Bauer discusses refugees' plight with TRO officials

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 May 2006, 21:15 GMT]
Norwegian Special Peace Envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer and members of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) met with Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) officials at the TRO Secretariat Saturday 10:00 a.m. and discussed the escalating number of refugees and the ground situation in Jaffna and in the affected parts of Trincomalee, TRO sources in Kilinochchi said.

Deputy Director of TRO, Mr. Ravichandran, TRO's Planning Officer, Lawrence Christie, Planning co-ordinator for TRO's foreign branches Mr Parameswaran, President of TRO, Mr. Sivanadiyar, Director of TRO's Women's Development Wing, Ms. P. Thilaga and Vavuniya district Co-ordinator for TRO, Mr. Thirugnanasampanthamurthy participated in the meeting, TRO officals said.

TRO representatives briefed the Bauer delegation details of TRO activities related to the recent refugee influx into Vanni and other LTTE controlled areas, how the frequent disruption to the movement of people in several Sri Lanka Army (SLA) controlled checkpoints impose hardships to travellers, and how the slowly tightening embargo on materiels affecting the activities of Tamil people in NorthEast, TRO officials added.

Infrastructure development activities undertaken after tsunami have also been severely affected by the current deteriorating situation and the embargo, TRO officials told Mr Bauer, according to sources.