Sri Lanka's president urges rebels to let civilians flee

[Coventina]

Source: International Herald-Tribune

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's president has urged the Tamil Tiger rebels to allow the estimated 250,000 civilians trapped in the northern war zone to flee to safety following reports of heavy casualties among noncombatants stuck in the shrinking territory.

Human rights groups have accused the rebels of holding the civilians hostage and accused the military of initiating heavy attacks in areas filled with civilians, including a government-declared "safe zone" in the north.

A senior UN official said both sides appeared to have committed "grave breaches of human rights." The rebels and the military deny the charges.

In the appeal published Friday on a government Web site, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said the rebels' refusal to let noncombatants leave was endangering their lives. He accused the rebels, known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, of putting their heavy artillery inside the "safe zone" and using it as a base for attacks on government troops.



Read more: http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/01/30/asia/lanka.1-419231.php