By IANS,
Colombo : Amid mounting international concern over the plight of civilians caught in the war between the troops and Tamil Tigers, Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa has invited UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon “to see for himself the situation” in the island’s north.
“President Mahinda Rajapaksa has invited UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to Sri Lanka to see for himself the situation regarding the action for the accommodation and treatment of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who have recently come to government controlled areas in such large numbers, and plans for their resettlement,” a statement from the president’s office said Wednesday.
Rajapaksa extended the invitation during the course of a telephone conversation initiated by the UN chief Tuesday evening.
“The president has also told the UN secretary general that he would then be able to make a better assessment of the conditions faced by the Tamil civilians still held hostage by the LTTE in a small stretch of the Civilian Safety Zone,” the statement said.
According to government statistics, nearly 200,000 people have fled the war zone and reached government-controlled areas since the start of this year.
They are housed in refugee camps and welfare centres.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have been fighting to carve out a separate state in the northeast of Sri Lanka for over a quarter century.