Murray McCully

Wellington, April 22 NZPA - New Zealand is calling on both sides of violence in Sri Lanka to show restraint.

Foreign Minister Murray McCully appealed to Sri Lankan government forces and the Tamil Tigers to heed international calls to stop fighting.

Satellite imagery has shown tens of thousands of Sri Lankan civilians squeezed into the last small strip of land controlled by Tamil Tiger rebels.

The United States State Department said a recent image of the conflict zone showed about 25,000 tents packed into a 20 sq km coastal strip.

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 also have accused the government of indiscriminate shelling in the region. Both sides deny the allegations.

The United Nations and others have called for a negotiated truce to allow civilians to leave the rebel-held coastal strip.

The Sri Lankan government has refused to heed 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.

Mr McCully said both sides needed to stop fighting and look for a long-term solution.

"While the news is welcome that many thousands of civilians have managed to escape the conflict zone in recent days, we remain deeply concerned for the safety of the tens of thousands of people that are still trapped by the fighting," he said.

"Both sides of this conflict must let civilians leave the area safely, and allow urgently needed medical assistance and food supplies to be delivered unhindered."

Mr McCully said international agencies and media should be allowed access to the conflict zone to independently monitor what was happening.

Labour MP Grant Robertson said the conflict was a humanitarian catastrophe.

"I met again this morning with members of the New Zealand Tamil community who hold grave fears for their relatives in the area," he said.

The killings and trapped civilians were a catastrophe.

"There must be a halt to fighting to allow civilians to move to safety," he said.

Mr Robertson said a negotiated political settlement was needed.

"The international community, including New Zealand, must act to ensure that a political solution becomes the focus in Sri Lanka, and that lives of civilians are saved."

He called on the government to raise the issue at the UN Security Council meeting to be held next week.

NZPA PAR Reuters mt nb