Sri Lanka Rejects Tamil Tigers' Call for Ceasefire

The Sri Lankan government today flatly rejected a ceasefire declaration by the cornered Tamil Tigers and said fighting would continue until the rebels laid down their weapons and surrendered.

The government dismissed the ceasefire as a "gimmick" and said fighting was continuing around the no-fire zone, where up to 150,000 civilians are still believed to be trapped. The government disputes that figure.

According to UN officials, there was no sign of the exodus of civilians from the no-fire zone that would be expected if the Tamil Tigers had stopped fighting.

Reports circulating among diplomats in the capital, Colombo, described a number of Sri Lankan air strikes todayon positions held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The Tamilnet website, which carries LTTE statements, claimed that fighter jets from the Sri Lankan air force had bombed the area. A doctor working in the no-fire zone, Thangamutha Sathiyamoorthy, said there had been nine air strikes on the Mullivaikal south area during the day, the first at 7.30am and the last at 2.05pm.

Sathiyamoorthy said 154 civilians were admitted to the temporary hospital at Mullivaikal yesterday [SAT] with injuries sustained in air strikes, shelling and attacks by gun boats, and that 15 had died. He said another 84 were admitted today and that 14 had died. The government has accused Dr Sathiyamoorthy of acting as a mouthpiece for the LTTE.

It is not possible to verify any of the reports because independent access to the area has been denied by the government.

The unilateral ceasefire declaration came as Sri Lankan forces continued to close in on a small number of LTTE rebels who are fighting for their lives in a tiny strip of coastline estimated to be no larger than 10 sq km.

In a statement, the LTTE said: "In the face of an unprecedented humanitarian crisis and in response to the calls made by the UN, EU, the governments of India and others, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has announced a unilateral ceasefire."

The defence secretary, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, described the offer as "a joke". He said: "They were not fighting with us, they were running from us. There is no need of a ceasefire. They must surrender. That is it."

Sri Lankan military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said the ceasefire declaration would make no difference unless the LTTE fighters laid down their weapons and allowed civilians to leave the area in which they are being held.

"When we come across the LTTE we will continue to engage them. As far as I am aware, the fighting continues," he said.

Nanayakkara said the LTTE had taken advantage of a previous ceasefire, announced by the government to mark the Sri Lankan new year, to fortify its defences. "They want to use a ceasefire to get organized and to get some breathing space. We are not going to give in to the tricks of the LTTE," he said. The military said 23 LTTE cadres surrendered to the advancing troops today.

A government spokesman dismissed the ceasefire as "futile". He said: "It is rather late in the day. The endgame is very much on. This is just a gimmick."

UN officials reacted warily to the ceasefire declaration. "Like a unilateral declaration of a no-fire zone, I don't think it means a lot unless it is agreed with the other party," one official said. Another described it as a "stategic ploy" timed to coincide with the arrival of the UN's top humanitarian official, John Holmes, in Sri Lanka.

Holmes arrived on Saturday hoping to persuade the government to open the war zone to humanitarian groups. Aid workers have been barred from the region since fighting escalated in September. He was due to travel to Vavuniya tomorrow to inspect the camps where tens of thousands of Tamil civilians have been interned after escaping from the fighting.

The Sri Lankan government says close to 200,000 people are now either inside the camps it has set up outside the no-fire zone or are making their way from the combat area.

According to official UN figures, at least 2,000 people are believed to have died in the fighting in the last month, although this figure does not include all of those killed in this week's intense fighting. On Friday, two UN officials privately confirmed to the Guardian that the civilian death toll since 20 January was close to 6,500.

Yesterday, the LTTE denied a report in the Guardian that children as young as 12 were being given guns and forced to fight on the frontline. UN spokesman Gordon Weiss had said that those forcibly recruited included the 16-year-old daughter of a member of the UN staff.