Menik Farm IDP camp to close by 30 September

IRIN News

Menik Farm in northern Sri Lanka, once one of the world’s largest camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs), is to close by the end of September, say government officials. “By 30 September the camp will be empty,” Minister of Resettlement Gunaratne Weerakoon told IRIN in Colombo, noting that the final group of 1,185 IDPs would be resettled in their places of origin next week.
According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), 827 IDPs are set to return on either 23 or 24 September, mostly to the town of Puthukkudiyiruppu in Mullaitivu District, northern Sri Lanka. The destination of the final balance of 358 has yet to be determined. The camp [ http://www.irinnews.org/Report/84805/ SRI-LANKA-Too-many-people-at-huge-IDP-camp-UN ] – a sprawling 700-hectare site outside the northern town of Vavuniya – was hastily erected in the final stages of the decades-long war between government forces and now
defeated Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who had been fighting for an independent Tamil homeland since 1983. At its height at the end of the war, nearly 300,000 IDPs lived in the camp. [http://www.irinnews.org/Report/89904/Analysis-Prospects-for-reconciliation-in-Sri-Lanka]
Landmines: “The camp closure has taken three years due to multiple reasons,” Weerakoon explained. “Demining is still in progress in the Mullativu District and some areas
are not declared safe yet. Besides, material for home reconstruction has to be provided as many homes are nothing more than rubble and not habitable.”
The UN Development Programme’s (UNDP) [ http://www.undp.lk/What_We_Do/Pages/Mine_Action.aspx]  Mine Action Project [ http://www.irinnews.org/Report/94798/SRI-LANKA-Mine-clearance-could-take-10-years-or-more] reports some 112sqkm of land remains contaminated across 10 districts, including 25sqkm in Mullaitivu.
The temporary shelters that collectively formed Menik Farm are currently being dismantled as the final batch of people prepare to leave, said Vavuniya
Government Agent, Bandula Harischandra, the most senior government official in the area. “We are clearing the entire camp area. The site area too will be available for public purposes,”Harischandra said. Several schools and hospitals which were located within Menik Farm will remain.”There were no permanent structures. We are clearing the entire camp area. The site area too will be available for public purposes,” Harischandra said. There were, however, several schools and hospitals which were also located within Menik Farm.
For the remaining few hundred families still in Menik Farm, plans — including special resettlement packages for returnees — are in place to assist people to their home areas within the
next few days, the government says. “The government, with the assistance of humanitarian aid groups, provides roofing sheets and other required building material together with Rs 25,000 [US$190]. Dry food items for up to nine months are provided at the time of resettlement, while for a week, cooked food will be
provided,” said Resettlement Authority Chairman B. H. Passaperum.
There are multiple livelihood support schemes managed by the Resettlement Ministry to assist the IDPs, Weerakoon said, pointing out however, that resettlement was “not easy”. He cited seven key areas the government is focusing on: water and sanitation, road access to IDP villages, electricity, education, community development initiatives, fishing, and agriculture and livelihood support.”This means, once resettled, we will continue to work with them towards their welfare,” he said.
   Pics taken in July 2009

Mixed emotions: Meanwhile, for residents in the camp, there is both hope and apprehension over the camp’s closure. “I’m excited at the prospect of finally returning home, but I’m also worried. I know there is nothing to return to,” said camp resident Ilangithirayan Saumyamurthy from Jaffna District. “Starting all over again– even with assistance – won’t be easy,” the 41-year-old added, a sentiment echoed by others.
“I ploughed the fields with my husband. My husband was killed. I have kids to raise and a home to build over again,” said Senthilvelu Kamayani, 32, from Mullaitivu District. There was
more work to be done in her district before it can be declared mine-free, said a worker from Mine Action, who asked not to be identified.

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Menik Farm closes as all IDPs return home, September 24, 2012, 10:37 pm

By Franklin R. Satyapalan and Dinasena Rathugamage

With the resettlement of the remaining IDPs comprising 827 persons, of 251 families in Manthuvil and 360 persons or 110 families in Keppapilavu ,in the Mullaitivu district, today, the Menik Farm camp in Chettikulam, Vavuniya could be closed for good, said District Secretary for Mullaitivu Nagalingam Vethanayakam yesterday.

Those to be resettled left the camp, where they lived since end of the civil strife in 2009, yesterday in 50 lorries and 24 buses. A large number of soldiers assisted the final resettlement drive by helping the people to load their bags and baggages to the lorries. They were provided with lunch by the Mullaitivu army camp.

Wanni Security Forces Commander Maj. Gen. Boniface Perera addressed the IDPs when they arrived in Mullaitivu and expressed his happiness over their being able to return to their villages after three years. The returnees spoke with emotion and said that they were feeling sad to leave the place which provided shelter to them during the last three years.

Each of the families being resettled were provided a dry ration package to the value of rupees 5,000 by the government and a package of noon food items from the UNHCR, along with six months of dry rations from the World Food Programme. The IDP’s from Manthuvil would get Rupees 5,000 resettlement allowance from the Resettlement Ministry and an additional Rupees 20,000 from the UNHCR, Resettlement Ministry sources said. There was also the possibility of the government presenting each IDP family with agricultural implements and seedlings for them to commence their livelihoods, the sources said.

** “Menik Farm closure is a milestone event” …. Daily News blurb, 26 Sept 2012,  …….http://www.dailynews.lk/2012/09/26/news23.asp

The exit of the last remaining inhabitant of the Menik Farm has been described as a milestone event towards ending the chapter of displacement in Sri Lanka by United Nations Humanitarian coordinator in Sri Lanka Subinay Nandy . “The closure of the camp is a significant sign of the transition from conflict to sustainable peace and the commitment of the government to resettling tens of thousands of people back in their homes,” Nady said in a release.

Menik Farm in Sri Lanka, once the world’s largest camp for the displaced from the conflict in Sri Lanka in 2009 has closed, as the last remaining inhabitants leave the camp. “This is a milestone event towards ending a chapter of displacement in Sri Lanka some three years after the civil war which ended in May 2009,” the UN coordinator noted.

But there are still some people who are unable to return to their homes and a solution urgently needs to be found,” Nandy said . The government is looking for solutions but it is important that the displaced people should be able to make an informed and voluntary decision about their future including being part of the planning and management of their resettlement,” the UN coordinator added.

The government-run Menik Farm was set up in May 2009 to shelter thousands of people fleeing from the final stages of the civil war. At its peak Menik Farm housed 225,000 people in 700 hectares of land. International organizations have been providing basic services such as shelter, food, water and sanitation, schools and primary health care along with other services. “Allowing people to settle anywhere in the country and resolving legal ownership of land for those who have resettled away from their original homes is a key part of the reconciliation process,” he noted.

But there are still some people who are unable to return to their homes and a solution urgently needs to be found,” Nandy said .

The government is looking for solutions but it is important that the displaced people should be able to make an informed and voluntary decision about their future including being part of the planning and management of their resettlement,” the UN coordinator added.

The government-run Menik Farm was set up in May 2009 to shelter thousands of people fleeing from the final stages of the civil war. At its peak Menik Farm housed 225,000 people in 700 hectares of land. International organizations have been providing basic services such as shelter, food, water and sanitation, schools and primary health care along with other services. “Allowing people to settle anywhere in the country and resolving legal ownership of land for those who have resettled away from their original homes is a key part of the reconciliation process,” he noted.