New Sri Lanka refugees shelter under sheets, carts

KANTALE, Sri Lanka, Aug 7: Overflowing from desperately crowded temporary camps, hundreds of displaced Sri Lankan Muslims hide from the baking sun in the shade of bullock carts, walls and plastic sheeting.

After days of fighting between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels, thousands of residents fled the shattered town of Mutur near the northeastern port of Trincomalee. Most headed for the town of Kantale, a few miles outside the conflict area.

''We left our belongings, we left our jewellery, we left everything,'' says 52-year-old mother of eight Hanifa Sithymarliya, sheltering from the heat in the garden of a house.

''All the schools and camps here are packed. There is no free place. We do not know where we will stay tonight.'' In a nearby school, one of more than a dozen camps designated by the government, some two thousand people are packed into a tiny area. In the shade under vast tarpaulins, some have been living and sleeping for several days with minimum sanitation.

Registering so many people in such chaos is a slow process, but aid is beginning to get through, much from Muslim groups as well as international aid agencies that had previously been working on rebuilding after the 2004 tsunami, which also hit Mutur.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) says it is ready to feed 25,000 people, although aid workers say the real number of displaced could be lower or higher.

''The problem is that the people are still scattered,'' said Mahbub Alam, head of WFP operations in north and east Sri Lanka. ''We also haven't yet got the green light to go into Mutur for security reasons.''

MISSING

Outside the school in Kantale, displaced Mutur residents are strung out along a muddy stream. Others sit or build temporary shelters along the road north to Trincomalee. Some remain in the conflict area, slowly making their way out on foot or bullock cart.

For many, it has been a dangerous journey. Shellfire -- probably from both sides -- fell near the residents as they walked south. They say there was also harassment and attacks from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), ethnic Tamil rebels who want a separate homeland.

Anifah Ilsatgani, 16, says that the Tigers took him captive at a rebel checkpoint as he walked south with his sister. He says he was beaten, and showed Reuters light scarring on his face and arm.

''They said they would let my sister go and keep me,'' he said. ''But just then, a shell fell nearby and I escaped.'' The army, quoting civilians, says 100 or so Muslim youths were captured and massacred by the Tigers. Some of those in Kantale said the same thing, although no-one Reuters met had seen it happen. The LTTE rigorously deny that any civilians were killed.

But Ayunisa, a 34-year-old Muslim mother of four is still looking for her teenage son. She last saw the 15-year-old several days ago as shells fell in Mutur and the two sides fought running street battles.

''I do not know what happened,'' she said, tears in her eyes.

''When we left Mutur, he was with me. Then he vanished.''

Reuters