ICRC calls for access in Sri Lanka

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, May 21 (UPI) -- Following the declared end to hostilities in Sri Lanka, the International Committee of the Red Cross has called for access to aid civilians in need.

People in Sri Lanka celebrated a government-supported holiday Wednesday following President Mahinda Rajapaksa's declared victory over the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

There are more than 250,000 displaced in Sri Lanka as a result of the conflict. With heavy military operations ended, the ICRC has called on the Sri Lankan government to allow full access to the estimated 130,000 people displaced at Menik Farm, the country's largest internally displaced persons camp.

As of Wednesday, Monica Zanarelli, ICRC deputy head of operations for South Asia, said that the ICRC has only had limited access to approximately 40,000 people in at Menik Farm.

"Now that hostilities have been declared over, everything possible has to be done to facilitate access for humanitarian aid agencies so they can help hundreds of thousands of displaced people," Zanarelli said in a statement.