 |
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Calls on Youth to Join Army
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake has called on the country's youth to enlist in the armed forces and help bring to an end to the long- running ethnic war.
The response to the government's call had not been effective enough, he was quoted by state-run Daily News as saying on Sunday while inaugurating an operating theater at the army hospital Sunday.
He said the government had provided all the equipment necessary for the military and it now needed a further 100,000 men to fight the war against separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in the north and east of the country, otherwise the war cannot be executed to its predetermined plan.
He said he had explained the government's situation but most people had not understood it. Recruitment was slow but it was still not too late, he added.
The government started its recruitment last December but so far only 8,000 youth have been enlisted, according to army sources.
In This Section
|