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Sri Lanka bars foreign aid workers from rebel area
Tuesday, 9 September 2008 - 5:18 AM SL Time
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The Sri Lankan government said Monday it is barring all foreign aid workers and many local staff from rebel-held areas in the north because of the raging civil war there.
The decision came as the government stepped up its offensive aimed at crushing the Tamil Tiger rebel group and capturing its de facto state after a quarter century of civil war.
With the fighting escalating, aid groups have expressed concern for the welfare of the tens of thousands of civilians who have fled their homes near the front lines in recent weeks and moved deeper into rebel territory.
Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said Monday the government decided to order all foreign aid workers from the territory under rebel control for their own protection.
``We can`t assure the security of these people,`` Rajapaksa told The Associated Press. ``We are taking precautions.``
The impact the announcement will have on aid work in the impoverished and war-torn areas of the north was not immediately clear. The United Nations and the U.S. government declined to comment, and officials from international aid groups said they were working on a coordinated response.
The U.N. estimates that between 70,000 and 85,000 people have fled their homes because of the marked rise in fighting in recent weeks, bringing the total number of displaced civilians there to 160,000.
Aid workers say thousands are receiving food and shelter from international aid groups.
According to a notice sent to aid groups Monday, no foreign aid workers will be allowed to pass the Omanthai checkpoint that serves as the entry point to rebel territory. Foreigners already inside as well as local workers who are not permanent residents of the area must leave, according to the notice.
Aid groups were also ordered to remove their vehicles, equipment and machinery from rebel territory immediately.
Rajapaksa said he was trying to avoid a repeat of the 2006 massacre of 17 local aid workers for the French agency Action Against Hunger in the eastern town of Muttur that followed a fierce battle between troops and rebel fighters.
European monitors blamed security forces for those killings, while the government blamed the rebels.
``We don`t want to get into a situation like that, so we are giving (the aid groups) adequate notice,`` Rajapaksa said.
The written order, obtained Monday by The Associated Press, does not make an exception for U.N. aid workers. However, Rajapaksa said that while U.N. workers would be forced to move out of Tamil Tiger-controlled areas, they would be allowed to return briefly to accompany aid shipments.
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CMBLion
Joined: May 2007
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 8 Sep 2008 22:24:23 GMT Report for Abuse
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| It seems the SLDF is prepping wanni for total annihilation. |
CMBLion
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8 Sep 2008 22:31:21 GMT Report for Abuse
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Copycat Sinhalas copying Sudan.
at least Sudanese people aren't stateless rats. |
Dewey
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 8 Sep 2008 22:36:33 GMT Report for Abuse
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| Darn... Who will take nude pictures of wanni beauties now? |
CMBLion
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8 Sep 2008 22:43:30 GMT Report for Abuse
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Darn... Who will take nude pictures of wanni beauties now?
there's no more business in wanni. The hooks have moved to South Africa. |
Revy
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 8 Sep 2008 23:00:20 GMT Report for Abuse
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It seems the SLDF is prepping wanni for total annihilation.
For once I can agree with CMBLion, this is what the self proclaimed half animals do everytime they get ready to indicriminately kill Tamils try and hide it from the outside world, but as I said on Tiggys page, there will be an answer for every atrocity commited by your forces. |
Berty
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 8 Sep 2008 23:13:46 GMT Report for Abuse
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'Dangerous environment'
The government said the ban would apply to all foreign aid workers in rebel-held territory and to their local colleagues who were not permanently resident in the area.
'We can't assure the security of these people,' Defence Secretary Rajapaksa told The Associated Press news agency. 'We are taking precautions.'
Mr Rajapaksa said any people affected by the ban who were currently in the area should leave immediately.
He said his government wished to avoid a repeat of the murder in 2006 of 17 local employees of French aid agency, Action Against Hunger.
Sri Lanka's government said Tamil rebels carried out the attack but international truce monitors said the killings were the work of the military.
A United Nations official last year described Sri Lanka as one of the world's most dangerous environments for humanitarian workers, prompting an angry rebuttal from the government.
17 Aid workers..what? killed by LTTE..lolz
Edited By - Berty - 8 Sep 2008 23:14:35 GMT |
Rapaport
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 8 Sep 2008 23:27:53 GMT Report for Abuse
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No aid workers means no food and material and that means people will move out of vanni!
Thats the plan it seems!
Edited By - Rapaport - 8 Sep 2008 23:28:55 GMT |
Berty
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8 Sep 2008 23:30:02 GMT Report for Abuse
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No aid workers means no food and material and that means people will move out of vanni!
or if they don't..u starve innocent civilians to death..!!
or it is easy to kill them and blame it on LTTE like the 17 Aid workers..
Edited By - Berty - 8 Sep 2008 23:30:47 GMT |
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