Sri Lanka’s separatists rebels have asked Britain and France to continue pushing for a ceasefire in the island’s civil war after the two European nations’ foreign ministers failed to secure a halt in the fighting to allow civilians to evacuate. The Tamil Tiger rebels’ political head, Balasingham Nadesam, wrote on Saturday to British foreign secretary David Miliband and his French counterpart, Bernard Kouchner, saying the insurgents are ready to “engage in the process to bring about a ceasefire and enter into negotiations for an enduring resolution to the conflict.”
International concern has grown in recent weeks about the fate of an estimated 50,000 noncombatants trapped in a tiny coastal strip along with the cornered rebels. A recent UN report said about 6,500 civilians were killed in the area during the past three months. Mr Miliband and Mr Kouchner visited Sri Lanka last week to press for a truce, but the government reduced to let up its offensive, saying it is on the verge of crushing the rebels’ decades-old separatist war. Pressure for a ceasefire is only likely to increase after a pro-rebel website reported that government forces shelled a makeshift hospital in the war zone, killing 64 patients and bystanders.