Red Cross is again facing flak in Sri Lanka as the Eelam War IV has entered the stage of mopping up operations. For all the wrong reasons.
Keheliya Rambukwella, the government’s defence spokesman, has accused the ICRC of inciting panic by placing an unnecessarily large order for body bags to be used in the conflict zone.
Keheliya Rambukwella, the government’s defence spokesman, has accused the ICRC of inciting panic by placing an unnecessarily large order for35,000 body bags
‘The ICRC has ordered 35,000 body bags for the conflict area and we got to know about this last evening," he told reporters in Colombo (Feb 6). "By placing such an order, the ICRC is trying to create international fear."
But the Red Cross spokeswoman, Sophie Romanens said ‘We have no idea where this figure of 35,000 comes from’. According to her the ICRC had ordered 2,000 body bags at the beginning of the year for use in transferring dead combatants between the two sides.
‘This was a routine order’, she said.
Red Cross officials said: ‘We have no idea where this figure of 35,000 comes from’.Sophie described the situation as critical while UN Food Relief Agency, WFP, said there is complete dependence on humanitarian food assistance for survival for all the 250,000 people in the conflict zone due to ‘continuous displacement, crop failure and recent floods’.
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Some 400 patients had fled a hospital in Tiger territory after it was repeatedly shelled February first week and are sheltered in a school and community centre, where safe drinking water is a problem according to relief agencies.
Britain, the United States, India, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon have called for a ceasefire. Colombo rejected their appeals, accusing the Tigers of using civilians as human shields, and blaming Western diplomats, journalists and aid workers for ‘sensationalizing’ civilian casualties.
There is complete dependence on humanitarian food assistance for survival for ll the 250,000 people in the conflict zone.And an angry mob stoned the offices of the Red Cross in Colombo on Feb 6 around noon. Their chant was ‘ICRC Go Home’.
