Vakarai resettlement expedited

COLOMBO: The number of civilians displaced and planned to be re-settled in Vakarai and Kathiraweli areas is at 15,700. Of this 1,399 have already been settled, bringing the number to be re-settled down to 14,301. Measures are already under way to complete resettling them by March 31, the Government said yesterday.

20,197 civilians who are displaced in the Trincomaleee district are in Batticaloa would be taken to the transit base at Kiliveddy for a brief rehabilitation programme and resettled in stages completing the resettlement by April.

Civilians escaping the Tiger grip from Thoppigala, Kokkadichcholai, Karadiyanaru, Iluppadichchenai, Vavunathivu West in Batticaloa South and villages from Ampara district fearing being a human shield and forcible recruitment had amounted then to 42,961 which number is presently occupying the IDP centres in Batticaloa.

As per the statistics of the Project Manager of GAs Office Batticaloa, the IDP figures as at today are indicated higher than those maintained by the Security Forces. In his statistics there are 47,434 civilians identified as those with friends and relatives which fact could not be confirmed officially.

The reasons are that there had not been a census conducted during the recent times of the population in the East and the grant of aid and donations to the IDPs makes the residents to show a fault figure with the intention of drawing additional grants.

The truth of the reports from various agencies indicating that there are over 120,000 civilians displaced from Ampara and Thoppigala areas is far beyond admittance based on the explanation above.

The displacement of civilians in the East from their native places started with the tigers acting agianst the will of the people. Initially by the end of July they were in the form of depriving them basic needs such as water to drink.

Subsequently many civilians started displacing themselves from the areas of Verugal, Kathiraweli, Vakarai and Thoppigala areas due to the terrorists' forcible recruitment and use of them as a human shield. Many are still in the Internally Displaced Personnel (IDP) centers whilst a large number of displaced are being re-settled in the original villages.

The total number of IDPs to be resettled and in IDP centers as at today stands at 79,670.

The closure of Maavil Aru sluice gate by the Tigers on 20 July 2006 saw to the displacement of many of the innocent civilians from the Sinhalese villages West of Muttur in large numbers.

The attempt to overrun the Security Forces' detachments at Muttur, Kattaparachchan, Pachchnoor and Selvanagar forced almost all the Muslim inhabitants to flee the villages and by the end of August the numbers displaced reached 59,723 and were accommodated in the IDP centres at Kanthalai, Thambalagamuwa, Kinniya and in and around Trincomalee.

Of those civilians displaced and accommodated in Trincomalee district, only 2,211 are to be resettled and the local authorities have already taken all possible measures to resettle them with the assistance of the Ministry of Resettlement.

In the exodus civilians from the areas of Sampur, Uppural, Ichchalampattu, Kiliveddy and Verugal were on the move in desperation.

Tigers had been using these civilians as a human shield to guard themselves against any retaliatory strikes by the Security Forces.

The exodus from the areas South of Trincomalee were accommodated in the IDP camps in Valachchenai and Batticaloa based on the situation then and the number stood then at 23,000.

A contingent of 35 buses carrying 2,803 IDPs were taken to Kiliveddi from the IDP centers in Batticaloa thus making the Number of IDPs to be resettled in Trincomalee reduced to 20,197.