Lanka sets Jan deadline to settle war refugees
Handout photograph shows UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs B Lynn Pascoe (L) visits Thursday a government-run camp for persons who fled their homes as a result of the country's armed conflict, in Jaffna. Photo: AFP
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse yesterday promised the UN to resettle nearly 300,000 war-displaced civilians by January and again brushed aside Western demands for a war crimes probe.
Rajapakse told UN under secretary general for political affairs Lynn Pascoe that resettlement would take place after mine clearing operations in the former war zones of the island's north.
He also indicated the UN should not "pacify" Western countries which have been seeking a UN probe into alleged war crimes during the final stages of the decades-old conflict against Tamil Tiger rebels that ended here in May.
"Considering the understanding that existed between the UN and Sri Lanka, President Rajapakse said he did not expect the UN to pacify any members, big or small, about the situation in Sri Lanka," his office said in a statement.
Pascoe ended a three-day visit on Friday during which he visited camps where the ethnic Tamil civilians are held in what rights groups say are prison-like conditions.
"With the new (mine clearing) equipment in use, and hopefully more to come, we expected the entire resettlement to be completed by the end of next January," he told Pascoe, the presidency said in a statement.
Pascoe visited a camp complex where tens of thousands of displaced people are held in state-run facilities, most of which are overcrowded and risk flooding during upcoming monsoon rains.
"I have travelled to many displaced camps throughout the world. And the situation is always the same. People don't like to live in camps, in cramped conditions," Pascoe told reporters here on Thursday.
He was sent by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who has voiced concern over delays in resettling Tamil civilians living in what the government calls "welfare villages."
"I understand the pressure and constraints on the (UN) Secretary General. However, you must also understand the problems we face," Rajapakse said in the statement, referring to the need to screen the camps for rebels.
Sri Lanka has resisted calls for war crimes investigations into its recent crushing of the long-running Tamil separatist insurgency and managed to stave off a UN Security Council debate on the issue with support from China and Russia.
The UN has said that up to 7,000 civilians may have perished in the first few months of this year when security forces escalated their offensive against the remnants of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Pascoe said that he saw some efforts to provide facilities for the refugees displaced by the violence, but added that people were impatient and wanted to go back to their homes at the earliest.
UN sources said he was following up on Colombo's promise to Ban that 80 percent of the displaced people would be resettled before the end of this year.
"His message has been to speed up resettlement and the government has explained the practical issues," a Sri Lankan official who declined to be named said.
However, Rajapakse's statement Friday sets for the first time a firm timetable to complete the process of resettlement. There was no immediate comment from the UN or Pascoe.
A UN statement before Pascoe's arrived here said he would discuss resettlement, political reconciliation and ways to probe alleged human rights violations during the conflict.
Comments