Stranded Vanni residents to go back?

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 July 1999, 16:46 GMT]
The Vanni Security Forces Commander, Major General Lionel Balagalle, said today that two thousand persons from among the Vanni residents who have been stranded in Vavuniya since the closure off all entry points to the areas held by the Liberation Tigers in the north could be sent back tomorrow.

More than three thousand people living in those parts of the Vanni controlled by the Liberation Tigers who were in Vavuniya when the Uyilankulam route was closed due Operation Rana Gosa -Phase 4 last month have been stranded in the northern town.

Maj.Gen.Balagalle informed Mr. K.Ganesh, the government agent (GA) of Vavuniya, of this development today. The Vanni Security Forces commander, however, is yet to intimate the GA the details of how the safe passage of the two thousand persons into the LTTE held parts of the Vanni would be arranged tomorrow.

Military sources in Vavuniya said that the Vavuniya GA has also been informed to make arrangements to bring patients in need of urgent medical attention by sea from Vidaththaltheevu to Mannar island. The Vanni Security forces Commander has asked the Government Agents of Kilinochchi and Mullaithivu be in Vavuniya soon they said.