A Sri Lankan army fighter plane bombarding an area where civilians are refugees … They want to show that the government is not keeping its promise to no longer use fighter jets or heavy weapons against the separatist rebellion. Precisely because of the presence of tens of thousands of civilians.
They are said to be at least 50,000 civilians stuck with the Tamil Tigers in a narrow coastal strip now reduced to about ten square kilometers, in the northeast of the island. While more than 100,000 civilians have managed to flee the combat zone for a week. Embodying the will of the international community to protect the population, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes on Monday failed to get the government to allow humanitarian workers into the conflict zone. He said he was “disappointed” with the attitude of the Sri Lankan authorities.
The UNwas still able to land on Monday a first humanitarian plane in the capital Colombo. He was carrying tents. A second device is expected. It will remain to channel aid on the ground. According to the United Nations, since the start of the year, 6,500 civilians have been killed and 14,000 injured. Victims, as they say, collateral to the conflict …