More than 10,000 Sri Lankan refugees are fleeing Tamil-Tiger held territory in the island's east, aid workers said yesterday, which analysts said meant a military showdown for control of the area was imminent.
Some on foot, others on tractors, the refugees left the rebel-held town of Vakarai on the island's northeast coast at dawn and were heading south towards government-held territory a few miles away.
"Some of the people are making their way down the coast, others are coming through jungle in vehicles," said Selvaraj Jeyaraj, project coordinator for the Italian Red Cross, by telephone from the eastern district of Batticaloa.
"We are talking about 12,000 internally displaced, more or less," he added.
The UN confirmed the exodus. About 20,000 to 25,000 refugees had already fled Vakarai in recent weeks.
He said about 500 people had reached government territory so far and the Tigers and the military had agreed to halt shelling at the request of the Red Cross after fierce fighting overnight. But sporadic shelling continued.
Neither the military nor the Tigers were immediately available for comment.
Vakarai is in the middle of a 20km long pocket of rebel-held territory, which the military has surrounded after capturing rebel areas in a series of battles in recent months.
The army has accused the Tigers of using displaced ethnic Tamils as human shields and planting thousands of landmines to prevent them leaving. But there has been no independent confirmation any mines had been laid.
"Thousands of people are streaming out," said UN spokeswoman Orla Clinton.
"Because we haven't had access [to Vakarai] since Nov. 29, food has been very short -- these people are obviously weak and afraid and we are looking for assurances their protection will be assured," she said.
Aid agencies, embassies and journalists have been clamoring for weeks to access rebel-held areas, which the government has refused.
The Tigers' eastern territories are cut off from their main northern stronghold by military-held areas.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in