Rebels warn of starvation in Sri Lanka war zone
Tens of thousands of civilians trapped in Sri Lanka’s northern war zone are facing starvation, the Tamil Tiger rebels warned today as the UN sent its top humanitarian official to assess the crisis.
Reports of chaos in the northern war zone have increased in recent days as the Sri Lankan military pushed forward with its offensive to destroy the rebel group and end the Indian Ocean island nation’s bloody quarter-century civil war.
More than 100,000 civilians have fled the tiny coastal strip still under rebel control since Monday, flooding hospitals in the north and overwhelming government-run displacement camps, according to aid workers. The UN says another 50,000 civilians remain trapped in the war zone.
The Tamil Tigers, who say the number of trapped civilians is three times that estimate, said in a statement today that food stocks in the region had dwindled, making starvation “imminent”.
UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes described the situation as “very dire” and appealed for a pause in the fighting to get the civilians out of danger. He said they were suffering from a “very high” casualty rate.
Speaking in Thailand en route for a three-day emergency mission, Mr Holmes said he hopes to persuade the Sri Lankan government to allow a humanitarian team into the conflict zone.
The government has barred aid groups and independent journalists from the war zone since last year, arguing that it was too dangerous for them to work.
The UN says nearly 6,500 civilians have been killed in the fighting over the past three months.
The rebels, listed as a terror group by many Western nations, have been fighting since 1983 for an ethnic Tamil state in the north and east after decades of marginalisation by governments dominated by the Sinhalese majority. After more than three years of intense fighting, the government stands on the verge of crushing the group.
International pressure on Sri Lanka has grown in recent days, with neighbouring India sending two top officials on Friday to demand a pause in the fighting to allow civilians to escape.
The White House said it was “deeply concerned” about the civilians and warned that abuses of humanitarian law would make post-conflict reconciliation difficult.
The United Nations Security Council also demanded Sri Lanka’s cooperation with efforts to visit the war zone and called for access for the International Committee of the Red Cross as well.
The Group of Eight industrialised nations called today for a halt to the fighting to save the civilians and accused the rebels of using civilians as human shields.
Sri Lankan officials have brushed off calls for a ceasefire.
The international pressure came as thousands continued to flee the war zone. The military said today that a further 2,600 civilians escaped the area by land and boat on Friday, bringing the number who have fled since Monday to nearly 110,000.
