The situation in Sri Lanka is steadily worsening...

U.N. official decries Sri Lanka civilian killings
Tue 23 May 2006 12:49 PM ET
GENEVA, May 23 (Reuters) - The United Nation's top human rights official on Tuesday expressed concern over mounting violence in Sri Lanka, including killings of civilians, as the country teeters on the brink of civil war.

Louise Arbour, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said staff of humanitarian agencies were also being threatened in the Indian Ocean island country of about 20 million people.

"These violations are not only ceasefire violations, but also serious breaches of international human rights and humanitarian law," Arbour said in a statement.

A ceasefire between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger rebels, who want to carve out a separate homeland in the north and east, is officially still in effect but more than 270 troops and civilians have died in skirmishes since early April.

Tamil rebels and Nordic truce monitors have both said the country was locked in a "low intensity war" though the government disagrees, saying it was only retaliating in limited bursts.