January 21, 2006	Saturday	Zilhaj 20, 1426

GENEVA, Jan 20: About 50 Sri Lankans have fled to southern India aboard fishing boats because of deteriorating security on the island, the United Nations said on Friday.

The refugees crossed the Palk Strait in the past week, arriving in the coastal town of Rameswaram in the state of Tamil Nadu, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said.

“Our staff on the ground reports that a trickle of refugees are crossing the Palk Strait to India in small fishing boats, fearing an escalation in the violence,” UNHCR spokesman William Spindler told journalists.

“Although small, this is the first arrival of refugees to Rameswaram reported since January 2003 and points to a worrisome deterioration of the security situation in the north and east of Sri Lanka,” he added.

Southern India is home to millions of ethnic Tamils.

A report from Chennai, capital city of Tamil Nadu, said as many as 109 refugees had landed in the past many days, 32 of them reaching Rameswaram on Friday alone.

The new group, many of them women and children, were shifted to a refugee camp after verification, deputy superintendent of police V. Subramaniam told Reuters by phone from Rames-waram.

Since early December, more than 100 people have been killed in a series of suspected rebel attacks on Sri Lanka’s military which have brought a four-year truce to the verge of breakdown.

Norwegian peace envoy Erik Solheim will hold separate talks next week with the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in what is seen as the last chance to prevent the resumption of a fratricidal war that has caused more than 64,000 deaths since 1983.

The UN refugee agency said it was monitoring internal displacement in the northeastern district of Trincomalee and was ready to provide relief aid “when and if required”.—Reuters