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Sri Lanka vows to finish off Tigers
Agence France Presse - May 16, 2009
Amal Jayasinghe, Colombo – The Sri Lankan Government vowed yesterday to finish off the Tamil Tigers within 48 hours, defying international calls for a truce and warnings of a humanitarian catastrophe inside the rebel-held zone.
The signal that a final offensive against the beleaguered separatist guerillas was imminent came as the chief of staff of the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, was rushing to the island in a fresh effort to stop the carnage.
The International Committee of the Red Cross, the only neutral organisation working in the conflict area, said its staff were "witnessing an unimaginable humanitarian catastrophe".
Britain said it wanted an investigation into alleged war crimes, while the US announced it was blocking a $US2 billion ($2.6 billion) International Monetary Fund bail-out package for Sri Lanka.
Tens of thousands of Tamil civilians are believed to be trapped inside a tiny patch of jungle still held by the rebels. Hundreds have been reported killed in indiscriminate shelling over the past week.
A Sri Lankan Government spokesman, Anusha Palpita, said the war would be over by Sunday morning.
"The President [Mahinda Rajapakse] assured that within the next 48 hours the thousands of Tamil civilians will be freed from the clutches of the Tamil Tigers," he said. "All territory will be freed from Tiger control."
Military officials said the fighting with Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam hold-outs was continuing.
The Government maintains that the Tigers are using civilians as human shields and they need to be rescued. Any civilian deaths inside Tiger territory have been blamed on the rebels by the Government.
The UN's human rights chief, Navi Pillay, has already said both sides may be guilty of war crimes.
The ICRC, the only aid organisation that the Government allows to work in the conflict zone, issued its darkest statement to date on the fighting.
"Our staff are witnessing an unimaginable humanitarian catastrophe," Pierre Krahenbuhl, the ICRC director of operations, said in Geneva. The UN has said as many as 50,000 may be trapped.
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