Uninterrupted healthcare for IDPs during rainy season

The Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry will make arrangements to protect the health of IDPs’ health during North Eastern Monsoon due shortly. The Ministry will ensure an uninterrupted comprehensive healthcare service for all IDPs during the rainy season.

Neither communicable diseases nor other health problems have been reported from the welfare villages so far, a Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry spokesman said.

He said arrangements will be made to cement the floors of the shelters, to keep extra tents ready for use during an emergency and to identify alternative accommodation places for flood prone areas, especially for the elders and disabled persons.

Existing health facilities will be strengthened and drug storing facilities will be increased. The ministry officials headed by Healthcare and Nutrition Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva had a discussion in this regard recently.

According to the spokesman, the Ministry will also take steps to ensure that water and sanitation ware of high quality. Read more ...

Fresh LTTE threat emerges from IDP camps

Close on the heels of evidence that LTTE terrorists masquerading as civilians are making an attempt to control civilians held at welfare camps in the Vavuniya region, an influential section of the security establishment believes the camp population should be re-located to smaller camps.

Intelligence services have brought this to the notice of the Defence Ministry.

A senior government official told The Island that authorities in charge of camps had been unable to run overcrowded camps effectively. He said that there could be hundreds of LTTE cadres, including members of suicide squads and intelligence wing cadres among the civilian population. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the official said the military and the police could not effectively manage camps nor identify the wanted men and women as camps hold far too many people. Read more ...

Northern rehabilitation moves fast

Thirty-five to forty percent of the 180 day 'Wadakkin Wasantham' (Northern Spring) resettlement and rehabilitation program spearheaded under the leadership of senior Presidential Advisor Basil Rajapaksa MP has been completed, with 35 villages in Vavuniya now ready to receive IDPs for resettlement, Vavuniya GA Ms.P.S.M.Charles told the Sunday Observer. Statements relating to 100,000 prospective resettlers among the IDPs have already been forwarded to the security forces and the respective GAs for their confirmation and the resettlement process will begin immediately on receipt of the confirmations, she said.

Under the 'Wadakkin Wasantham' program IDPs will be resettled in Vavuniya, Jaffna, Mannar, Batticaloa and Trincomalee areas, she said.

IDPs belonging to the Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts would not be resettled immediately for reasons of their own security, she said. Read more ...

Tigers still taking cover among IDP’s says IGP

The police said that there was irrefutable evidence that many LTTE cadres, including hardcore operatives, continued to take refuge among civilians accommodated at welfare centres in the Vavuniya region.

The police top brass Friday (August 28) said that interrogation of suspects taken from welfare camps had led to a spate of recent detections in areas formerly under LTTE control.

At a Police Headquarters press briefing on Friday (August 28), IGP Jayantha Wickremaratne said that since the collapse of the LTTE last May, the police had made substantial recoveries on information provided by LTTE suspects.

One of the biggest detection had been made on August 21 when an LTTE suspect led the police to a buried arsenal comprising 114,000 rounds of pistol (.45) ammunition, 27,990 rounds of 5.56 ammunition and 5,368 rounds of 23 mm ammunition at Vallipuram, he said. Read more ...

"Free movement of IDPs after all LTTE cadres apprehended"

There is reliable information that LTTE cadres have infiltrated refugee welfare centres and as such, the Government has to take utmost care in permitting even the limited freedom of movement of the IDPs until these elements were identified and apprehended under the ongoing screening process, said Disaster Management and Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe on Friday at the Hotel Taj Samudra. Over fifty percent of the 270,000 IDPs have already been registered and the rest will be registered and screened. The Government cannot take any chance given the LTTE propensity to cause maximum carnage among the civilian population by launching terrorist acts, he said.

Minister Samarasinghe was delivering the keynote address after inaugurating the two-day seminar on "Winning the War to Winning Peace: Postwar Rebuilding of Society", jointly organised by the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies (RCSS) and the Centre for Security Analysis (CSA),Chennai.

The issue of the freedom of movement of IDPs was currently before the Supreme Court, he said adding that the Government bears a responsibility to the rest of the people of Sri Lanka to care for their safety. This decision was taken after careful scrutiny of the rights of the IDPs and the rest of the population. Read more ...

Rise of ruins from ravages of war

They are remains of dilapidated edifices with bullet-riddled walls, overgrown with trees, abandoned and neglected- some centuries old. Many are the monuments and sites of archaeological importance in Jaffna that still stand, though battered and broken, mute testimony to the impact of the country’s three decades-long bitter war.

However, as a new chapter in the history of Sri Lanka begins with the dawn of peace, efforts are being made to return the war-torn areas to normalcy and it is in this back- drop that archaeological and historical sites in the north have been identified to undergo a face lift.

Officer in charge -Immediate and Special Explorations—Exploration and Documentation Division of the Department of Archaeology, T. M.C. Bandara said after the conclusion of the war, Archaeological Department teams visited the North on two occasions, mainly to identify the historically important sites before the launch of development activities under the Uthuru Wasanthaya programme. He also said that these sites will play a vital role as tourist attractions after these areas have been developed. Read more ...

Lanka launches cultivation programme in Jaffna peninsula

Over 1100 acres of land abandoned in strife-torn Jaffna peninsula will be developed by the Sri Lankan government under a cultivation programme by giving huge subsidies to the farmers.


"Marking another historic achievement in the Northern Development drive the government yesterday inaugurated a massive cultivation project in the Jaffna peninsula with cultivation of 1124 acres of Paddy land," an official statement said today.

This project falls under the Government's 'Uthuru Wasanthaya' (Vadakkin Vasantham) development programme is an initiative of the Presidential Task Force chaired by senior presidential advisor and parliamentarian Basil Rajapaksa. Read more ...

ACHC welcomes priests release

The All Ceylon Hindu Congress (ACHC) has welcomed the action taken by the Government to release Hindu priests and their families from IDP welfare villages.

ACHC General Secretary Kandiah Neelakandan said: "We wish to record with appreciation the arrangements made by Basil Rajapaksa MP, to release 177 Hindu Priests including 573 family members from the camps to All Ceylon Hindu Congress (a Federation of Hindu Religious Associations and Temple Trusts in Sri Lanka).

44 families (155 family members) of Hindu Priests have been released to be settled in Vavuniya, eight families (34 family members) of Hindu Priests will be arranged to be sent to be settled in Mannar. Arrangements are being made to send 58 families (222 family members) of Hindu Priests to Jaffna and six families (24 family members) of Hindu Priests will be sent to the Eastern Province. Read more ...

Mine Clearing and settlement of IDPs

According to a news report (Bloomberg) dated 27 August 2009, Presidential Advisor Basil Rajapaksa has stated mine clearance would determine the pace of that settlement of IDPs in the Vanni. This statement has to be examined against two positions.

The first is what some observers say is the undertaking given by the government to India during the visit of Security advisor Menon and the former Foreign Secretary of India soon after the LTTE was defeated in the field and later by Basil Rajapakse during his visit to India. The second is the pressure exerted by the West in general and especially by the U.S. administration, NGO and the Bishop in Sri Lanka. The U.S. pressure group in the administration is led by former U.S.Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Robert O Blake who is now Assistant Secretary for Asia in the Dept. of State and his colleague, Eric Schwartz , Assistant Secretary of the Dept of Population, Refugees and Migration.

The problem of resettlement of IDPs in the Vanni in Sri Lanka is not something that could be evaluated by people sitting in Washington or in the Bishop’s House in Colombo. They look at things from different points of view, more from human rights angle as Eric Schwartz opted, calling for voluntary resettlement, emphasizing the freedom for people to decide where they should go and when. That is American ethos applied to Japanese-Americans after the war –“Go anywhere you like. Here’s $25 [pocket money and a train ticket”-language]. The Bishop may be looking at things from a purely humanitarian angle considering the immense suffering the internees have to endure all round, now made worse by the weather. Read more ...

Tigers have infiltrated Vavuniya IDP camp- Minister Samarasinghe

The government has reliable information that LTTE cadres have infiltrated the ranks of the IDPs in Vavuniya and utmost care has to be taken in permitting even limited freedom of movement as the risk exists of LTTE cadres posing as civilian IDPs and entering the general population, Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights Mahinda Samarasinghe said while speaking at a seminar in Colombo today

Speaking on the on the topic “Winning the War to Winning the Peace: Postwar Rebuilding of Society” at the seminar organized by the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies Minister Samarasinghe said the government has screened and readied for release over 10,000 persons from welfare centres and relief villages who are elderly, are pregnant or lactating mothers or are children.

“We have reliable information that LTTE cadres have infiltrated the ranks of the IDPs. Until the screening process is complete and these elements are identified and apprehended we have to take utmost care in permitting even limited freedom of movement as the risk exists of LTTE cadres posing as civilian IDPs and entering the general population. This is a chance we cannot afford to take. The decision was not taken lightly but rather by a careful balancing of the rights of the IDPs against those of the rest of the population, especially given the LTTE’s propensity to cause maximum carnage among the civilian population by launching terrorist acts.”

He also said that Sri Lanka needs to be on our guard against those, particularly Western, media outlets which, by disseminating disinformation spread by the LTTE network’s remnants and their proxies, constantly seek to besmirch the name of Sri Lanka.

He recalled that a few days ago a horrifying video of supposed executions of Tamil persons in January this year was played on a Western television channel’s news programme and the canard was immediately picked up by many news organs and given wide publicity. Read more ...

Sri Lanka Will Resettle 50,000 Tamil War Refugees in Two Weeks

Sri Lanka said it will resettle 50,000 mostly Tamil refugees within two weeks as the international community presses for their release from camps where they have been held since the civil war ended in May.

The refugees will return to their homes, including in Kilinochchi, the former headquarters of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, and Mullaitivu, where Tamil Tiger forces made their last stand, the government said.

The U.S. is leading calls for the swift return of more than 280,000 refugees to their homes. The U.K.’s opposition Conservative Party said yesterday they have spent 100 days in camps since the war ended and called on Sri Lanka to allow “full and unrestricted access” by United Nations workers and aid groups to the centers. Read more ...

Additional classes for O/L students at welfare centres

The Ministry of Education has made arrangements to hold additional classes for GCE O/L candidates in Welfare Centres during September.

Minister Susil Premajayantha revealed this during a function at his Ministry yesterday to hand over Rs. 800,000 worth of library books to schools in the Welfare Centres, donated by Government schools and private sources. The Minister also said that already a large number of programs are being implemented in relation to the education of the displaced students in the North and that the Ministry has already spent Rs.130 million on books, uniforms, desks, chairs and benches for a 86,000 student population and on dress material for 1800 teachers. Read more ...

Recent visit to sri lanka: summary report by tamil expats

We saw remarkable improvements in the IDP camps, though conditions cannot be described as perfect. The United Nations agencies insist these camps be of a temporary nature and this dictate the housing and other infra-structure facilities be such. However, it was observed the housing and toilets constructed by the Sri Lankan authorities were more durable and climate friendly than those constructed by the UN agencies. The UN agencies were obviously constrained by their definition of the word ‘Temporary’ and the material for housing that are standard issue the world over. The IDP camps have become functional communities with schools, temples, shops, banks, reading rooms and medical centres. The limitations existing in these camps largely arise from the fact that they are temporary. The outer perimeter barbed wire fences exist and the IDPs are not permitted move in and out of the camps, unless taken out to the Vavuniya hospital for medical reasons. We did not hear any complaints about these restrictions from the residents of these camps. The security concerns and safety of the refugees are yet paramount and the restrictions are acceptable to the inmates.

Discussions with the residents in these camps revealed they were relieved to be in safe havens, after their near-death and other harrowing experiences in the war front. Their main concerns were about split family units and about their missing relatives. Many were yet near tears in memory of the loved ones who died in the exchanges of fire in the war front or those who were killed by the LTTE while trying to escape. We heard heart rending tales on how the LTTE brutally conscripted their young children and the equally heart rending measures they took to protect their children. The black marketing of essential foods and the incineration of food stocks when evacuating areas, by the LTTE were frequently mentioned with extreme resentment. The residents we spoke to were resentful of the LTTE behaviour during the fourth Eelam war and were quite open in condemning the Tamil Diaspora, for having blindly supported the LTTE. Read more ...

Resettled Muslim IDPs chased out of Verugal – Hakeem Just five days after govt. enacted a political exhibition

The government made a "political exhibition" of resettling 75 Muslim IDP families in Verugal, Trincomalee, on August 13, 2009 but five days later the Ichalampattu Pradeshiya Sabha Secretary, chased them out of the area, the SLMC alleged yesterday.

Leader of the SLMC Rauff Hakeem said at a news conference in Colombo, the families that were driven out were natives of the area. "Muslims have been living in Upparu, Verugal in Trincomalee, since 1888 and some of them have land deeds dated 1933."

He, said that the August 13, ceremony to re-settle the IDP families in Verugal was presided over by Cooperatives Minister Abdul Majeed, the Verugal Pradeshiya Secretary and the Verugal Priest. "But just five days after the political exhibition was enacted, the Ichalampattu Pradeshiya Sabha Secretary, thought it fit to chase out the Muslim families, who for years have been pushed from pillar to post."

The resettlement process was good in principle, but the procedures adopted were seriously flawed, Hakeem said. Read more ...

Govt.’s delay to resettle IDPs politically motivated – Mano

The President of Parliamentarians For Human Rights, Mano Ganeshan yesterday said that the secret behind the Government not resettling the IDPs was to make use of their 175,000 or more votes to the Governments advantage at any forthcoming Presidential or Parliamentary elections.

The Leader of the Democratic Peoples Front (DPF) made this assertion at a briefing of local and foreign media on the "Other side of the story of Internally Displaced Persons in Sri Lanka", at Hotel Nippon in Colombo yesterday.

"The IDP camps in the North are symbols of shame and a disgrace to our proud Sri Lankan history". Nowhere in the world could one witness or hear of internally displaced people being put behind barbed wire in camps. This does not happen in Gaza, Palestine, Afghanistan or Iraq, but only in the country where major religions as Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism are followed and preached. Read more ...

Money pours in for IDP health care

The World Health Organization has spent over 250 million rupees for the health care of the internally displaced up to date, the Health Ministry said yesterday. A spokesman of the Health Ministry said that the German and Italian governments too had donated Rs.225 million and Rs. 200 million for the health care of the internally displaced respectively.

The donations have been spent on purchasing drugs, equipment and medical facilities for the IDPs, he said. The Indian government alone provided around three hundred million rupees worth of drugs for IDP health care. They also have provided a field hospital with sixty doctors. The hospital is situated at the Chettikulam welfare camp.

The spokesman said French, German and American Medical teams are also providing health care services to the IDP’s.

Meanwhile a medical representative serving at the welfare camps, Dr. Easara Kottegoda said that donor organizations had provided over one billion rupees for IDP care. Stating the services provided by the doctors and nurses serving in welfare camps he said they had been able to control communicable diseases. Read more ...

Impending Disaster for the IDPs if they are released

Monsoon rains in the Vanni

On the fifteenth of August, at the the hallowed feast of Madhu, the Right Reverend Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith called for the "the immediate release of the IDPs". Top officials of the US government, probably still following the briefings of Robert Blake, have stated that "Release from confinement is an issue that friends of Sri Lanka continue to raise." The Island Editorial on the 21st of August has reviewed some of these calls to release the IDPs, and stated some of the ground realities in very clear terms.

The ostensible reason for the new call for the immediate release of the IDPs is that the Menik Farm area is flooded. Additionally, we are told that there is no reason to keep the young and the old in the camps. So, are they suggesting forcible separation of the young and the old from their families? If the Vanni villages are to be reconstructed, surely it is the able bodied who should be released, while the young and the old are retained and cared for in the camps! Read more ...

Govt. to resettle 5,864 IDP families before August 31

The Government has decided to resettle 5,864 IDP families who had fled their villages in Sampathnuwara in Mullaitivu due to LTTE threats, before August 31, Presidential Secretariat sources said.

Minister of Nation Building, Susantha Punchinilame said that following President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s directive that there should be no delay in resettling the IDPs, the process is now being handled within the 180-day Uthuru Vasanthaya program.

A meeting chaired by senior Presidential Advisor and Head of Presidential Task Force Basil Rajapaksa, MP, was held at the Mahaweli Community Training Centre in Anuradhapura in July and it was decided that the Weli Oya IDPs should be resettled before August 31.

The Survey Department has launched a survey of these areas from August 20 and 50 million rupees had been set aside to resettle these 5864 IDP families of whom 3364 families were registered settlers whilst 1500 families were unregistered families. Read more ...

No visible progress in bringing reconciliation to SL

US Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake could be ‘way off the mark’ when he questions Sri Lanka’s progress in resettling and rehabilitating the IDPs of the North but has given the country and its political leadership something to deeply ponder over and be concerned about when he says that they are very wanting on the question of bringing reconciliation to Sri Lanka.

Ideally, there should be rapid progress in the screening of IDPs and their resettlement but this operation is fraught with risks on account of the possibility of quite a few former LTTE cadres masquerading as civilians. Admittedly, the screening process has to be carried out with considerable circumspection in view of this risk and the state could not afford to be careless on this score, lest ex-LTTE members mingle with the population segment in question and pose a future security threat to the state. Read more ...

US provides funds to bridge the language gap in Eastern Sri Lanka

The United States government in an effort to overcome the language barrier between the Sinhala and Tamil communities is providing funds to train government officials in both languages.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is providing Sinhala and Tamil language training to elected government officials and staff from 11 local government authorities in Eastern Province, the US Embassy in Colombo announced in a press release today.

USAID is funding a three-year initiative to promote good governance and human security in the East entitled Supporting Regional Governance (SuRG) with the goal to build participatory and transparent local government and to improve responsiveness to local community needs, according to the press release. Read more ...

Sri Lanka Mobitel to spend US$30mn to cover former war zone

Mobitel, a unit of fixed access carrier Sri Lanka Telecom will spend up to 30 million US dollars expanding in to former war zones in the north and the east of the country, a top official said.

Chief executive Suren Amarasekera said the firm would be spending about 5 million US dollars immediately to cover the 'A-9' highway, which gives access to Jaffna.
The firm expects to have the northern network running before the end of the year. The government wiped out the last remnants of Tamil Tiger separatists in May.

"The timeline depends of defence authority clearance," he said. "We will also provide high speed data access so that people can access the best technology." Read more ...

Island-wide census after 30 years

The Department of Census and Statistics is to conduct the first island-wide population and housing census after thirty years: the last survey done 10 years ago did not include the then LTTE dominated areas.

"The initial work pertaining to the mapping of housing units and collecting data of persons living within a domestic unit has been commenced at the Grama Niladhari Divisional level," said Director General of the Department of Census and Statistics, D.B.P.S. Vidyaratne.

The survey is scheduled to be completed by 2011, he said.

The Department seeks public assistance and cooperation to make the census accurate.

A census of Population and Housing is an official count of the population in Sri Lanka and the number of dwellings. It is the only such data source in the country. Read more ...

Sri Lanka to reopen 17 closed schools in North

Sri Lanka Ministry of Education has taken steps to soon reopen several schools in the Northern Province which have been closed due to the war.

The Ministry added that 17 closed schools in the North would reopen for the third term of this year to facilitate the education opportunities to internally displaced children.

Education Ministry statistics point out that nearly 8,000 children living in the welfare camps in Vavuniya wish to recommence school activities. Read more ...

Expectant mothers and children in IDPcamps helped

Micronutrient vitamins, Thiamine, Ribo Flavin, Niacin, and Folic acid were administered to 2,900 expectant mothers at the Cheddikulam welfare camps. In addition, 40,000 children were provided with nutrients to prevent anemia and other nutritional deficiencies.

The Health Ministry in collaboration with the Family Health Bureau, UNICEF, Saving Lives organization which is funded by UNAIDS participated in the Multiple Micronutrients Programme on Thursday (20).

Mothers to be in zone one of the Cheddikulam camp, watched expectantly as the Health Ministry and the UNICEF got things moving to provide them with the necessary micro nutrients for the healthy growth of their babies, and an UNICEF Representative told them of what was being done.

The young mothers are eager to follow instructions, said Mrs. Karunaratne, a Nursing Sister serving at the Internally Displaced Camps said. "We explained to them the need for the vitamins, the minerals during pregnancy. We have told them that if they want healthy intelligent babies, they would have to follow instructions given by us," she said. Read more ...

Govt. says it has a million mouths to feed in IDP camps

Rejecting allegations that internally displaced Northern Tamils, were suffering in refugee camps, the government said yesterday that it has to feed a million mouths each day.

Export Development and International Trade Minister G. L. Peiris, asked about Opposition allegations that 280,000 IDP’s had to put up with inhuman conditions, said that it was easy to criticize, but the government was doing a tough job under trying circumstances.

"We are willing to rectify any wrongs, but it must be remembered that a huge effort is being put in, to make the IDP’s comfortable. Nearly a million mouths have to be fed each day."

Media Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa, when referred to IDP requests that they be permitted to live with their relations in Sri Lanka or go abroad, said that such stories were being spread by opportunistic Opposition politicians.

"As a government, we are doing our best. Some of the IDP’s have already been resettled." Read more ...

India ready to help reconstruct North

Deputy Foreign Minister Hussein Bhaila told Parliament yesterday the Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee during his recent visit to Sri Lanka, expressed India's readiness to participate in the reconstruction of Northern Sri Lanka so as to overcome the ravages of armed conflict and also lay the economic and political foundation for a sustainable peace in which all communities in Sri Lanka feel comfortable.

The Indian External Affairs Minister in his discussion with the President also stressed the India will work together with Sri Lanka on a reconstruction plan for these areas which involves infrastructure development and other support.

The Indian Minister held detailed and productive discussions with President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Deputy Foreign Minister said. Read more ...

Over 59,000 families resettled in past months

Re-settlement and Disaster Relief Services Minister Rishad Bathiudeen told Parliament yesterday the Government has re-settled 59,608 displaced families in Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Mannar, Ampara and Jaffna Divisional Secretariat (DS) divisions during the past few months.

According to figures, 35, 766 families have been re-settled in Batticaloa DS division while 22,068 families have been re-settled in Trincomalee DS division. The Government has re-settled 669 families in Mannar, 51 families in Ampara and 1,054 families in Jaffna DS divisions.

The Minister said the number of persons displaced in 2009 is 288,938. Of these total number of displaced persons, 224,394 persons have been sheltered in six Relief Villages set-up in the Vavuniya district.

This includes 19,690 persons in the Kadiragamar Relief Village, 47,202 persons in Ananda Kumarswamy Relief Village (Zone 01), 65,210 persons in Pon Ramanadan Relief Village (Zone 02), 44, 496 persons in the Arunachalam Relief Village (Zone 03), 42,316 persons in Relief Village (Zone 04) and 5,480 persons in Relief Village (Zone 05). Read more ...

Jaffna IDP resettlement nearing completion

The resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons in some of the Peninsula villages is nearing completion. The area has been cleared of all mines prior to the resettlement. It was essential to get the clearance certificate from the UN before resettling the displaced people in the areas affected by mines, Social Services and Social Welfare Minister Douglas Devananda said.

He told The Island that as Chairman of Jaffna Special Task Force he had been assigned to resettle a large number of people in Navatkuli, Kaithady and Maravanpulo villages.

Minister Devananda said that his aim was to resettle the IDPs in their original places as quickly as possible. For the last 10 years all infrastructure facilities in the area had been destroyed due to a devastating war. Read more ...

Sri Lanka to step up mine clearing: army

Sri Lanka's military is to send more troops to clear land mines in areas recently wrested from Tamil rebel control so that civilians can return to their homes, the top army officer said Thursday.

"I have already sent 400 engineering troops for de-mining and I am sending more battalions to be trained in 'humanitarian de-mining'," Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya told reporters after a ceremony at the Armoured Corp headquarters in Colombo.

The army chief, who took over the 200,000-strong forces in July, said he also planned to deploy heavy equipment to clear vast mine-fields in the Wanni region where the final battles with the Tamil Tigers were fought.

Jayasuriya said the military did not have a precise estimate for the number of mines planted by the defeated Tamil Tiger guerrillas, but ground troops had encountered extensive mine fields during the final battles.

"We have four international non-governmental organisations helping us now and I want to use mechanised mine clearing to speed up the process," he said adding that the process was key to re-settling war displaced civilians. Read more ...

IDPs would not be resettled until threats to their lives removed – CDS Gen. Fonseka

Resettlement of those in the welfare camps will not be haphazardly carried out although some groups demand it, Chief of the Defence Staff General Sarath Fonseka told the Mahanayake Theros of Malwatte and Asgiriya yesterday (17).

General Fonseka, after paying homage to the Sacred Tooth Relic, called on the prelate of Malwatte Most Venerable Tibbatuwawe Sri Siddhartha Sumangala Thera and on the prelate of Asgiriya most Ven. Udugama Sri Buddharakkitha Thera.

The visit marked the third month of liberating the country from LTTE terrorism.

Disclosing the current situation on the rehabilitation activities in the North General Sarath Fonseka told the prelates those in the IDP camps could not be resettled in their former homesteads because of security risks.

There are many more land-mines to be removed besides those in the welfare camps should be scanned since there are terrorists among them. At least five or six LTTE cadres are identified every week, General Fonseka said. Read more ...

More donations for Northern rail track restoration project

Employees of the Ceylon-German Technical Training Institute have donated a day’s salary towards the Uthuru Mithuru flagship project to rebuild the Northern railway track.

Two special donations were also made for the Uthuru Mithuru fund by Lakdiva Engineering Company (Pvt) Ltd and the Wayamba University.

The donations were handed over to Transport Minister Dullas Alahapperuma by the heads of these establishments at a function at the Transport Ministry recently.

The concept has already received positive responses with Commercial Bank stepping in to construct railway stations on the Northern line, and the Janatha Estate Development Board providing manpower to construct the stations. Read more ...

Artificial limbs for IDPs

Social Services Ministry Secretary Vijil Jegarajasingham yesterday said, they have arranged to provide artificial limbs to those IDPs in relief centres in the Vavuniya district, who have lost their arms and legs due to LTTE firing and shelling as they were fleeing to escape form the uncleared areas in the Vanni.

Jegarajasingham said, the first set of artificial limbs were distributed to 60 Internally Displaced Persons among them children on Sunday.

Friend In Need (FIN), a Non Governmental Organization is providing financial assistance to procure and distribute these artificial limbs to the displaced persons in Vavuniya relief centres she said.

She said "The Friend In Need staffers are presently in Vavuniya relief centres in an effort to help the physically disabled IDPs to provide them with medical assistance and artificial limbs." Read more ...

India gives more relief

Indian High Commissioner Alok Prasad yesterday handed over to the UN Resident Representative Neil Buhne, the fourth consignment of relief goods from India meant for the IDP population in northern Sri Lanka. The 600-ton consignment, which arrived in Colombo on August 8 and valued at over USD 3 million is a symbol of India's continuing concern for the welfare of the IDPs, said a press release issued by the Indian High Commission yesterday.

The consignment consists of more than 600,000 packages of grocery items, utensils, plastic mats, clothing materials including children's clothing, footwear, jerry cans and personal hygiene items. Almost all the items in the consignment are sufficient to cover the needs of 80,000 families, i.e. nearly the entire IDP population in the north. Read more ...

Related story ...

Displaced to be resettled in Mahaweli System L

An area south of Nedunkerni and Kebettigollewa has been identified for resettlement of about 1,500 to 2,000 displaced families before the end of this year.

“We hope to increase this to 25,000 families immediately thereafter by developing agriculture and livestock breeding to uplift the living standards of these families in Mahaweli System L,” said Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka Director General Dharmasiri de Alwis.

He said before developing agriculture, attention should be paid to developing irrigation. “We decided to facilitate the development of the systems such as H, B, C, D and L under the Mahaweli Ganga Development Project (MGDP),” de Alwis said.

More than 125,000 families in systems H, B, C and G will be resettled. In 1988, the Government decided to add another system under the Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka in settling families providing opportunities by utilizing Mahaweli water. Later this system and the development area was called system L which is among the 13 systems under MGDP,” he said. Read more ...

Rain affected IDPs reduced to mere 500

At the commencement of the North-East monsoonal rains last week, almost 21,000 IDPs in the Vavuniya Welfare Centres were badly affected but due to emergency relief operations carried by the authorities those affected have been reduced to a mere 500 at present, Vavuniya District Secretary Ms P. M. S. Charles said.

Due to the sudden downpour last week some welfare centres got flooded but most of the affected have been shifted to new camps put up at higher elevations and they have been supplied with cooked meals, the District Secretary further said.

IDPs at welfare centres at zone 4 were worst affected due to the flooding. Toilet pits were washed away due to the floods but a proper drainage system has been put in place now and the problem solved, she said. Read more ...

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Over 15,000 IDP families to be resettled

The Government yesterday said over 15,000 IDP families from the Jaffna district will be resettled in their original homes soon.

According to Resettlement and Relief Services Minister Rishad Badiudeen, the authorities have already identified over 15,000 displaced families who claim themselves to be the residents of Jaffna and their details have been forwarded to the authorities in the Jaffna district.

These families are now living in welfare centres in the Vavuniya and Mannar districts.

"We have already sent the details of over 15,000 families to the Police , Jaffna Government Agent and respective Divisional Secretariats to ascertain whether they are permanent residents in the Jaffna district".

The Minister stressed that they would be resettled in their original homes in the Jaffna district after the Government officials gave an assurance that they are permanent residents of the Jaffna district.

“The Presidential Task Force on Northern Development under the chairmanship of Senior Presidential Advisor MP Basil Rajapaksa is working tirelessly to expedite the demining process to facilitate the resettlement drive and it is committed to resettled as much displaced civilians as possible within the time frame of 180 days, the Minister said. Read more ...

Solving N-E people's problems through democratic means

The problems faced by North-East Tamil people could only be solved through a democratic course of action and not by resorting to an armed struggle, said Social Services and Social Welfare Minister and Secretary General of Eelam People's Democratic Party Douglas Devananda.

He was speaking at a function held for celebration of the "Golden Jubilee" of the Jaffna Nurses Training School as the Chief Guest.

Minister said the Tamil people are stuck in problems like a piece of cloth entangled in a bush of thorns and that they should be carefully disentangled from the mess. Therefore it's of necessity to maintain a healthy relationship with the Central Government for all the problems to be settled amicably and to get the Central Government's help for proceeding with the development activities of the North and also its important to bear in mind that no development work could be done in the absence of assistance from the Central Government.

The people have now realized the truth and have begun to march with him. However some politicians with vested interest are trying to tarnish their image for their political mileage, the Minister said. Source:

India to help restart farming in LTTE freed areas

With de-mining of North gaining momentum, India is sending a team of agriculture experts to assist in activation of farming in the areas that have been freed from the LTTE.

The team, to be led by a crop scientist of Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR), is expected to travel to Sri Lanka by the end of this month.

The agriculture experts will assess the soil condition, irrigation facilities and weather conditions among other aspects to determine how farming could be started in the areas freed from LTTE control, sources told PTI.

Source:

Mothers in relief villages happy over children’s immunization programme

Internally displaced mothers living in relief villages and Welfare centres of Vavuniya have shown tremendous enthusiasm in the immunization programme for their children. This was proved in the manner in which they had taken steps to preserve the child health reports (CHR) given to their children during earlier health checkups.

The Health Ministry spokesman said that they had even gone to the extent of wrapping up the CHRs given to them at government clinics in cellophane covers so as to preserve them from the rain and the water from the Nandikadal lagoon while crossing over to government controlled areas. "These are mothers who had lost everything and now were living in IDP camps in the Vanni. Read more ...

IDPs given latest equipment

Technical equipment valued at Rs. 756,192 was handed over to the Internally Displaced People, through the Vidatha Resource Centres, by Science and Technology Ministry this week.

The Ministry said the equipment, including yoghurt incubators; bakery technology ovens, vegetable dehydrators and wood gas stoves, were distributed in the Manner and Vavuniya districts to transfer technology to the needy people.

The Ministry of Science and Technology, through its Vidatha Resource Centres, scattered throughout the country has taken several measures to help the Internally Displaced People (IDPs) in the North and the East provinces under the Programme, Wadakkin Wasantham, the Ministry said.

Science and Technology Minister Professor Tissa Vitarana told The Island yesterday many training programmes on Soil Cement Manufacturing Process of the National Engineering Research and Development Centre (NERD) have been held for IDPs to enable them to access technology to build their own shelters with the low cost housing construction technology. Read more ...

Killinochchi, Mullaitivu get mobile coverage

Dialog Telekom, has commissioned its services in Killinochchi, Mullaitivu and several other areas in the Northern Province.

This follows the rapid progress being made in the region in terms of infrastructure development and the establishment of citizen services during a period of less than 90 days after liberating the region.

Dialog Telekom Group Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Hans Wijesuriya, together with the Sri Lanka Telecommunications Regulatory Commission Director General, Priyantha Kariyapperuma, made the announcement soon after the activation of services from Dialog’s Network Operations Centre in Colombo.

Mobile coverage from Dialog now reaches Mankulam, Pooneryn, Elephant Pass, Thunukkai and Madhu in addition to Killinochchi and Mullaitivu, with developments under way to expand coverage to other parts of the province. Read more ...

More buses for Jaffna, Point Pedro and Karainagar depots

The Government has taken action to expand transport facilities for people of the Northern Province.

Buses were provided for depots in Jaffna, Point Pedro and Karainagar.

"We are thankful to the Government for expanding the transport facilities in the Northern province and it would be a great help for the people who live in these areas and it will make their day-to-day life easy," Sri Lanka Transport Board Northern Province Chief Manager, Ganesh Pullai said participating at the event at Sri Lanka Transport Board Headquarters to provide buses and spare parts for three depots in the Northern province. Read more ...

International Children's Day: Programs for IDP children

This year's theme for the International Children's Day will be "Let us build the Liberated Nation for our children".

And more children's activities would be arranged for the children in the North and East including programs for children in the IDP camps, Child Development and Women Empowerment Minister Sumedha G Jayasena told Daily News yesterday.

The main event would be held in Colombo with the patronage of President Mahinda Rajapaksa on October 1, with 1,000 children from all parts of the country participating in it, she said. Read more ...

Sri Lanka – Complex Emergency Fact Sheet #16 (FY 2009)

In late July, the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) announced preparations to return approximately 75,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) to areas of origin in Eastern and Northern provinces during the month of August as part of the GoSL 180-Day Returns Plan. The plan addresses IDPs affected by the recent conflict as well as long-term IDPs displaced in earlier population movements. However, to date, the GoSL has not provided a comprehensive framework for the implementation of the proposed returns plan and enhanced coordination with humanitarian agencies.

From July 25 to 28, the U.S. Department of State's Bureau for Population, Migration, and Refugees (State/PRM) Assistant Secretary (A/S) visited Sri Lanka to meet with GoSL officials, U.N. agencies, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), as well as to observe conditions at Manik Farms IDP camp. During the visit, the A/S emphasized the importance of allowing freedom of IDP movement and facilitating a rapid IDP returns process to areas of origin.

On July 27, the A/S and the USAID/Sri Lanka Mission Director announced the provision of $8 million in additional resources to support IDP returns, representing $4 million in State/PRM funding and $4 million in USAID/OFDA funding.

As of August 5, the GoSL Office of the Ministry of Resettlement and Disaster Relief Services had confirmed that the GoSL had returned 4,076 IDPs from Vavuniya IDP camps to areas of origin in Ampara, Batticaloa, Jaffna, Trincomalee districts and to other areas in Eastern Province. Read more ...

Special bus, train services for Madhu pilgrims

The Transport Ministry has introduced special bus and train services to cater to pilgrims visiting the Sacred Madhu Church for the annual feast this season.

The services launched on the initiative of Ministers Dullas Alahapperuma and Lasantha Alagiyawanna under the co-ordination of Aviation Deputy Minister Sarath Kumara Gunaratne will start with trains from Colombo Fort to Medawachchiya and back from today. The Colombo-

Medawachchiya trains will operate daily till August 15, a press release by the Government Information Department said. The release said apart from this, there will be a direct train from Matara to Medawachchiya and back daily. From August 14, train services will also operate from Negombo to Medawachchiya and back. Read more ...

Nearly 170 ex-Tiger child soldiers sit ALs

Nearly 170 former LTTE child soldiers sat the GCE Advanced Level in Vavuniya yesterday as a result of the Government’s humanitarian operations to free the North and East people from the clutches of LTTE terrorism, Examinations Department sources said. The Advanced Level Examination 2009 commenced in 1,827 examination centres yesterday.

The Examinations Department has established 10 special examination centres in Vavuniya for 1,263 displaced candidates who are presently housed in IDP welfare villages in Vavuniya. Sources said 166 ex-child soldiers from displaced camps sat the Advanced Level examination yesterday.

Under the direction of the Education Ministry, the Examinations Department had taken steps to conduct several extra classes to upgrade the knowledge of the students sitting the Advanced Level Examination this year.

Meanwhile, no incidents were reported during the G.C.E. Advanced Level Examination which began yesterday at 1,827 examination centres throughout the country, Examinations Commissioner General Anura Edirisinghe said. Read more ...

Related story: Over 1,200 IDP candidates sit for GCE A/L examination

Red Cross cargo being cleared

The cargo of humanitarian relief goods sent by the Indian Red Cross in the Ship Captain Colarado for distribution to IDPs in the North is currently being cleared at the Sri Lanka Customs in Colombo.

Pursuant to a request by the Sri LRCS, Customs duty and other taxes will be settled by the Ministry of Nation Building and Estate Infrastructure Development in respect of this humanitarian cargo.

“We are hopeful and optimistic that clearance procedures will be completed and we would be able to commence transportation of these goods by late Wednesday,” Deputy Director General Surein Peiris said. Read more ...

Program to issue identity documents to IDPs

The Constitutional Affairs and National Integration Ministry in collaboration with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has implemented a program to issue legal documents including National Identity Cards (NIC) to the IDPs in the welfare villages of Vavuniya.

Under the UNDP Equal Access to Justice (A2J) project implemented, birth, marriage and death certificates and other legal documents will be issued to IDPs who have lost these vital documents amidst the conflict, left them behind while fleeing to the safety of the Security Forces or never possessed such documents, Constitutional Affairs and National Integration Ministry Secretary Ms. M.S.Wickremesinghe told a media briefing held at Galle Face Hotel, Colombo yesterday. The first mobile documentation program to issue legal documents to IDPs in Vavuniya was held at the Kadirgamar Nagar Welfare Village on July 1, 2 and 3, she said. Read more ...

US Government grants $15 million in emergency food aid

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has announced a new donation of $15 million of food aid to support the early return of people displaced by the conflict in the North.

Consisting of wheat, lentils and vegetable oil, USAID's second shipment of vital food aid this year will be consigned to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) and will fulfil the essential food needs of 300,000 people for four months. Read more ...

1,263 IDP candidates to sit exam

The GCE Advanced Level Examination starts today with 242,091 candidates sitting the examination. The GCE A/L examination will be held until September 5.

Among candidates are 198,755 school candidates and 43,336 private candidates sitting at 1,827 examination centres throughout the island.

Among these would be 1,263 candidates from Internally Displaced People's villages in Vavuniya sitting at 10 examination centres, a senior official of the Examinations Department told the Daily News yesterday. Read more ...

Basil tells IDPs being resettled to forget all differences

Addressing a public meeting at the Vavuniya Urban Council grounds on Wednesday, on the occasion of sending several thousand Internally Displaced Persons back to their original places of residence, Senior Presidential Advisor Basil Rajapaksa MP appealed to them to set aside ethnic and religious differences and rally round President Mahinda Rajapaksa to bring peace and prosperity to the country. "Once the heroic Security Forces liberated the country what was uppermost in the mind of President Rajapaksa was to provide you with all possible facilities and resettle you in your original places of residence," he said.

In most countries, the resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) had taken decades and in some cases even a century but President Mahinda Rajapaksa had initiated the resettlement of IDPs in a 180 day program and three batches with over 4,000 being resettled in the North and East on Wednesday, Senior Presidential Advisor Basil Rajapaksa MP said.

Rajapaksa said, Palestine had taken 70 years and Bangladesh and Pakistan more than a decade to resettle some of their IDPs while in Europe some IDPs were resettled after a century. Read more ...

All Experiences Are Subjective

All experiences are subjective. And so I realized when nine of us visited some of the IDP camps last week and found that each of us had different feelings and observations about the experience. Perhaps this is because every experience is viewed through the prism of our personalities, value systems, cultural and educational orientations as well as our own life experiences. This may also be the reason why there are such diametrically opposing views expressed about the conditions in the IDP camps, for while some feel that the refugees are very well looked after, others feel that their conditions are dismal. All that I will attempt to do here is to describe my own observations, thoughts and feelings during my visit to the IDP camps.

I was one of five lay people of different religions and faiths, who joined a group of Catholic nuns on a mission of mercy. Like many others in the South belonging to every religion and denomination, these nuns had been hard at work gathering clothes, food items and other essential in order to ease the suffering of the displaced people in the North. On this occasion however, they were working in conjunction with a group of young school leavers to provide 1,300 families at Sumathipuram camp with what were referred to as "friendship packages". Since the government was supplying the camps with basic food items, each of these packages consisted of a bucket, a sarong, a dress, several pairs of slippers, siddhalepa, condiments, soaps, a towel, sanitary towels and toothpaste for each family. Some of the items in the package would have been used up in a week and would have barely scratched the surface of their needs. Still, as they say, something is better than nothing and even this something cost a tidy sum! Read the full story ...

Jaffna-Colombo bus service via A-9 in operation

Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) has commenced a limited bus service between Jaffna and Colombo via the A-9, Jaffna-Kandy main highway, the Governor of the Northern Province, Major General G.A. Chandrasiri announced.

Commencing the service, four buses, carrying 175 passengers to Medawachchiya, left Jaffna yesterday (01.08.09). The SLTB has provided additional transportation to the passengers from Medawachchiya to Colombo. Another group of 200 passengers is to arrive in Colombo today. Read more ...

Massive inoculation programme for children at IDP centres Over 40,000 IDPs below five years

A recent survey conducted by the Health Ministry has found that there are over 40,000 children below age of five in the welfare camps in Vavuniya.

These children had not been immunised properly unlike their counterparts elsewhere, Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva told The Island.

Instructions and orders had been issued on Public Health Officers to vaccinate children at IDP centres against measles and polio as part of a special ‘child health campaign’ carried out from today to Wednesday (05).

The Ministry of Health, UNICEF, WHO and a coalition of other partners are responsible for the immunisation campaign whose aim is to counter sporadic outbreaks of measles.

The campaign will target all children below five years. Nearly 140 midwives and 1,200 volunteers will participate in the campaign at 30 centres in Vavuniya. This follows several weeks of preparations. Read more ...

Fishermen Scoop Up Sri Lanka’s Peace Dividend

It was just after dawn and the fish market beneath this port city’s clock tower was humming. Fishermen shouldering baskets laden with the night’s catch tipped their Spanish mackerel, tuna and prawns onto the slick concrete floor for buyers. Sweaty men with clipboards and wads of cash leaned in close to inspect with crinkled noses, squinting eyes and prodding fingers.

“I’ll take this for 500 rupees a kilo,” nearly $5, one buyer said to an expectant fisherman, waving his chin in the direction of a large, glistening yellowfin tuna. “Can you get me more?”

Fishermen here certainly hope so. The end of the brutal 26-year war against the Tamil Tiger insurgency in Sri Lanka prompted the government to ease fishing restrictions on Trincomalee’s harbor, breathing new life into the region’s moribund fishing industry. Boats once moldering on shore now go on all-night runs for tuna, squid and lobster. Ghostly markets are coming back to life. Read more ...

Indian doctors tenure in Lanka extended

The tenure of a group of Indian doctors working among the displaced Tamils in refugee camps has been extended by two months.

Indian doctors, mostly from the army’s medical corp, have been working among refugees since the beginning of March, more than two months the war between the LTTE and the Lankan army was over.

Currently, the doctors run a field hospital in a camp in Vauniya where the largest almost 2.5 lakh of the 2.83 lakh refugees were housed. This was the third extension granted to the field hospital unit.

"The field hospital unit has a 60-member medical team comprising surgeons, pediatrician, medical specialist and lady medical officers. The team so far has already treated over 21,000 internally displaced Tamil civilians including cases of gunshot wounds, trauma, head injuries and those related to general surgery and orthopedics at Manikfarms camp at Vavuniya,’’ the Indian defence ministry said on Sunday. Read more ...

80 more Indians fly to Sri Lanka to clear landmines

Over 80 former Indian soldiers have left for Sri Lanka following the defeat of the Tamil Tigers to join Indians already there in clearing thousands of buried landmines.

The new group has teamed up with compatriots working since 2003, mainly in the northern districts of Mannar and Vavuniya, in defusing mines laid by both the military and the Tigers during their prolonged conflict.

While 50 of the latest batch of Indians are attached to the Pune-based Horizon Group, 32 are from Sarvatra Technical Consultants, a company that is based in Gurgaon, Haryana. Sarvatra will send 32 more men. Read more ...

IDPs rehabilitated to fit in society

The Government has taken steps to rehabilitate the people who live in IDP villages of the North and more than 10,000 people among them had been engaged in terrorist activities. The rehabilitation of former terrorist cadres was under the purview of President Mahinda Rajapaksa but now it had been brought under the Justice Minister.

R.M.Daya Ratnayake has been appointed as the Rehabilitation Director General. He said young people who were former terrorist cadres including 455 child soldiers will be rehabilitated and given the opportunity to study and sit examinations. Read more ...

New night mail train service from Colombo to Vavuniya

A new night mail train service was launched by the Government from Colombo to Vavuniya starting 9.45 pm yesterday (30.07.09).

"This is another historic move taken by the Government on President Mahinda Rajapaksa's direction," Transport Minister Dullas Alahapperuma told the media in Vavuniya yesterday.

The Minister said the night mail service was suspended in March, 2008 following terrorist activities. The Government has been able to re-commence the night mail train service due to moves taken by it to eradicate terrorism.

Arrangements have also been made to extend the time of the night bus service operating in Vavuniya. The present night bus service operating until 7.30pm will be extended up to 10.00pm, he said. Read more ...

Smooth drive for Madhu devotees

The Uthuru Vasanthaya task force in collaboration with the security forces and police has made elaborate arrangements to provide all facilities needed to cater to the pilgrims visiting the Madhu shrine to attend the annual feast, Administrator of the Madhu church Rev. Fr. Desmond Kulas said. Read more ...