Rain, floods add to Vanni IDPs woes

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 November 2008, 12:30 GMT]
Continuous torrential rain for four days in several areas of Vanni has caused floods, destroying temporary huts of war-displaced civilians and disrupting transport on several roads of densely populated Northeastern region of Vanni. Several hundred volunteers of Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation and other local NGO were struggling to assist the displaced civilians to find shelter in various schools, churches, temples and other public places as thousands of civilians, forced to vacate their houses due to the Sri Lankan military offensive into Vanni, were deprived of proper shelter by the blockade imposed by the Sri Lankan government.
Full story >>

Hundreds displaced in Trincomalee floods

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 November 2008, 15:52 GMT]
Seventeen GS (village unit) areas in five Divisional Secretariat divisions in Trincomalee district have been badly affected due to torrential rains since Saturday. Social department officials are providing cooked meals as immediate relief to hundreds of families displaced from low lying area are being sheltered in public buildings. Trincomalee district till Monday morning recorded the highest rainfall in the north and east- 159 mm, Jaffna 56 mm and Vavuniyaa 26 mm, according to meteorological department sources.
Full story >>

75% of confiscated funds belong to INGOs, says TRO

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 November 2008, 12:03 GMT]
Responding to the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) press release that the State has confiscated Rs. 71m from Tamil Rehabilitation Organization’s (TRO’s) bank account, TRO reiterated its denial of allegations that funds were “mainly used for terrorist activies,” and pointed out that the “GoSL has never produced any proof of these allegations in a court of law and has not brought any criminal charges against TRO,” and that Colombo has consistently denied TRO opportunity to defend against the allegations in the courts of law.
Full story >>

SLA shells hit IDP settlements in Vadamaraadchi East

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 November 2008, 18:53 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired around 100 artillery shells on IDP settlements of Uduththu'rai, Vaththiraayan, Kaddaikkaadu and Vettilaikkea'ni in Vadamaraadchi East in Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) controlled territory in Jaffna district Monday from 1:00 p.m. till 6:40 p.m.
Full story >>

60% of 327,730 IDPs in Vanni without adequate shelters - TRO

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 November 2008, 13:28 GMT]
Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), a local-NGO attending to the relief needs of the more than 320,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), including the 90,000 tsunami and previously affected, in Mullaiththeevu and Ki'linochchi districts, said shortage of nearly 40% basic essential food for the IDPs have to be urgently met through local production, while embargo by the Sri Lankan government on building materials have left 60% of the refugees without adequate shelters, in a report issued this week.
Full story >>

TN should send relief as commodities, not money: Australian academic

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 November 2008, 02:44 GMT]
The aid and relief money generously given to Sri Lanka by various governments and international organizations tacitly helps filling the coffers of the Sri Lankan government and its foreign exchange capacity in waging the war against Tamils. The Tamil Nadu government should therefore consider sending the relief money in the form of much needed commodities for the rehabilitation and resettlement of the IDPs in Vanni and should make sure that they reach the Eezham Tamils in the non-government controlled areas directly says, Professor E.A. Selvanathan of the School of International Business, Griffith University, Australia.
Full story >>

Perth Tamils draw attention of Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister to IDPs plight

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 November 2008, 21:58 GMT]
More than two hundred Australian Tamils held a vigil in Perth, Western Australia on Friday between 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., in front of the electorate office of Minister for Foreign Affairs Stephen Smith, to create an awareness among the Australian public and inform the Australian government about the plight of the displaced people in Wanni. This is the fourth in a series of protest vigils, being organised by the Australasian Federation of Tamil Associations (AFTA).
Full story >>

70 of 1,000 IDP families of Kaddaipa'richchaan relocated to their native division

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 November 2008, 13:58 GMT]
240 members of 70 displaced Tamil families from Kaddaipa'richchaan North GS area in Moothoor division in Trincomalee district were brought to their native division, 20 moths after they were forced to flee their villages, on Friday. Despite their return, they continue to be IDPs as they are yet to be resettled in their lands, which have not been cleared and their houses are in a dilapidated state, according to civil sources.
Full story >>

'Political solution, not politics of food': Mano Ganesan to India

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 November 2008, 16:47 GMT]
The leader of the Western Province People's Front (WPPF) Mano Ganesan on Sunday said the need of hour for India was to push the Government of Sri Lanka to fair and reasonable political solution alluding that India was not needed for the job of supplying 800 MT humanitarian supplies. Three basics of the upheavals in Tamil Nadu were: stop the war, stop the military aid to Sri Lanka and send humanitarian aids to the needy in Vanni. "The Indian Government virtually dismissed first two and got hold of the last, comparatively easy one," Mr. Mano Ganesan said in a press statement issued from Colombo.
Full story >>

SLAF bombing kills IDP teenager, injures another in Puthukkudiyiruppu, Vanni

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 October 2008, 11:20 GMT]
A 16-year-old boy was killed with his arm blown off and 17-year-old girl seriously injured in the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombing the civilian settlement in Va'l'lipunam in Puthukkudiyiruupu division in Mullaiththeevu district, Thursday morning. SLAF kfir jet fighters dropped eight bombs in two sorties in the aerial strike that lasted from 9:15 a.m to 9:30 a.m, sources in Puthukkudiyiruppu said. Four houses of the residents of the area were destroyed in the bombing.
Full story >>

SLA blocks oxygen cylinders urgently needed by hospitals in Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 October 2008, 15:37 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Vavuniyaa has held back for weeks the vehicle bringing 52 oxygen cylinders from Colombo to Ki'linochchi public hospital urgently needed to save the lives of the Internally Displaced Persons, increasingly subjected to indiscriminate shelling, air attacks and road accidents. Although two of the three lorries with medical supplies that were waiting for weeks were allowed to reach the hospital on Monday, the lorry with oxygen cylinders was not allowed to cross the Oamanthai entry point by the SLA. There is acute need for oxygen cylinders at Ki'linochchi hospital, according to Dr. P. Brighton, the assisting Deputy Provincial Director of Health (DPDH).
Full story >>

3 IDPs wounded in SLAF attack

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 October 2008, 15:51 GMT]
A 50-year-old mother of three, a 38-year-old father of one and a 41-year-old father of two, were wounded Tuesday morning around 11:00 when Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers attacked two civilian settlements in Ki'linochchi and Paranthan, medical sources at the Ki'linochchi hospital said. The victims were Internally Displaced Persons from Mannaar and Ki'linochchi districts. 750 school children and 17 teachers were attending classes at Paranthan Hindu College at the time of the SLAF air-strike. The college is located 750 meters from the attack site in Kumarapuram where three houses and three huts were fully destroyed, according to TamilNet correspondent who visited the attack site at Kumarapuram and the hospital.
Full story >>

Cheanaiyoor IDPs to be resettled

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 October 2008, 19:07 GMT]
144 members of 44 internally displaced Tamil families, who had fled from Moothoor east in Trincomalee district in 2006 due to military operations of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), were transported in six state sector buses Thursday from several welfare centres in Batticaloa district for resettlement in their village Cheanaiyoor, a once flourishing town and now deserted, civil society sources in Trincomalee said. The buses traveled via Vaakarai, south of the Trincomalee district, with police protection.
Full story >>

Sri Lankan DPU attack kills civilian, 2 wounded

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 October 2008, 19:12 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Deep Penetration Unit triggered a Claymore mine at Thikkuvil in Poonakari (Pooneryn) Wednesday around 1:00 p.m., killing a civilian and wounding two, initial reports from the Poonakari said.
Full story >>

"No Home - Just Hope" photo exhibition of Vanni IDP's woes, in Norway

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 October 2008, 08:25 GMT]
Tamil Youth Organization (TYO) of the city of Bergen in Norway launched an exhibition titled "No Home – Just Hope" of photos depicting the plight of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Vanni in Sri Lanka, in Hanseatisk Museum in Bergen town, Friday around 6:00 p.m, inaugurated by Eileen, Kolsås Dalen, culture consultant in Bergen Municipality, sources in Bergen said. Friday marked the day when the United Nations was founded.
Full story >>

Mahinda telephones Manmohan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 October 2008, 23:15 GMT]
Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa telephoned Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday to discuss recent developments in Sri Lanka. While the Sri Lankan press release is silent on details, the Indian brief discloses the PM's concern for the safety of civilians, ensured relief supply to IDPs, not enmeshing the Tamil community in the hostilities with LTTE and nurturing democracy in the East, apart from the usual reiterations on political solution, united Sri Lanka and Indian fishermen casualties. The Indian foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee was invited by his Sri Lankan counterpart to visit Sri Lanka at an early date, according to SL press release.
Full story >>

IDPs to be resettled in Chennaiyoor in Moothoor east

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 October 2008, 18:38 GMT]
226 members of 71 families who fled from Chennaiyoor village in Moothoor east in Trincomalee district following the military operation launched by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in April 2006 are to be resettled in their homes, civil society sources from Trincomalee said. The displaced have been staying in welfare centres located in Chengkaladi, Soukaddi, Sathurukondaan, Kokuvil, Navatkudaa, Ee'raavoor, Ka'luvaagnchikkudi and Maavadiveambu in Batticaloa district.
Full story >>

Australians protest against Bogolloagama press club meet

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 October 2008, 20:20 GMT]
More than 600 Australian Tamils protested in front of the National Press Club in Canberra Tuesday while the Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka, Rohitha Bogollagama, was addressing an invited audience inside the National Press Club, sources in Canberra said. The protesters highlighted Sri Lanka's escalating human rights violations against the media workers.
Full story >>

Medical, health crisis looms in Ki'linochchi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 October 2008, 12:01 GMT]
120 refugees were admitted after snake-bite during the past 7 days alone in Ki'linochchi district's hospital functioning at Tharmapuram. One of the patients, a girl, has died and another, a 53-year-old woman, was being treated at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the hospital, according to Dr. P. Brighton, the assistant Deputy Provincial Director of Health (DPDH) on Tuesday. He said three lorries with urgently needed medicines to treat snake-bite and diarrhea have not entered Vanni despite three repeated attempts to cross the entry/exit point at Oamanthai in Vavuniyaa. Meanwhile, ambulance-transport for patients in need of urgent medical treatment at Vavuniyaa hospital has become increasingly difficult.
Full story >>

Sri Lankan forces blast bridge on humanitarian access route in Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 October 2008, 02:44 GMT]
Pearaa'ru bridge, located on Maangku'lam - Oddisuddaan Road, which branches off from the A9, the access route which was used by the World Food Programme (WFP) humanitarian convoy to Vanni during the first week of October has been destroyed by the Sri Lankan forces in joint attacks carried out since Sunday. In the meantime, rain has started to fall in densely populated areas in Vanni on Tuesday. Many of the refugees living under the trees were forced to seek shelter in buildings, temples, churches and with the neighbouring houses.
Full story >>