The visiting French and British foreign ministers urged Sri Lanka to accept a cease-fire Wednesday in its war with ethnic Tamil rebels, saying it needed to act quickly to save the lives of civilians in the war zone. «Now is the time for the fighting to stop,» British Foreign Secretary David Miliband told reporters in Colombo. «Protection of civilians is absolutely paramount in our minds.» Miliband and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner were on a hastily planned daylong visit to Sri Lanka to express international concern for the fate of the estimated 50,000 civilians still trapped in the war zone. The two diplomats, acting as EU envoys, met Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama and called on the government to allow aid workers into the war zone. Kouchner said the government denied that request, though it agreed to give aid workers access to other parts of the north. Miliband and Kouchner also planned to tour displacement camps overwhelmed by an influx of an estimated 120,000 war refugees in the past 10 days. They were to meet Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa later Wednesday. The pair were among the highest-level European officials to visit the island since the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami. Meanwhile, the navy destroyed six rebel boats _ four of them suicide craft laden with explosives _ off the coast early Wednesday, killing at least 25 rebels, the military said in a statement.
