Sri Lankan Govt eases aid restrictions
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Two weeks ago the Sri Lankan Government ordered aid workers out of the strife-torn north of the country.
The move all but severed relief supplies to the thousands of people displaced by intense fighting between government forces and the separatist Tamil Tigers.
Now, the Government has agreed to relax its stand after UN secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon expressed concern about civilians during talks with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse in New York last week.
Gordon Weiss, the UN spokesman in Sri Lanka, has told Radio Australia's Connect Asia program the World Food Program is to be allowed to send a 60-truck convoy to the north carrying hundreds of tonnes of food to those in need.
"It's most likely that the 200,000 civilians that are currently stuck behind the lines of fighting in the north of Sri Lanka will not be able to come out with any ease, so the alternative is that they must be reached with humanitarian aid," he said.
"So the start of this convoy operation is a breakthrough in that sense."
The United Nations estimates that 230,000 people have been displaced in Kilinochchi and Mullaittivu in the recent wave of fighting.
Mr Weiss says the state of the people varies, depending on how long they have been out of their homes.
"Some were forced from their homes many months ago, and they've been on the road, and their resources have been worn down," he said.
"Some have only been forced from their homes some days ago.
"We're not looking at a situation of starvation at the moment, but we're looking at extreme pressure and hardship, and that increases as the population is displaced.
"The longer they're displaced, the tougher the conditions are."
Sri Lankan forces are moving to dismantle the northern stronghold of the rebels, formally known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), after forcing them from the east of the island in July 2007.
Tens of thousands have died on both sides since the LTTE launched an armed struggle in 1972 to carve out a homeland for minority Tamils in the north and east.
