Minister disputes UN official's claims

Rasika SOMARATHNA

The Government while emphasising it was doing it's utmost to help displaced civilians in the Vanni, said that the issues raised in a statement released recently by Representative of the UN Secretary General on the human rights of IDP's, Walter Kalin, were unfounded.

While rejecting Kalin's claims that the facilities provided were inadequate, Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights Mahinda Samarasinghe said that the Government had done everything possible to provide necessary facilities, under extremely difficult conditions. Also the Minister added that Kalin had failed to adhere to the established protocol when informing the Government with regards to the issue.

The Minister pointed out that instead of directing his concerns through proper channels, which was to approach the Foreign Ministry through Sri Lankan Ambassador to the UN, Kalin had directly reffered his statement to the Defence Secretary. Thus the Government has decided to inform the UN regarding its concern on the above issue as well as a comprehensive reply articulating Government's position with regards to the issues raised in Walter Kalin's statement, the Minister said.

Meanwhile R H W A Kumarasiri, the Project Director of the Nation Building Ministry attached to the WFP projects, said that 10 foreign nationals affiliated to various UN agencies in the country had visited Vanni with the latest food convoy.

After a thorough inspection tour, the team had professed satisfaction with the ongoing assistance programs and according to them the civilians too had claimed that they were getting adequate supplies, Kumarasiri added.

Commenting on the number of civilians in the area Kumarasiri said, a monthly report provided by District Secretaries had contained many discrepancies.

Highlighting the report he pointed out that they had found that the same name had appeared in multiple locations.

While admitting that the local authorities were engaged in a very difficult task, he said that the Ministry of Nation Building was presently preparing a data base by taking into account the figures provided by the GA's, eliminating inaccuracies.