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May 24, 2009

UN Boss Tells Sri Lanka it Cannot Confront Humanitarian Challenge Alone
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Ban Ki-moon predicts history could repeat itself without reconciliation 
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at a news conference in Kandy, Sri
Lanka The United Nations' top official, during a 24-hour visit to Sri
Lanka, got a first-hand look at the country's largest camp for civilians
displaced by the recently ended war. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also
flew over the devastation where the final battle occurred. U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon cautioned Sri Lanka's government leaders
not to view their civil war victory as a defeat of the Tamil people. Mr.
Ban, at a joint news conference with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha
Bogollogama, predicted that history could repeat itself if there is no
reconciliation between the majority Sinhalese and the minority Tamils.
The United Nations estimates the war left as many as 100,000 people
dead. Two girls await arrival of UN Secretary General at Manik Farm The
end of the quarter-century conflict has scattered 300,000 Tamils. More
than two-thirds of them are at a sprawling displacement camp called
Manik Farm. The Secretary-General on a tour of it (Saturday) said it was
clear Sri Lanka does not have adequate resources to handle the situation
alone. He said such a huge challenge could only be adequately confronted
with help from the international community. In one of the camp's tents,
the Secretary General visited a girl with wounds to both her legs. She
had been hit by shrapnel and arrived in the camp five days earlier. She
says there is no medical facility in the camp for her surgery and she
cannot even get pain pills. Mr. Ban told her he hopes she will be able
to walk soon and to go to school. At a neighboring tent he met another
family, which had survived shelling by hiding in bunkers. The Secretary
General promised them they would be able to return home. "Before then
we'll provide the food, water, sanitation, medicines and schools. So,
have great courage and great hope for the better future," he said. The
Secretary-General did not stop at the temporary home of a school
teacher, who identified himself as Kumar. His mother and sister died in
t
he family's escape from the combat zone. He says conditions are worse in
other areas of the sprawling camp. "All the VIPs are coming and they are
showing this area only. If they go the downside they can see the real
situation of this camp. The people, they're suffering," he said. In
addition to shortages of water and toilets and adequate medical care,
the displaced also complain there is no freedom of movement at Manik
Farm. Later in the day, here in Kandy, the top U.N. official met
President Mahinda Rajapaksa. But Sri Lanka appears not to have made any
immediate concessions on Mr. Ban's calls for unhindered access to the
camps by international aid organizations and that screening of the
displaced be expedited so families can be reunited. The Secretary
General is welcoming the president's promise to resettle most of the
displaced Tamils by the end of the year.


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