US, Britain call for 'temporary no-fire' in Sri Lanka

4 Feb 2009, 11:43 am   -   Source: AFP
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US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her British counterpart David Miliband have called for a ‘temporary no-fire period’ in Sri Lanka to evacuate casualties and allow in relief.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her British counterpart David Miliband have called for a ‘temporary no-fire period’ in Sri Lanka to evacuate casualties and allow in relief.

"Secretary Clinton and Foreign Secretary Miliband call on both the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) to agree to a temporary no-fire period," the pair said in a joint statement in Washington on Tuesday.

"Both sides need to allow civilians and wounded to leave the conflict area and to grant access for humanitarian agencies," including the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), they added.

"We also call on both sides to allow food and medical assistance to reach those trapped by fighting, cooperate with the ICRC to facilitate the evacuation of urgent medical cases, and ensure the safety of aid and medical workers," they said.

Quartet makes greater demands

The statement did not go as far as the quartet of international backers, the United States, European Union, Japan and Norway that called on the LTTE rebels to negotiate terms of surrender with the government and avoid a bloodbath.

But it welcomed the statement by the four for "expressing their great concern about the plight of thousands of internally displaced persons trapped by fighting in northern Sri Lanka."

The quartet said their efforts to persuade the LTTE to allow civilians freedom of movement to flee the fighting had failed.

Clinton and Miliband "affirmed their insistence on a political resolution to this longstanding conflict," according to the statement.

Sri Lanka's government has resisted international calls for a truce and said it had entered the final phase of finishing off the Tigers, who have been waging a campaign for a separate state since 1972.

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