SRI LANKA: Thousands of refugees flee into the jungles of northeastern Sri Lanka to escape attacks

Thousands of war-displaced people in and around the Sri Lankan town of Vakari in Tamil Tiger territory are fleeing to escape the almost-daily shelling. The military says more than 17,000 people have travelled on foot through the jungles or have set sail on boats to escape to more peaceful areas of Batticaloa, other parts of the country and even India, since artillery duels between the army and the Tamil Tiger rebels intensified in November. Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers warned the army on Monday (December 19) they would resort to pre-emptive strikes if the military pushes ahead with a declared plan to drive them out of rebel-held territory in the island's volatile east. The army accuses the Tigers of using civilians as human shields and, to the shock of Nordic truce monitors, has vowed to push them out of areas they control under the terms of a tattered 2002 ceasefire pact which still holds on paper. The rebels say the civilians are fleeing because of army artillery shells that have hit refugee camps and killed dozens and deny they have held civilians against their will as some witnesses have said. "We came through the jungle. We had nothing to eat, This is the first time we got some food to eat. The LTTE did not know that we were leaving. We got wet in the rain and slept in the jungle for two nights and have been bitten by mosquitos. There was another group of people who showed us the way," said one refugee Mullur Vishnamoorthi. "The LTTE warned us not to try and leave their area. But we left without them knowing. They did not know we left because we came through the jungle. It is difficult to live there as shells and rockets are falling all the time," said another refugee Sathyendra Thurairaja. The military has hemmed the Tigers in to a 14-mile (22-km) stretch of coastline around Vakarai, and has already driven the rebels out of territory near the strategic north-eastern port of Trincomalee further north. Thousands of displaced are now crammed in to temples, schools and welfare camps in government terrain, many with little more than the clothes on their backs and living on food handouts. The United Nations, the Red Cross and the international community have all called on both sides to halt the fighting and guarantee the safety of civilians trapped in the crossfire, but both sides have ignored them. More than 3,000 troops, civilians and rebel fighters have been killed so far this year in a series of land battles, air strikes, ambushes and attacks. The conflict has killed more than 67,000 people since 1983. The Tigers, who accuse successive Sinhalese-majority governments in Colombo of discriminating against minority Tamils, say they are intensifying their fight for an independent state in the north and east after President Mahinda Rajapakse rejected their demands for a separate homeland.

ITN Source | December 19, 2006

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