Sri Lanka

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon who toured Sri Lanka's largest refugee camp on Saturday said he was "humbled" by what he saw.

The U.N. leader arrived in the war-torn island nation on Friday to assess the humanitarian situation and take urgent action to facilitate the flow of aid.

The visit comes just days after the Sri Lankan government declared victory over the LTTE. The war has left over 265,000 people, including an estimated 80,000 children, in relief camps. more >>

The battle is won, but the war is not over, says Colombo's top Catholic Bishop after Sri Lanka's Government this week declared an end to the 25-year civil war against the Tamil Tiger rebels.

The Archbishop of Colombo, Oswald Gomis, celebrated Colombo's defeat of the once feared insurgent group, but said much needs to be done for the unity and welfare of the people.

He offered his "deepest sympathies to those who laid down their lives in battle and those innocent civilians killed, trapped in war." more >>

As the civil war rages on in Sri Lanka, Christian relief groups are doing their best to meet the huge and desperate needs of displaced war refugees in government camps.

The U.N. estimates about 250,000 people are in need of aid in the north, including more than 160,000 people who escaped from the conflict zone since safe passage was opened last month.

With local and international partners, Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC) is providing emergency meals and temporary shelters to 15,000 Sri Lankan civilians in camps located in the northwestern and central portions of the country, the group reported Friday. more >>

An interdenominational Christian aid agency has appealed for urgent humanitarian relief for Sri Lankans amid reports of indiscriminate shelling and use of heavy weapons resulting in hundreds of civilian casualties last week.

In its appeal on Wednesday, the Barnabas Fund said a "major humanitarian crisis is unfolding in the north-east of Sri Lanka as the country's long civil war intensifies once more."

"More than 50,000 civilians, including many Christians, are trapped in the crossfire between government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels (LTTE). The Christians of Sri Lanka are also suffering persecution and the effects of natural disaster." more >>

As fighting persists in war-torn Sri Lanka, Christian groups are stepping up to meet the needs of the hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians who are in urgent need of food and clean water.

“This emergency has the potential to claim as many lives from lack of food and water as from conflict,” said Joanne Fairley, Lutheran World Relief’s regional director for Asia and the Middle East, in a statement released Monday.

LWR had already committed $50,000 in response to the humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka, but it is appealing for an additional $500,000 from donors to meet the critical need as the conflict worsens. more >>

International Christian aid agency World Vision has called for more funds to meet the needs of 200,000 Tamil civilians, 60,000 of whom are child survivors, in Sri Lanka.

The alarming number of civilian casualties has forced World Vision to up its emergency aid response from $3 million to $6 million.

An additional $7 million is needed to help survivors return and rehabilitate them in their homes and villages. more >>