Sri Lankans in ‘catastrophic’ situation
By KRISHAN FRANCIS
Associated Press Writer
Tens of thousands of civilians trapped
in Sri Lanka’s northern war zone face a
“catastrophic” situation, die Red Cross
said Tuesday, amid fears a final assault
against the Tamil Tiger rebels would
lead to a dramatic rise in casualties.
The United Nations and others have
called for a negotiated truce to allow
civilians to leave the rebel-held coastal
strip and the government says
more than 52,000 had escaped since
Monday.
But it has refused to heed the
international pleas to halt the fighting,
saying it is on the verge of crushing the
separatists and putting an end to the
25-year-old war.
The U.N. estimated more than 4,500
civilians have been killed in the past
three months.
The rebels said more than 1,000
civilians died Monday in a government
raid, while the government said
it rescued thousands after they
broke through a barrier built by the
insurgents that protects their last
stronghold.
Human rights groups say the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam are
holding many people in the enclave
against their will and using them as
human shields. Those groups have
also accused the government of
Two Central PA friends send 217,000
text messages in one month
By BILL BERGSTROM
Associated Press Writer
Their thumbs sure must be sore.
Two central Pennsylvania friends
spent most of March in a text
messaging record attempt, ex
changing a thumbs-flying total of
217,000.
For one of the two, that meant
an inches-thick itemized bill for
$26,000.
Nick Andes, 29, and Doug
Klinger, 30, were relying on their
unlimited text messaging plans to
get them through the escapade, so
Andes didn’t expect such a big
bill.
“It came in a box that cost $27.55
to send to me,” he said Tuesday.
He said he “panicked” and called
T-Mobile, which told The Associ
ated Press it had credited his ac
count and was investigating the
charges.
The two Lancaster-area residents
have been practically nonstop
texters for about a decade since
they attended Berks Technical In
stitute together.
That led Andes to search for the
indiscriminate shelling in the region.
Both sides deny the allegations.
Thousands of civilians also fled
in packed small boats, and they
were picked up by navy patrols and
transported to camps where Tamils
who have escaped the war are being
held. More than 2,000 people in about
100 boats were picked up Monday.
The Red Cross said about 50,000
civilians were still stranded, while
Human Rights Watch put the number
between 50,000 and 100,000.
The U.S. government released satellite
images Tuesday showing about 25,000
tents housing civilians squeezed into
the last small strip controlled by the
rebels, a coastal strip of about only 8
square miles (21 square kilometers).
The State Department estimated about
125,000 people were in the conflict
zone before the exodus over the past
two days.
A worker for Doctors Without
Borders said hundreds of wounded
were arriving at her hospital in
Vavuniya, south of the war zone,
in government-arranged buses, and
some had died en route. The hospital
is overcrowded with 1,200 people
being accommodated in a facility with
only 400 beds, said mental health
officer Karen Stewart, according to a
statement from the aid group.
U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees
Antonio Guterres was concerned about
laigest monthly text message to
tal he could find posted online:
182,000 sent in 2005 by Deepak
Sharma in India.
Andes and Klinger were able to
set up their phones to send mul
tiple messages. During a Febru
ary test run they found they could
send 6,000 or 7,000 messages on
some days, prompting the March
messaging marathon.
“Most were either short phrases
or one word, ‘LOL’ or ‘Hello,’
things like that, with tons and tons
of repeats,” said Andes, reached
by phone.
Andes sent more than 140,000
messages, and Klinger sent more
than 70,000 to end the month
with a total of just over 217,000,
he said.
A spokesman for Guinness World
Records didn’t immediately re
turn messages asking whether it
would be certified as a record.
April came as a relief to Andes’
wife, Julie, who had found his
phone tied up with texting when
she tried to call him on lunch
breaks.
“She was tired of it the first few
days into it,” Andes said.
THE CAPITAL TIMES
the “dramatic situation” for civilians
still in the war zone, said commission
spokesman Ron Redmond.
“There are innocent civilians
women and children caught in
the middle of the conflict... so the high
commissioner is saying there should
be a pause in the hostilities and the
LTTE should allow civilians to leave,”
Redmond said.
Military spokesman Brig. Udaya
Nanayakkara denied that 1,000
civilians died, saying 17 civilians were
killed Monday by rebel shelling and by
three suicide bombers.
“Our troops are rescuing the trapped
civilians. It’s the LTTE which is
preventing civilians from fleeing,”
Nanayakkara said.
It was impossible to get independent
accounts of casualties because
journalists are restricted from the war
zone.
The number of fleeing civilians made
it clear that the government had vastly
underestimated how many people were
caught in the fighting.
“Both sides need to show far greater
concern for civilians, or many more
civilians will die,” said Brad Adams,
Asia director for the New York-based
group Human Rights Watch.
A final government offensive “could
lead to a dramatic increase in the
number of civilian casualties,” the
International Committee of the Red
Guantanamo-Obama’s Plan
By ANDREW O. SELSKY
Associated Press Writer
President Barack Obama came
under fire Tuesday for including
$BO million to close Guantanamo
in a massive funding request to
fight America’s wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
The $83.4 billion request to Con
gress was submitted on April 9,
when lawmakers were on break
over the Easter holidays. Tucked
into the 99-page bill were a few
paragraphs about Guantanamo
including a request for funds
for foreign countries that accept
prisoners. U.S. efforts to have
other countries take in detainees
have largely been a flop stok
ing fears the men will end up in
America.
“The administration needs to tell
the American people what it plans
to do with these men if they close
Guantanamo,” U.S. Senate Re
publican leader Mitch McConnell
April 22.2009
Cross said.
“The situation is nothing short of
catastrophic. Ongoing fighting has
killed or wounded hundreds of
civilians who have only minimal
access to medical care,” said Red
Cross operations director Pierre
Kraehenbuehl. “I cannot remember
... as much concentrated pain and
exposure to violence with very,
very minimal possibilities to reach
anywhere that could be called safe.”
The U.N. Children’s Fund South Asia
director Daniel Toole said he was
worried about the safety of children
still in' the war zone because “our
greatest fear is that the worst is yet to
come.”
The military spokesman said there was
no fighting Tuesday evening, adding
that it avoids using heavy, long-range
weapons.
Nanayakkara said 39,081 civilians fled
the war zone Monday, the most in a
single day, and at least 13,000 people
crossed over Tuesday, with the stream
continuing.
State Department spokesman Robert
Wood said the U.S. was pleased
so many civilians had fled, but he
remained concerned about what he
called credible reports of increasing
casualties and indiscriminate firing on
civilians by rebel forces.
Encouraged by the exodus, the
government Monday asked the rebels
said on the Senate floor Tuesday.
He pointed out that two years ago
the Senate voted 94-3 against
sending detainees to the U.S.
McConnell opposes closing
Guantanamo.
“Foreign countries have thus far
been unwilling to take them in
any significant numbers. And
even if countries were willing
to take them, there’s an increas
ing probability that some of these
murderers would return to the
battlefield,” he said.
Military Families United, a mili
tary family advocacy organiza
tion, predicted the inclusion of
money to close Guantanamo in
the war-funding request “will
significantly delay the passage
of this legislation and delay our
troops from getting the funding
they need and deserve.”
“Funding for our troops cannot be
made contingent on funding for an
unrelated and politically divisive
issue like the closure of Guanta
namo Bay,” the group said.
McConnell spokesman Don Stew
art said Republicans are looking
at ways to strip the Guantanamo
money from the funding bill.
There is no move afoot to block
the entire funding bill because
“this is money for our troops,”
to surrender within 24 hours, warning
of a final assault if they failed. The
ultimatum expired at noon (2:30 a.m.
EDT) Tuesday without a response from
the rebels.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa rejected
a call by British Prime Minister
Gordon Brown for a pause in the
fighting, his office said Tuesday.
The president’s office said in a
statement that Rajapaksa deemed a
pause “unnecessary” considering the
“unexpected exodus of civilians” when
the two leaders had spoken by phone
Monday.
Red Cross spokeswoman Sarasi
Wijeratne said the organization could
not confirm or deny the figures quoted
by the military. According to figures
received by the Red Cross, 11,000
people crossed the front lines Monday
and another 5,000 came Tuesday, she
said.
The U.N. refugee agency said it is
ready to provide shelter and aid to tens
of thousands of displaced civilians.
Redmond said the UNHCR was
working with the government to make
more land available for displacement
camps because existing sites were
overcrowded, he said.
The rebels have fought since 1983 for
an independent state for Sri Lanka’s
ethnic minority Tamils. More than
70,000 people have been killed in the
years of violence.
Stewart said.
Obama seeks $3O million in Jus
tice Department funding to shut
down the Guantanamo detention
center, review U.S. detention and
interrogation procedures and fund
future litigation.
Another $5O million in Defense
Department funds sought by
Obama would support the re
location of the 240 prisoners at
Guantanamo, which Obama has
ordered closed by January, and
redeploy military and support
forces associated with the deten
tion center on the Navy base.
Some of the $5O million would
also “provide assistance to for
eign nations” as detainees are re
located.
The U.S. wants to resettle doz
ens of Guantanamo prisoners in
foreign lands, but countries have
been reluctant to take them be
cause of security concerns.
A senior Obama administration
official indicated Tuesday that
some of the funding could be
used to help foreign nations pay
for rehabilitation programs. The
official was not authorized to dis
cuss the issue publicly and spoke
on condition of anonymity.