Derana News 23 04 2009 End of War

Lanka rejects UN appeal.

Sri Lanka has rejected an appeal by the United Nations to allow more aid agencies in to the zone of fighting in its north to give immediate help to the affected people.

Sri Lankas Defence Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, told the BBC it would not be sensible to let aid agencies into the conflict zone because, he said, there was already an army operation in progress to rescue civilians. But the Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona, also speaking to the BBC, said the government would certainly appreciate international assistance for the one-hundred-thousand or so people whove already fled the conflict zone this week.

They are now in camps and Dr. Kohona said there was particular need for tents, water, water tanks and purifiers, and sanitation equipment. He said the number fleeing today, Thursday, had dropped to fewer than six-hundred, adding that the Tamil Tigers might be preventing others from leaving their newly restricted area.

The guerrillas deny holding civilians as human shields in this way. A government official inside the rebel-held zone said fighting between the army and rebels was continuing but at a lower level than before.

Trapped in a shrinking pocket of land, the guerrillas do seem to be fighting back: the Defence Ministry earlier said that troops were encountering what it called dwindling but constant resistance.

The only international agency allowed to operate near the conflict zone, the International Committee of the Red Cross(ICRC), says it evacuated three-hundred-and-fifty sick and wounded people and their families by ocean-going ship on Wednesday, and was doing the same today.

Sarasi Wijeratna of the ICRC said that they are continuously evacuating the wounded out of the conflict zone to make shift health facilities.

The civilians within the conflict zone are facing a shortage of medical supplies and food and the health officials are working under risky conditions, said Ms. Wijeratna.

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[Tharmasunderam]

It will happen. The ministry has far more important work to do right now. But you are absolutely right.

[DuKumari]

Another suggestion. May b u shud ask Thileepan Parthipan to give a list of names of people whom they have killed while they were used as human shields b'cos, he spoke on Al jazeera so well to say that they were fighting for these people. It was right that the UN condemned LTTE. Don't forget that every single person in this socalled regular TAMIL diaspora scream as "Prabhakaran our leader" who is the killer who ordered to kill your own people. My heart goes to those innocent civilians.

[DuKumari]

Good Idea. Shall we also ask Tamil diasopra to launch a database in Tamilnet of sinhalese and Muslim people who lost their lives in LTTE suicide bombing for the past 25 years because I'm still searching for my lost loved once.

[awddhs]

good suggestion...

[kennethchelian]

More than 1 million Tamil diaspora whether right or wrong on their political opinion had their relatives in the NO FIRE ZONE. One major grievence of them is they dont know what has happened to their relatives in NO FIRE ZONE. Whether escaped or wounded or killed etc

Ministry of Defence website should launch a database of civilians escaping with their name / date of birth / address on National ID card / if possible which welfare facility they are in

Regualar TAMIL diaspora will praise this

[kennethchelian]

One of the big guys in Sri Lanka reading this should tell the SL government & SL forces to launch the detail information of civilans escaping via Ministry of defence website

This will help the SL government to win back most of the ordinary TAMIL Diaspora back to SL government

This is a major exercise needed to be done & start immediately in small data batches even

We need to relief the tension of TAMIL diaspora with this information

This will help to defeat LTTE in outside Sri Lanka

[narakalama]

To all who shouted GENOCIDE GENOCIDE in recent times,

Shall we organize some fund raising event and support these people. Oh please please... don't look away now. Oh come on...

Nah... I dont think so... (After all we sinhalease who treat them and look after. Exactly as happened in eastern province. No one came to Sri Lanka to help them or re build)

[ceylonlion]

jayen jayama wewa.