April 26 (Bloomberg) -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown today repeated a call for a cease-fire in Sri Lanka during a telephone call with President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

U.K. Foreign Secretary David Miliband, his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner and Swedish counterpart Carl Bildt will visit Sri Lanka on April 29, an e-mailed statement from Brown’s Downing Street office said today.

“The prime minister said he remained concerned about the plight of civilians in the conflict zone,” Brown’s spokesman, who declined to be named in line with British civil-service rules, said in the e-mail. “He repeated his call for a cease- fire, and pledged a further 2.5 million pounds ($3.7 million) for humanitarian aid for displaced persons.”

Sri Lankan forces have cornered the Tamil Tigers in a sliver of territory on the northeastern coast of the island nation and the military says the group now only operates in a government-declared no-fire zone for civilians. The United Nations warned of a “bloodbath” on the beaches of the Wanni region in any final battle unless the civilians are able to leave.

Humanitarian Operation

Sri Lanka says it’s on the brink of defeating the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam, which is fighting for a separate ethnic Tamil homeland in the nation. The UN yesterday sent John Holmes to Colombo yesterday to review the humanitarian operation under way to help about 200,000 people who escaped the combat zone during the past three months. Holmes, a senior UN official, is on a three-day visit.

Sri Lanka’s defense secretary rejected today a unilateral cease-fire announced by Tamil Tiger rebels, Sky News reported, citing Reuters. The government considers surrender as the only option, the minister was cited as saying.

Almost 6,500 civilians were killed in fighting in the north in the past three months, the Associated Press reported on April 24, citing a UN document circulated to diplomatic missions in Colombo. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in Brussels on April 23 that he is sending a humanitarian team to monitor the “rapidly deteriorating situation” in the country.

To contact the reporters on this story: Kitty Donaldson in London at kdonaldson1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: April 26, 2009 12:45 EDT