Save the Children has been ordered to
pull out of rebel-held areas of northern Sri Lanka.
(1 October 2008) Earlier this month international aid agencies were given three weeks notice by the Sri Lankan
government to withdraw their operations in the northern areas held by Tamil Tiger (LTTE) rebels. As fighting intensifies, the government said it could no longer guarantee the safety of aid workers
based there.
Save the Children has now been forced to stop its operations and withdraw staff based in its Kilinochchi
Office. Staff has now been evacuated and it is unclear when they will be able to return.
More than 160,000 people have been forced to flee the fighting in the area, leaving
crops to rot in the fields and disrupting livelihoods and the education of tens of thousands of children.
"There are more than 30,000 children who have been
deprived an education due to displacement over the past few weeks,” said Senait Gebregziabher, country director of Save the Children in Sri Lanka. "The trauma of war poses a huge
threat to their wellbeing."
Right up until the deadline to leave, Save the Children ran a relief operation providing food, basic temporary shelter materials and
children’s clothes. Save the Children also provided safe play areas and support for children recruited and released by the Tamil Tigers. Save the Children was able to stop many children being
recruited to fight for the Tamil Tigers, but the organisation fears that without staff on the ground children could again be forced to work for the rebels.
Although the area
is extremely insecure and communication is restricted, Save the Children is trying to regain access and help displaced children and their families. Save the Children urges the Government of Sri
Lanka, the LTTE, and the international community to take immediate and lasting measures to protect children caught up in this ongoing conflict.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
Men work among the debris of a partially collapsed school in Belyayevka, near Orenburg in the southeastern Ural mountains, October 1, 2008. A staircase collapsed in the school in the provincial ...
