Allow civilians to move to safe areas

UN Refugee Agency tells Tigers:

Ron Redmond, spokesman for the UN refugee agency, the UNHCR yesterday called on the Tamil Tigers to 'immediately allow' civilians to move to safe areas.

Redmond said more than 63,000 people have fled since the fighting began, and that his agency was stepping up its emergency response to meet the needs of the displaced.

The United Nations yesterday renewed its call for a pause in fighting between Tigers and troops in order to allow civilians trapped by the conflict to flee.

"UNICEF is calling for a ceasefire and for a humanitarian pause which allows humanitarian workers to access the conflict zone and for civilians who are trapped in this zone... to be allowed to seek refuge in secured zones," said Veronique Taveau, spokeswoman for the UN's agency for children.

Meanwhile India yesterday expressed concern over the safety of civilians trapped between the Sri Lankan Army and Tigers and urged the Government to resume a truce that ended two days ago.

"India is deeply concerned about the humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka. Continuation of the precipitated military action has been leading to further civilian casualties, which is totally unacceptable," said Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee.