Lanka still refusing access to war victims, says UN

Tiger chief's parents in refugee camp


A group of people shout slogans against Sri Lankan government during a demonstration in front of the White House in Washington, DC, on Thursday protesting the recent unrests in the country. An estimated 80,000 to 100,000 people were killed in nearly three decades of civil war in Sri Lanka between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels, the United Nations said. Photo: AFP

Sri Lanka is still refusing to provide aid workers with full access to hundreds of thousands of displaced Tamil civilians despite an appeal by United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon, the UN said yesterday.
Ban had sought complete freedom for international aid agencies to help civilians uprooted from their homes by a major government offensive against the now defeated Tamil Tigers.
"We still don't have access beyond the north of Omanthai (in the island's north), to see if those horrible stories we heard were fact or fiction," UN resident coordinator Neil Bhune told reporters here.
"We have been advised that it is not safe for us to go beyond that, to go into the former conflict areas."
About 260,000 ethnic Tamils displaced by the fighting are being held in camps ringed by barbed wire and security forces, who say they need to weed out former rebel fighters disguised as civilians.
Bhune said the government needed to deliver on its promise to resettle at least 80 percent of the people in their former villages by the end of the year.
"That will ultimately give people living inside the camps some hope that they can return to a normal life," he said.
The island's military claimed complete victory over separatist Tamil Tigers after wiping out the guerrillas' leadership last week.
Meanwhile, the parents of slain Tamil Tiger chief Velupillai Prabhakaran have sought shelter with Sri Lankan security forces after fleeing the offensive against the rebels, the military said Thursday.
The parents of Velupillai Prabhakaran were identified among civilians who escaped the war zone in northeastern Sri Lanka where the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fought its final battle, spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara said.
"They (the parents) have been identified at the Manik Farm welfare camp," Nanayakkara said. "They are not being treated as suspects."

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ইরানের বিরুদ্ধে হামলায় ২০০ ইসরায়েলি যুদ্ধবিমান ব্যবহার হয়েছে। ফাইল ছবি: রয়টার্স

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