Relief workers say they are not allowed to assist IDPs in LTTE-held areas

The UN agency says more than twenty-thousand people have been displaced within a week, increasing the total figure of those displaced since April to more than two-hundred-thousand.

Relief workers say that over 10,000 civilians are displaced in the northern Sri Lankan town of Jaffna alone after the recent fighting between the government troops and Tamil Tigers.

Relief workers

Jaffna District officer of Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA), Ramesh, told BBC Sandeshaya that the relief workers are facing difficulties with restriction of movement in government controlled areas.

The UNHCR earlier said that nearly 180,000 people are displaced in the north and the east since violence escalated in April this year.

The majority of the internally dispaced people (IDPs) are in camps in Trincomalee and Jaffna districts, it said.

Nearly 44,000 people are affected in Jaffna due to the recent escalation of violence, according to the United Nations.

Ship arrives

Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) workers confirmed that a ship with the supply of food had arrived in Jaffna on Friday.

THe CHA officer said the food supplies are being unloaded at the moment and would be distributed on Saturday.

However, they have not been allowed to assist the dispalced people in the Tiger controlled areas.

He also added that the government might try to send relief to people in the LTTE- held areas through the border points if they can come to an agreement with the rebels.