100,000 civilians go missing in war’s final months – Channel 4

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 April 2011, 16:32 GMT]
Over 100,000 Tamil civilians remain unaccounted for after Sri Lanka’s onslaught in 2009 into the northern Vanni region, Channel 4 reported Saturday. Government census forms obtained by Channel 4 show 430,000 residents in Vanni in mid 2008. However internal UN documents also obtained by Channel 4 show only 290,000 people coming out of the final enclave overrun by the government’s troops and being put into its militarized internment camps. Only 60% of the original residents have returned, a Channel 4 source who recently visited Vanni also said.

Leaked UN Report Courtesy: Channel-4

The UN spokesperson in Sri Lanka at the time of the government’s final onslaught, Gorden Weiss, says the death toll could be “shockingly high.”

“I believe a modest estimate of the number of civilians [killed] is probably 20-40,000. Others – significant others – have said the figures may well be far higher.”

Chronology:


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UN leak points to 'crimes against humanity' in Sri Lanka war