Lanka rejects UK, France calls for ceasefire

The British and French Foreign Ministers appealed on Wednesday for a ceasefire in Sri Lanka's north, but Colombo turned it down saying it will not serve any purpose as "two pauses" offered by it earlier did not help the civilians to come out of the war zone.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who were in Colombo on an official visit, met the top Sri Lankan leadership, including Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama, and held discussions on the current situation in the conflict zones. The two leaders also prevailed upon the Sri Lankan leadership to allow access to international aid agencies to the conflict zones. "We tried very hard...We insisted...but it is upto our Lankan friends to end the offensive and allow aid to the civilians trapped by fighting," Kouchner told media-persons.

Miliband said their talks with Sri Lankans have made no "breakthrough". "We told the Lankans that truce is to help trapped civilians and not to help the Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Eelam." An official statement said Bogollagama apprised the visiting leaders about the steps being taken by Colombo to rehabilitate the civilians and other aspects of the war. "When most voices from abroad were calling for a ceasefire and a pause, tow pauses offered by the government it

did not bring the people out," the statement quoted the Minister as saying.

Kouchner and Miliband also said they had "failed" to make the Sri Lankan government agree to allow access to UN and international aid agencies to channelise aid to the trapped people. The two ministers, before leaving Colombo, also issued an appeal to Tamil Tigers to allow an estimated 50,000 people still trapped in the war zone to move to safe zones.

Bogollagama said people started coming out of the war zone only due to the success of "tactical humanitarian military operations" carried out by the government. "Sri Lankan officials also explained to the French and British Foreign Ministers need for countries concerned with the humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka to bring sufficient pressure on the pro-LTTE activists in their countries and for them to pressure the LTTE to release the civilians it was holding hostage," the statement said.

The British and French ministers later flew to Vavuniya to meet some of the thousands of Tamil civilians living in Government camps after escaping from the war zone. The French minister told the displaced persons that the majority Sinhalese and minority Tamils must work together to secure the island's future. "The reconciliation must happen. I think it will be done," Kouchner said as he visited the camps.