TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Rebels Promise Safe Access to MH17 Site If Ukraine Agrees On Truce
TEMPO.CO, Donetsk – Ukraine’s pro-Russian rebels said they would only allow access to international observers to investigate the site of the downed Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 if the Ukrainian government agreed to a truce.
Since the crash of MH17 on Thursday evening that killed 298 passengers and crews, the rebels have only limited access to 30 teams of observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, however, refused to bow down to the request and asserted that the rebels must surrender themselves to the Ukrainian government.
Poroshenko asked for support from international leaders and persuaded them to recognize the rebels as a terrorist organization that should be put on trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
Poroshenko said the MH17 disaster is similar to September 11, 2011 tragedy in the United States and Scotland’s Lockerbie.
“We see no difference between the events in Ukraine and what happened on September 11 in the United States or the tragedy over Scotland’s Lockerbie,” Poroshenko said in reference to the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 that claimed nearly 300 lives as quoted by Straits Times on Sunday.
STRAITS TIMES | MARIA RITA
