Sri Lanka: WFP convoy departs for Vanni
COLOMBO, 3 November 2008: The United
Nations says that it has dispatched another major food convoy into the
Vanni region of northern Sri Lanka. The 29 truck World Food Programme convoy
carrying 438 metric tons of food is part of a continuing humanitarian aid
effort to reach the estimated 230,000 civilians displaced behind the lines
of confrontation in the districts of Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu. This is
the fourth UN convoy since the UN was forced to temporarily withdraw from
the Vanni in mid-September due to fighting. The convoy will deliver food
to three locations before returning to government-controlled territory
tomorrow. The UN says that it has delivered 2,300 metric tons of food to
the Vanni since the beginning of October.