SRI LANKA: Ban Ki-moon visits the courntry's largest war refugee camp, Manik Farm refugee camp

Record ID: 560759

  • Title: SRI LANKA: Ban Ki-moon visits the courntry's largest war refugee camp, Manik Farm refugee camp
  • Date: 24th May 2009
  • Summary: MANIK FARM, VAVUNIYA, NORTHEN SRI LANKA (MAY 23, 2009(REUTERS) VARIOUS OF U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON TOURING REFUGEE CAMP IN NORTHERN SRI LANKA
  • Embargoed: 8th June 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Sri Lanka
  • Country: Sri Lanka
  • Topics: Social Services / Welfare
  • Reuters ID: LVA1GTALH3YF5JCBV3RXFBBWNJUF
  • Story Text: U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon toured Sri Lanka's largest war refugee camp on Saturday (May 23, 2009) during a trip to press for wider humanitarian access and political reconciliation.
    In the highest-level international visit to Sri Lanka since the government declared victory last Monday over the Tamil Tiger rebels in a 25-year war, Ban later flew over the final battleground and was due to meet President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
    Ban said he would encourage open political discussions between the majority Sinhalese and minorities including Tamils when he met Rajapaksa in Kandy, the historic seat of Sinhalese kings and a Buddhist holy site.
    Rajapaksa has already pledged to strike a political deal with Tamils, and said he does not want Sri Lankans viewing the victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as a defeat of the Tamil minority.
    The United Nations wants full access to camps housing 290,000 people who escaped LTTE-controlled areas as a military onslaught bore down on the separatists, who had fought to create a separate nation for Sri Lankan Tamils.
    Ban toured Manik Farm, home to 220,000 refugees, and visited a field hospital for civilians wounded in the war.
    Sri Lanka has pledged access to the camps and greater freedom of movement for residents, but says it needs time to weed out potential Tamil Tiger infiltrators. It plans to resettle most of the refugees within six months.
    The government has already asked for international help and launched a $151 million appeal with the United Nations to improve the camps and care for those inside.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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