Civilians forced to stand in the way

(September 22, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) A civilian crisis is looming in the Wanni as we speak. The LTTE is trying its best to retain civilians as a human shield as the Army was 4km south of Kilinochchi town periphery by last evening. The Army has reduced the pace of operations towards Kilinochchi Town and has so far withheld artillery attacks into the town area, even at identified LTTE positions for fear of hitting civilian settlements.

Mounting pressure could see civilians rebelling against the Tigers, eager to get out of harms way and the Tigers giving way to pressure from its own people. The Army believes that this is inevitable and that the Tigers may wage a house-to-house urban guerrilla warfare once the civilians leave. The military is however certain that eventually the guerrillas will have no option but to leave Kilinochchi themselves.

The Army estimates around 275,000 civilians are being forcibly withheld in the Wanni by the LTTE. Latest reports indicate that 35,000 of these, who attempted to reach government areas following a leaflet dropped by the SLAF are being forcibly held at Omanthai.

The Army, within the next few hours, will take control of the A9 highway at Mankulam and Omanthai, further south. If an indication is given by the LTTE to release the civilians in its custody plans have already been made by logistics units to transport them in batches to identified locations in Vavuniya.

Large tracts of land have been earmarked by the government in Vavuniya for temporary settlements to house these civilians and aid agencies and NGOs have been asked to provide care for them while the Army and SLAF bases in Vavuniya will provide the necessary infrastructure support to feed the IDPs. Some schools in the area maybe temporarily acquired to house these IDPs as the number maybe too large to house in a single location.

Given its previous experiences, the SLA, together with the police have made arrangements to register the IDPs systematically to ensure their protection as well as national security.
Sources told DefenceWire that the IDPs would have to remain in camps until permanently settled/resettled due to security threats. In our inquiries it became evident that such a move was inevitable.

Some of these civilians from areas south of Kilinochchi, Vavuniya north and Mannar District will be resettled first. But this too will take time time due to de-mining operations and other security concerns. [DefenceWire report]. - Sri Lanka Guardian