WORLD BRIEFING / SRI LANKA
Tamil Tiger rebels declared a unilateral cease-fire as a top U.N. official pressed Sri Lankan leaders to let aid into the war zone in the northeast where tens of thousands of civilians are trapped.
The rebels asked the international community to pressure the government into halting its campaign, saying the “humanitarian crisis can only be overcome by the declaration of an immediate cease-fire.”
Sri Lankan Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa rejected the call, saying the government may be on the brink of ending the quarter-century war as rebels were “running” from army forces who have surrounded them.
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