Families fleeing war in Vadamaraadchi north placed in SLA refuge camp

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 November 2008, 18:06 GMT]
Kaangkeasanthu'rai Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) patrol units Wednesday arrested 28 persons, including men, women and small children fleeing in boats to escape Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombings and Sri Lanka Army (SLA) artillery barrage on Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) held Vadamaraachi North, sources in Jaffna said. Kaangkeasanthu'rai police produced the arrested in Mallaakam district court Thursday where magistrate Ms. Sarojini Illankovan directed the refugees to be placed in the newly setup SLA refugee camp located in SLA High Security Zone (HSZ) in Thellippa'lai.

13 males, 9 females and 6 small children had braved the seas to save their lives.

The refugees told the court that hey had fled their homes in fear of the attacks on civilian settlements and requested permission to go to either Trincomalee or Colombo. The magistrate denied permission as Sri Lanka Defence ministry has instructed earlier not to allow such refugees to stay elsewhere other than the special SLA rehabilitation in Mannaar, legal sources said.

Recently 19 persons belonging to 4 families had fled from LTTE held Poonakari and landed on Ma'ndaitheevu coast by boats.

The possibility of finding a place for the refugees in the peninsula was explored in a meeting held Wednesday in Kaangkeasanthu'rai, attended by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Jaffna Commander Major. Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri, Jaffna Government Agent (GA), K. Ganesh, Director of Public Health Service (DPHS), Dr. A. Ketheeswaran.

Altogether 48 persons, 28 from Vadamaraadchi and 19 from Poonakari, were sent to the SLA refugee camp in Thellippa'lai.

SLA has set up a special rehabilitation in the HSZ in Thellippa'alai where detainees said to be involved in "terrorist" activities are located by the SLA.

Major Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri instructed Jaffna GA to take care of the food requirements of the refugees and the Jaffna DPHS to look after the needs related to basic and medical facilities.