UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met this Saturday with Sri Lanka government leaders on the situation of the 280,000 people displaced by war. Ban was also scheduled to visit several camps for the displaced refugees in the north.

“After winning the war of 26 years this week, the government of Sri Lanka needs to win the peace solution to the conflict,” said a United Nations official.

International humanitarian agencies have expressed their concern over the sordid conditions in these refugee camps for civilians displaced by the military offensive on the insurgent group Tamil Tigers.

The Sri Lankan government maintains that the displaced are receiving good treatment and may return to their homes before the end of 2009. Aid agencies, however, have complained that refugees are not even allowed to leave the camps. Different UN agencies have also complained that humanitarian organizations do not have free access to the fields.

The Sri Lanka Army was able to annihilate the Tamil guerrillas on Monday, after months of intense military offensive that has caused more than 280,000 displaced, according to the UN. These internally displaced people are now housed in camps set up by the government in the north.

In the war against the Tamil Tiger guerrillas (LTTE), 6,500 civilians have been killed since January, again according to the UN. Other sources of information on fatalities claim the death toll to actually be between 8,000 and 10,000.

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Via Reuters