UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The U.N. humanitarian chief accused Tamil Tiger fighters of keeping 100,000 civilians trapped in a Sri Lankan war zone during a 48-hour cease-fire, which he criticized Wednesday as too short a time to deliver much-needed humanitarian aid.
John Holmes urged a longer pause in hostilities to get the civilians out and avoid “a bloodbath on the beaches.”
The civilians are trapped in a “no-fire zone” on Sri Lanka’s northeastern coast as government forces try to push the ethnic separatist rebels into an ever-shrinking area, hoping to end the Indian Ocean nation’s 25-year civil war. Under intense international pressure, the government declared a unilateral cease-fire on Monday and Tuesday and urged civilians to leave the zone, but only a few hundred fled.
The government says the rebels are preventing the civilians from escaping. Holmes said it was clear the rebels weren’t letting civilians leave during the cease-fire, and he said he had contacted rebels outside the war zone in recent weeks to say it was unacceptable to “hold people against their will.”
The rebels say the civilians don’t want to leave.
A pro-rebel Web site reported that Sri Lankan forces attacked Tamil guerrillas with mortar fire, artillery and heavy machine guns Wednesday after the cease-fire ended, killing up to 180 civilians. The government said it had only launched a “rescue mission.”
President Mahinda Rajapaksa declared the cease-fire to mark the Sri Lankan New Year, but the rebels called it an “act of hoodwinking” and said only an internationally supervised truce would be effective.
The pro-rebel TamilNet Web site said the government launched a large-scale attack for three hours Wednesday morning near the “no-fire zone,” which measures just 7.7 square miles (20 square kilometers). Families huddled in bunkers for safety, but as many as 180 civilians were killed in the fighting, the Web site said.
The top government health official in the war zone, Dr. Thurairaja Varatharajah, said only six bodies and 68 civilians suffering bullet wounds were brought to the makeshift hospital that he runs out of a school since Tuesday night. He said the sound of gunfire resumed during the night after the cease-fire ended.
Military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said government soldiers had not launched any new offensives and were only observing the rebels’ activities.
“We cannot just go there because of the heavy civilian presence,” he said.
Government official Keheliya Rambukwella said forces have begun a “rescue mission” to free the trapped civilians.
Confirmation of the fighting was not possible because the government bars journalists and aid workers from the war zone.
Despite international appeals, the government said it had no intentions of extending the cease-fire.
Holmes called reports that the casualty toll in the war zone was rising once again “very worrying,” and he urged the government to live up to its promises not to use heavy weapons in the area.
“I’m afraid they have been doing that in some respects, and that’s one of the factors which is obviously causing these civilian casualties,” he said, adding that “dozens a day are killed.”
A series of battlefield victories in the past six months have pushed the Tamil Tigers _ who once ran a de facto state in the north and east _ into a small strip of land in the north. The government has said the military will finish off the insurgency soon.
The rebels have been fighting for 25 years to create an independent homeland for ethnic minority Tamils, who have faced decades of marginalization by successive governments controlled by ethnic Sinhalese. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the violence.
___
Associated Press Writer Krishan Francis in Colombo, Sri Lanka, contributed to this report.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.