The Sri Lankan government Wednesday offered an amnesty to Tamil Tiger rebels who surrender, but rejected international appeals for cease-fire talks and vowed to crush those who fight on. Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake told parliament that some rebels were ready to lay down their arms as they face imminent defeat in their decades-long battle for an independent ethnic Tamil homeland.
"It is a wise decision and we are ready to welcome them," Wickremanayake said. The government, however, at the same time rejected international calls for negotiations to end the fighting, which has triggered global concern for the tens of thousands of civilians caught up in war.
The United States, European Union, Japan and Norway asked the rebels to lay down their arms and take part in a political dialogue to end Sri Lanka's vicious unrest which has claimed an estimated 70,000 lives since 1972. But Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse told the Island newspaper that "Nothing could be as ridiculous as this."
"Nothing short of unconditional surrender of arms and cadres could bring an end to the offensive," he said. According to the newspaper, Rajapakse believes Tiger leaders must be "tried and hanged" but low level rebel cadres could be "rehabilitated". There was also no immediate reaction from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Overall, the Tigers have lost over 98 percent of the territory that was under their control a year ago and Sri Lanka's army chief has said LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran may have already fled the island. The defence ministry said that on Thursday, 700 more civilians had fled rebel-held areas, where it says 120,000 are still being held by the Tigers as "human shields."
The United Nations reported at least 52 non-combatants were killed in a single shelling earlier this week - though it did not say who was responsible. The pro-rebel tamilnet.com website said seven civilians were killed and another 27 wounded on Thursday in another alleged government attack on a hospital in the conflict zone.
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