International

Lankan President Rejects Ban Ki-moon’s Appeal

Lankan president has dismissed a call by the UN secretary-general to lift restrictions on aid delivery to overcrowded displacement camps and said that the military first needs to finish with the screening of the thousands of Tamil refugees.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s reaction came following Ban Ki-moon’s appeal, which he made during a day’s visit to Lanka’s former battlefield, asking for unfettered access for aid agencies to the camps, where almost 300, 000 Tamils have been sheltered.

Ban’s visit was aimed at pressing the government to alleviate what, according to aid agencies, was a humanitarian crisis in the camps, with insufficient food suppliesand reports of epidemics owing to improper sanitation.

However, Rajapaksa said that security had to be assured “in view of the likely presence of LTTE infiltrators” among the refugees. “As conditions improved, especially with regard to security, there would be no objections to such assistance, from organizations that were genuinely interested in the well being” of the displaced Tamils, he said.

The words of the president reflect broad mistrust among many Sri Lankans who think that some humanitarian agencies have a pro-Tamil political agenda.

At the same time, the brusqueness of the president’s remarks is in contrast with the milder tone of a joint communiqué with Ban, released simultaneously.

In the joint communique, Ban had said that the UN would carry on humanitarian assistance to the displaced people, and Rajapaksa had promised to “continue to provide access to humanitarian agencies.”

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