Sri Lanka's Budget Keeps War on Rebels Going

(13 Oct 08 - RV) Sri Lanka’s foreign minister today said the war on separatist rebels will not be slowed by international financial turmoil placing pressure on the government's military budget.
The government proposed a 2009 budget in which total local and international borrowings were projected to rise by 20 percent, in part to fund a rise in the projected cost of the war.
Meanwhile,the military said today that Sri Lankan helicopters fired rockets at Tamil Tiger rebels constructing a trench during three days of clashes that killed at least 85 people.
The army last week pushed to within 2 kilometres of outer Kilinochchi, the strategic headquarters town of the Tigers, located 330 kilometres north of the capital Colombo.
Jehan Perera, the Executive Director of the National Peace Council in Sri Lanka, says that capturing Kilinochchi would be a psychological victory for the government...