The United Nations Secretariat upped its rhetorical heat as carnage continued in Sri Lanka over the weekend. The military resumed shelling the last densely populated 2.5 square mile sliver of land still held by LTTE separatists. In the process, as many as 1,000 civilians trapped in the conflict zone may have been killed. This morning, the United Nations spokesperson in Sri Lanka called the killing there a ‘bloodbath.’ From the New York Times.
“The U.N. has consistently warned against the bloodbath scenario as we’ve watched the steady increase in civilian deaths over the last few months,” Gordon Weiss, the U.N. spokesman in Sri Lanka, said Monday. “The large-scale killing of civilians over the weekend, including the deaths of more than 100 children, shows that that bloodbath has become a reality.” [emphasis mine]
Reporting on this conflict has been exceedingly difficult as the Sri Lankan military has prevented the media from accessing both the conflict zone and internment camps that hold many tens of thousands of civilians who have managed to escape. However, through ingenuity and at great risk to its reporters Britain’s Channel 4 has managed to file a few reports from behind the lines, including this May 5 report from a military-run internment facility/IDP camp.
The report is difficult to watch but offers a rare look at the deplorable conditions of these thinly disguised concentration camps. The reporter, camera man and producer responsible for this report were all deported yesterday.