OCHA Situation Report
Sri Lanka
Joint UN North East Situation Monitoring Report
Report for March 2007
12 April 2007


Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Attached below is the joint UN agency North East situation monitoring 
report. This report is intended to give an overview of the current 
situation in the North East by tracking the trends of various 
conflict-sensitive indicators.  The table on the next page lists data 
for the three most recent months.

Note that full commitment, as indicated by timely, regular reporting 
from all responsible agencies, is required in order to make this report 
useful as a decision-making tool.

The following interpretations can be made for the month of March based 
on the data available:

North East:

- The total number of newly Internal Displaced Persons has increased and 
reached an estimated total of 302.879 people for the month of March 2007

- Still of high concern, an increase of security incidents is reported 
with 176 victims (138 in February) with Vavuniya, Ampara and Vavuniya 
being the worst affected

- The number of humanitarian agencies remains stable with 608 agencies 
recorded by OCHA in the North and East

- The number of disrupted projects due to security reasons remains at 75

- The disruption of school functioning and subsequent attendance is a 
concern with special emphasis this month in Mannar (25 closure days) and 
Batticaloa (15 closure days). In the North East 303 schools were closed 
in March. A total of 101,253 children did not attend school for at least 
1 day between Batticaloa, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Mannar and Ampara 
districts.

- The number of Hartals has increased to 8 for the month of March 
(compared to 2 in February)

- The variation of the average retail prices of essential food 
commodities continues to fluctuate unequally between districts. Jaffna 
has seen reduction in the variation of the average price of fresh and 
dry fish.

Jaffna:

- While the prices of Nadu red rice and vegetable oil have decreased, 
the prices remain high. The variation of retail price for fresh and dry 
fish shows a decrease

Kilinochchi:

- The variation of the average retail prices of essential food 
commodities continues to fluctuate with a decrease for fresh fish, fresh 
vegetables and eggs while an increase is observed for the dry fish. The 
average market prices remain stable.

Mannar:

- Attendance of children to school has been disrupted in Mannar with 
more than 5,000 children not attending school, 10 schools closed 
totaling 25 days of closure.

Vavuniya:

- Still of high concern, the number of security incidents (killings) has 
increased from 26 to 47 in the district and is the highest for the North 
and East

Trincomalee:

- The number of security incidents (killings) has significantly 
decreased from 36 to 18 in the district but remains a concern

- The average market price of vegetable oil has increase from 112 to 120 
Rs/litre

Batticaloa:

- The average market price of vegetable oil has increase from 208 to 235 
Rs/litre

- The number of newly recorded IDPs remains the highest since December 
2006 coming from 76,498 persons up to 155,872. Batticaloa District has 
50% of the total number of new IDPs (new IDPs since April 2006).

- The presence of humanitarian agencies has slightly increased with 90 
agencies recorded (85 in February)

Ampara:

- The number of IDPs registered in the District has increased from 2,471 
to 8,752 people

- The number of security incidents (killings) has significantly 
increased from 7 to 40 and is the highest with Vavuniya District.

Please send comments on this report to OCHA (hubin@un.org, 
randeni@un.org) Please note that this March report does not cover the 
recent developments in the East of the country.

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