Sri Lankan Rebels Must Let Civilians Out During Truce, UN Says

April 13 (Bloomberg) -- Tamil Tiger rebels must allow civilians trapped in Sri Lanka’s conflict zone in the north to leave the area during a government-declared pause in hostilities, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa ordered troops to halt their offensive against the Liberation Tigers for Tamil Eelam for 48 hours from today to coincide with new year celebrations for the nation’s minority Tamil and majority Sinhalese population.

The UN estimates more than 100,000 civilians are caught in a sliver of territory controlled by the LTTE in the northeast. It warned last week of a potential “bloodbath” as the army and Tamil Tigers prepare for a possible “final confrontation.”

The LTTE must “take concrete and immediate steps to protect civilians by respecting the pause for its full duration” and allow civilians to leave the conflict zone, Ban said in a statement on the UN’s Web site. The LTTE says the civilians have chosen to remain in rebel-held areas.

Sri Lankan troops have driven the Tamil Tigers from their main bases in the north since January in an effort to end the 26-year conflict. The army has cornered the LTTE in a 14-square- kilometer (5.4-square-mile) strip, all that’s left of the rebels’ goal of forging a separate Tamil state, known as Eelam, in Sri Lanka’s north and east.

‘Defensive Nature’

The armed forces will “restrict their operations during the New Year to those of a defensive nature,” Rajapaksa said yesterday in a statement. The LTTE hasn’t commented on the announcement.

Rajapaksa’s move came after the U.S. last week held talks with Japan, Norway and the European Union, the so-called co- chairs of international donors for Sri Lanka, to discuss the humanitarian situation in the Indian Ocean island nation.

The quartet “reaffirmed the need to stop shelling into the no-fire zone to prevent further civilian casualties,” Robert Wood, a State Department spokesman, said April 9. “They stressed the importance of a humanitarian pause and of ensuring that adequate supplies of food, water and medicine reach civilians.”

Sri Lanka’s military denies shelling the no-fire zone, an area in rebel-controlled territory where civilians are meant to be able to shelter.

It accuses the LTTE of using civilians as human shields and shooting those attempting to flee to government-controlled areas. Access to the conflict zone is restricted, making claims from both sides difficult to verify.

Call for Cease-Fire

Ban said that, while the government’s pause in fighting was shorter than the UN had been advocating, it provided “an opportunity to move towards the peaceful and orderly end to the conflict now so badly needed.”

The standoff over civilians has prompted Tamils outside Sri Lanka to stage protests in an effort to press the international community to intervene and halt the fighting.

Norway yesterday expressed regret to the government in Colombo and promised better security after Tamil demonstrators damaged the Sri Lankan embassy in Oslo during a protest.

A demonstration is also being held near the Australian prime minister’s residence in Sydney today.

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Heath in Sydney at mheath1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Heath in Sydney at mheath1@bloomberg.net.