By Amantha Perera and Arthur Wamanan

The first convoy of vehicles after relocation of the UN and other INGOs from the Wanni with food relief for the displaced reached the besieged Wanni on October 2 after taking a detour to  avoid the fighting raging south of Kilinochchi.

Heavy fighting very close to the A9 had prompted government authorities to dissuade the convoy from even travelling as far as Mankulam on the A9 as earlier planned. The convoy of 51 vehicles, 30 from the World Food Programme (WFP) and 21 organised by the Government Agents of Kilinochchi and Mulaithivu, was asked to make the planned turn to the east at Puliyankulam, about 15 km  south of Mankulam and then make its way through Oddusudan to Mulaithivu and then on to the Mulaithivu/Paranthan road where most of the IDPs were remaining.

As reported in the last issue, civilian movement from Kilinochchi continued, and many more of them have moved into the Mulaithivu District. According to the latest reports filed by the Inter Agency Standing Committee (IASC), of the 221,000 IDPs in the Wanni, two thirds, or 140,000 now remained in the Mulaithivu District. There was a very real likelihood of the Government Agent's office for Kilinochchi, with the untiring Nagalingam Vedanayagam at its helm, will also relocate to Mulaithivu. Vedanayagam travelled with the convoy as it  moved from Vavuniya to Kilinochchi last week.

Relocating

The Kilinochchi Hospital where staff from regional health facilities including two hospitals worked or remained after fleeing from areas in the southwest of the Wanni was last week on the verge of relocating.

"We are thinking of moving the hospital out for safety," Thangamuththu Sathyamurthi, the director of the hospital told The Sunday Leader.

The convoy which was accompanied by seven UN international staff who were there  to monitor the distribution planned to stop at four locations where the IDPs remain to distribute the supplies. The supplies consisting only of food items would not be stored in the Wanni.

Commissioner General of Essential Services S.B. Divaratne told The Sunday Leader that food was being sent to the Wanni on a priority basis. "That is what is needed there, food supplies. Other items like medicine are available," he said.

The UN said that 650 tonnes of food were sent in the convoy, but not before nine lorries in the original 60 convoy were detained in Vavuniya when explosives, GPS devices and other banned items were recovered from them.

The large haul

On September 30, an alert sniffer dog prompted the recovery of C-4 explosives in the possession of the driver of a lorry that was transporting food. Later on troops also recovered 28,800 pen-torch batteries and a DVD player from a false compartment in the lorry that was part of the 30 put together by the GA's. The lorry had an old container mounted on to the rear chassis as the body, and a false compartment had been welded in at the front end of the container.

A day later, another recovery was made - this time the effort was to smuggle 22 Global Positioning Systems hidden in sacks of jaggery.

"Within a matter of 12 hours after the first food lorry with C-4 explosives and batteries was detected at Omanthai, one more lorry which was attempting to smuggle 22 Global Positioning System (GPS) equipment for use by Tiger terrorists, concealed in jaggery sacks, was taken into custody on Wednesday (1) evening at about 4.30 when it was set to leave forKilinochchi," the army said.

Two days after, another lot of banned items, this time including motor cycle spare parts came out of the false floor boarding of another lorry. 

Some reports said that the detained lorries were part of the UN convoy, but the UN office in Colombo later said that all 30 lorries organised by the WFP made the trip.

"The convoy was reduced from 60 trucks to 51 after explosives and other illicit items were discovered on government-provided trucks that were due to join the convoy. The UN has reiterated that humanitarian convoys are protected under International Humanitarian Law, and has condemned the attempt by persons unknown to disrupt the aid effort. The UN plans to dispatch another convoy next week," the UN said.

Transferred

The lorries were not checked at the Omanthai crossover point but at Tandikulam and Tekewatte, in Vavuniya. They were thereafter sealed before being sent across to the Wanni. The nine lorries that were detained were later transferred to the  Wanni Security Forces Headquarters in Vavuniya.

As last week's convoy totally contained food, only the UN was involved in the exercise. However, humanitarian  agency sources in Vavuniya told The Sunday Leader that over 500 local staff members remaining in the Wanni could now obtain an identity card from the two government agent's offices of Kilinochchi and Mulaithivu and work in the distribution and other humanitarian work as volunteers.

Divaratne said that other relief items would be sent as and when the requirements arose, and that the government was also allowing 20 lorries with supplies to be sold  in the Wanni, to travel there on a daily basis.

IDPs are in need of supplementary food, education packs, lamps for lighting, temporary non-cement toilets and  shelter material according to humanitarian agencies. But there have been some areas of concern over allowing non UN INGOs to resume work in the Wanni.

Reservations

There has been some reservations expressed in government quarters that some of the assets of the INGOs have either not been  brought back to Vavuniya or properly secured in the Wanni. INGOs have also come under pressure to be much more vocal on the issue of Tigers preventing the relocation of local staff members and their families.

Several have released statements including Medecins Sans Frontieres and the Dutch Refuge Council, who say that their staff was prevented from leaving the Wanni by the Tigers. International pressure has also grown on the Tigers who have not allowed any of the over 220,000 IDPs to move to government held areas overland.

Soon after the government issued notice from the Government NGO Secretariat in writing on September 5, to relocate out of the Wanni, those who were working in the Wanni proposed a plan to the government on working arrangements as well staff safety on September 12. According to Executive Director, Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies, Jeevan Thiyagaraja the agencies have been following up on the proposals to the government and said that the agencies would start working with the GAs soon.

For the time being if any of the INGOs want to send supplies to the Wanni, they would have to make use of the government convoy.

Temporarily suspended

The convoys could not have entered any later, despite no shortages or crisis situations. The latest news  from the Wanni just before the aid convoy entered was not very optimistic. "GA Kilinochchi reported on September 24 that dry ration distribution was temporarily suspended in Kilinochchi District due to shortages, for IDPs who have been registered in the district," the ISAC report that was released on the same morning as the convoy was, said. Distribution of aid continued in Mulaithivu where  more people were moving to, the report said.

Divaratne said that the government plans to send a weekly convoy similar to the one that made the trip to the Wanni. It is likely that the UN cooperation will continue. In fact the government had initially suggested  that the two UN agencies - WFP and the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) remain in the  Wanni despite the directive to relocate.

"WFP and UNHCR were initially requested to continue in the Wanni, but they quite reasonably felt that it would place too much of a burden on their staff. As a result, the government has now come to understandings with these agencies that will ensure supplies of food, medicine and other necessities in the weeks ahead. These are for the displaced, while the regular commercial supply of food and other goods to the other people in the Wanni continues apace," the Government Peace Secretariat said last week.

Two week window

According to Divaratne, Wanni IDPs need about 300 metric tonnes of food per week and the current stock would give authorities a two week window to get the next one in.

So many facets could change in the Wanni during that time.