Govt tells UN Representative:

Civilian welfare highest priority

Government's highest priority is the welfare of civilians held hostage by the LTTE, said Foreign Affairs Minister Rohitha Bogollagama when he met UN Secretary General's Representative on Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons, Prof. Walter Kaelin at the Foreign Ministry on March 3. Military operations to free the entrapped civilians have been painstakingly slow, in order to avoid causing civilian casualties.

Despite enormous logistical and other operational constraints, the Government has been sending an uninterrupted supply of food, medicine, fuel and other essential items for these civilians, he told the UN representative.

Acknowledging that there are still several shortcomings in the IDP camps, the Minister said that the Government is addressing these issues expeditiously.

It has already arranged family reunions of several inmates as well as provided telecommunications facility to the camps. The UN representative called upon the Government to expand the facilities to the residents, so that they could stay in these facilities in reasonable comfort, until their return to their original places of habitation.

Admitting that a temporary congestion in the IDP camps in the initial phase would be inevitable, he called upon the Government to expand the facilities to the residents, so that they could stay in these facilities in reasonable comfort, until their return to their original places of habitation.

UN official arrived in Sri Lanka yesterday on a four-day visit, during which he will hold discussions with government officials, as well as visit the IDP welfare villages and IDP transit points in Vavuniya.