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Emergency Plea from Civilians Facing Slaughter

April 27, 2009

A local aid agency in the “Safe Zone” of Northern Sri Lanka has made a final appeal to the international community on behalf of the Tamil civilians located there. “You are our only hope,” the urgent appeal began as it called on the United States, Russia, China, France, United Kingdom, India and the United Nations to pressure the Sri Lankan government to end its military offensive and enter into a ceasefire.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) announced a unilateral ceasefire on Sunday, but the Sri Lankan government rejected it, as they have with numerous calls by international community to end the offensive that has killed 6,500 Tamil civilians. The local aid agency in the “Safe Zone” stated that the continued offensive is putting 160,000 civilians at risk, and fear that up to 10,000 civilians could be killed within hours.

This week Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, “I think that the Sri Lankan government knows that the entire world is very disappointed that in its efforts to end what it sees as 25 years of conflict, it is causing such untold suffering.”

I urgently appeal to you to heed the plea of Tamil civilians in the “Safe Zone” and enforce economic and diplomatic sanctions against Sri Lanka to stop the military from killing thousands of more civilians. The civilians will not be saved by strong statements made by the international community, but they can be saved by strong action against the Sri Lankan government.