MEETING OF THE SUB-COMMITTEE ON IMMEDIATE HUMANITARIAN AND REHABILITATION NEEDS IN THE NORTH AND EAST (SIHRN), ON 27-28 FEBRUARY 2003.

THE ROYAL NORWEGIAN EMBASSY

Press Release
28 February 2003

The fourth meeting of the SIHRN took place in Kilinochchi on February 27 and 28 2003 at the premises of the SIHRN Secretariat. Mr. Bernard Goonetilleke headed the Government’s delegation while Mr. Tamilselvan lead the LTTE delegation. Ambassador Jon Westborg facilitated the meeting on behalf of the Norwegian Government. Ambassador Seiichro Otsuka of Japan participated on behalf of Mr. Yasushi Akashi, principal advisor to the Sub-Committee.

The Sub-Committee decided to initiate a programme for the resettlement of displaced persons in the Mannar District. The programme will respond to the needs and interest of all communities in the Mannar District. The Secretariat has been requested to initiate a Needs Assessment for the resettlement of internally displaced persons from the district.

Under the overall resettlement program, the Sub-Committee agreed:

1. to establish a resettlement program for the Mannar District in order to meet the needs of all displaced communities;

2. that the Mannar district will be assessed by five Assessment Teams comprising the following members
GOSL – 02 (at least one member to represent the Muslim community)
LTTE – 02
UNHCR – 01;

3. that these Needs Assessment Teams should as part of their work ensure that original residents, displaced outside the district of Mannar are also consulted,

4. that the reports of the Needs Assessment Teams should be submitted by 31st March 2003.

5. that an implementation proposal is to be developed based on the reports of the Assessment Teams. The implementation proposal shall be developed by a team comprising 2 members each from the GOSL and the LTTE and the UNHCR; and that the work of the Assessment Teams shall be coordinated by the UNHCR

SIHRN, to accommodate the urgent needs of the people, gave its final approval to the following projects that will be implemented as soon as the finances has been made available by the donors through the World Bank:

*The first phase of the road between Mullaitivu –Mankulam-Vellankulam
*Centre (located in Kilinochchi) for mentally traumatized women
*Renovation of paddy storage facility in Mannar district
*Construction of ice plants in Thirukovil and Saintthamaruthu in Ampara District
*Resettlement of 8 villages, one in each of the eight districts in the North East

In addition 10 further projects were approved subject to certain clarification from the Director of the Secretariat of SIHRN:
Emergency care unit in Kilinochchi, improvement of Mullaitivu Hospital, irrigation project in Kalmadu, irrigation projects in Miyankallukulam Kiran in Batticaloa, resettlement and rehabilitaion project in all districts, skill and capacity development in Mullaitivu, Amparai and Mannar districts, milk chilling and processing facility in Kilinochchi, construction of ice plant in Mullaitivu District, construction of ice plant in Jaffna District and rehabilitation of Pottuvil Hospital in Ampara District.

Projects approved by SIHRN on 28 February 2003.

The Road to Reconciliation, 2010

Investment and Education for Development
(January 21, 2011)

Speech by Prof Rajiva Wijesinha at the BizPact Investment Forum, Public Library Jaffna, January 6^th 2010.
Stability and Confidence for Revitalization - entrepreneurship and education amongst the resettled
(January 21, 2011)

The process of resettlement is proceeding apace now, with well over 120,000 persons having gone back to locations in the Northern Province. Of these the more complex returns were to areas previously under the control of the LTTE in sections of Mannar and Vavuniya and in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu.
Civil Military Liaison - The key to social progress
(January 21, 2011)

In the long hard haul that the process of resettlement has entailed, perhaps the most remarkable factor is the role played by the military. After the enormous effort involved in defeating the LTTE, there was no respite for the soldiers. Instead they have continued to work at a level of intensity that is sadly not recognized.
Overcoming constrictions and tyranny - The oppression of the LTTE in Mullaitivu
(January 21, 2011)

One reason why I suspect reconciliation will be easier in Sri Lanka than in many places that have suffered conflict is the level of suffering inflicted by the LTTE on the Tamil people. There was also an extraordinary hierarchical system, which gave great advantages to the privileged whilst the others had to serve them unquestioningly.
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(January 21, 2011)

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(January 21, 2011)

Trincomalee has always struck me as a magical place, and I have often wondered whether we might not all have been much better off had President Jayewardene moved the capital there rather than ten miles down the road from Colombo to a place that had no merit, even in his eyes, except for its name. And, even if that idea might be fanciful, our failure over nearly half a decade to develop decent communications, to improve connections between the different areas of Sri Lanka, has struck me as a mark of monumental foolishness, which certainly contributed to the spread of resentment and then terror.
Individual Innovations and Initiative
(January 21, 2011)

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Independence Day Celebrations at the Rehabilitation Centres
(January 21, 2011)

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Returns for the Old and the Recently Displaced
(January 21, 2011)

After the Independence Day celebrations at the Rehabilitation Centres in Vavuniya, I visited a couple of areas that had been resettled. I had been particularly anxious to get to the Rice Bowl in Mannar, since that had been the initial target for rapid resettlement. In the days when the hostile claimed that we intended to keep the displaced permanently in Vavuniya, we were well aware that the President was pressing for rapid cultivation by the returnees.
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(January 21, 2011)

I had not been to Amparai for the whole of 2009, so I was wholly unprepared for the tremendous progress the District had registered since my previous visit in the middle of 2008, as Head of the Peace Secretariat. Then the citizens’ committees we met were still worried about security considerations, about restrictions on movement that restrained economic activity, even about the occasional massacre perpetrated by the tiny groups of Tiger guerillas who had survived the clearing of the East.

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