Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Sri Lanka war exodus at 39,000 as deadline nears

At least the civilians that are trapped are starting to get out , The "Final,Final" end to this is probably not going to end up very good for Anyone involved , Especially with civilians still left or held between the Ltte and the Sri Lanka Military !


COLOMBO (Reuters) - An exodus of civilians fleeing Sri Lanka's war zone topped 39,000 and more were coming, the military said on Tuesday before its final deadline for the Tamil Tiger rebels to surrender or die was to expire.

The huge outpouring of people started on Monday after soldiers breached an earthen berm blocking the main route out of a 17 square km (6.5 sq mile) no-fire zone on the northeastern coast, the last redoubt controlled the separatist Tigers.

The presence of tens of thousands of civilians trapped by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has been the main obstacle for the Sri Lankan military, which has cornered the rebels with the aim of finishing the 25-year-old war.

The United Nations and western governments have urged the military to renew a brief truce to negotiate the peoples' exit, a plea the government has rejected on the grounds that the Tigers have dismissed all entreaties to let the people out.

"There are 39,081 civilians that have arrived and they are still arriving," military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said. "Military operations are still continuing."
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