Govt keen to resettle IDPs in shortest time

The Government is committed to resettle and rehabilitate Internally Displaced Persons in the North, who were the victims of the LTTE's terror and were held hostage by the LTTE, in the shortest possible time, President Mahinda Rajapaksa told UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon at bilateral talks on the sidelines of the 15th NAM Summit on Wednesday.

The UN Secretary General thanked the Sri Lankan Government for the excellent arrangements for his visit to Sri Lanka in the final stages of the battle with the LTTE.

The issue of IDPs, conditions in the IDP relief centres and the need for reconciliation among all communities were among the matters mentioned by the UN Secretary General during his discussions with President Rajapaksa.

He was told by the President that it was yet only eight weeks since the final liberation of the Tamil civilians from the LTTE, and the Government had demonstrated that it was doing its best to ease the conditions in the IDP relief centres during this period, and that conditions would further improve day-by-day. Read more ...

Rajapaksa: committed to reconciliation

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has told U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that his government remains committed to the resettling and rehabilitating the nearly three lakh war displaced in the north of the country in the shortest possible time.

The issue of the war displaced, conditions in the relief centres and the need for reconciliation among all communities were discussed at the bilateral meeting between Mr. Rajapaksa and Mr. Ban on the sidelines of the 15th NAM Summit at Sharm-El-Sheikh in Egypt.

Mr. Rajapaksa told Mr. Ban it had only been eight weeks since the liberation of Tamil civilians from the LTTE and that the government had demonstrated it was doing its best to ease conditions in the relief centres and they would improve further day by day. Read more ...

Sri Lanka – Complex Emergency Fact Sheet #10 (FY 2009)

On May 23, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes visited Manik Farms internally displaced person (IDP) camp in Vavuniya District and also participated in an overflight assessment of the former conflict zone. During the visit, the U.N. Secretary-General met with the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) President and Minister of Foreign Affairs, as well as other GoSL, U.N., and local and international relief organization officials. The U.N. Secretary-General called on the GoSL to facilitate immediate and full humanitarian access to IDP camps, particularly Manik Farms; early IDP return to areas of origin; rapid IDP screening and registration; family reunification; and freedom of movement. Read more ...