Ababa on the evening of May 18th.

Tonight I was at a screening of the film as part of the Addis international film festival, here in Ethiopia.

No Fire Zone is never an easy film to watch - but to watch it today was particularly painful and sad.  The terrible events that took place exactly four years ago today  - the executions, the sexual violence, the torture - as well as the final stages of the massacre of innocent civilians - are brought home even more sharply by this fourth anniversary

But the message is getting through, I believe.

There are setbacks - like David Cameron's decision to attend the Commonwealth Leaders Meeting (CHOGM) in Sri Lanka in November - but I do believe we can still ensure that CHOGM becomes a focus for the campaign to tell the world what happened: A focus for the campaign for justice and an independent international inquiry into all the crimes committed in the last few months of the war.

Screenings like this one in Ethiopia are important.  This is, after all, the home of the African Union.  We had a very good discussion at the end of the screening and it encourages me in our campaign to get the film seen around Africa.

For Tamils around the world this is a day for mourning.  But it should also be a day when all of us who believe truth is the first stage in the process that leads to justice reaffirm our commitment to telling the world what happened.

Callum Macrae

Posted: 18th May 2013

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