COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP):

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) must insist that Sri Lanka's government respect media rights and the rule of law before granting any new lending, a press freedom group said yesterday.

The Sri Lankan military's recent successes against separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in the north have been accompanied by a "ruthless campaign" against the media and dissidents, the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders wrote in a letter to the IMF.

The government is trying to negotiate an emergency IMF loan worth $1.9 billion to boost its economy, which has been ravaged by decades of civil war and a global financial meltdown.

"In return for granting this loan, we urge you to obtain specific undertakings from the government to respect press freedom and the rule of law," Jean-Francois Julliard, secretary general of the press group, wrote to IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn. The letter was also distributed to news outlets by email.

Although the military seems on the verge of crushing the Tamil Tigers' quarter-century insurgency, journalists are still largely banned from the northern war zone, making it difficult for independent journalists to verify government and rebel reports of the conflict. The government argues the area is too dangerous for non-combatants.