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Sri Lanka seeks foreign help to supply Jaffna civilians

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Sri Lanka seeks foreign help to supply Jaffna civilians

by Amal Jayasinghe

Fri Nov 24, 6:48 AM ET

COLOMBO (AFP) - Sri Lanka's president asked foreign relief agencies to help supply food and other essentials to half a million civilians trapped in the embattled northern Jaffna peninsula.

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President Mahinda Rajapakse said essentials had been shipped to the peninsula, 400 kilometres (250 miles) north of the capital, but distribution had hit serious snags because retailers had closed most of their outlets.

"I urge local and international non-governmental organisations to get involved in the distribution of food," Rajapakse said on the eve of his visit to neighbouring India. "We are ready to help the NGO's set up retail stores."

Rajapakse travels to India Saturday on a five-day "working visit," his second since coming to power a year ago and the first since fighting with Tamil Tiger rebels escalated.

Rajapakse said the Tamil Tiger rebels had forced retailers to put up shutters leaving only state-run stores open in the peninsula since mid August when the main land access to the region was closed following heavy fighting.

"Prices are soaring and people have to line up for hours not because of a shortage of food, but because of the big bottle necks in distribution," the president told reporters here.

He said the number of retail outlets in the peninsula had dropped from 4,000 to just below 400 because of Tiger threats against private traders, but the military had opened a few distribution centres which were inadequate.

His remarks came as a top Indian envoy left for home Friday after conveying New Delhi's "deep concern" over escalating violence in Sri Lanka's embattled northern and eastern regions.

Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon left for New Delhi following meetings with top leaders, including Rajapakse on Thursday and the president said only India had offered material help to address the humanitarian needs.

"I am grateful to India. They are not only our neighbour, but our best friend," Rajapakse said. "They have offered some 7,000 tonnes of food and we are working on arranging the supplies."

Menon declined to give details of his discussions, but said he was returning to New Delhi via the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu where at least 15,000 Sri Lankans have sought refugee this year.

Rajapsakse accused the Tamil Tiger rebels of forcing Tamils in the island's northeast to flee to neighbouring India with the objective creating a spill over effect in the neighbouring country.

"The LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) is trying to make the refugees a big issue in South India," Rajapakse said. "But there is an understanding between the two countries on this issue."

His visit follows a letter the Indian premier sent Tamil Nadu's chief minister M. Karunanidhi assuring that New Delhi's "deep concern and anguish" at the recent upsurge in violence would be conveyed to Colombo.

The 60 million Tamils in Tamil Nadu share close cultural and religious links with Sri Lanka's minority.

Even as Menon was on the island, the defence ministry reported heavy fighting in the east of the country.

The two sides have escalated fighting in the past year in tit-for-tat battles that have claimed thousands of lives, frustrating efforts brokered by Norway to revive a 2002 ceasefire agreement.

The ethnic conflict has claimed at least 60,000 lives since it began in 1972.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061124/wl_st...nt_061124114801

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