Visit of 'strategic partners'

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 December 2008, 12:19 GMT]
The Defense Advisers/Attaches of seven countries, USA, UK, Japan, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Maldives were taken on a one day tour to Vanni by the Colombo government on Monday. Suffering from heavy military debacles and facing serious economic crisis, the Colombo government is badly in need of parading strategic partners and abettors to attract means and justification for its genocidal war before time runs out, note political observers. The visitors represented three of the Co-Chair countries, USA, UK and Japan and four South Asian countries having maritime boundaries.
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India, US, UK, Pakistan officers visit Vanni command HQ

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 December 2008, 16:16 GMT]
Military representatives from seven countries – India, the United States, Britain, Pakistan, Japan, Bangladesh and Maldives – Wednesday visited the Sri Lankan military command centre coordinating Colombo’s offensive into the Vanni. Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Defence said the foreign defence attaches/advisors visited the Vann Security Forces HQ as well as the HQs of the SLA’s 57 and 59 Divisions.
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Local NGOs help battle economic woes in Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 December 2008, 03:07 GMT]
The Economic Consultancy House (TECH), a local NGO operating in the NorthEast, is battling to help economic needs of refugee by attending to small scale economic development projects, civil society sources in Vanni said. Activities include distribution of seed paddy, training of sewing skills, and providing loan for self-help, according to Techinical Director of TECH, Mr Suntharamoorthy.
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Jaffna Bishop meets IDPs in Vanni

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 December 2008, 06:39 GMT]
Rt. Rev. Thomas Saundaranayagam, Bishop of Jaffna, was on a mission visit to Vanni 9 December where he met thousands of people displaced due to war offensives and floods sharing their grief and offering consolation to them, in various places in Vanni, according to Jaffna Bishop’s secretary. The Bishop stayed in Vanni meeting the IDPs in their temporary refugee camps and returned to Colombo Saturday.
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3 civilians, including child, killed in SLA shelling in Vanni

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 December 2008, 13:02 GMT]
A 5-month-old child, sleeping inside an IDP hut near Thakarap-Pi'l'laiyaar temple on Hudson Road in Vaddakkachchi, was decapitated by a shrapnel of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired artillery shell Saturday morning around 9:30. 26-year-old mother of the child was wounded in the artillery barrage that targeted the IDP settlement. Meanwhile, two males who went to their agricultural lands in Kanakapuram, a suburb of Ki'linochchi town, to unearth cassava roots, were killed in SLA shelling around 11:45 a.m. A 17-year-old youth narrowly escaped death with injuries from the shelling.
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Relief measures to IDPs in Jaffna peninsula, meager – NGOs

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 December 2008, 05:20 GMT]
Non-government Organizations (NGOs) in Jaffna peninsula claimed that relief measures announced by Jaffna Government Agent (GA) meant for more than 1,50,000 people displaced due to rains, floods and cyclone ‘Nisha’ after two weeks lapse were meager, sources in Jaffna said. The maximum a family of five or more could get was 3½ kg rice, 1.6 kg flour, 1 kg sugar and 200 gm lentils at a total worth of only 525 rupees per week, according to information released by Jaffna GA who said that action is being taken to supply this relief measures soon.
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'They went, saw and returned'

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 December 2008, 07:58 GMT]
The meeting of the representation from Tamil Nadu led by Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi with the Prime Minister of India on Thursday failed to achieve its basic objective of convincing the Indian government to take a stand against Colombo’s war on Tamils, revealed journalistic circles in Chennai. The silent listening of the Indian Establishment may have several meanings. Perhaps Dr. Manmohan Singh is not the authority to respond on this particular matter. But the message to Eezham Tamils is clear: either they ought to fight back the war thrust upon them, or face genocide, and probably they knew it long back, commented the circles.
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'Thanks for food, but help to win our rights,' Vanni IDPs urge Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 December 2008, 02:12 GMT]
Internally Displaced persons in Vanni who were receiving the humanitarian supplies sent by the people of Tamil Nadu, while expressing their gratitude for the timely help, urged the leaders of Tamil Nadu to help them to win their freedom by voicing for the political aspirations of Eezham Tamils. TamilNet correspondent recorded expressions from the IDPs who were gathered at Karaichchi Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society, one of 23 supply centres in Vanni, on Thursday.
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TRO issues details of cluster-bombed IDP camp

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 December 2008, 09:15 GMT]
The Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO), in a press release disseminated on Wednesday said the IDP camp subjected to cluster bombardment by the Sri Lanka Air Force at Uzhavanoor in Vanni was located within the area declared by the Government of Sri Lanka as "safe zone" and that the IDP camp was constructed and maintained by the TRO and local NGO REERDO for families that had been displaced due to the Government of Sri Lanka's ongoing military offensive into Vanni.
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TNA MP urges global community's awareness on Sri Lanka's use of cluster munitions

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 December 2008, 11:24 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian S. Gajendran, who represents Ki'linochchi district (Jaffna electorate), Wednesday urged the global community to "unreservedly condemn" the Sri Lankan government for deploying cluster munitions against civilians in Vanni in its air strikes and artillery attacks. Appreciating the Norwegian initiative which has led to the landmark treaty on baning the cluster munitions, the TNA parliamentarian said the Sri Lankan forces were deploying cluster munitions against civilians after expelling the international witnesses and blocking foreign journalists from entering Vanni.
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NESoHR: 16 cluster bombs dropped on refugee camp

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 December 2008, 16:44 GMT]
North East Secretariat on Human Rights (NESoHR), in its monthly report for November said there were five major air strikes and shelling attacks on civilians in Vanni in November. On Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) indiscriminate bombardment on IDP camp in Uzhavanoor in the early hours of Saturday, the NESoHR said the SLAF had dropped 16 cluster bombs on the settlement.
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'Knowing friends and enemies'

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 December 2008, 15:14 GMT]
“Exploiting the Mumbai carnage and the mood of indignation in India, the Colombo government is calling for the collaboration of India in labeling and isolating all Tamils as terrorists, just because they demand for their rights. Mr. P. Chidambaram, the new Home Minister of India, carrying Indian as well as Tamil identities needs to be additionally alert in what has to be done”, read Tuesday’s editorial of Janasakti, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of India. Meanwhile, an Eezham Tamil foreign national and a political analyst, now living with the IDPs in Vanni, responded to TamilNet with his remarks on current development, especially after 26 November, 2008.
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Quick IDP action averts carnage from Cluster bombs

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 December 2008, 01:33 GMT]
“Three bombs exploded first time. Second time, when the bomber returned after 5 minutes from the opposite direction, there were 3 more blasts. But, the third time, bombs exploded with a parachute effect, like an auto explosion,”  said the head of the camp of the Internally Displaced Peoples (IDPs) that came under indiscriminate attack by the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) in the early hours of Saturday. Many children fled into the jungle during the five-minute window before the aircraft returned for the second attack. If not for the fast action of Ketheeswaran, the head of the settlement, and Pulendran, an intrepid IDP, in escorting and moving IDPs away from the refugee camp, the cluster bombs would have wrought havoc killing many, according to the refugees who escaped. TamilNet interviewed both Ketheeswaran and Pulendran, and several wounded civilians for this feature.
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Colombo's cluster bomb attack on civilians in Vanni challenges international norms

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 November 2008, 02:21 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers that attacked the hamlet of Internally Displaced Persons bordering Piramanthanaa'ru and Uzhavanoor in the early hours of Saturday have deployed Russian made OFAB-500 cluster bombs in their indiscriminate attack that killed three civilians, including a child, eyewitnesses told TamilNet's Vanni correspondent on Saturday. Seven children were among the wounded. Colombo's use of cluster bomb comes as more than 100 countries are scheduled to meet in Oslo on Wednesday to sign a treaty banning the use of cluster bombs.
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SLAF bombs refugee camp in 'secure zone' in Vanni, children among victims

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 November 2008, 08:59 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Kfir bombers attacked a refugee camp of Internally Displaced People bordering Piramanthanaa'ru and Uzhavaoor (Tharmapuram) in Ki'linochchi district in the early hours of Saturday around 1:35 a.m. Medical authorities at Tharmapuram said three persons were killed. Two, a 5-year-old child and an 80-year-old man, died at the hospital. At least 18 wounded civilians, including 7 children and 7 females, were admitted at the hospital following the indiscriminate bombardment on IDP settlement. Medical authorities described the bombardment as "terrible mid-night aerial attack on refugee camp". SLAF bombs refugee camp in Vanni, children among killed, wounded
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Norwegian Refugee Council worker among victims of Batticaloa killings

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 November 2008, 21:08 GMT]
A staff worker of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) was forcibly abducted by unidentified gunmen who entered his house on the evening of November 27 and was shot at a nearby decommissioned IDP-site, said Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in Colombo on Friday. Vigneswaran, a popular and dedicated colleague, was later taken to a nearby hospital but pronounced dead on arrival. Offering its deepest condolences to Vigneswaran’s family, the NRC said it was deeply concerned by this tragic and untimely death of Mr. Vigneswaran. This is the third killing or disappearance of an NRC staff member in Sri Lanka in the past two and a half years.
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Floods kill 6 people in Vanni, thousands displaced

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 November 2008, 17:21 GMT]
At least four people were reportedly killed and two more feared dead in the floods caused by storms coupled with torrential monsoon rain during the past 6 days in Vanni. The sluice gates of Visuvamadu tank were opened as the raising water level posed great danger to the wall of the dam that has been shaken already by the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) attacks. Also the sluice gates of two other tanks, Udaiyaarkadduk-ku'lam and Kalmaduk-ku'lam, were opened. Hundreds of volunteers of Tamils Rehabilitation Organiation (TRO) and the Tamileelam Police personnel were seen evacuating civilians and in arranging immediate accommodation in public places.
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Vanni irrigation bunds close to breach, threaten 10,000 IDPs

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 November 2008, 05:03 GMT]
Increasing water levels due to non-stop rain the past five days, and the earth bunds critically weakened to withstand water pressure in several irrigation tanks, including Visuvamadu and Udaiyaarkaddu in Vanni, are posing increasing danger to populated neighborhoods and closeby temporary shelters of internally displaced, civil society sources in Vanni said. More than 10,000 IDPs are being relocated throughout Vanni due to the threat posed by flood waters, according to local officials.
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Thousands of IDPs stranded by floods in Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 November 2008, 18:50 GMT]
Floods are flowing over most of the roads and civilians who had sought refuge in open lands and in temporary huts in low-lying areas were forced to seek shelter in schools, temples, churches and public buildings in Vanni. Patients from Ki’linochchi and Mullaiththeevu district hospitals in need of urgent treatment in Vavniyaa hospital cannot be transported as the trunk roads in Vanni remain submerged in water.
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IDP settlements flooded in Jaffna peninsula due to continuing downpour

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 November 2008, 13:00 GMT]
Unrelenting monsoon rains continue in Jaffna peninsula for the fourth day causing floods in areas where Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are located while fisher families in Vadamaraadchi North and East have been forced to seek shelter in churches and public buildings nearby because of the persisting rain and intermittent hurricanes which had torn off the roofs of many huts, sources in Jaffna said.
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