Posts Tagged ‘bbc’
Sri Lanka rejects Tigers’ offer
[BBC] Sri Lanka’s defence secretary has rejected the Tamil Tigers’ offer to enter a democratic process after their military defeat by government forces. In an interview with the BBC, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said the LTTE rebels could not be trusted to give up “terrorism”. “I do not believe the LTTE can enter a democratic process after…
Read MoreSri Lanka rebels ‘call ceasefire’
[BBC] Tamil rebels trapped in a tiny enclave of northern Sri Lanka have declared a ceasefire, a rebel spokesman says. The Tamil Tigers (LTTE) had given up their fight against a major government offensive and “decided to silence our guns”, he said on a pro-Tamil website. “This battle has reached its bitter end,” said Selvarasa…
Read MoreUN mourns Sri Lanka ‘bloodbath’
[BBC] The United Nations has described the situation in northern Sri Lanka as a “bloodbath” after reports of heavy civilian casualties at the weekend. UN spokesman in Colombo Gordon Weiss said more than 100 children died during the “large-scale killing of civilians”. On Sunday, a doctor working in the war zone said at least 378…
Read MoreThe plight of Sri Lankan refugees
[ BBC ] Tamil Tiger rebels holding out in a tiny sliver of north-east Sri Lanka have accused the government of stepping up heavy weapons attacks on them. They claim the attacks are killing civilians unable to get out of the war zone. The government says this is just propaganda from the rebels hoping to…
Read MoreSri Lanka rejects UN truce appeal
[BBC] Sri Lanka has rejected a fresh appeal by the UN to give civilians more time to leave a safe zone in the north-east, the defence secretary says. Only a few hundred civilians used the two-day unilateral government truce with Tamil Tiger rebels to escape. Between 50,000 and 100,000 civilians are still thought to be…
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