Colombo not answerable to UN for 80,000 IDPs remaining in Vavuniyaa camps - Minister

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 February 2010, 13:01 GMT]
About eighty thousand Internally displaced persons from Vanni region still remain in camps located in Vavuniyaa despite Sri Lanka government's assurances to the United Nations that all IDPs will be resettled by January 31. Richard Badiudeen, Minister of Resettlement and disaster relief services, told Colombo media Monday that no such assurance has been given to any organization including UN.

The Minister added that the government is trying its best to resettle the IDPs as early as possible and the government is not answerable to any local and international organization.

A three member delegation comprising Senior Presidential Advisor Basil Rajapakse, President’s Secretary Lalith Weeratunga and Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse during a visit to New Delhi last month assured India that all IDPs would be resettled by the end of January.

Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse also assured a UN envoy in September that all IDPs would be resettled by the end of January.

But Minister Bathiudeen’s latest statement is contradictory to that assurance, relief organizations and human rights sources said.