More than 10,000 persons have crossed
over to government controlled areas the
last two days, defence officials said.
Military spokesperson Brigadier Udaya
Nanayakkara told The Sunday Leader
that 5,000 people had crossed over to
government held areas on each day
(Friday and Saturday).
The civilians had crossed over into
the Dharmapuram and Vishvamadukulam
areas in the Wanni, Nanayakkara said.
This is the largest crossing over of
civilians from the LTTE controlled areas
in the Wanni after the capture of
Kilinochchi.
Nanayakara said that the IDPs were
kept in four camps in Vavuniya. There
are altogether six camps for the Wanni
IDPs.
He said there were four camps in
Vavuniya, one in Mannar and one in
Jaffna.
Meanwhile, the ICRC has expressed
grave concern over the plight of people
in the Wanni in view of the irregular
flow of humanitarian aid to the region.
The last convoy of humanitarian aid
was sent to the Wanni on January 29 and
since then, there had been no flow of
essential commodities to the people in
the region.
"The situation in the Wanni is of
grave concern. There has been no flow of
humanitarian aid into the area since
January 29," ICRC media coordinator
Sarasi Wijeratne told The Sunday
Leader.
The Puthukkudiyiruppu hospital that
was shifted to Puthumathalan is
continuing to function with the
government staff and around 20 ICRC
members.
Wijeratne said around 400 patients
were receiving treatment at the
hospital. She said that there is a lack
of drinking water in the area. There
were 300 patients at the hospital at the
time of shifting.
The ICRC has also continuously
stressed to both parties the importance
of a safe passage for the sick and the
wounded people in Wanni to be moved into
government controlled areas.
