Armed group disrupting Ampara, says IASC

The situation in Ampara remains tense with an “armed group” reported to be interfering with humanitarian operations, the Inter Agency Standing Committee (IASC) said in its latest situation report.

The IASC is an umbrella grouping of humanitarian agencies, including UN affiliated organizations, operating in the country.

However, the IASC report did not directly mention the name of the “armed group” said to be disrupting the humanitarian operations.

It also said the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and UNICEF assessed the situation at Bakmitiyawa and Pannalgama in the Damana Division and reported that many people in those areas were moving to other divisions and districts as their livelihood had been affected due to the worsening security situation in the area. UNICEF and ILO officials could not be contacted by the Daily Mirror to get more details on the issue.

Last week the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) said in its weekly report that ground monitors had received complaints from civilians regarding harassment and extortion by suspected TMVP members also known as the Karuna faction both in Ampara and Batticaloa.

Military spokesman Prasad Samarasingha was quoted at the cabinet news briefing this week as saying that the Karuna faction would only be permitted to operate political camps and not military camps in the east.

Meanwhile the IASC report also said with the exception of World Vision other International Non Governmental Organisations (INGOs) did not have access to all three resettled divisions in the southern part of Western Batticaloa and added this was of concern for the humanitarian actors in the district.

Last month UN humanitarian chief John Holmes expressed concerns over the plight of the displaced civilians in Sri Lanka saying “civilians have been assassinated and abducted "by those bearing arms in places as far apart as Sri Lanka and Colombia.”

He also proposed a more systematic assessment of the reasons for the killing of humanitarian workers and for denying or restricting access to help civilians in need. This, for example, has left over 600,000 inhabitants of the Jaffna peninsula in Sri Lanka with shortages of basic necessities since August 2006, he said.

(http://www.dailymirror.lk/2007/07/14/front/01.asp)