归根到底就是金融危机还得恐怖分子也发不出工资了......
Top Tamil Tiger officials surrender
Joe Leahy in Mumbai and Harvey Morris at the United Nations
Published: April 22 2009 11:08 | Last updated: April 23 2009 04:08
Sri Lanka’s military on Wednesday claimed two senior ethnic Tamil rebels surrendered, fuelling speculation that one of the world’s toughest guerrilla and terrorist groups was in the final throes of defeat.
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The capitulation of Velayutham Thayanidi, better known as Daya Master, the former spokesman for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, along with a colleague came as international pressure increased on both sides in Asia’s longest running conflict to avoid civilian casualties in the combat zone.
“The two LTTE leaders along with their family members arrived at the army defence line...this morning and surrendered themselves to the army officials,” a military website said.
The surrenders are extremely rare for the LTTE, whose members are known for their fanatical commitment to the group’s 25-year fight for an independent ethnic Tamil state in Sri Lanka’s north and east.
They came amid intense diplomatic efforts to persuade the government and the LTTE to exercise restraint in the conflict, as the military closes in on the last pocket of territory occupied by the rebels.
The United Nations Security Council held an informal session on Wednesday night, and its members called on the Sri Lanka authorities to allow greater UN humanitarian access to up to 100,000 refugees who have flooded out of a five square mile conflict zone in recent days.
They condemned the LTTE for using civilians as human shields but also criticized the government for failing to allow international monitors to reach forward areas where troops are vetting the refugees and civilians are reported to have come under fire from both sides.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch has urged the International Monetary Fund to delay a $1.9bn loan to Sri Lanka to pressure it to safeguard the lives of civilians after its forces shelled the shrinking rebel area.
The group’s Anna Neistat welcomed a delay in granting the loan that was expected last month and said governments that had a say in awarding it should make clear to Colombo it would be difficult to go ahead in the present conditions.
Western diplomats cautioned, however, against linking the loan to the fighting in the north. The Sri Lankan central bank said on Wednesday the IMF deal was nearing completion and an IMF team is to visit the country next week. Sri Lanka has separately been granted a $500 long-term loan by Libya.
The UN has no clear estimate of the civilian death toll in a conflict from which outsiders, including most foreign journalists, have been barred. However, aid organizations fear several thousands may have died and that tens of thousands of civilians may still be inside the besieged pocket.
H.M.G.S. Palihakkara, Sri Lanka’s envoy to the UN, said the quickest way to end the fighting would be for the LTTE, regarded by western countries as a terrorist group, to lay down its arms.
Security Council members including Russia and China have resisted placing Sri Lanka on the formal agenda, describing the conflict as an internal affair.
Western governments, however, pressed for a briefing on Wednesday by Vijay Nambiar, chief of staff to Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General. Mr Nambiar visited Sri Lanka last week. Western governments have been under pressure to act following widespread demonstrations among the large Tamil diaspora.
Susan Rice, US envoy to the UN, said it was imperative that both sides ceased shelling. “We are appalled that many are left unable to get life-saving assistance.”
Led by the elusive Velupillai Prabhakaran, the LTTE has been driven back from its former territories covering much of Sri Lanka’s north and east to an area less than 17 square kilometres in size.
As the LTTE has fallen back in recent months, it has been forcing hundreds of thousands of civilians in its former territories to retreat with it, leading to accusations that it has been using the refugees as human shields to keep the military at bay.
The military estimates more than 81,000 people have fled LTTE held area this week after the troops stormed a refugee zone within the former rebel territory that had been designated as a “no fire” safe haven.
The International Committee of the Red Cross warned on Tuesday evening that hundreds of civilians were being killed. Some estimate there are still about 50,000 in the pocket.
“The situation is nothing short of catastrophic. Ongoing fighting has killed or wounded hundreds of civilians who have only minimal access to medical care,” said Pierre Krhenbühl, the ICRC’s director of operations.
The ICRC called on the LTTE to release civilians in the war zone and on the military to refrain from using artillery.
Bernard Kouchner, French foreign minister, proposed that France and the UK send ships to help evacuate civilians, mirroring earlier such proposals from the US and India.
Gordon Brown, UK prime minister, meanwhile, said in parliament that a minister and a delegation of parliamentarians would be sent to Sri Lanka to assess the need for humanitarian assistance.
This follows protests by hundreds of Tamils outside the Houses of Parliament in London.
The Sri Lankan military on Wednesday said Daya Master, the LTTE’s former propaganda expert, was captured with another senior cadre identified as “George”, a former postmaster who acted as a translator for leaders of the group.