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UK, French ministers press Sri Lanka ceasefire call
Wed Apr 29, 2009 9:23am EDT
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By Ranga Sirilal
COLOMBO (Reuters) - The foreign ministers of Britain and France urged Sri Lanka on Wednesday to implement a humanitarian ceasefire with Tamil Tiger rebels in order to allow tens of thousands of trapped civilians to escape the battle zone.
They also urged the rebels to let the civilians leave.
The civilians, estimated by the United Nations to number as many as 50,000, are caught in a tiny area on Sri Lanka's northeast coast, which the military says is down to just 5 square kilometers (2 square miles).
It is the last redoubt of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who have been fighting a 25-year war with the government for a separate ethnic Tamil homeland.
"Protection of civilians is absolutely paramount at this moment. The LTTE must end preventing civilians leaving the conflict zone and the fighting must stop," British Foreign Secretary David Miliband told reporters.
His comments were in line with a European Union call earlier this week for a ceasefire, a position widely taken by the international community but so far resisted by Sri Lanka.
Although the government says it has stopped regular combat operations using heavy weapons and is concentrating only on freeing trapped civilians, it fears a complete ceasefire would give the Tigers space to rearm and regroup.
Miliband denied international calls for a ceasefire had anything to do with trying to help the Tigers.
"No one in the international community has been calling for a ceasefire or to stop firing to save (Tiger leader Vellupillai) Prabhakaran. The calls have come because of the overwhelming concern with the well-being of the civilians."
The Tigers say the government claim to have ended heavy weapons use is a sham, and that artillery and air strikes continue to cause scores of civilian deaths, with 20 killed when a makeshift hospital was shelled on Wednesday.
Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara denied that, saying there was: "No shelling by the troops or navy even (though) the navy was confronting LTTE in the sea."
However, the military says what it calls civilian rescue efforts, using small arms, are bringing serious casualties among the Tigers as well as effectively rolling them back.
The army website said on Wednesday in fighting with the Tigers the previous day "troops inflicted heavy damages to terrorists killing over 35 fighting cadres." A navy spokesman said its forces on Wednesday "engaged with a cluster of LTTE suicide and attack boats and destroyed six," killing 25 Tigers.
TROOPS ADVANCE
Defense spokesman and government minister Keheliya Rambukwella said "troops have advanced another kilometer and the LTTE area is restricted to five kilometers." Continued...
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