UN efforts focusing on plight of civilians in post-conflict Sri Lanka

The United Nations is closely watching the situation in Sri Lanka, where the Government has declared an end to its military operation against Tamil separatists, while focusing on assisting the hundreds of thousands of civilians displaced by the conflict, a top United Nations official said today.

“The situation is volatile so the facts are not as clear as one might hope,” Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes told a news conference in New York.

The Government of Sri Lanka has declared that its military operation against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the north-east of the country has come to an end and that all the civilians that were trapped in the conflict zone have left.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) had estimated that over 50,000 people were still in the conflict zone, a shrinking pocket of land on the northern coastline, as of last week.

“Obviously, we’re relieved that the fighting is finished and hope that all the civilians are indeed out of that zone and indeed heading for safety,” said Mr. Holmes, who is also UN Emergency Relief Coordinator.

“But it’s hard for us to be absolutely sure about that for the moment. That is one of the things that we’re trying to check, but we believe that the civilians are actually out of that zone on the basis of what we know at the moment.”

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who is considering a visit to the country, dispatched his Chief of Staff, Vijay Nambiar, to the country last week.

Mr. Nambiar is “engaged in close consultation with Government officials and others on how best to respond to the humanitarian situation of the large number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and initiate a process for early recovery and long-term reconciliation, rehabilitation and reconstruction,” UN spokesperson Marie Okabe said today.

“The situation calls for maximum care and restraint in dealing with the large number of civilians and their humanitarian and security needs, as well as with surrendering LTTE cadres,” she added.

OCHA estimates that there are around 220,000 people who have already reached the IDP camps, including 20,000 in the last two or three days. In addition, it is believed that another 40,000-60,000 people are on their way to the camps through the crossing point at Omanthai.

Mr. Holmes noted that the large influx of people poses “major humanitarian challenges” in terms of providing shelter and other basic services, such as food, clean water and medical services. “The conditions in these camps are certainly not ideal. They’re not up to international standards yet but everybody is working very hard to try to make sure that they are.”

Other issues of concern include the civilian nature of the camps, freedom of movement, distribution of identification cards to those in the camps, family reunification, and access to the camps, he said. “We’ve had full access so far and we hope that will be maintained because that’s absolutely vital for us.”

Mr. Holmes added that the UN does not have any figures or reliable information on the death toll. “But we have fears that in the course of the last few days of the campaign there were extra deaths of civilians, despite all the efforts that may have been made to avoid that,” he said.