Sri Lanka pushes on with war despite UN appeal

Sri Lanka pressed ahead with its battle to destroy the Tamil Tiger rebels today despite appeals from US President Barack Obama and the UN for the two sides to end the civil war and let thousands of trapped civilians escape to safety.

The government has vowed to end the 25-year-old civil war and has cornered the separatist rebels in a tiny strip of coastal land.

Recent fighting in the area has killed hundreds of civilians.

Media Minister Lakshman Abeywardena said the military was continuing its offensive.

“There is no change in the government stance, despite pressure coming from several countries,” he said.

The Red Cross sent a ferry for a third day to the war zone to try to deliver desperately needed food aid and to evacuate the wounded, but by this afternoon it was still not able to land because of the violence, said Sarasi Wijeratne, spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross.

“The situation is becoming desperate because of the fighting, which is intense and uninterrupted,” she said.

With the death toll from the fighting mounting, President Obama yesterday demanded the rebels lay down their arms and release the estimated 50,000 civilians they have been accused of holding as human shields. He also admonished the government to stop firing artillery into the war zone.

“Now’s the time, I believe, to put aside some of the political issues that are involved and to put the lives of the men and women and children who are innocently caught in the crossfire, to put them first,” Mr Obama said in Washington.

The UN Security Council issued similar demands to both sides and expressed grave concern at the worsening humanitarian crisis.

The appeals came hours after artillery shells slammed into a makeshift hospital in the war zone, killing at least 50 people, setting an ambulance ablaze and forcing the medical staff to huddle in bunkers for safety, doctors said. It was the third deadly attack on the hospital this month.

Both sides welcomed Mr Obama’s appeal for an end to the civil war, but ignored his criticism of their conduct.

Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona said the government was “extremely reassured” by President Obama’s call for the rebels to lay down their weapons and release the civilians, and he denied the government was firing artillery into the densely packed war zone.

Reports of the fighting are difficult to verify because the government has barred most journalists and aid workers from the conflict zone.

The rebels’ political chief, Balasingham Nadesan, praised Obama “for passionately talking about the plight of Tamil civilians and calling for urgent actions to alleviate the mounting humanitarian crisis.”

The rebels did not address his call for their surrender.

Military spokesman Brig Udaya Nanayakkara said 1,000 civilians fled the war zone today as the rebels shot at them – injuring several – to try to make them turn back.

Nearly 200,000 civilians who already escaped the fighting are in displacement camps in the north.