Following Pascoe’s visit :

Northern restoration summed up by Ambassador Wickramasuriya

Philip Fernando

Sri Lankan ambassador Jaliya Wickramasuriya disseminated in Washington an account of the recent visit to the North of UN Under-Secretary General for Political Affairs, Lynn Pascoe. Wickramasuriya observed the noteworthy progress including the brisk resettlement of displaced persons and the rapid normalization process reached since the war ended on May 18 as seen by the visiting UN envoy.

Northern restoration is on target as evident by the following: resettlement of substantial numbers of IDPs, rehabilitation of ex-LTTE child soldiers and cadres, the marked increase in fisheries and agricultural production in the North, as well as a comprehensive restoration of highways, power supply and educational facilities and the demining work begun of the 1.5 million land mines installed by the LTTE.

The comprehensive analysis provided by the ambassador is given below:

Rehabilitation progress

The visit to Sri Lanka last week of UN Under-Secretary General for Political Affairs, Lynn Pascoe highlighted the progress made so far to rebuild Northern Sri Lanka to enable accelerated resettlement of displaced persons. That work includes:

Infrastructure, Roads and Transportation Development

Repairs on major highways of the Northern Province are under way. Roads now under renovation include the A9, A32, A 14, A 17, A 34, A 35 AB 19, AB 20 (Jaffna - Point Pedro) and B 229 (Murungan- Silavaturai). Work on access roads to highways and rural villages is also underway.

Health and Water Supply

Renovation work of 12 rural health centers and hospitals in Killinochi, Mannar and Vavuniya district is due to be completed by mid-October. The Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry is also planning to renovate Killinochi base hospital.

Livelihood Development

Approximately 60 lorries of commercial goods and agricultural products were transported to and from Jaffna peninsula on the A9 ( Jaffna - Kandy) highway in August.

Repairs to large irrigation systems in the Jaffna district (Thondaman Aru) and the Giant tank (reservoir) and the Agathimuruppu tank in the Mannar district have been completed. Fish production in the Jaffna peninsula has also increased and 1,731 metric tons of fish production was reported in July. The production in May was just 774 metric tons.

Education

Displaced Children Take Entrance Exams Of the Northern Province’s 1,011 schools, 575 are now open and repairs are underway in damaged schools.

The Ministry of Education reports that General Certificate of Education (GCE) Advance Level examinations (University entrance examinations) were held at 10 special examination centers in Vavuniya for 1,263 displaced candidates who are presently housed in IDP welfare villages.

Among them were 166 ex-Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) child soldiers. The Zonal Education Office in Vavuniya successfully held grade five scholarship examinations for 5,465 children living in welfare villages and in the transitional camps in Cheddikulam.

Electricity

The Power and Energy Ministry has initiated a program to restore the power supply in the Killinochi, Vavuniya and Mullaithivu districts. Power in the Killinochi town area, Oddusudan, Mankulam, Nedunkerni, Pallimudoi and almost all areas in Mannar district has been restored.

Monetary and Material Assistance

The Government will provide returning displaced families with $220, galvanized roofing sheets, six months of free dry rations, kitchen utensils and equipment required for daily living needs to the equivalent to US $ 35-$40, as well as agricultural seed and equipment and fishing supplies for coastal communities.

Rehabilitation of former Child Soldiers

Sri Lanka has implemented a comprehensive rehabilitation program for rescued child soldiers. The government has established two Children’s Protective Accommodation and Rehabilitation Centers (PARC) in Ambepussa, Kegalle (Central Sri Lanka) and Poonthottam Cooperative training School in Vavuniya Facilities for education and catch-up education, vocational training, recreational activities and special educational programs are also available.

De-mining

Initial surveys of Northern Sri Lanka suggest that there are as many as 1.5 million LTTE landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) over an area of 402 square kilometers.

The machines should significantly increase the pace of de-mining, leading to more rapid IDP resettlement. Seven nations are aiding Sri Lanka with de-mining: the U.S., UK, Denmark, India, Norway, Japan and Australia.

At the end of August, a total of 445,370,401 square meters have been cleared of mines and UXOs. The government of Sri Lanka has so far spent $64 million on de-mining operations.