Misappropriation of relief food to Vanni detainees in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 May 2009, 23:39 GMT]
Representatives of Non-government Organizations (NGOs) in Jaffna have brought to the notice of Jaffna Government Agent (SLA) the prevailing misappropriation in the supply of relief food to the detainees held in the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camps in Jaffna peninsula. Though the NGOs spend millions of rupees in supplying cooked food to the detainees daily, the food is below standard and the distribution irregular, NGOs told the GA. Nearly 40% of the daily relief food supply is being misappropriated.
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SLA officials accused of taking bribes from Vanni detainees

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 May 2009, 23:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) high officials in charge of the internment camps in Jaffna, where Vanni civilians are held, are alleged to be taking bribes ranging from 50,000 to 100,000 rupees to free the youths among the detainees, according to complaints made by the detainees to Human Rights Organizations (HRC) in Jaffna. SLA authorities in Jaffna, however, continue to refute such allegations.
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2 Tamil women arrested in Wellawatte

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 May 2009, 16:52 GMT]
Two Tamil females were taken into custody by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police in a cordon and search operation conducted from evening 6 pm till about 10 pm Thursday in Wellawatte area in Colombo district. Police said the two women are detained in the police station for further interrogation as they failed to establish their identity and justify their presence in the location.
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The Times demands action over ‘monstrous collusion’ in slaughter of Tamils

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 May 2009, 15:59 GMT]
Pointing out that not only the United Nations but several Western governments knew of the ongoing slaughter of 20,000 Tamil civilians by the Sri Lanka Army, but kept silent for fear of upsetting the Colombo Government, The Times newspaper Saturday demanded international action to prevent further atrocities. “Such a monstrous collusion in covering up an atrocity must not go unchallenged. If the UN Human Rights Council refuses to investigate what has happened, the West must do so forthwith,” the paper said. “The silence of those who were warned of civilian deaths in Sri Lanka is shameful. They must speak out now to prevent future atrocities,” the editorial’s subtitle charged.
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Evidence points to Colombo culpability to Tamil massacre - Washington Post

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 May 2009, 13:24 GMT]
Adding to the increasing international media coverage of Government of Sri Lanka's culpability to the massacre of more than 20,000 Tamil civilians in Mullaitheevu, Emily Wax of Washington Post in a Saturday story said, the beach "shows clear signs of heavy artillery shelling, according to a helicopter inspection of the site by independent journalists, interviews with eyewitnesses, and specialists who have studied high-resolution satellite imagery from the war zone." The paper notes Rights advocates view that "any government could defeat terrorism if it ignored the 1949 Geneva convention that aims to protect civilians caught in war zones," and adds that U.S. Justice Department is considering whether to seek criminal charges against Colombo officials based on information filed by Attorney Bruce Fein.
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UN concealed carnage to keep Sri Lanka goodwill – Le Monde

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 May 2009, 23:39 GMT]
The United Nations deliberately hid the number of Tamil civilians being killed during the Sri Lankan government offensive against the LTTE, according to a report in the French daily Le Monde. The report, translated by FRANCE 24, quotes several UN sources alleging that high-ranking UN officials, including Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, chose to keep silent about the high civilian death toll so as to avoid offending the Sri Lankan government and maintain UN operations in the country. A low figure was even leaked by the UN in mid-May, when it was known that the real toll was approaching 20,000 dead.
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‘Still no access’ - UN, aid agencies

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 May 2009, 19:09 GMT]
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and international aid groups Friday protested Sri Lanka’s denial of access to hundreds of thousands of Tamils concentrated in militarized camps in the north and the homes from which the displaced had fled. Sri Lanka is still refusing to provide aid workers with full access despite an appeal by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the UN said separately.
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20,000 Tamil civilians massacred by Sri Lanka – The Times

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 May 2009, 00:54 GMT]
Evidence gathered by The Times newspaper has revealed that at least 20,000 Tamil people were killed on the Mullaitivu beach by Sri Lanka Army shelling. Aerial photographs, official documents, witness accounts and expert testimony collected by the newspaper “present clear evidence of an atrocity that comes close to matching Srebrenica, Darfur and other massacres of civilians,” the paper’s editorial says. Confidential UN documents acquired by The Times record nearly 7,000 civilian deaths in the ‘no-fire’ zone up to the end of April. UN sources said that the toll then surged, with an average of 1,000 civilians killed each day until May 19.
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Unprincipled, shameless, "Orwellian" UN resolution ever - Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 May 2009, 23:31 GMT]
"This is one of the most unprincipled and shameless resolutions ever adopted by any body of the United Nations in the history of that now benighted Organization. It would be as if the U.N. Human Rights Council had congratulated the Nazi government for the "liberation" of the Jews in Poland after its illegal and genocidal invasion of that country in 1939," said Francis Boyle, professor of International Law at the University of Illinois College of Law, referring to the resolution passed at the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Sri Lanka war.
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Jaffna Municipal Council election to be held soon

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 May 2009, 20:30 GMT]
Plans are afoot to bring down Sinhalese government officials from South to conduct Jaffna Municipal Council elections, sources in Jaffna said. Efforts are underway to elect a Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Mayor to Jaffna which was once held by Alfred Duraiappa, representing SLFP, the sources added.
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SLA-backed paramilitary men abduct Tamil civilian in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 May 2009, 17:06 GMT]
Paramilitary men operating with Sri Lanka Army (SLA) arriving in a black pick-up vehicle Thursday around 9:00 p.m at the house of a Tamil three-wheel driver abducted him, in Vaazhaichcheanai in Batticaloa district, according to a complaint lodged with Vaazhaichcheanai police. The relatives of the driver said that the paramilitary men had said in Sinhalese language that they had come from Pollanaruwa police station.
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Mass burial of IDPs in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 May 2009, 15:50 GMT]
Bodies of sixty elderly persons and six babies, members of displaced families from Vanni region due to military operation by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and sheltered transit centres in Vavuniyaa were buried in one burial grave in Poonthoaddam general cemetery in Vavuniyaa Sunday morning, media reports said.
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SLA delays relocation of Vanni detainees in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 May 2009, 10:43 GMT]
Plans to relocate the Vanni detainees held in schools turned into internment camps in Jaffna peninsula stall due to the reluctance of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities to allow relocation activities to proceed as planned, Non-government Organizations sources in Jaffna said. SLA is particularly reluctant to establish permanent internment camps for the Vanni detainees in Chavakachcheari Thampu Thoaddam and Kodikaamam Raamaavil areas, the sources added.
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“Glaring hypocrisy, blatant sophistry” Boyle slams Swiss UN Resolution

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 May 2009, 17:35 GMT]
Pointing out the twelfth operative paragraph of the Draft Resolution sponsored by Switzerland, that is currently pending before the U.N. Human Rights Council, Professor Boyle, expert in International Law and Professor at the University of Illinois College of Law, says this would be the same “as if the U.N. Human Rights Council had invited the Nazi government to investigate and prosecute itself for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes against the Jews instead of supporting the Nuremberg Charter and Tribunal."
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Sri Lanka accused of 'ethnic cleansing' of Tamil areas - paper

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 May 2009, 12:43 GMT]
"Aid officials, human rights campaigners and politicians claim Tamils have been driven out of areas in the north-east of the country by killings and kidnappings carried out by pro-government militias. They say the government has simultaneously encouraged members of the Sinhalese majority in the south to relocate to the vacated villages," Telegraph, UK, said, adding that according to an aid worker the recent killings in Trincomalee "were part of a strategy to drive out Tamils."
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Elderly man knifed to death in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 May 2009, 10:12 GMT]
Unidentified persons arriving at the house of a 74-year-old man in Valikaamam Monday around 7:00 p.m forcibly took him away and knifed him to death. The victim's beheaded body was found dumped in a Saiva temple area 200 m away from his house, in a paddy field. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers who were informed by the residents of the area are the only persons who had visited the area.
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SLA interrogates Tamil daily editor in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 May 2009, 04:53 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) civil administration office summoned Monday the editor of a popular Tamil daily in Jaffna for interrogation into a news item related to abduction of children for ransom, published in the front page of the daily, sources in Jaffna said. The daily, however, intimidated by SLA authorities in Palaali head quarters and SLA-backed paramilitaries, had published a refutation of the story published earlier.
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SLA seeks help to trace Liberation Tigers in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 May 2009, 03:48 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Jaffna have sought the help of civil society organization representatives and government officers to trace the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) combatants who had infiltrated along with the civilians fleeing war from Vanni, sources in Jaffna said. No one has surrendered themselves to the SLA despite the 48 hour grace period given to the LTTE combatants, the sources added.
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SLA bars upcountry Tamils from viewing Tamilnadu TV programmes

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 May 2009, 14:12 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Sri Lanka Police have ordered Tamil residents in Hatton police division to dismantle dish antennas from their residences as a part of security measure, effectively barring them from viewing TV channels aired by several TV stations operated in Tamilnadu in India, sources in Hatton said.
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SLA restriction on fishing on Vadamaraadchchi seas to continue

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 May 2009, 20:54 GMT]
The restriction on fishing on Vadamaraadchchi seas will not be relaxed as requested by the fisheries societies, Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officials said in a meeting held with the representatives of Vadmaraadchchi fisheries societies Sunday. The request to expedite the issue of travel ‘pass’ to Colombo by the representatives of the Saiva Organizations who took part in the meeting along with the school principals of the area was turned down by the SLA officials, sources in Vadamaraadchchi said.
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