Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels have denied UN claims they have been shooting civilians fleeing the country's war zone and recruiting child soldiers. The United Nations said in a statement earlier on Tuesday: "A growing number of people trying to leave have been shot and sometimes killed." Unicef, the UN agency for children, also said it had "reliable reports" children as young as 14 were being forced to fight for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). But the Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (RHO) said in a statement on Tamilnet, the pro-Tiger website, on Tuesday it was not responsible for killing civilians or using them as "human shields" and accused the UN of failing to protect innocent people. The UN was "withdrawing even the remaining few local staff from the conflict zone [and] completely shedding its responsibility of caring for the civilians trapped here," the RHO said. The TRO, which is outlawed in several countries, including the US, said the UN had levelled its criticisms against the Tigers to hide "their own failures". 'Exhaustion and despair' James Elder, a spokesman for Unicef, told Al Jazeera that some local staff had asked to leave the war zone amid the intense fighting between the LTTE and Sri Lanka's military. He said: "There are two critical things here - one, that women and children be allowed to leave the conflict zone and go to safe areas where they can be reached with support. "The other one is that both sides to this fight ... need to ensure absolute protection for those [trapped] civilians and that has not been happening." The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that families were arriving at a designated "safe zone" inside rebel territory "in a state of utter exhaustion and despair, hoping to be treated and rescued". "But the reality is that there is an almost complete lack of medicine and relief items there," said Paul Castella, the head of the ICRC in Sri Lanka. "We did save lives today, but many people remain behind, helpless and anxiously waiting to be evacuated. It is now a matter of life and death." 'Verge of defeat' Unicef has long-accused the Tigers, who are fighting for an independent state in Sri Lanka for ethnic Tamils, of recruiting child soldiers.
The organisation has said that more than 6,000 children have been recruited since 2002. The Sri Lankan government has in turn been accused by Tamil politicians of ignoring the safety of civilians in its campaign to wipe out the LTTE. Rajavarothayam Sambanthan, from the Tamil National Alliance, said that more than 2,000 civilians have been killed since December and more than 4,500 wounded. Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, a Sri Lanka military spokesman, denied the allegation, saying that the military had slowed down its campaign out of concern for civilians. Government forces say they are on the verge of defeating the LTTE after more than 25 years of civil war. Estimates on the number of civilians trapped in the conflict zone range between 70,000 and 200,000. The UN, the United States and Britain have asked the Tigers to allow civilians to leave the conflict zone while urging the government in Colombo to declare a temporary truce. Both have rejected the calls. |
The rebels are holding non-combatants in the small patch of coastal jungle in the northeast of the island where they have been cornered by government forces, it added.
"A growing number of people trying to leave have been shot and sometimes killed," the UN office here said in a statement, adding the Tigers were also recruiting child soldiers as young as 14 years old.
It urged both the Tigers and government forces to find a humane solution so that civilians, including children, could be spared more loss of life due to disease and the fighting.
The UN said it welcomed last week's declaration of a larger "safe zone" for civilians along a narrow strip of coastline, but noted there had been fighting even within that area.
"This fighting led to the deaths and injury to yet more civilians," the statement said. "The United Nations calls for the Sri Lankan forces and the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) to refrain from fighting in areas of civilian concentration."
Some of the wounded were evacuated Monday by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) which earlier said that a "humanitarian catastrophe" was unfolding in the region where "hundreds" of civilians perished this year.
Some 400 injured and their accompanying relatives were shipped out for "further medical treatment," ICRC spokeswoman Sarasi Wijeratne said.
The ICRC carried out similar sea evacuations twice last week, bringing 745 wounded from Puttumattalan, within the government-declared safe zone, to the government-controlled northeastern seaport of Trincomalee.
The UN said 15 of its local staff and 75 of their dependants were not allowed to leave the war zone by the Tamil Tigers, who had forcibly recruited one of the UN staffers on Sunday.
"We are especially concerned that one staff member was reported forcibly recruited into the LTTE yesterday (Sunday)," the UN statement said.
"The UN calls on the LTTE to immediately release him, to desist from further recruitment of civilians, and to permit passage for people who wish to leave, especially the women and children."
Tens of thousands of civilians in the rebel-held area were experiencing serious shortages of food, medicine, and clean water, the UN said.
"Efforts to bring in more food and medicines have not yet been successful, and it is imperative that these needs be met."
The UN, the United States and Britain have asked the Tigers to allow civilians to leave the conflict zone while urging the Colombo government to declare a temporary truce. Both have rejected the calls.
On Saturday, the defence ministry accused the Tigers of a grenade attack that killed a woman and wounded 13 people who were trying to flee the shrinking area still under rebel control.
The Tigers have denied charges that they are attacking civilians and they say the civilians are staying in the area of their own accord.
Meanwhile, the defence ministry said sporadic clashes continued in the troubled area where troops on Monday unearthed two dismantled 130-mm long-range artillery guns buried by the rebels before fleeing the village of Visuamadu.