LTTE actively prevented people leaving during pause - John Holmes
There seems to be less civilians getting out during the [New Year]
pause than before. So it is clear that LTTE did not allow those who
wished to leave even if they wished to leave the area during this pause
to do so, they seemed to be actively prevented from doing so, perhaps
more actively prevented from doing so during this pause, so that is a
matter for great regret,” said UN Under Secretary General for
Humanitarian Affairs Sir John Holmes, at a briefing on the situation in
Sri Lanka at the UN, New York, April 15. “We believe they should be
allowing people, encouraging people to leave the no fire zone.
Civilians should not be used as pawns or human shields in this way.
So we call on the LTTE very strongly to change their attitude to this
and to allow those who wish to leave, which we believe is the vast
majority at least, and to do so as soon as possible to get them out of
harms way,” he added.
Responding to a question by the media on what evidence do UN has that
these people actually would like to get out, Sir John Holmes said: “The
UN agencies, International committee of the Red Cross and our staff and
people, when they came out of the LTTE hold they made it absolutely
clear that people were being held against their will. They had to flee
and if they try to leave they are being fired upon.
When they try to flee, huge pressure is put on them against their
leaving like forced recruitment of the civilians including children
against their will, to fight or work for the LTTE. There may be some
immediate family members who may stay but overwhelming majority would
want to get out at least for safety reasons irrespective of political
reasons.”
Answering question whether the UN is calling for a ceasefire, he
said: “Regarding a ceasefire, what we have done is to call consistently
for a peaceful and orderly end to hostilities and to that end to call
for a humanitarian pause which we hope could be transformed into
something lasting. It is pretty clear frankly however that a ceasefire
is not something that is available in the present circumstances. We are
trying to do something realistic in the present circumstances.” Asked
how many people have been killed and injured, Sir John Holmes said: “You
cannot give verifiable figures. Dozens may be killed per day. It goes up
some days, it goes down other days.
There were reports 50-60 killed or injured and other days it is less
but we cannot verify.”
With regard to medical and halt conditions in the NFZ he said there
may be water borne diseases. However, there is no danger epidemic at the
moment. His full response was: “There are some rudimentary medical
facilities in the zone. There are some doctors, some medical supplies
have been delivered, we need to get more urgently. Red Cross ship
arrives every two or three days taking supplies, the patients are
brought to better facilities for treatment in Trincomalee and Vavuniya.
Poor water quality, poor nutrition may give rise to disease etc.
Because there is no supply of antibiotics, sometimes amputations have
to be carried out. There may be water borne diseases. However, there is
no danger epidemic at the moment.” |