ID :
44709
Sun, 02/08/2009 - 19:09
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/44709
The shortlink copeid
Sri Lankan president demands unconditional surrender by Tamil rebels
COLOMBO, Feb. 7 Kyodo - Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa called Saturday for the laying down of arms and unconditional surrender by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam who
are now boxed into a coastal strip of less than 100 square kilometers in
northeastern Mullaitivu.
''I want to tell the Tigers to lay down their arms and surrender to the
security forces,'' he told an election meeting at Kurunegala in the North
Western Province where a provincial council election is due next Saturday.
''You have survived this long only because of the civilians in the area where
you are holed up,'' he said. ''You have nowhere to go except jump into the
lagoon because the sea is covered by us.''
The government has long accused the LTTE of using a civilian shield against
advancing government forces, a charge echoed by foreign governments and some
international rights groups.
Rajapaksa said the LTTE must let the civilians go and unconditionally give
themselves up to the security forces.
In a nationally televised address on Sri Lanka's 61st Independence anniversary
celebration last Wednesday, Rajapaksa said that the end of the long-drawn war
was only ''days away.''
Speaking from Colombo's seafront Galle Face green where the country's military
capability was displayed at an armed services parade, the president declared:
''I am confident that in a few days we will decisively defeat the terrorist
force that many repeatedly kept saying was invincible.''
Although the government has declared a no-fire zone for the protection of
trapped civilians, the LTTE had refused to respect it and accused the
government of killing many hapless refugees.
Thousands of supporters of Rajapaksa's Sri Lanka Freedom Party cheered as he
declared at the election meeting the government will not halt its thrust
against the LTTE ''until terrorism is finally defeated.''
Earlier Saturday the Defense Ministry said that Kfir and F-7 fighter jets of
the Sri Lanka Air Force had bombed and destroyed the hideout of Soosai, leader
of the LTTE's Sea Tiger wing, but there was no confirmation Soosai was killed
or wounded.
An air force spokesman said that earth moving machinery was being used to dig
into the debris after the bombing, adding ''They wouldn't do that unless they
were looking for somebody important.''
Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara, the military spokesman, said that there was no hard
confirmation Soosai was dead.
==Kyodo
are now boxed into a coastal strip of less than 100 square kilometers in
northeastern Mullaitivu.
''I want to tell the Tigers to lay down their arms and surrender to the
security forces,'' he told an election meeting at Kurunegala in the North
Western Province where a provincial council election is due next Saturday.
''You have survived this long only because of the civilians in the area where
you are holed up,'' he said. ''You have nowhere to go except jump into the
lagoon because the sea is covered by us.''
The government has long accused the LTTE of using a civilian shield against
advancing government forces, a charge echoed by foreign governments and some
international rights groups.
Rajapaksa said the LTTE must let the civilians go and unconditionally give
themselves up to the security forces.
In a nationally televised address on Sri Lanka's 61st Independence anniversary
celebration last Wednesday, Rajapaksa said that the end of the long-drawn war
was only ''days away.''
Speaking from Colombo's seafront Galle Face green where the country's military
capability was displayed at an armed services parade, the president declared:
''I am confident that in a few days we will decisively defeat the terrorist
force that many repeatedly kept saying was invincible.''
Although the government has declared a no-fire zone for the protection of
trapped civilians, the LTTE had refused to respect it and accused the
government of killing many hapless refugees.
Thousands of supporters of Rajapaksa's Sri Lanka Freedom Party cheered as he
declared at the election meeting the government will not halt its thrust
against the LTTE ''until terrorism is finally defeated.''
Earlier Saturday the Defense Ministry said that Kfir and F-7 fighter jets of
the Sri Lanka Air Force had bombed and destroyed the hideout of Soosai, leader
of the LTTE's Sea Tiger wing, but there was no confirmation Soosai was killed
or wounded.
An air force spokesman said that earth moving machinery was being used to dig
into the debris after the bombing, adding ''They wouldn't do that unless they
were looking for somebody important.''
Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara, the military spokesman, said that there was no hard
confirmation Soosai was dead.
==Kyodo
