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 Officials complicit in aiding, abetting GoSL's Nazi-type crimes - Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 May 2009, 11:14 GMT]
Pointing to a report in the French paper Le Monde, which quoted Vijay Nambiar, chief of Staff of UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, as telling UN representatives in Sri Lanka that the UN should “keep a low profile” and play a “sustaining role" that was "compatible with the government," Francis Boyle, professor of International Law at the University of Illinois College of Law said Saturday that both the United Nations Organization itself and its highest level officials are guilty of aiding and abetting Nazi-type crimes against the Tamils by the Government of Sri Lanka, in violation of international law. "Unless this Momentum is reversed and all these U.N. Officials fired, the United Nations Organization shall follow the League of Nations into the "ashcan" of History," Boyle said.
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Sri Lanka hunting media’s Tamil sources - RSF

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 May 2009, 23:47 GMT]
Apart from threatening to prosecute journalists who attempt to visit the northern areas captured from the Liberation Tigers, Sri Lanka’s military is trying to identify Tamil civilians who provided information to the foreign press by infiltrating paramilitaries into their military-run refugee camps, RSF (Reporters Without Borders) said Friday. While the Army general appointed in charge of resettling refugees says “all foreign journalists are working against his homeland,” the country’s police chief claims that several journalists, “mostly Sinhalese”, were on the payroll of the LTTE and were involved in the insurgency.
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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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Tamil family man reported missing in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 May 2009, 13:15 GMT]
A Tamil family man from Aiyankkea’ni in Batticaloa district has gone missing since 23 May around 7:30 p.m after leaving home to his sister’s house on his bicycle, according to the complaint lodged by his wife at Ea’raavoor police station. The family man had been arrested in a police cordon and search a month ago and released after being detained for a day, sources in Batticaloa said.
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Sinhala thugs destroy Tamil shops in Badulla

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 May 2009, 12:46 GMT]
Sinhala thugs broke open three shops owned by Tamils in Palakaduwa, a suburb in Badulla police division, and robbed the premises of valueables Wednesday night. The intruders attempted to break open two other shops but failed in their attempt and fled when neighbors rushed to the site, media reports said. Tension prevails among Tamil business community in Badulla town about their future.
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Sinhala thugs harass Tamil women in Ratnapura

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 May 2009, 11:18 GMT]
Sinhala hoodlums in Rakwana town in Ratnapura district are targeting Tamil women who return home after work in garment factories, and rob them of their gold jewelry and other valuable articles. Ten such incidents have taken place in the last three days, and ll victims are from the upcountry Tamils, media reports said.
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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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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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Armed men shoot Tamil youth in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 May 2009, 15:48 GMT]
A Tamil youth was critically injured when unidentified armed persons arrived in a three wheeler fired at him. They fled from the scene when the neighbors shouted for assistance. The incident took place Tuesday afternoon around 12:55 p.m. at New Chetty Street in Kotahena police division in Colombo district, according to Police Spokesman Ranjit Gunasekara. The injured has been identified as Satkunarajah Wimalan (26) of New Chetty Street.
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TNA MP Jeyananthamoorthy's secretary reported missing

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 May 2009, 15:32 GMT]
Thavarajasingham Subash, 23, secretary to S.Jeyananthamoorthy, Batticaloa district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian has been reported missing mysteriously since Tuesday early morning around 2:15 a.m after he arrived in Katunayake from Chennai airport in Tamilnadu. Katunayake Police took into custody on his arrival from Chennai. Later it was reported that he was released. However he failed to return home thereafter, according to complaints lodged with the police by his relatives, according to media reports.
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'Epidemic waiting to happen' in detention camps

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 May 2009, 12:04 GMT]
A disease outbreak in Tamil refugee camps in northern Sri Lanka is imminent, aid agency Christian Aid said Wednesday. Conditions in refugee camps remained desperately poor and there are 30 refugees living in five-person tents, the NGO said, as the overcrowded camps struggle to contend with the influx of civilians. Robin Greenwood, director of the charity's Asia programme said the camps are "an epidemic waiting to happen."
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NYT calls for investigation of war crimes in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 May 2009, 02:09 GMT]
Supporting UN High Commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay's, call for the investigation of war-crimes of both sides to the conflict, the Sri Lanka Government and the Liberation Tigers, the New York Times, in its Wednesday editorial said, "[T]he government claims it must screen out rebels hiding in the camps. But aid workers suspect other motives, including a desire to deny access to witnesses who may have seen abuses by government forces." The editorial pointed out that the Tamils were "long oppressed by the Sinhalese majority, and added, "[m]ost [Tamils] were driven to the guerrillas as a desperation move after decades of abuse. Until the government treats all of its citizens fairly, there is no chance for the peace that President Rajapaksa has promised his country."
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Access to Sri Lanka detention camps ‘not satisfactory’ - ICRC chief

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 May 2009, 00:47 GMT]
The International Committee of the Red Cross has been barred from visiting internment camps in Sri Lanka to check on people held by the Colombo government, the head of the organisation has said. Jakob Kellenberger has asked the Sri Lankan government for access to all its camps, which are ringed by barbed wire and soldiers, to check on conditions of hundreds of thousands of Tamil civilians. He pointed out the present situation is "not satisfactory," Swissinfo reported. The ICRC, which usually refrains from publicly criticizing governments, is mandated under the Geneva Conventions to aid victims of war, Canadian Press reported.
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5 Tamil fishermen reported missing in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 May 2009, 18:52 GMT]
Five Tamil fishermen went for fishing from Oaddamaavadi in Batticaloa district have been reported missing since May 14. They left in a trawler for deep fishing in Bay of Bengal but failed to return thereafter, according to complaints lodged with the Kalkudaa Police by their relatives.
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Tamil shop burnt down in Wattala

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 May 2009, 17:23 GMT]
A shop run by Tamil person located along Kalveti Road in Wattala in Colombo district was burnt down on Monday early morning by two unidentified persons who came in a motorbike. The shop was reduced to ashes, according to complaint lodged with the Wattala Police by the owner.
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Sinhalese's extremists demonstrate against Canada

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 May 2009, 14:56 GMT]
Hundreds of Sinhalese extremists from political parties and other organizations including Buddhist monks staged a protest demonstration Wednesday in front of the Canadian Embassy in Colombo, accusing the Canadian government of supporting the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
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