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Sri Lanka: 20,000 people uprooted by new Government-separatist fighting, UN reports |
| ONU.org |
More than 20,000 people have fled fighting between the Sri Lankan Government and Tamil separatists in the Indian Ocean island's eastern costal strip of Vaharai in the past three weeks, but despite reaching relative safety they still they face many problems and an uncertain future, the United Nations refugee agency reported today.
"Sites are hosting people at twice their actual capacity, the district is facing a potential food shortage and many families have been separated in flight or during transport to emergency sites," according to the head of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) field office in the town of Batticaloa, Yoko Akasaka.
Most of the displaced were put up in schools when they arrived in government-controlled Batticaloa district, which lies to the south of Vaharai. But the new term has begun and the pressure to vacate public buildings is increasing. UNHCR and partner agencies are preparing nearly 30 longer-term sites for up to 5,000 families and hope to complete moving people to the new government-proposed locations by the end of the month.
But this will only partially solve the problem. "Even if all the sites proposed so far are suitable, they will provide less than two thirds of the space we need," Ms. Akasaka said. "People tell us many more will be arriving. We are concerned about the condition of some 15,000 civilians remaining in Vaharai, who have endured months of fighting and limited humanitarian access."
UNHCR continues to receive reports of people escaping from the region via jungle paths or along coastal routes. Most bring few belongings and nobody is carrying food since two months of heavy fighting has prevented vital supplies from entering Vaharai.
As fighting continues to erupt across Sri Lanka's north and east, the future is uncertain for most of Sri Lanka's 465,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs), including some 216,000 people forced from their homes by last year's violence.
 | | These two relatives face an uncertain future. They were among the 216,000 people forced to flee their homes by the fresh outbreak of fighing last year in Sri Lanka. (Photo: UNHCR/N.Ng) |
"Many people first fled to Vaharai because of violence elsewhere and they are worried about whether it will be safe to go back," Ms. Akasaka said. "They simply don't know where they will be safe. Even here, there are reports of abductions from displacement sites."
UNHCR has offered the authorities assistance in organizing so-called "go and see" visits so that community leaders and other volunteers can visit their former homes, many further north of Vaharai in Trincomalee district, and decide whether return would be safe and sustainable.
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