Obama must act on Lanka crisis!

(February 25, Washington, Sri Lanka Guardian ) Asking US President Barack Obama to take the Sri Lankan crisis to the UN Security Council, the US NGO Forum on the island nation today said nearly a quarter of a million Tamil civilians have been trapped in the country's conflict zone.

In a presentation before the Senate Sub Committee on Near East and South and Central Asian Affairs, Miriam A Young, director of the US NGO Forum on Sri Lanka asked the US to impress upon the UN Secretary General to appoint a Special Envoy for Sri Lanka.

Stating that nearly a quarter of a million Tamil civilians have been trapped between government forces and those of the LTTE, the US NGO Forum on Sri Lanka urged the Obama Administration to press for a UN humanitarian assessment mission to the north.

Young alleged that the Sri Lankan forces have been violating international humanitarian law. If this continues, the US should consider taking bilateral actions such as withdrawal of the International Military Training and Education Programme (IMET).

'Both parties to the conflict are flouting international humanitarian law with abandon,' Young alleged. The government continues shelling and aerial bombardment, including hospitals and its own declared safe zones, while the LTTE is using civilians as human shields, he said. \The few who manage to come out of the battle zone are put into heavily guarded camps and denied access to their families, Young said.

'An estimated one thousand civilians were killed in the past month alone; thousands more have been injured. Many of them, including babies, have lost multiple limbs,' Young said.

Young alleged that access for foreign journalists is prohibited by the government, and the national media is silenced through various forms of violence and intimidation.

'Facts and figures are hard to come by; however, credible information is available from religious organisations and Sri Lankan humanitarian workers who are risking their lives to get information out about the nightmare that is taking place,' Young said.

-Sri Lanka Guardian