Humanitarian agencies unaffected by TRO ban

Say work in Wanni will continue

Humanitarian agencies operating in the Wanni, yesterday said the ban on the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) had minimal impact on their operations at ground level while UN agencies said they had no links with the organisation.

This comes despite the TRO earlier claiming the freezing of its funds both in Sri Lanka and recently the US would affect operations of humanitarian organisations in LTTE controlled areas.

“The UN has not worked with the TRO since early last year. Therefore, the repercussions on our humanitarian efforts due to the government ban would be limited,” UNICEF spokesperson Gordon Weiss said.

However, he said “the less capable partners you have on the ground the less capable you are of reaching the needy. It narrows the humanitarian reach. The more organisations you ban the less organisations you have to work with.”

“There will be no impact on World Food Programme work, due to the ban on the TRO because the WFP works through the Government’s divisional and provincial administrative setup. Any partners we work with at ground level will be contracted through the Sri Lankan Government,” World Food Program media spokesperson Selvi Sachithanandan said.

UNHCR spokesperson Sulakshini Perera said they hardly had anything to do with the TRO, and therefore the ban did not affect them. “We have other local partners and we work directly through the UNHCR office in Killinochchi,” she said.

Word Vision Country Director Yu Hwa Li said World Vision Sri Lanka worked with people directly at ground level and not with the TRO.

“Our agreement with the TRO ended on August 31, 2006 and we haven’t worked with it since then. Our only concern is the Rs. 30 million that has been frozen by the central government. This money was with the TRO because at the time the contract ended, they hadn’t finished some of the construction work that was started,” Save the Children spokesperson Malee Catyaratne said.

FORUT, a Norwegian NGO, which is involved in constructing temporary shelters for the displaced in Killinochchi also said it did not work with the TRO as it was not allowed to do so under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. We work with independent NGO’s at grassroot level, after signing agreements with the government and the NGOs concerned.”

Govt. urges concrete global action against LTTE fronts

The government yesterday urged the international community and humanitarian agencies to take concrete action against LTTE front organizations after it banned the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) in Sri Lanka, days after the US froze its accounts.

“We are appealing to agencies like UNICEF and other UN agencies to stop dealing with the TRO,” Deputy Foreign Minister Hussein Bhaila told the media while urging foreign governments to take immediate action to ban and freeze assets of the TRO and other LTTE front organizations.

Minister Bhaila said that Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama submitted a Cabinet memorandum banning the TRO in Sri Lanka. “The Cabinet ministers unanimously agreed to ban the organizations, which was one of the main front organizations of the LTTE,” the minister said.

The minister said the government decided to take this action after considering reports about the Organizations during the past few months.

No objection to TRO ban

The UNP yesterday said it had no objection to the banning of Tamil Rehabilitation Organization in Sri Lanka. UNP frontliner Lakshman Kiriella told a news conference that the government had failed to pursue the matter with commitment and the decision to ban followed a TRO member confessing in USA that some funds were given to the LTTE by the organization.