Rebels push for truce

Sri Lanka's separatist rebels have asked Britain and France to continue pushing for a ceasefire in the island's civil war after the two European nations' foreign ministers failed to secure a halt in the fighting to allow civilians to evacuate.

The Tamil Tiger rebels' political head, Balasingham Nadesan, wrote on Saturday to British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and his French counterpart, Bernard Kouchner, saying the insurgents are ready to "engage in the process to bring about a ceasefire and enter into negotiations for an enduring resolution to the conflict."