| STOCKHOLM: Sweden said on Tuesday that it would recall its ceasefire monitors from Sri Lanka, while fearing the move could increase fighting between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels. Swedish Foreign Minister Jan Eliasson said he regretted the decision, which comes days after similar moves by Finland and Denmark, prompted by a Tamil Tiger demand to remove European Union nationals from the monitoring group. "We regret that we are forced to do this, but the Tamil Tigers stand by their position that they don't want EU nationals represented in the monitoring mission," Eliasson told Swedish radio from Brussels. Eliasson said he hoped that the impact of the pullout would be limited, "but I can't rule out that this could lead to increased fighting". The Swedish observers are to leave Sri Lanka before September 1. |