No reports of a detention facility, transit camp/centre or station called Nelunkulam in the Vavuniya area could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

However, a 26 October 1996 article in The Sunday Times, a Colombo-based English weekly, referred to a transit camp in Vavuniya called Nelukulam Kalaimakal Vidyalaya. In late October 1996, this transit camp had approximately 1,000 inhabitants (ibid.). A June 1997 issue of The Sunday Times refers to a school in the Vavuniya district called Nelukulam-Kalaimagal Vidyalayam that served as a temporary refuge for IDPs (22 June 1997).

The names of Vavuniya area detention facilities, transit camps, centres or stations that were operational during the summer and fall of 1997 could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

However, according to a mid-April 1997 Weekend Express article, the town of Vavuniya had in April 1997 eleven "Transit Welfare Camps": Veppankulam B, Vappankulam A, Good Shed Camp, CE Poonthoddam, Poonthoddam GTMS, Poonthodam (Muslim M.V.), Saivapragasa (New Bldg), Navalkulam (New Bldg), Tamil M.V. (New Bldgs), Poonthoddam 11 (C.C.T.M.), and Velikulam M.V. (19-20 Apr. 1997). The June 1997 issue of the Sri Lanka Monitor confirmed the existence of 11 camps in Vavuniya that continued to house 11,800 IDPs from the Vanni, although its September 1997 issue reports 12,000 Tamils detained in 14 Vavuniya camps.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Sri Lanka Monitor [London]. September 1997. "From the Vanni Front." [Internet] http://www.gn.apc.org/brcslproject/slmonitor [Accessed 18 Jan. 1999]

_____. June 1997. "In Brief: Refugees." [Internet]

The Sunday Times [Colombo]. 22 June 1997. Christopher Kamalendran. "Living Without Address and Hope." [Internet] http://www.lacnet.org/suntimes [Accessed 18 Jan. 1999]

_____. 26 October 1996. S.S. Slyvanayagam. "Refugees Pour into Vavuniya." [Internet]

Weekend Express. 19-20 April 1997. "The Troubled Landscape of Vavuniya-A Survey." [Internet] http://www.is.lk [Accessed 6 Oct. 1998]

CHA [Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies] Newsletter [Colombo]. Quarterly. March-April 1998.

Spotlight on Sri Lanka [Ratmalana]. Weekly. June-July 1997.

Sri Lanka Information Monitor: Situation Report [Colombo]. Monthly. June-September 1997, November 1997.

Sri Lanka Monitor [London]. Monthly. May-October 1997.

Tamil Times [Surrey]. Monthly. 15 June 1997-15 September 1997.

Electronic sources: Internet, IRB Databases, NEXIS, REFWORLD.