COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office

SRI LANKA 7 MARCH 2012
We met with the Kilinochchi Livestock Committee who told us their main focus is to boost both
the production and consumption of milk. The government are encouraging children in particular
to drink milk for its nutritional value, and a network had been set up to collect and despatch milk
to pre-schools within 4 hours of production. However, we heard that the Rs 35,000 livelihood
package offered to families by the government was not enough to cover the purchase of an
animal, plus feed and shelter. IOM had provided 180 dairy cows as part of a planned 5-10 year
programme to upgrade cattle for milk production and enabled packages to be given to families
which included the animal, foodstuff and training for the owner. The committee went on to
explain their plans for creating a marketing and collection/distribution network. We also heard
how there used to be 23,000 goats in Kilinochchi, but the population was decimated to just
1,000 during the conflict. There are plans to reintroduce a breeding programme to build up the
number of animals that provide milk and cheese as well as mutton. We were told that it is the
government‘s aim that the Vanni is self sufficient by 2016, and that they hope to assist in
achieving this.
We asked about the large wild herds of cattle that had grouped together during the latter stages
of the war and wandered freely across the Vanni. We were told that 90% had been rounded-up
and those that could be identified had been returned to their owners. Those that could not be
identified and those which had been born in the wild had been given to needy families.
In my previous visit to Kilinochchi in June 2010 the amount of devastation had been apparent.
Not a single building seemed to have escaped some form of destruction and people were living
and working in temporary structures. What I saw now was an amazing transformation and the
centre of Kilinochchi town was a hive of industry. The A9 road is being widened and rebuilt, and
on either side of the road shops and businesses have sprung to life in newly built or
reconstructed buildings. The strangest construction was adjacent to the huge, collapsed water
tower in the centre of the town. Previously I had been told that the Sri Lankan Army had
destroyed the tower when recapturing the town in 2009. It was now surrounded by a walled,
landscaped garden, had its own ‗tourist shop‘, and a large plaque described how the LTTE had
blown up the tower, destroying the ‗fountain of life‘.
Outside of the town, in June 2010 there had been a military camp every mile along the A9 road,
with manned observation posts every 100 yards, with the military very evident in both urban and
rural areas, appearing as an occupying army. It was noted that on this visit 90% of the
observation posts had been dismantled or were unmanned, similarly military camps had
consolidated into several large camps and the military were much less visible.
Mullaitivu
We met the Mullaitivu Divisional Secretary (DS) and the development committee. They informed
us of the current situation in Mullaitivu. There was currently a population of 88,887, although
38,208 are waiting for resettlement. Demining is still taking place and they hoped to be able to
resettle most of those by December 2011. However, there were 6 DS Divisions that had not yet
been assigned demining by the government. The Indian housing programme had begun and we
visited a complex of 50 houses that were being constructed in an area of land reclaimed from
jungle. We met with the families who had been allocated the houses, mainly families with
female heads of household, widowers and orphans. They were looking forward to moving into
the houses, but were concerned about how they were going to earn a living from the land. The
main challenge was that the land had no access roads, nor access to mainstream electricity or
280 The main text of this COI Report contains the most up to date publicly available information as at 3 February 2012.
Further brief information on recent events and reports has been provided in the Latest News section
to 2 March 2012.