Joint UN North East Situation Monitoring Report – May 2007

Attached below is the joint UN agency North East situation monitoring report. This report is intended to give an overview of the current situation in the North East by tracking the trends of various conflict-sensitive indicators. The table on the next page lists data for the three most recent months.

Note that full commitment, as indicated by timely, regular reporting from all responsible agencies, is required in order to make this report useful as a decision-making tool.

The following interpretations can be made for the month of May based on the data available:

North East:

- Still of high concern, an increase of security incidents (killings) is reported with 141 victims (187 in April and 138 in February)

- The number of security incidents involving humanitarian workers has increased from 1 to 9

- 15 cases of under age recruitment and 5 releases are reported for May 2007

- 67 days of closure in primary and secondary schools are recorded for the month of May 2007 throughout the North and East of the country with 232 schools concerned. 106,556 children did not attend school for at least one day

- The number of disrupted projects due to security reasons is at 73

- The average market prices are stabilized but remain unequal between districts

- The variation of the average retail prices of essential food commodities continues to fluctuate unequally between districts. To the exception of Ampara and Trincomalee, all other Districts have seen an increase in the variation of the average price of fresh fish. Kilinochchi and Ampara see an increase in the variation of the average price of dry fish. The variation of the average price of fresh vegetables has increased in Jaffna.

- The average daily wages for skilled and unskilled labour continue to be different from one District to the other

Jaffna:

- 10 closure days in 02 primary and secondary schools concerning 3,680 children

- The average market price of vegetable oil has increased from 148 to 189 Rs/L

Kilinochchi:

- 52 security incidents (killings) were reported while there was none in April

Mannar:

- 31 local NGOs joint the report by registering information to the OCHA office covering the District

- No security incidents (killings) reported

- 21 closure days in 14 primary and secondary schools concerning 2,530 children

Vavuniya:

- The number of security incidents (killings) has significantly decreased from 77 to 11

- The variation of the average retail price of eggs has increased to 67 (50 in April)

Trincomalee:

- The number of security incidents (killings) has increased from 9 to 15

Batticaloa:

- The average market price for vegetable oil has decreased from 237 to 217 Rs/litre

Amparai:

- The number of security incidents (killings) has decreased from 28 to 10

- Ampara has recorded 5 security incidents involving humanitarian workers

Please send comments on this report to OCHA (hubin@un.org, randeni@un.org) Please note that this April report does not cover the recent developments in the country.