UN says nearly 6,500 civilians dead in Sri Lanka

[oberliner]

Source: AP

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Two top Indian officials met with Sri Lanka's president Friday to demand an immediate cease-fire in the bloody civil war as the U.N. reported that nearly 6,500 ethnic Tamil civilians were killed in the last three months of fighting.

Concern for the safety of the civilians trapped in the war zone has increased in recent weeks as the government pushed ahead with its offensive to crush the Tamil Tiger rebels and end the nation's quarter-century civil war.

On Monday, the military broke through rebel fortifications on the edge of a previously declared "no-fire" zone along the northeastern coast, sparking an exodus of more than 100,000 civilians. The rebels said at least 1,000 civilians were killed in that battle and the Red Cross said hundreds had been killed or wounded.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gVoaDFmbCYS-Usz9ACDRIengj21QD97OO2GG0

[oberliner]

1. U.N. council to Sri Lanka: Let U.N. into conflict zone

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The Security Council urged Sri Lanka on Friday to cooperate with a U.N. humanitarian mission that wants to visit the conflict zone in northern Sri Lanka, where tens of thousands of civilians are trapped.

"We underlined today the immediate and pressing priority of addressing the grave humanitarian situation in northeastern Sri Lanka," said Mexican U.N. Ambassador Claude Heller, the current president of the Security Council.

"The members of the Security Council called also on the government of Sri Lanka to extend all the necessary support to the U.N. mission to allow the U.N. and the ICRC access to all sites where displaced persons are being registered ... and to fulfill their commitments with regard to facilitating humanitarian access," Heller said after a council meeting.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/24/AR2009042402440.html

[Mark Twain Girl]

2. Good god, what a horrific situation. Thanks for the update. nt

[oberliner]

3. You're welcome - it is truly awful

Hopefully the UN can intervene in some capacity.