COLOMBO (UCAN) -- The Sri Lankan Catholic Church has donated essential goods to people who have been displaced by the resurgent civil conflict.

Father Damian Fernando, executive director of Caritas Sri Lanka, said it has provided 7 million rupees (about US$70,000) in initial assistance to displaced people. Caritas Sri Lanka, known in the country as the Social and Economic Development Centre (SEDEC), is the Church's social-welfare organization.

On Aug. 16, at the SEDEC office in Colombo, Father Fernando handed over an initial installment of relief packages containing clothes, household utensils, powdered milk, sugar and biscuits to Governor Alavi Moulana of Western Province for distribution to internally displaced people.

Governor Moulana thanked the Church and said the refugees are "not a question of one community" because "there are all ethnic groups -- Tamils, Muslims, Sinhalese -- living in the same camp."

They fled fighting that began in early August after the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) closed the sluice gates of the Mavilaru waterway that serves the Muttur area of Trincomalee district, in Eastern Province, resulting in more than 15,000 families being deprived of water for drinking and irrigation. Government forces launched attacks to gain control of the area.

Following the ceremony, Moulavi Cassim, a Muslim cleric from Trincomalee town, about 260 kilometers east of Colombo, told UCA News the LTTE has killed about 100 people in Muttur, south of the town across a bay, and local people fear more killings. About 50,000 people, mostly Muslims, have reportedly fled the fighting.

Appreciating Caritas' assistance, he said that the Catholic organization is "non-ethnic" and "non-religious" in its social-welfare work.

According to local media, some of the displaced people are in mosques and temporary shelters in Trincomalee as well as in Kurunegala, North Western province, and in Negombo, Western Province. Kurunegala and Negombo are respectively about 95 kilometers northeast and 35 kilometers north of Colombo.

The government has reportedly allocated 150 million rupees for the welfare of displaced persons, including provision of emergency shelters. As of Aug. 13, about 2.5 million rupees of that amount had been used for emergency shelter and basic needs.

The LTTE, which wants Tamil autonomy in the north and east of Sri Lanka, and the government were embroiled in a civil conflict from 1983 until they signed a cease-fire agreement in 2002. Sinhalese make up about 70 percent of the country's population, but Tamils are a majority in the north and in areas along the eastern coast.

An upsurge in violence the last several months has raised fears that the cease-fire will collapse and the war that killed up to 80,000 people and displaced a million more will resume.

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