Colombo: The visiting French and British foreign ministers urged Sri Lanka's government to enter an immediate ceasefire on Wednesday in its war with Tamil rebels, saying the need to protect civilians in the war zone is paramount.
"Now is the time for the fighting to stop," British Foreign Secretary David Miliband told reporters. "Protection of civilians is absolutely paramount in our minds."
Miliband and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner also called on the government to allow aid workers access to the war zone where an estimated 60,000 civilians remain trapped. However, Kouchner said the government had denied their request.
The two men were on a one-day visit to Sri Lanka representing the European Union to express growing concerns over the fate of trapped civilians in the conflict, and were heading to visit a camp for war refugees later on Wednesday.
Diplomatic pressure has grown in recent days for a humanitarian truce in the government's offensive, which has cornered the once powerful Tamil Tigers into a tiny strip of northeastern coast, but also killed thousands of civilians.
The rebels appealed Sunday for a cease-fire, but the government rejected it as a ploy by the beleaguered guerrillas to buy time to regroup.
Miliband and Kouchner were among the highest level European officials to visit the island since the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami, and their trip underscored the growing international concern about the conflict. The UN humanitarian chief traveled here over the weekend and expressed similar concerns.
The visit by the European diplomats came amid accusations that government forces fired artillery barrages into the northern war zone despite its pledge Monday to stop using heavy weapons because of the risk of civilian casualties.
Military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara denied the accusation, saying that troops were using only small arms in the battle.
However, the TamilNet Web site reported that more than 5,000 artillery, mortar and multi-barrel rocket launcher shells hit the war zone from Monday evening until Tuesday morning, killing scores of civilians.
About a dozen shells hit a makeshift hospital inside rebel territory, killing five patients and sending many others fleeing for their lives, said Dr. Thangamuttu Sathyamurthi, a government physician working in the war zone. Other civilians in the area were also killed, he said.
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