29 August, 2006 - Published 14:26 GMT

ICRC to reunite Sri Lankan families

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has launched a website aimed at helping Sri Lankans make contact with relatives displaced by recent fighting in the northern Jaffna peninsula.

The ICRC says an increasing number of families have become separated, especially as the conflict between government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels has cut off the peninsula from the rest of the country.

The United Nations estimates that more than forty thousand Sri Lankans have now fled the area.

The Norwegian-led truce monitors on the island have said that a ceasefire between the government and the rebels exists only on paper.