Sri Lanka: Displaced flood into Vavuniya as government, LTTE fighting ends

With the end of the fighting in Mullaitivu district, a new influx of internally displaced people (IDPs) is flooding into Vavuniya, the district adjoining Sri Lanka's northern conflict zone.

Since Friday some 40,000 IDPs have arrived in Vavuniya and another 40,000 are expected in the course of this week, according to IOM Vavuniya Head of office Michele Cecere.

"IOM is working flat out with the government and our partners in the international community to provide these people with the basic essentials that they need to survive - shelter, water, sanitation and basic health care," he says. Read more ...