The Ceylon News

A U.N. human rights official called Tuesday for a pause in Sri Lanka's civil war and urged the Tamil Tiger rebels to allow tens of thousands of trapped civilians to flee the fighting.

The civilians are in a precarious position because they are huddled in a narrow "no-fire" zone on the island's northeast coast where the rebels are holed up after a series of military defeats at the hands of government troops.

More than 100,000 civilians are trapped and their lives are more at risk now that the rebels — the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam — have been pushed into the zone, said Walter Kaelin, the representative of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the human rights of internally displaced persons.

"I urgently repeat my call to the LTTE to allow all civilians under its control to leave this zone and to seek safety elsewhere," Kaelin said in a statement at the end of a four-day visit to Sri Lanka.

He called for a pause in the fighting "to allow civilians to leave and humanitarian actors to provide life-saving relief to the remaining population," he said.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has repeatedly ruled out a cease-fire, saying that would allow the rebels to rearm and regroup, but the government has said it would continue to pause fighting — as it has done in the past — when is sees that civilians are on the move and in danger.

Rajapaksa has called on the rebels to surrender to ensure the safety of the civilians.

The Tamil Tigers have been fighting for a separate state for ethnic Tamils in Sri Lanka's north and east since 1983 in a war that has killed more than 70,000 people.

Kaelin's estimate of 100,000 trapped civilians is down from previous U.N. figures of 150,000 to 190,000, with dozens dying each day. The government says only 30,000 to 40,000 people remain.

Kaelin called on the government to "scrupulously respect" the "no-fire" zone. The rebels have accused the military of shelling the zone, which the government denies. The zone measures just 7.7 square miles (20 square kilometers).

A string of victories by government forces has now pushed the rebels — who at their height controlled one-third of Sri Lanka — into the "no-fire" zone, which was declared by the government earlier this year as a place for civilians to shelter from the fighting.

Army chief Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka said he expected an exodus of trapped civilians "at any moment."

He was quoted as saying on a military Web site that a considerable number of middle-ranking Tiger leaders had been killed and the rebel group was "virtually paralyzed, unable to sustain (a) military onslaught."

The military has accused the rebels of building fortifications in the "no-fire" zone in preparation for a final showdown in a civil war that has spanned 25 years. The government has not said how it plans to flush out the remaining militants.

Accounts from the front line cannot be verified because independent journalists are barred from the war zone.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed the current crisis in Sri Lanka, the humanitarian conditions and peace process there during a meeting with her Norwegian counterpart Jonas Gahr Stoere.

In a joint media interaction after the meeting at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department, Clinton said Sri Lanka did figure up during their talks along with other issues.

"We discussed Norway's untiring efforts to end the bloodshed in Sri Lanka," Clinton told reporters.

"Together, we are looking for ways to address common challenges such as the impact of climate change and a number of regional issues, from Afghanistan to the Middle East to Sri Lanka," she said.

No further details were immediately available.

Norway played a key role in brokering a ceasefire between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE in 2002.

About 3,000 men, women and children staged a peaceful demonstration outside the British parliament on Monday against alleged human rights Protests in London against alleged human rights abuses in Sri Lanka.

Carrying banners reading "Stop Sri Lanka's Genocide of Tamils" and "Rwandan Genocide Repeats in Sri Lanka", the protesters waved flags of the Tamil Tiger rebels who face a threatened final assault by government forces.

A police spokesman estimated the turnout at about 3,000 at its height, and about 1,000 people continued protesting into the early hours of Tuesday.

The demonstration, although effectively illegal because it had not received prior approval, was peaceful and no arrests were made, the spokesman said.

Four lifeboats were scrambled after some of the protesters reportedly threatened to throw themselves into the nearby River Thames. One person did enter the water and was taken to hospital, but was not believed to be hurt.

A British lawmaker, Siobhain McDonagh, had earlier urged the crowd to disperse, saying the government's special envoy to Sri Lanka, Des Browne, would meet with 50 of their representatives to listen to their concerns.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse on Sunday said the military was close to wiping out the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) after decades of bitter fighting for an independent homeland. Rajapakse has rejected international calls for a truce which the government has argued would only let the rebels regroup.

The United Nations and other foreign aid organisations say as many as 150,000 civilians may still be trapped in the war zone, although the Sri Lankan government insists the figure is less than half that.

At the height of their power in the mid-1990s, the Tigers controlled more than a third of Sri Lanka.