COLOMBO: The United Nations’ last team inside Sri Lanka’s war zone safely reached army-held territory yesterday after the government told aid workers to leave the north in what the president called a temporary safety measure.
A convoy of 10 aid workers reached the Omanthai checkpoint, 265 km north of the capital Colombo, after driving along a road that has been hit by intensified fighting between the army and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels. “They are safe,” UN spokesman Gordon Weiss said in Colombo.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government ordered all aid agencies out of the northern war zone on Sept. 9 as the military intensified an offensive toward the LTTE’s headquarters town of Kilinochchi, where the UN team was based.
Residents there had blockaded the UN office since the team first tried to leave over the weekend as shells fell closer to the town, Weiss said. “We hope that (our departure) is temporary so that we can reach people. What we do know is that it is too dangerous for us to operate at the moment and our operations are being asphyxiated by the conflict,” Weiss said from Colombo.
Fighting has flared in the past three months along a jagged front line which stretches from coast to coast across the island nation’s north, sparking what aid groups say is the displacement of between 70,000-85,000 people.
Disaster Management and Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe yesterday said the government was prepared for up to 200,000 people to come to Vavuniya, behind the front lines.
Aid groups privately say they fear the government cannot take care of the estimated 160,000 who have fled their homes since a shaky truce began collapsing in mid-2006.
The military yesterday said it had killed 17 rebels and wounded 29 the day before. It said 14 soldiers were wounded. In a rare meeting with foreign journalists late on Monday, Rajapaksa said the ban was for aid groups’ safety.
“It’s a short-term measure. Very soon they can go back,” Rajapaksa told reporters, declining to set a timeframe. Rajapaksa said it was not a precursor to more combat operations, but said his resolve to wipe out the Tamil Tigers - on US, EU and Indian terrorism lists - had not wavered. “We are focusing on war,” Rajapaksa said.
