Colombo: Concerned over the plight of Tamils trapped in the fighting between Sri Lankan forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), UN chief Ban Ki-moon has dispatched his Chef de Cabinet Vijay Nambiar to Colombo to seek protection of civilians and help resolve the humanitarian situation there.
During his telephonic conversation with Rajapaksa, Ban reiterated his concerns about the protection of civilians as fighting continues between government forces and the LTTE, UN spokesperson Marie Okabe said.
Nambiar, a former Indian diplomat, will meet top Sri Lankan officials and discuss ways to rescue tens of thousands of trapped civilians in no-fire zone and to provide humanitarian assistance to them.
"As you will recall, the Secretary-General urged the Government of Sri Lanka to explore all possible options to bring the conflict to an end without further bloodshed and to make public the terms under which that can be achieved without further loss of civilian life," she said.
"He urged the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to give sober and positive consideration of those terms."
Members of the Security Council on Wednesday expressed grave concern over the worsening crisis in northern Sri Lanka, in particular the reports of hundreds of civilian casualties in recent days.
As thousands of trapped civilians continued to flee the war zone, Sri Lankan government on Friday said the LTTE would be stamped out within the next 48 hours, signaling that a final offensive against the rebels was on.
"President Mahinda Rajapaksa has vowed that within the next 48 hours, thousands of Tamil civilians will be freed from the clutches of the Tamil Tigers," a government spokesman said.
He said the President has also assured "all territory would be freed from the Tamil Tigers' control".
Rajapaksa's comments came as on the battle-front Sri Lankan forces pushed back the OLTTE confining them to 1.5 sq km area by Thursday night.
Sri Lankan army has massed 20,000-25,000 troops for the final onslaught and these forces have encircled an estimated 1,200-1,500 remnants of the LTTE.
Over 5,500 Tamil civilians have moved out of the fast shrinking LTTE-control areas as a military spokesman said that forces were bracing thousands more.
According to UN estimates, 50,000 civilians still remain trapped in the no-fire zone and any sharp dwindling in their strength could give Sri Lankan forces more room to crush the LTTE, who have lost much of their fire power.
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