U.N.'s Ban says Sri Lanka needs help for refugees

By Louis Charbonneau

KANDY, Sri Lanka (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon toured Sri Lanka's biggest refugee camp Saturday and said the country did not have the resources to deal with the tens of thousands who fled fighting with Tamil Tiger rebels.

Ban's trip was the highest-level international visit to Sri Lanka since the government declared victory Monday over the Tamil Tiger rebels in a 25-year war. Ban also flew over the final battleground and met President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Ban told Rajapaksa the U.N. and other international humanitarian agencies needed immediate and unimpeded access to camps that are housing 290,000 people who escaped rebel-held areas as a military onslaught bore down on the separatists.

Ban toured Manik Farm, home to 220,000 refugees living in white tents, and visited a sparse field hospital for wounded civilians. Many refugees complained of overcrowding and said they were not getting proper medical attention.

"The government is doing its utmost," Ban later told a news conference. "But the government lacks resources."

Sri Lanka has pledged access to the camps and greater freedom of movement for residents, but says it needs time to weed out potential Tamil Tiger infiltrators. It plans to resettle most of the refugees within six months.

"We will try to work hard to keep that promise realised," Ban said as he toured Manik Farm, the country's largest camp. "They need to be resettled as soon as possible."

"VERY SAD AND VERY MOVING"