| THE United Nations described the situation in Sri Lanka as a “bloodbath”, after reports of heavy civilian casualties in the conflict zone in the north of the island last weekend.
The UN spokesman in Colombo, Gordon Weiss, said that more than 100 children had died during a “large-scale killing of civilians”; and a doctor said that more than 430 people had been killed after two days of heavy shelling.
On Tuesday, about 50 civilians were reported to have been killed after the only remaining hospital in the war zone was shelled.
Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD), the relief and development agency of the Episcopal Church of the United States, is working with the diocese of Colombo to provide food and shelter to displaced people.
ERD’s programme officer in Sri Lanka, Nagulan Nesiah, said that “local partners are continuing to provide invaluable relief services in very difficult circumstances as the humanitarian crisis deepens.”
The Sri Lankan government rejected the comments from the UN, and planned to lodge a formal complaint. A government defence spokesman, Keheliya Rambukwella, told the BBC that reports of the government forces’ shelling were “propaganda” by the Tamil Tigers.
Protest continues. British-based Tamils maintained their daily protest in Parliament Square, in Westminster. On Monday, they blocked traffic for the third time in a month.
In a statement by the British Tamils Forum, the group said they believed about 3200 civilians had been killed in the “safe zone” over the weekend, and thousands more were injured.
They estimated that 10,000 civilians have been killed in the Vanni region in the last four months, and acknowledged that their protests to the British Government “have done little to alleviate the suffering of Tamils”.
They are “at a loss to understand how many more innocent lives have to be lost before the international community wakes up to their responsibilities under international law”.
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