As the new year dawned, fighting between government security forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) continued in the Vakarai area of eastern Sri Lanka, where an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 displaced persons and residents were trapped. Early this morning these people started fleeing south towards Batticaloa. Since 11 December the ICRC and other humanitarian organizations have been unable to reach the conflict zone to deliver food, clean water and medical supplies.

Around 60,000 internally displaced people who escaped the fighting in the eastern provinces over the past months are currently being housed at some 60 different sites in Batticaloa district and assisted by humanitarian organizations and government authorities.

The ICRC facilitated the transfer of 14 sick and wounded persons by boat from Vakarai to Valiaichchenai hospital in the government-controlled area in two separate groups on 3 and 8 January.

Since 11 August the Jaffna peninsula has been cut off by road from the rest of the island as fighting at Muhamalai has continued. Supplies have had to be delivered by sea or air.

Civilian buses were the target of two bomb attacks – one near Galle and the other outside Colombo – in early January. Eighteen people were killed and some 50 were injured in the attacks.

Health

The ICRC has continued to support the health authorities in the northern and eastern parts of the country. Over the past three weeks, an ICRC aircraft has been used to transfer 31 seriously ill patients accompanied by their caretakers and doctors from Jaffna to Colombo. It has also transported samples to Colombo for laboratory tests and medical supplies to Jaffna.

The ICRC has assisted the hospitals in Mulankavil and Kilinochchi in the Vanni and the hospital in Kantale in Trincomalee district. It has helped volunteers from the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society to conduct activities promoting health and preventing disease in Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Jaffna, and has continued to support the Sri Lanka Red Cross mobile health teams operating in Batticaloa and Jaffna.

Water and habitat

Since major hostilities intensified in Batticaloa district at the end of 2006, the ICRC has focused on providing displaced people with shelter, water and sanitation facilities. It has set up three camps in Batticaloa district (two in Kiran and one in Alankulam) and is currently building a fourth one in Mavadivembu.

The ICRC has distributed over 1,500 family-sized tents providing shelter for about 7,000 people at these sites and given another 800 tents to partner organizations for distribution in the same area under Sri Lanka Red Cross supervision.

In addition, the ICRC has distributed 28 cubic metres of drinking water since the beginning of the crisis, thus providing a minimum of 5 litres of drinking water per person for over 5,000 individuals. It has also provided over 120 emergency toilets and bathing and washing facilities.

In the Vanni, the ICRC has continued to distribute supplies allowing thousands of displaced people to build shelters. It has also delivered around 1,500 temporary family shelters together with water and sanitation facilities suitable for some 6,000 individuals.


Economic security

During the past three weeks, the ICRC has repeatedly surveyed needs in Vavuniya, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Kilinochchi. It has implemented programmes to sustain the agricultural production of 389 families in 24 villages in the LTTE-controlled areas of Vavuniya north and Mannar and programmes benefiting 179 families currently accommodated in 17 villages in Kilinochchi and Mullaittivu.

In Batticaloa district, the ICRC, working with Sri Lanka Red Cross volunteers, distributed 721 essential household item kits, 668 hygiene kits, 1,985 tents and 507 jerrycans to 1,063 families at three sites (Alankulam and Kiran I and II). It also gave similar items to 1,367 families in Seruvila, Kantale, Mutur and Trincomalee town.

Restoring family links

The ICRC has continued to cooperate closely with the Sri Lanka Red Cross to help members of families separated by the conflict to restore and maintain contact with one another. Since 18 December the ICRC has collected 151 family messages and distributed 43.


Visiting detainees

The ICRC continues to visit people arrested for security reasons. In recent weeks ICRC delegates have registered or held private interviews with 177 detainees during 22 visits in 21 places of detention.


Civilian population

Families throughout the country continue to report abductions of relatives by persons unknown. The ICRC has been notified of 32 such cases in the past three weeks, and of 44 arrests. Its delegates have transported the bodies of six combatants during recent weeks.


ICRC presence at crossing points

In the last three weeks, the ICRC has acted as a neutral intermediary to facilitate the crossing of over 18,000 civilians at the Omanthai and Uyilankulam lines between government- and LTTE-controlled areas. The crossing point in the north – Muhamalai – has remained closed since August 2006 owing to hostilities in the area.


Cooperation within the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement

The ICRC launched an initiative to boost the capacity of selected Sri Lanka Red Cross branches which will provide the Vavuniya and Batticaloa branches with the means to operate ambulance services at night.