UN: SERIOUS CONCERN FOR TAMIL CIVILIANS IN CONFINED WAR ZONE!!!

Scale of humanitarian needs in Lanka difficult to gauge: Holmes

UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, John Holmes at the UN Security Council meeting on Wednesday said the scale of humanitarian needs in Sri Lanka was difficult to gauge, given restricted humanitarian access due to the intensified fighting and the relocation of UN agencies and non-governmental organisations from rebel-held areas in mid-September.
Mr. Holmes, while expressing his serious concern said he was, also concerned that some 350,000 civilians were trapped in an increasingly confined space and effectively prevented from leaving by Tamil Tiger rebels and that raised serious concerns about the use of civilians to render areas immune from military operations.

He added that strict compliance with international humanitarian law was all the more critical with the intensification of fighting in the Wanni region and reports of intermittent artillery fire in civilian populated areas in recent weeks. (JN)
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