HOW MANY CIVILIANS ARE AFFECTED?
According to the United Nations and Red Cross, about 150,000 civilians are trapped inside the rapidly shrinking "no-fire zone", a strip of land just 7 km long and 2 km wide (4 miles by 1.2 miles) along the northeastern coast. The government says that there are less than 100,000 there.
The United Nations and rights groups say the Tigers have held people as human shields or conscripts. Some civilians who have managed to flee the no-fire zone report being fired on by the rebels or seeing friends and relatives forcibly recruited to fight.
The U.N. and rights groups also say the government has shelled the densely packed no-fire zone, which the government denies as Tiger propaganda.
Aid workers estimate about 5,000 civilians have managed to escape in the past two weeks, joining around 65,000 people who are being held in government-controlled camps.
WHAT ARE THE CONDITIONS IN THE NO-FIRE ZONE?
Aid agencies say those inside the tiny no-fire zone are living in inhuman conditions. They have little shelter, food, water or medicine.
They say the conditions are extremely cramped with people literally living on top of one another under tarpaulin sheets.
Food from the U.N. World Food Programme has been delivered by ship to the area with the help of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), but the U.N. says this is only about 25 percent of what is actually required.
Outbreaks of chicken pox, measles and water-borne diseases are common due to the cramped conditions, poor sanitation and the arrival of intra-monsoonal rains. Government officials have reported to relief organisations that people are dying from malnutrition-related causes due to lack of food.
The ICRC has managed to evacuate thousands of wounded people and some of their families by sea, but otherwise there is no real humanitarian access to the area.
WHAT ARE THE CONDITIONS IN THE GOVERNMENT CAMPS?
The situation in the camps is better than in the no-fire zone but civilians who are kept there have no freedom of movement.
Aid workers say the lack of information is one of the biggest concerns for people since they have little freedom to communicate. Mobile phones are not permitted and it is not uncommon to see people standing at the camps' fences talking to relatives who cannot come inside.
People do have access to regular food, water and shelter. Some agencies feel medical facilities are inadequate.
Aid agencies face restrictions in gaining access to the camps. Only Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), ICRC and the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) have access to all the camps.
Other agencies have access to selected camps, which are tightly controlled. Aid workers and anyone heading into northern Sri Lanka has to go through various checkpoints to gain access. The government has often blamed some aid agencies of allowing Tiger sympathisers to infiltrate their ranks and smuggle weapons.
WHAT COULD CIVILIANS FACE IF THEY RETURN HOME AFTER THE CONFLICT?
Many villages have been utterly devastated by the war. Aid workers describe much of the northern swathe of the country as being like a ghost town. Many areas are also littered with mines, booby traps and unexploded ordnance.
Aid agencies say there will have be some long-term reconstruction projects in place to help people rehabilitate.
Without full access to war-torn areas it will be difficult for aid workers to conduct proper needs assessments. Such access is unlikely given the current security situation.
Health workers also say the mental health of communities affected by 25 years of conflict is an issue that desperately needs to be addressed. Many have lived under very difficult circumstances, lost their relatives and risked their lives trying to flee the conflict.
Many civilians talk of spending endless hours in bunkers being shelled and seeing people wounded or killed in front of them. MSF and others are setting up programmes to address the mental health needs of traumatised civilians.
Source : Young Asia Television, or YATV
Link : www.Yatv.net
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