For days we’ve been getting alerts about the terrible refugee situation in Sri Lanka, but I have been too lazy to post. Maybe after awhile one gets dulled to one more “refugee crisis.” It was the word “resettlement” in this article that brought me around today and I figured I better at least mention this latest crisis.
(RTTNews) – UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday requested the Sri Lankan government to provide international relief agencies with “unhindered access” to the refugee camps housing hundreds of thousands of civilians displaced in the recent military offensive against the Tamil Tiger rebels in the country’s northeastern regions.
After talks with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse at his residence in Kandy, Ban acknowledged that the Sri Lankan government was trying its level best to provide assistance to those displaced in the recent military offensive, but warned that it was not enough.
“The government is doing its utmost best”, but added that there was a “wide gap between what is needed and what can be done”.
His request for greater international access to the refugee camps follows earlier complaints by several international aid agencies that the Sri Lankan government has restricted their access to the camps for the displaced.
Let’s just hope Ban Ki-moon is referring to resettlement within Sri Lanka.
His remarks on Saturday came just days after President Rajapaksa assured visiting Indian National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon that his government has charted out plans for the resettlement of the 280,000 war-displaced Tamils within the next six months.
“We will try to work hard to keep that promise realized,” Ban said Friday. “They need to be resettled as soon as possible.”
Ban’s Sri Lankan visit comes four days after President Rajapaksa declared victory in the country’s 25-year civil war against the Tamil Tiger rebels.
I think ol’ President Rajapaksa is being too optimistic. I don’t think the Tigers are finished. Ethnic nationalism is on the rise in the world. Read about the Tamil Tiger rebels here. Among other great achievements they are credited with developing the suicide bomber vest.
Endnote: We have resettled 15 refugees from Sri Lanka this fiscal year and only 1 in the whole of 2008, 2 in 2007, and 6 in 2006. I didn’t look back further than that but, it looks like we have an up-tick this year.