Sri Lanka president orders New Year halt to fighting

By Ranga Sirilal and C. Bryson Hull

COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's president on Sunday ordered the military not to attack the Tamil Tigers during a two-day holiday to let thousands of civilians escape a no-fire zone where they are being held by the separatists.

Soldiers have encircled the remnants of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in a 17 square km (6 sq mile) no-fire zone on the northeast coast, and are close to crushing them and ending Asia's longest-running civil war.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa said people should be "given uninhibited freedom of movement from the no-fire zone" in the Sinhala and Tamil New Year period on Monday and Tuesday, and again urged the Tigers to surrender and renounce violence.

"With this objective in view, His Excellency has directed the armed forces of the state to restrict their operations during the New Year to those of a defensive nature," the presidential statement said.

There was no immediate comment from the LTTE, whose agreement to let the civilians go is essential.

The United Nations and witnesses say people are being kept as human shields and forced conscripts, or being shot as they try to flee.

The LTTE so far has refused any diplomatic entreaties to let the civilians go and insists they are staying by choice.

Diplomats have been working furiously to negotiate an exit strategy for the people, who number 60,000 according to the government and around 100,000, according to the United Nations.