More than 280,000 Sri Lankan refugees could be held in camps for up to two years

Fears of a humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka are growing after the government said 280,000 refugees who fled the conflict zone would be held in overcrowded camps for up to two years.

By Dean Nelson in Colombo
Published: 6:17PM BST 20 May 2009
Source: Telegraph

Officials said the delay was necessary to screen for Tamil Tigers and rebuild and restore electricity and water supplies to thousands of homes in the vast areas of land destroyed in the 26-year civil war.

But the plan increased concern for the safety of those held in the camps as charities gave warning that conditions were deteriorating quickly.

There was growing anger over Sri Lankan government restrictions on access to the camps for international aid groups, including the United Nations and the Red Cross.

Save the Children said the lives of mothers and children in the "overcrowded" camps of Vavuniya would be at risk unless extra food and water was provided soon.

It said almost a third of them were suffering from malnutrition when they arrived at the camps, and many had spent days without clean drinking water.

The Sri Lankan government confirmed refugees would be held in the camps surrounded by razor wire for up to two years, saying it would not be dictated to by the UN.

Mr Laxman Hulugalle, director-general of Sri Lanka's National Security Media Centre, said the government would provide only basic food, shelter, education and health care at the camps. "You can't expect five star treatment," he said.

Overcrowding is expected to increase in the coming days as an estimated 50,000 civilians make their way in from the former war zone.

Dr Balwant Singh, Save the Children's South & Central Asia Regional Director, said: "The lives of children will be endangered if the health of mothers is not made a priority. Mothers and children have already suffered greatly after weeks of being trapped without adequate access to food, water and medical attention. We urgently need to step up our assistance to them."

The UN led calls for restrictions to be lifted and for humanitarian agencies to be allowed free access to the former war zone where thousands of civilians and Tamil Tiger fighters are believed to have been killed.

It accused the government of deliberately excluding its officials from the camps, and demanded Colombo allow its officials in to examine conditions.

Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said: "We need to have access, I repeat, total access, without the least let or hindrance, for the UN, for NGOs and for the Red Cross."

Its refugee agency, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said 80,000 Tamil civilians had fled the former war zone in the last three days, raising the total number of displaced to 280,000.

Its spokesman confirmed the Sri Lankan government was blocking humanitarian access, but said he did not know why. "It's urgent that assistance gets into those camps and that we are able to deliver. We've got lots of humanitarian supplies that need to be delivered," he said.

U N Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon is expected to exert further pressure on Colombo to lift restrictions when he visits Sri Lanka on Friday. He will fly over the former war zone and visit refugee camps and hospitals treating civilians for shell, shrapnel and bullet wounds.

Sri Lanka declared a public holiday on Wednesday to celebrate the defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels.

The government also said former Tamil leader Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan, also known as Colonel Karuna, had positively identified the body of rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran whose corpse was shown on television.

Sri Lanka accused of killing Tamil leader in 'massacre'

The Sri Lankan army has been accused of the "massacre" of the last Tamil Tiger fighters hours after they surrendered their 26-year war for an independent state.

By Dean Nelson, South Asia Editor
Published: 5:51PM BST 18 May 2009
Source: Telegraph

The claim was made after the government announced soldiers had killed Velupillai Prabhakaran, the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The guerrilla commander, who waged one of history's longest and bloodiest insurgencies, was killed by a rocket-propelled grenade as he tried to escape the war zone with his closest aides, according to the Sri Lankan government.

Soosai, the leader of his "Sea Tigers" navy, and Pottu Amman, his intelligence chief, are reported to have died alongside him.

Brig Udaya Nanayakkara, the army spokesman, claimed that Prabhakaran was dead and 250 other rebels had been killed as soldiers captured their last enclave on Sri Lanka's northern coast.

But a pro-LTTE website, Tamilnet, accused the army of conducting a "determined massacre" of the last surviving guerrillas.

According to the account, the leader of the political wing of the Tamil Tigers, B. Nadesan, contacted overseas supporters at 3am on Monday. He asked them to plead with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to evacuate the last 1,000 wounded fighters.

By this time, an official statement from the Tamil Tigers had already abandoned the 26-year war for an independent state. The movement said it had "silenced its guns" to prevent the loss of more civilian lives.

Hours later, however, Prabhakaran was apparently killed. B. Nadesan was also found dead along with the head of the LTTE's "peace secretariat".

The surrender came after the Tamil Tigers were squeezed into a tiny strip of land by Sri Lanka's army. The government reported that thousands of civilians, who had been trapped inside the last enclave controlled by rebels, were able to escape.

However, the United Nations believes that 7,000 civilians have been killed in northern Sri Lanka since the army's offensive escalated in January. Many died when the last area under rebel control, known as a "no-fire zone", came under heavy bombardment.

Evidence gathered by Human Rights Watch suggests that Sri Lanka's government broke a promise to refrain from shelling this area with heavy artillery. Hospitals and clinics were hit on at least 32 separate occasions in the space of five months. If these strikes were intentional, they could amount to breaches of international humanitarian law.

European Union foreign ministers said they were "appalled" by the civilian casualties and called for an independent investigation to establish whether either side in the conflict had broken the laws of war. "The EU calls for the alleged violations of these laws to be investigated through an independent inquiry. Those accountable must be brought to justice," said a statement.

Meanwhile, a crowd gathered outside the British High Commission in Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo, and accused London of backing the Tamil Tigers. David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, visited Sri Lanka last month and held a heated meeting with Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the defence minister.

While throwing stones and eggs at the High Commission building, the protesters burned a ragged suit, stuffed with straw, that was apparently designed to resemble Mr Miliband. The authorities made no effort prevent the demonstration.

Mr Miliband responded by saying: "This is not about burning effigies of me. This is about the real lives, the real bodies, of civilians in Sri Lanka. Those people who suffered in the past at the hands of the Tamil Tigers and those who are suffering today in the crossfire between the Tamil Tigers and the government."

Mr Miliband urged President Mahinda Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka to show "magnanimity in victory". The Foreign Secretary added: "Nothing would become the leadership of Sri Lanka better than to show, at this moment when it seems they have indeed destroyed their mortal enemy, they are ready to reach out to save innocent civilians."

However, Mr Rajapaksa has a strong alliance with China which is building a port on Sri Lanka's southern coast. Beijing protected its client by preventing the Security Council from discussing Sri Lanka's crisis until last week.