More than 2,000 apply to take in IDP relatives

Vavuniya and Jaffna District Secretariats have received more than 2,000 applications from the relatives of the IDPs, after the Resettlement and Disaster Relief Services Ministry informed the general public that the relatives of the IDPs can apply for the release of those residing in camps.

“Many people have been handing forms over to us since September 10 and so far we have received approximately 1,000 applications,” said Vavuniya District Additional Government Agent T. Sampanthan. “These applications are readily available outside the District Secretariat office and in shops. Also, relatives can prepare them even at home,” he added.

Sampanthan said that they will hand over the applications to the security forces, with their observations and recommendations as soon as possible. He could not give a timeline as to when these IDPs can be reunited with their relatives, since a thorough background check has to be carried out first. “After we look at the applications, we do background research and hand over the applications to the Security Forces Headquarters, Vavuniya with our remarks and the security establishment will take the final decision,” he said. Meanwhile, an official of the Jaffna District Secretariat told The Nation that they have also received around 1,000 applications: “There is a lot of enthusiasm about this,” he said. Read more ...

Freedom at high price

Desperate relatives pay hundreds of thousands of rupees to highly-connected racketeers to get their loved ones released from IDP camps

“Human trafficking is going on from some of the coastal areas like Wattala, Kandana, Pamunugama, Negombo, Kochchikade, Thoduwa, Wennappuwa and Chilaw. The vast majority of those who want to travel abroad are from the Wanni. They have to pay anything between Rs 1.2 to Rs 1.5 million. There
are instances where people, almost all from the North have raised the money after selling their gold or from remittances from relatives abroad.

“The kingpin operates through a string of contacts. The latter passes information about boat movements to trusted job agents. They also inform some of the lodge owners in Colombo. After payments are made, the kingpin arranges accommodation for would be travellers for one night. The next night, they are moved to the high seas in smaller boats.

“After they get into the boats, they are in God’s hands. We have known instances where people have died of disease, hunger and dehydration. There are instances where sea pirates have robbed them. Boats have capsized due to bad weather. Usually, about 35 persons travel in a multi day fishing trawler. Food, water and fuel sufficient for three weeks are carried. In addition, they carry basic medical needs like aspirin, bandage, surgical tape and pain killers. Read more ...

30,000 IDPs to be resettled in 35 villages in Vavuniya

All arrangements are in place to resettle 30,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in 35 villages in the Vavuniya District, Northern Province Governor G.A Chandrasiri said.
The Governor, who was on an inspection tour in those villages pointed out that, 7,795 families will be resettled in 35 villages on the directions of the Chairman of the Uthuru Vasanthaya Task Force, Senior Presidential Advisor MP Basil Rajapaksa.

The Governor inspected the Grama Niladari divisions in Maruthankulam, Norochchchimodei, Pranddikal, Salampaikulam, Pampemadu and Salampaikulam village and addressed the officials on the needs of the people. 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Related story

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Vavuniya a hive of activity

The Vavuniya city now transformed as a nerve centre of the Northern province is bustling with activities this weekend with the `Uthuru Vasanthaya' development project's mobile services conducted by the Public Administration Ministry, election meetings and crowded sreets, reports said.

The two-day mobile services conducted by over 20 government departments with senior officials and ministry secretaries are being held at the Vavuniya Tamil Central College. Over 5,000 people, a majority of them seeking to obtain or renew NICs, Driving Licences and Passports and Birth Certificates, were present yesterday. Some of them received free pairs of spectacles and various payments due to them. Over 2,000 school children sitting the Year Five scholarship examination turned up to receive their postal Identity Cards. Read more ...

IDPs struck by meningitis and encephalitis

Six doctors are to visit IDP camps in Vavuniya tomorrow to investigate a suspected outbreak of meningitis and encephalitis, reported from the Vavuniya General Hospital, with the Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) charging that a severe shortage of nurses and pharmacists in the camps is compounding health problems there.

Reports say while 65 adults are suffering from either one of the ailments, 35 have died so far. Several displaced children at the Vavuniya General Hospital too are suspected to be suffering from the two illness.

More than 1200 IDPs are receiving treatment at the Vavuniya Hospital, for different ailments, currently.

The Health Ministry could not confirm the number of deaths, however a high ranking official who did not want to be quoted admitted that the fatality rate in cases such as meningitis is high as it affects the brain.

“Fatalities are high in such cases, but there is nothing to be alarmed about these figures as they are normal when compared with the population of IDPs we are dealing with,” he said. The Ministry official also said the problem has been in existence in the camps over the past three to four months. Read more ...

A second life, says official

It is a fairy tale happy re-union for Thuraiyappah Sathayaseelan, an Assistant Director in the Sri Lanka Ministry of Education, from a camp in Vavuniya for the war displaced to his family and colleagues at Vadamarachi.

The case of Mr. Sathaseelan was reported in The Hindu dated May 28 (Senior Tamil officer in search of his family). The officer who would attain his retirement age of 60 on October 31 was working in the Zonal Education Office at Vadamarachi in Jaffna peninsula.

A cruel twist in his life on August 11, 2006 displaced him from his four-member family at Vadamarachi, left him with no choice but to be a captive of the LTTE at Kilinochchi till November and end up among the last batch of civilians to run away from the Tigers into the government-controlled territory. Read more ...

We continue to support operations in IDP camps in north- UN

Six weeks after the conclusion of the war in Sri Lanka, the UN continues to support the Government of Sri Lanka's operations in the camps in Vavuniya, Jaffna and Trincomalee, the office of the United Nations Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for Sri Lanka said in a statement.

These camps currently hold approximately 280,000 people, and although conditions have improved as the weeks go by much remains to be done. In the meanwhile, the UN will support the programmes of the Government helped by Sri Lankans from all over the world as well as the significant contributions made by dozens of NGO partners. Read more ...

Gully bowzers for IDP villages

UNICEF has donated ten Gully bowzers to the Ministry of Resettlement and Disaster Relief Services to be used for improving hygienic facilities at the IDP villages in Vavuniya, Resettlement and Disaster Relief Services Minister Rishad Bathiudeen said.

The donation which costs Rs. 50 million was made by the local representative of UNICEF Philip Dumelle.

During the presentation, the local representative was made aware of the measures taken by the Government to facilitate the IDPs by Minister Bathiudeen.

The Minister pointed out that several welfare measures have been implemented to promote facilities to IDPs on the advice and guidance of the President. Source:

Sri Lanka – Complex Emergency Fact Sheet #14 (FY 2009)

OCHA reported that nearly 280,000 IDPs resided in temporary camps as of June 26, including approximately 260,000 people in Vavuniya District camps.

The GoSL requested that ICRC scale down activities in response to the changing humanitarian context. ICRC has begun discussions with GoSL authorities and is reviewing current operations, according to a July 9 ICRC press release.

According to a July 7 UNHCR report, U.N. agencies and NGOs have observed a significant improvement in humanitarian access to IDP sites, as well as a decreased military presence inside the camps. The improved access has allowed more effective implementation of activities to address IDP needs.

According to UNHCR participatory assessments, as of July 7, IDPs have identified overcrowded camp conditions, insufficient access to health care services, and lack of information on separated family members as key concerns. Read more ...

Immunisation for children in relief centres

The Health Ministry will launch an immunisation program for children below five years at Relief Centres in Vavuniya.

Under this scheme, children below the age of one, will be vaccinated against measles and female children above the age of one will be given Rubella vaccination.

“These children while under the LTTE control were denied of any such facilities,” Ministry sources said. Source:

Master plan for Vavuniya underway

A master plan for Vavuniya under the UN Millennium Development Goals with roads, irrigation and other infrastructure development and resettlement of internally displaced costing Rs. 600 million is being prepared by district officials.

The plan was discussed at a meeting presided by District Secretary P. S. M. Charles. She said another meeting among UN officials, local NGOs and district government officials was also held to discuss the preparedness to face the next monsoon season that continues for three to four months at the last quarter of the year in the district, especially the management of runoff rainwater and providing sanitary facilities to the people. Read more ...

Visiting the Vavuniya IDP camps: an uplifting experience

The last phase of Sri Lanka’s low-intensity military conflict saw the elimination of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam as a military force. It simultaneously witnessed a poignant human drama in which some 300,000 Tamil civilians were rescued by force of arms from a terrorist organisation that, claiming to fight for their freedom, had no compunction in using them as a human shield.

Most of these internally displaced Sri Lankans are now housed and cared for by the government in transitional relief camps located in five demarcated zones of the 1500-acre Menik Farm on the outskirts of the town of Vavuniya in the mainland North. International concern has been expressed over the present condition and the future of these Tamil civilians, who include a large number of children, women, and senior citizens. Read more ...

Sri Lanka: Vanni Emergency OCHA Situation Report No. 24

On 01 July, a team of Government officials assessed sites in Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Mannar and Vavuniya to plan possible resettlement in the near future.

Japanese envoy for Peace Building, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction in Sri Lanka, Yasushi Akashi, was in Sri Lanka this week to attend the Economic Summit. He also met with the President and senior Government officials to discuss humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka.

On 27 June, the first lady of Sri Lanka opened a new children's home (Siriliya Sewana) in Vavuniya for orphaned IDP children. Read more ...