Ship on Mercy Mission crosses Suez Canal en route to Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 May 2009, 22:23 GMT]
Mercy Mission ship, “Captain Ali” set sail from Fos-Sur-Mer, France on the 2nd leg of the mission, carrying approximately 884 metric tons of food, medicine, and other essential humanitarian relief items destined for the Tamil civilians in the Vanni area of Northern Sri Lanka displaced by the war just entered the Red Sea after traveling through the Suez Canal, a press release issued by the organizers of the mission said. The ship began the 1st leg of its journey from the Port of Ipswich, UK on 20 April 2009.
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Vanni detainees in Jaffna relocated to permanent camp

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 May 2009, 15:58 GMT]
The civilians fleeing war in Vanni detained in schools converted into Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camps in Chaavakachcheari Hindu College and Kodikaamam Thirunaavukkararsu M. V. have been moved Saturday to the permanent SLA internment camp constructed in Raamaavil, Kachchaay in Kodikaamam, a press note by Jaffna Government Agent (GA) said.
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25,000 civilians injured to death while IC watches: Soosai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 May 2009, 09:14 GMT]
Sea Tiger Special Commander of the LTTE, Col. Soosai Sunday noon said that around 25,000 civilians injured in the artillery attack of Sri Lanka Army are dead and dying now without receiving medical attention. The LTTE has repeatedly requested the ICRC through Mr. Pathmanathan to evacuate the injured through Vadduvaakal or Iraddaivaaikkaal, but there was no IC response. Within a 2 square kilometre area, there are dead bodies everywhere while the remaining thousands are in bunkers amidst the use of every kind of weapon by Colombo's forces. The SLA is not even allowing the people to flee but prefers to fire at them, Soosai said.
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Dignity and respect for our people is all we ask – Pathmanathan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 May 2009, 08:22 GMT]
“Despite our plea to the world to save the thousands of people in Vanni from the clutches of death, the silence of the international community has only encouraged the Sri Lankan military to execute the war to its bitter end. In the past 24 hours, over 3000 civilians lie dead on the streets while another 25,000 are critically injured with no medical attention. To save the lives of our people is the need of the hour. Mindful of this, we have already announced to the world our position to silence our guns to save our people," Selvarasa Pathmanathan, the head of LTTE’s International Diplomatic Relations has said in an urgent statement issued Sunday.
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Doctors quit safety zone, volunteer medics remain with injured

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 May 2009, 23:48 GMT]
Medical Superintendent Dr. Shanmugarajah who was attending the wounded at the makeshift hospital at Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal junior school, his family, Regional Director of Health Services (RDHS) doctors, Dr Varatharajah and Dr Sathiyamoorthy, and three other doctor,s have entered the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) controlled checkpoint at Omanthai. Dr Varatharajah has been seriously wounded during his passage out of the Safety Zone, and reports from Vanni say, he has been air-lifted for medical treatment. His whereabouts are not known.
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SLA continues intense barrage of heavy weapons

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 May 2009, 23:45 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) continued intense barrage of heavy weapons into civilian congested area throughout Saturday night, killing and maiming hundreds of civilians, according to latest details from Vanni Sunday morning at 5:00 a.m. There has been no pause from continued cannon and heavy mortar fire. Thousands of wounded have not been treated and the victims are let to die, initial reports said Sunday morning.
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Stench of dead bodies permeate Vanni, wounded allowed to die without treatment

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 May 2009, 10:26 GMT]
An uncounted number of dead bodies between 2,000 and 3,000 are lying all over the places in civilian congested area and the civilians are all struck by a heavy stench of dead bodies, said a volunteer doctor from Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal. "Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has destroyed all medical facilities by targeted attacks, and the SLA was continuing inhuman and indiscriminate attacks on civilians providing only two options, death or surrender," he added. The volunteer doctor himself witnessed more than 100 deaths Saturday morning. All the government doctors and the top officials have fled the shelling. Civilians are in shock at the continuing carnage in Vanni.
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LTTE takes heed to Obama's call: Pathmanathan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 May 2009, 09:17 GMT]
“The situation in Vanni has reached colossal proportions and what is happening there is unprecedented human carnage. At this juncture we are ready to anything that is necessary to save the Tamil people trapped in the unrelenting war that is waged on them. We heed the call by the US President and are prepared to take measures that will spare the life of our people,” said Selvarasa Pathmanathan, the LTTE’s head of International Relations, in a statement issued Saturday. "The international community now has to act with fairness and openness and should take full responsibility for the people who are being targeted with no mercy or dignity," he further said.
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Mano Ganeshan urges government to publicize details of Vanni detainees

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 May 2009, 07:58 GMT]
“The government of Sri Lanka should release all information about Vanni civilians held in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camps without trying to keep it a secret,” Mano Ganeshan, Colombo district parliamentarian and the leader of Democratic Peoples’ Front (DPF) said in a press meet held in the residence of the leader of the opposition Friday under the title ‘Forum for Freedom’.
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'Our Holocaust and the impossibility of peace in Sri Lanka'

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 May 2009, 04:17 GMT]
“It is self-evident that the close scrutiny of the international community, the pleas and pointed warnings by powerful states and the disgust of the world has not impressed a Sinhala state, polity and people drunk with racism,” the Tamil Guardian newspaper said this week. “It is inescapable that whatever the international community does, the Sinhala state will continue to pose an existential threat to the Tamil people, unless we are protected by our own borders and security forces.” The paper added, “[meanwhile] contrary to Sinhala expectations, Tamil militancy will remain central to Sri Lanka’s future. As the LTTE, which has transformed itself – yet again – for a new kind of war, bluntly put it last month: as long as the Tamils are oppressed, ‘Sri Lanka will never be able to live in peace’.”
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Bloodbath will not resolve the conflict: Pathmanathan

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 May 2009, 21:16 GMT]
"Colombo's approach to finish the war in 48 hours through a carnage and bloodbath of civilians will never resolve a conflict of decades. On the contrary it will only escalate the crisis to unforeseen heights. The Sinhala people have a duty and responsibility in stopping it, considering their own interest if not that of the Tamils," said LTTE's Head of International Relations, Selvarasa Pathmanathan, when contacted by TamilNet on the situation prevailing in Vanni.
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SLA shelling kills civilian, injures 4 on Mullaiththeevu sea

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 May 2009, 16:27 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) launched shells fell and exploded in a boat in which 12 persons from war torn Vanni were fleeing to Point Pedro Thursday night, killing a father while injuring his wife and two children and another woman, sources in Point Pedro said. The woman, admitted to Manthikai government hospital, was transferred to Jaffna Teaching Hospital for further treatment, the sources added.
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Pathmanathan urges immediate action by IC to protect Tamil civilians

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 May 2009, 13:40 GMT]
"If the International community fails to act now, in this most needy hour, it would go down in the history of mankind as the most inhumane, unconscionable failure by the International community, the UN and other powers from their responsibilities to protect innocent civilians wherever they may be subjected to genocide," said Selvaraja Pathmanathan, the LTTE plenipotentiary for international relations, in a statement issued Friday. "Consequences of inaction will reverberate for generations. Inaction by the International community will be construed as its approval of this crime against humanity."
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More than 100,000 civilians in safe zone, ICRC suspends Vanni missions

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 May 2009, 13:04 GMT]
"Unless an external humanitarian intervention is carried out without delay, it would be difficult to avert an inhuman catastrophe," said a volunteer doctor appointed by the LTTE to serve the civilians within the so-called safety zone, Friday afternoon. "The ICRC has abandoned its missions, there is no food, no proper access to potable water to tens of thousands of civilians who are forced to stay under the bunkers, surrounded by dead bodies and wounded civilians who are dying without medical help," the medics doctor told TamilNet through a satellite phone. The Sri Lankan forces are deploying superior fire power and advancing along the coastal line deploying cluster munitions and shells causing immediate fire.
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Jaffna GA seeks NGOs’ help to feed Vanni detainees

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 May 2009, 17:43 GMT]
Jaffna Government Agent (GA) said that he was forced to seek the help of private and Non-government organizations to provide food and other necessities to the Vanni civilians held in the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camps in Jaffna, in a meeting held Tuesday at Jaffna Secretariat with the representatives of the above organizations and government departmental heads. Jaffna Traders’ Union representatives who participated in the meeting assured the GA that they would do their share in providing assistance to the detainees, Jaffna Secretariat sources said.
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SLA denies permission to Jaffna HRC to visit Vanni detainees

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 May 2009, 16:49 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Jaffna denied permission to the local officials of Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission (SLHRC) Jaffna office to visit Thellippazhai SLA Rehabilitation Camp where more than 600 young men and women from Vanni are detained, sources in Jaffna said. The officials routinely visit the above camp to attend to matters related to human rights violation like torture. SLA said that only on permission from the Justice Ministry in Colombo the officials would be permitted to visit the said Rehabilitation camp, HRC Jaffna sources said.
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LTTE Political Head welcomes Obama's attention on Tamils' plight

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 May 2009, 14:13 GMT]
"We thank and welcome the categorical calls by President Barack Obama for the Sri Lankan Government to take toward alleviating the humanitarian crisis," said B. Nadesan, the political head of the LTTE in a statement issued from Vanni Thursday. "The United Nations Organization and the Security Council has held back in their traditional humanitarian leadership role to take prudent measures and bring about a truce and safeguard Eelam Tamils. Now, the Eelam Tamils earnestly look forward to President Barack Obama to lead the humanitarian intervention," Mr. Nadesan said in his response to US President's statement on Wednesday.
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LTTE urges IC to save civilians in the name of humanity, SLA attacks kill 1700 in 48 hours

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 May 2009, 12:06 GMT]
The LTTE on Thursday called upon the International Community to protect the civilians from the ongoing carnage by taking whatever measure required. "The LTTE is ready to engage with the International Community in its actions to bring an end to the humanitarian crisis." The statement came as Sri Lanka Army (SLA) continued its indiscriminate barrage causing untold human tragedy. Initial estimate by the LTTE Peace Secretariat Thursday afternoon was 1,700 civilians killed and over 3,000 wounded within the last 48 hours. The catastrophic situation has been made worse by the acute shortage of food and medicine, the statement said. "Local doctors who are trying to work in these hospitals have decided to hand the hospitals over to the ICRC in the hope that under ICRC management the hospitals may be spared from bombardment."
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JU students held in SLA internment camps seek Jaffna HRC help

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 May 2009, 11:39 GMT]
Fourteen Jaffna University students from Vanni district detained in Kaithadi Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camp along with other civilians from Vanni have complained to Jaffna Human Rights Commission (HRC) officials that their human rights have been violated by denial of permission to continue their studies in Jaffna University, Jaffna HRC sources said. HRC Jaffna has called for a detailed report on this issue from SLA Jaffna Commanding Officer, Jaffna Government Agent and the Vice-chancellor of Jaffna University.
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Britain diaspora Tamils continue protest demonstration

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 May 2009, 05:18 GMT]
Diaspora Tamils in Britain continue their protest demonstration for the 38th day in Parliament Square in London Thursday against the unrelenting carnage of innocent Tamils in Vanni by Sri Lanka armed forces targeting makeshift medical centres, sources in London said. The protestors with black bands around their mouths held placards showing their demands. Meanwhile, the protestors engaged in hunger strike for more than 24 hours continue undeterred in an effort to draw the attention of the British government and the world, the sources added.
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