117,888 refugees awaiting permanent resettlement: UN

18 May 2011 05:06 pm

A United Nation report states though it’s two years since the war ended, 117,888 displaced people from the districts of Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Vavuniya and Mullaithivu are yet to be permanently resettled.

The report said some 300,000 people who were displaced during the war were housed temporarily at refugee camps in the Chettikulam, Mannar, Vavuniya, Kilinochchi, Mulatheevu and Jaffna areas. The UN report indicates that at present in the Chettikulam refugee camp there were 16,401 people belonging to 4,981 families awaiting resettlement.

The resettled families in the North say they do not have proper dwelling places and they are at the mercy of friends and relatives for accommodation.

The UN report states that 18,589 persons from Vavuniya district, 4,928 from the Mannar district and 94,371 from the Jaffna district were yet to be resettled.

The remaining refugees in the Chettikulam camp are due to be resettled in the Mulaithivu district. Their resettlement has been put on hold because of land mine clearing operations. (Romesh Madushanka)