[Save the Children]

Save the Children has begun delivering life-saving aid to some of the thousands of civilians who have been able to flee the war zone in northern Sri Lanka. Nearly 28,000 people - many of whom have lost everything - have arrived in the district of Vavuniya, approximately 100km south of the fighting, in the past few days and are completely dependent on aid from the Sri Lankan authorities, the UN and non-governmental organisations. Thousands more people are expected to arrive in the coming weeks. Save the Children, in collaboration with the government and other agencies, has already given thousands of children and their families clothes, bedding, hygiene kits including soap and toothbrushes and other basic items.

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[Voice of America]

Tens of thousands of people fleeing the Sri Lanka’s civil war are taking refuge in government-run relief camps in the north. Many more are expected in the weeks ahead as the country’s 25-year war appears to be grinding to an end. That is creating a difficult humanitarian situation. Sri Lanka’s government has sealed off the relief camps in the country’s north to most visitors, including foreign journalists. But eyewitnesses said they are becoming overcrowded and that they lack supplies of drinkable water.

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[AP]

The United Nations warned that civilians caught in the shrinking sliver of territory still controlled by the rebels are facing a massive food crisis, and convoys may not be able to deliver supplies until late next week. Concern for the fate of civilians - hundreds of whom observers say have died in the latest fighting - has grown recently, and several Western countries have pressed the government to declare a cease-fire to allow noncombatants to flee.

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