Top Sri Lankan Official Denies Humanitarian Crisis
By VOA News
24 April 2009
The foreign secretary of Sri Lanka is denying there is a humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka's northeast, where thousands of civilians are trapped, as the army wages its final assault on Tamil Tiger rebels.
In an interview with VOA, Palitha Kohona said "We (the Sri Lankan government) have a challenge... and we will deal with it more than adequately."
Kohono also told VOA the government appreciates the offers of help from the international community. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he is deeply concerned about the fate of civilians and is sending a humanitarian team to the country.
A United Nations report says nearly 6,500 civilians have been killed in the conflict over the last three months, while 14,000 others have been wounded. There are varying estimates of how many civilians remain trapped in the rebel's last remaining stronghold, which the government measures less than 13 square kilometers. Some estimates put the number as high as 50,000.
Meanwhile, India sent two top officials, Security Adviser M. K. Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon, to Sri Lanka to pressure President Mahinda Rajapaksa to stop its offensive against the rebels.
Sri Lankan officials say more than 100,000 civilians have escaped the war zone over the past week, but that up to 20,000 others remained trapped.
Meantime, the Sri Lankan army says the Tamil Tiger leader will not be able to escape as troops close in on the rebels.
The military says it expects that rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran will try to escape at the last moment. That assessment was based on information given to the army by the rebels' former spokesman Daya Master, who surrendered to the government earlier this week.
Tamil Tiger rebels have been fighting for 26 years to create an independent homeland for ethnic Tamil minorities in Sri Lanka. More than 70,000 people have died so far as a result of the conflict.
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