Sri Lankan refugees recall horror of war

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, May 24 (UPI) -- The Tamil Tigers' prolonged civil war in Sri Lanka may have ended but the plight of those displaced by the fighting remains dire, officials say.

Hundreds of thousands of such people, in need of water and medicine, huddle in refugee camps, recalling their dreadful experience, CNN reported.

"We suffered a lot because shelling was coming from everywhere," a 38-year-old man told CNN. "Firing, shelling -- many, many people have died -- there was nobody there to carry the dead. A lot of dead were left on the road."

During a weekend visit to the island nation's refugee camps, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the situation was the worst he's witnessed.

"I have traveled around the world and visited similar places, but this is by far the most appalling scenes I have seen," Ban said.

A joint statement issued after Ban met with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa called for the government to provide access to humanitarian agencies to help the refugees.

But the CNN report said access remains limited as Sri Lankan officials look for Tamil Tigers they fear might be hiding in the refugee camps.

TimesOnline reported some of those living at the Manik Farm, the largest of the displacement camps, as a prison or a concentration camp.

The report said 7-foot-high barbed wired wooden posts with razor wire coils atop surround the camp.

"I read in a book on the Second World War about concentration camps. I feel we are experiencing that now," a Roman Catholic priest was quoted as saying.

"I hope my visit today can help begin a process of national recovery, renewal and reconciliation for all Sri Lankans," CNN quoted Ban as saying.