Sri Lanka News Updates with Discussions

yep. it is shown in kili:))))

Government to probe allegations


By Jamila Najmuddin

The government is to inquire into an allegation made by a WFP official from a rebel-held area stating that the IDPs in the region were depending entirely on international aid for food, the Defence Spokesperson said yesterday.

Defence Spokesperson Keheliya Rambukwella, dismissing the situation in the Wanni war in par with Somalia said the government had been continuously transporting food and essential items to the IDPs in LTTE-held areas, which clearly proved that food was in abundance.

There is absolutely no shortage of food for the IDPs in the Wanni areas and this has been conveyed to us by the government agents in the respective regions. The government has continuously supplied food and medicines to the IDPs which is why it is absurd to compare the situation to Somalia, Minister Rambukwella said.

The Minister further said many IDPs had arrived to government controlled areas and were being looked after by the security forces and many more were expected to arrive next week.

Since January this year, hundreds of IDPs have fled the LTTE controlled areas and have sought refuge in areas controlled by the security forces and many more were expected to cross over by the end of this year, the Defence Spokesperson said.

1)Dr Mahinda Rajapakse
2)Dr Sarath Fonseka

and also Dr (Mrs) Rajapakse..lolz

not soap in your hole :))

Wanni situation is like Somalia: UN official


A UN official in a rebel-held area of northern Sri Lanka has said the living conditions of the displaced people were 'as basic as in Somalia'.

John Campbell, from the World Food Programme (WFP), told the BBC Sinhala Service that conditions were 'as basic as can be' and 'much less than ideal'.

Mr. Campbell was speaking from the rebel-held village of Dharmapuram.

The area is close to recent heavy fighting between Tamil Tiger rebels and the Sri Lankan army.

Independent journalists are prevented by the government from travelling to war-hit areas of the country the WFP is one of the few foreign agencies allowed to deliver aid to the area.

Mr Campbell said many of the internally displaced people in Dharmapuram were living in flimsy shelters soaked by recent heavy rainfall.

'They are extremely uncomfortable in water-logged camps and depending almost entirely on international aid for food,' Mr. Campbell told the BBC.

Sri Lankan officials say the rain had also brought much of the fighting in the north to a halt and only 'intermittent skirmishes' between the Tamil Tigers and the army have recently taken place.

Mr. Campbell insisted that displaced people were getting enough food, despite their miserable living conditions.

'It is basic as it can be. I haven't seen anything so basic since when I was in Somalia.'

Somalia has been without an effective central government since President Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991.

Years of fighting in the African nation between rival warlords and an inability to deal with famine and disease have led to the deaths of up to one million people.

The UN estimated that there were about 230,000 displaced people throughout the rebel-held areas in the north.

A UN aid convoy comprising 50 trucks arrived in the rebel-held areas on Tuesday after being given clearance by the Tigers and the Sri Lankan military.

Mr. Campbell told the BBC the supplies included rice, flour and school equipment.

He said the convoy was only the seventh to bring food to rebel-held areas during the past two months.

1)Dr Mahinda Rajapakse
2)Dr Sarath Fonseka

I heard they can't even get the right to get to the tubes and they have to park so far away..

WFP apology for BBC falsehood on Sri Lankan IDPs
World Food Program (WFP) country director for Sri Lanka , Mr. Adnan Khan today (Dec 10) apologized to the Sri Lankan government over a story filed by the BBC Sinhala service calling Sri Lanka a Somalia.

The BBC Sinhala service paddling on its not so hidden agenda, had quoted a comment made by one Mr. John Cambell, a WFP representative in non-liberated areas that 'conditions for displaced people there are as basic as in Somalia'.

Mr. Khan meeting with Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa today at the Defence Ministry treated with disdain this diabolical lie disseminated by the BBC Sinhala Service and said he would launch a special inquiry to the matter. Also, he said the WFP would issue an official statement clarifying the facts in the near future.