Some 300,000 people living in the Wanni region in northern Sri Lanka have been cut off from food and medical aid for more than a month, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on August 2.
The only route to the region, which is controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), was closed by the government at the end of June in an attempt to cut off the Tigers' supply lines. The LTTE, which is fighting for a separate homeland in the country's north-east, says that up to half a million Tamils, many of them displaced from the Jaffna Peninsular, face starvation after the army closed an earlier supply road following a fresh offensive against the independence fighters.
UNHCR spokesperson Kris Janowski said that if the blockade continues, there would be widespread malnutrition. On the weekend of July 31, the government agreed to allow the evacuation of sick people to government zones for medical examination, but it has still not agreed to allow food aid or free movement of civilians in the area.
Meanwhile, the government agents (district officers) for the Mullaitivu and Kilinochi districts have been removed from their posts for issuing statements to foreign media that food supplies are not getting into some areas of Wanni. The statements also contained figures on the food situation which contradicted government claims aimed at playing the crisis down.
Ramasamy Dharmakulasingham and T. Rasanayagam were ordered on July 30 to report back to the ministry of public administration in Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo. According to the Sunday Times, the new government agents for these districts will be under the direction of the military.