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UNP and Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe's statement to the BBC where he said that the LTTE has entered the Jaffna City. The leader of Sri Lanka's main opposition party, the UNP, Ranil Wickremesinghe, has called for an urgent meeting with the President to discuss the rapidly worsening security situation in the North of the country. Tamil Tiger rebels of the LTTE are tightening their grip on Jaffna City, the latest stage in an offensive, which has forced government troops into, retreat. Jaffna City is the designated capital of the homeland the rebels are fighting to carve out of Sri Lanka's North and East. Mr. Wickremesinghe says the country is now passing through an hour of national crisis. So, does he assume, BBC's Mike Wooldridge asked him, that Jaffna is going to fall to the rebels. A: It's a very serious situation and the LTTE has entered the city. They are just within a short distance from the Secretariat. I do not know what the security forces plan, whether they are going to fight in Jaffna or whether they want to withdraw from Jaffna. My own view from 1995 was that Jaffna was not a military objective. And in taking over Jaffna, the government was really opening the doors to a defeat. Q: When you say that the Tamil Tigers are a short distance away from the Secretariat, that of course is in the heart of the city. What is your information on this? What evidence do you personally have for saying that they are that close? A: That is the information I have been getting through different sources. The Secretariat is a Centre of civil administration and I don't think even the government has, or anyone has, denied that they are in the city. But the state media has denied the fact that they have occupied the Secretariat. I have no information that they have occupied the Secretariat, but certainly they are close to the Secretariat. Q: If you were President at this time, if you were the leader of the country now, what would you be doing? A: If I were the leader of this country, I wouldn't have landed in this present mess. But, looking at this situation, what to do now, I would have taken up the offer which was made last Monday by the Indian Foreign Minister, Jaswant Singh, to negotiate a settlement between all parties concerned. The government of Sri Lanka did not respond to that offer. The offer was made after consultation with all the political parties. It was made quite seriously. I can't think of anything else that we can do at the moment since India and Norway have also been able to come to an arrangement on how they are going to coordinate the mediation. Q: Could there be anything going on behind the scenes at the moment, do you think, concerning mediation or facilitation? A: I don't think so. Well today, there is reported to be an emergency meet of the Indian Cabinet, but that's what I heard. But certainly I have not heard of any offer going out from the Sri Lankan government so far. Q: And this is presumably something you want to find out more about from the President? A: I would be taking that matter up also with the President as to what help she can get from India after the offer made by the Foreign Minister. That's the leader of Sri Lanka's main opposition party, Ranil Wickremesinghe, and BBC's Mike Wooldridge joins us now from Colombo: Q: Mike, firstly could you just clarify what Mr. Wickremesinghe was talking about there, a rebel presence already in Jaffna city. A: It's possible. His sources on this are in fact referring to something that the government has already talked about in the last 24 hours. It had said yesterday that the government forces killed what they called 12 Tamil Tigers who had been found inside the administrative centre. There's no real evidence that there is anything more than that in terms of Tamil Tiger presence actually inside the city at the moment. Certainly, residents of the city are saying today as they did yesterday that it has actually been comparatively quiet. The curfew was lifted again for several hours today, essentially for people to shop for essentials, and the impression I think is still that the rebels in force would be to the east of the city, maybe not so far outside it. But the government has again said today, it has actually repulsed a further attempt to breach its defences on that side of the city. The other information that's coming through from Jaffna today is that there have been people on the move, civilians on the move out of the city. But that there are still a large number of civilians who do appear to be staying put for the time being. Q: And very briefly, is the government do you think now resigned to stand and fight or is there still a possibility of a ceasefire and external negotiation? A: There's no sign of a ceasefire at the moment. The government is certainly making a very public commitment to stand and fight and it would claim that it has for the time being at least, blocked this rebel advance, even though it is in great difficulties. The only other talk that could bear upon this, there are suggestions here though unconfirmed, that India has been putting pressure on the LTTE not to mount this final push, certainly not at a time when there are still as I say, quite large numbers of civilians still inside the city. Obviously to avoid any large scale civilian casualties in-fighting that might take place. Mike, many thanks! That was the BBC's Mike Wooldridge speaking from Colombo.
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