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UN humanitarian chief: Sri Lanka situation 'dire'
By JERRY HARMER,Associated Press Writer AP - Sunday, April 26
BANGKOK - The U.N.'s top humanitarian official said Saturday that the situation for some 50,000 civilians trapped in Sri Lanka's war zone is now "very dire," and a pause in the fighting between government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels is desperately needed to get them out of danger.
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Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes, who was en route to the troubled island nation for a three-day emergency mission, said in Bangkok that he hopes to persuade the government to allow a humanitarian team into the conflict zone to assess the situation and the needs of trapped civilians.
Reports of chaos in the northern war zone have increased in recent days as the Sri Lankan military pushes forward with its offensive to destroy the rebel group. The rebels have been fighting since 1983 for an independent ethnic Tamil state in the north and east.
He said the civilians are suffering from a "very high" casualty rate, and from lack of food, clean water and medical supplies.
"The situation of those people is very dire and that's why we need to find a way to stop the fighting and get them out of there so we can look after them properly," he told Associated Press Television News.
The U.N. Security Council demanded cooperation Friday from Sri Lanka's government in gaining access to the civilians. Sri Lanka has barred aid groups and independent journalists from the war zone since last year, arguing that it was too dangerous for them to work.
Holmes said the U.N. hopes to get a preliminary team in the conflict area in the next two or three days, with another team to follow perhaps a day later, "but that depends on there being some kind of a pause in the fighting to allow that to happen."
The government has been reluctant to pause the fighting because they believe the rebels will exploit any lull in the conflict, he said.
He said he also hopes to check up on an estimated 170,000 people who are in refugee camps or on their way to them in order to provide them food and make sure they are free to move around.
Holmes also said he would press for the immediate release of 15 U.N. staffers who have been detained in government camps since escaping from the conflict zone.
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