Sri Lanka:Thousands Caught in Conflict
28 January 2009: Concerns are rising over the safety of tens of thousands of civilians trapped in conflict-affected areas in northern Sri Lanka. As confrontations between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Government of Sri Lanka escalated this past month, at least 230,000 civilians are at risk, most of whom have already been displaced multiple times by the fighting. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed today his deep concern about the safety and well-being of civilians caught in intensified fighting in the Vanni Region of Sri Lanka and called on both parties to respect “no fire zones”, “safe areas” and the “civilian infrastructure”, including schools, medical facilities, humanitarian facilities and assets.
In January, the Government withdrew from the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement and military activities increased in the northern Vanni Region. An inter-Agency support mission dispatched in the area on 29 and 30 December noted an increasing vulnerability of the civilian population due to several factors including: ongoing fighting, new and repeated displacement into an increasingly compressed area, flood damage, and reduced capacity to address urgent shelter and sanitation needs.
The Office of the of the UN Resident/Humanitarian Coordinator in Colombo issued a strong protest on 22 January to the LTTE for refusing to allow national staff traveling with a UN aid convoy to return from the Vanni area. “The LTTE’s denial of safe passage is a clear abrogation of their obligation under international humanitarian law”, said the statement. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has also called on the LTTE to ensure the free movement of hundreds of thousands of children out of conflict areas. “They are close to the fighting and have poor access to healthcare and shelter as well as proper water and sanitation”, said UNICEF country representative.
In a statement released on January 16, the Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator called upon the LTTE to allow civilians to be able to move freely in areas where they feel most secure and for the Government to receive newly displaced people according to internationally agreed principles. Mr. Holmes also noted that “while civilians have access to basic food…… they have few or any reserves, and the conditions of their basic shelter, water and sanitation are increasingly inadequate as many have been displaced multiple times over the last months, weeks and days.”
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