Sri Lankan army in final push to eliminate rebels

SRI LANKAN troops advanced on the Tamil Tigers yesterday and 5,000 civilians fled the shrinking war zone, signalling an end to Asia’s longest modern war.

With an apparent end to Sri Lanka’s 25-year separatist conflict in sight, the UN rights chief backed calls for an independent inquiry into possible war crimes and human rights violations by both sides.

The stakes could not be higher for either side. The Tigers face certain destruction by overwhelming firepower and force, and Sri Lanka wants to ensure the rebels do not escape from the jaws of defeat, as they have earlier in the war.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said combat forced it to temporarily halt evacuations and aid delivery to people trapped on the island’s northeast coast.

“Our staff are witnessing an unimaginable humanitarian catastrophe,” Red Cross operations director Pierre Krahenbuhl said. “No humanitarian organisation can help them in the current circumstances. People are left to their own devices.”

The military said 5,000 people escaped yesterday from the 2.5 square km area held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) after 3,765 fled on Thursday across a lagoon under rebel fire, some floating in inflated tyre tubes.

“Troops are coming along the coastal line, and closing in,” Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said. “We want to rescue the civilians in 48 hours.”

Pro-rebel website TamilNet reported that “close-quarter fighting was on,” quoting a rescue worker who said most civilians were hiding in bunkers.

Later, it reported that a volunteer doctor appointed by the Tigers had seen at least 800 dead bodies.

“We have heard that the LTTE is making its last calls to the diaspora, saying they expect to be killed,” a diplomat in Colombo said.

Both sides traded accusations over the use of banned weapons like cluster bombs and white phosphorus, with the military warning the LTTE could use the latter to slaughter civilians en masse and blame the government.