700 cross to safety as Sri Lanka closes in on Tamil Tigers
Hundreds have fled Sri Lanka's northern war zone a day after the United Nations said 52 people had been killed by shelling.
Fighting continued on thursday as the army closed in on Tamil Tiger rebels in a final push to end one of Asia's longest-running conflicts.The defence ministry said a further 700 civilians had freely left rebel-held areas, although 120,000 were still being held by the rebels as "human shields".
The army snubbed an international call for a ceasefire saying troops would not suspend their offensive against Tamil Tiger rebels despite reports of a growing civilian death toll. Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa told the BBC that the government would accept only "unconditional surrender". Mr Rajapaksa told the broadcaster: "There is no question of negotiations on surrender. The rebels should surrender unconditionally. They should lay down their arms first."
The government said it would offer a limited amnesty to rebel forces that were ready to lay down their arms as they were. But ministers refused to hold peace talks, saying they would accept nothing less than total surrender.
Apparently down to their last 600 fighters, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam appeared on the brink of defeat in their 25-year-old struggle for a Tamil homeland as a final battle with the Sri Lankan army approaches. The army has surrounded the rebels in a 30-square-miles sliver of coastal land and says the Tigers are close to collapse, having lost almost 99% of the territory under their control only a year ago.
About 70,000 people have been killed since the fighting began in 1983 - and there are reports of growing civilian casualties, with the UN claiming that 52 people were killed yesterday by shelling.
There are five SOS Children’s Villages in Sri Lanka. After the Boxing Day Tsunami in 2004, the SOS Social Centre at the Village in Batticaloa played an important role in the extensive emergency relief programme carried out by SOS Children. SOS Children set up 10 child relief centres and temporary schools along the southern and eastern coast of Sri Lanka, providing clean water, food, medical care and schooling for thousands of children.
Written by Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children
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