5000 Vanni IDPs from internment camps moved to Anuradhapura

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 July 2009, 13:23 GMT]
The Sri Lankan military has relocated nearly 5000 Tamil civilians from Vavuniyaa and Cheddiku'lam internment camps and resetteld them in pre dominant Sinhala village Tharmapuram in Anuradhapu on Tuesday and Wednesday, civil sources said. The SL military officials had told the Tamil civilians that they would be re-settled in their native villages in Ki'linochchi or Mullaiththeevu within 14 days, but the Rajapaksa government, at an all party meeting in Colombo on Thursday, said that it needed time to clear the mines before any resettlement.
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Horrors on women in Sri Lanka's internment camps - Egeland

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 June 2009, 10:59 GMT]
Jan Egeland, the former UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tuesday told the press that "Sri Lanka is one of the latest examples of the World community letting a government get away with denying access for the international community of witnesses, of humanitarian relief and protection for civilians," adding that world governments failed what they swore in 2005 of the "responsibility to protect," and that "for Tamil women" there were a "number of horrors." Egeland's comment contrasts with the stand of his successor John Holmes who earlier commended the Sri Lanka's treatment of the 300,000 civilians currently being held in internment camps in Vavuniyaa.
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Vanni civilians held back in Ki’linochchi in thousands

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 May 2009, 10:04 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) continues to detain thousands of civilians in its internment camps in Ki’linochchi without sending them on to the camps in Vavuniyaa, sources in Vavuniyaa said. SLA, in its final assault on Mu’l’livaaikkaal, has herded thousands of persons including non-combatants who had been working in the political and judicial wings of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, in vast overcrowded camps which lack basic facilities, the sources added.
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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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'One-man hunt excuse to nullify a national question'

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 May 2009, 08:04 GMT]
Contrary to what is said outside, the real focus of the UN Security Council deliberations is not on the plight of the Tamil civilians, but using their plight as a shield and by manipulating it, the thrust is actually for the hunt or deposition of LTTE leader V. Pirapaharan, in order to blunt the Tamil struggle, news reports hinted Thursday. Inner City Press quoted a senior advisor of Ban Ki-moon saying that the UN Secretariat’s hope was to arrange amnesty to the remaining LTTE cadres in the conflict zone, except Mr. Pirapaharan. When asked about his son, the advisor said, “That’s what negotiations are for”. While Colombo’s ambassador at UN said the matter is being considered, according to the UN advisor cited above, the Three Brothers have shown little interest as they feel they are about to win. Tamil circles smell Indian hand in such a line of deliberations.
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SLA suspends locating Vanni civilians in Vavuniyaa, Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 April 2009, 17:03 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) key officials informed Jaffna Secretariat that the possibility of bringing civilians from Vanni to Jafnna peninsula for detention appears limited, Jaffna Secretariat (JS) sources said. Action is being taken to detain Vanni civilians instead in the SLA occupied areas like Ki’linochchi, Ka’ndaava’lai and other indentified places constructing big concentration villages, sources in Jaffna said. JS officials, recently taken by SLA to gather particulars of the civilians from Vanni held without being sent either to Vavuniyaa or Jaffna peninsula, refuse to reveal the information for security reasons.
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Thousands of Vanni civilians held in Oamanthai, Ki’linochchi district

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 April 2009, 11:30 GMT]
Thousands of families from Vanni are being held in Ka’ndaava’lai and Ki’linochchi areas, Jaffna Secretariat officials taken to these areas by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) said. The officials who went there to collect details of the civilians from Vanni further said that no decision has yet been taken as to where these civilians will be sent to. Meanwhile, more than 75,000 civilians from Vanni on the way to Vavuniyaa are held back around Oamanthai SLA entry point to Vavuniyaa, NGO sources in Vavuniyaa said.
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SLA fire hampers ICRC evacuation of seriously wounded civilians from Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 April 2009, 10:17 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) started cannon fire from Manthuvil in Puthukkudiyiruppu across Nanthikkadal lagoon towards the coastal stretch of Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal Wednesday afternoon as local ICRC workers were providing coordinates to the ICRC ship to come close to the shore to transport the severely wounded from the makeshift hospital, according to latest reports from the medical sources in Vanni.
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UN and IC signal civilian carnage

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 April 2009, 19:14 GMT]
The observation of UN official Holmes, that a ceasefire is not possible and the LTTE is preventing the civilians from leaving, followed by the chorus of British and French foreign ministers coming out with the same accusation on the LTTE in strong words, signal UN and IC assenting to a civilian carnage in the so-called safety zone, political observers in Colombo said. They also cited Rajapaksa’s visit to Ki’linochchi and unconfirmed reports on the withdrawal of even pro-government media from the battlefront as final preparations for Colombo’s onslaught.
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Onslaught of civilians continues, more than 57 killed, 300 wounded Thursday

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 April 2009, 17:36 GMT]
While Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa visited Ki'linochchi to boost the morale of his forces, shelling and cannon fire by his troops in Mullaiththeevu district killed more than 57 civilians within the so-called safety zone on Thursday, according to TamilNet correspondent in Vanni. Nearly 1,500 shell explosions were registered by the correspondent as fired by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on Thursday and around 600 of them hit the safety zone while about 150 cannon shots hit the coastline.
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Identify with suffering civilians, share their grief – Bishop's Easter Message

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 April 2009, 12:18 GMT]
Rt. Rev. Thomas Saundaranayagam, Jaffna Bishop, in his Easter message appealed to the people in Jaffna district to identify themselves with the civilians held in the detention camps, sharing their grief and sufferings, and to be frugal in their daily lives, sources in Jaffna said. Sixteen Catholic parishes in Mullaiththeevu have been forced to close down due to the artillery fire and aerial bombings by the Sri Lanka military, driving members of the parishes into the ‘safe zone’ announced by the government within the LTTE administered area where they continue to spend their lives in the bunkers, Catholic Guardian current issue said.
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Mullaiththeevu wounded die due to lack of antibiotics

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 April 2009, 13:40 GMT]
Regional Medical Services Divisions (RMSD) for Mullaiththeevu and Kilinochchi received only 5% of the total allocation of monthly needs of medical supplies for the first three months in 2009, a report from Mullaiththeevu health officials received via Vavuniyaa District Secretariat said. Blood transfusion bags have been depleted and at least one death occurs daily due to the inability for blood transfusion, the report added. Several badly wounded civilians die without antibiotic treatment, health officials document in the report released.
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Apply adequate pressure on Colombo for ceasefire and negotiations: LTTE

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 March 2009, 01:09 GMT]
The LTTE is not a movement believing that war is the only means to achieve the aspirations of the people it represents. But, political solution needs an environment conducive to it. The IC can play a positive role by adequately pressurizing Colombo for ceasefire and by promoting negotiations between GoSL and the LTTE as equal partners with due recognition, said Selvaraja Pathmanathan, the LTTE plenipotentiary for international relations, in an interview to TamilNet on Monday. On the issue of civilians, Mr. Pathmanathan said they have already asked the IC, what international instruments now hold GoSL accountable for the denial of basic rights of the people already moved and presently living in the internment camps.
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Civil war generation documents life amidst death in Vanni

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 March 2009, 04:49 GMT]
The Odour of Death: An Account of People Devoured by War, a collection of narratives and features of personal experience expressed in the form of short stories by 1983-born T. Agiilan, is a significant example of creative writing coming from first hand impressions of a generation of Eezham Tamils that has seen nothing but war ever since birth. Another importance of the book is its documentation of war-torn Vanni of pre 2002 era from the perspectives of a person of that land.
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Maddakka'lappu / Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 March 2009, 12:10 GMT]
The muddy lagoon / backwaters
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Wounded CARE aid worker dies due to lack of medicine in 'safety zone'

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 March 2009, 05:20 GMT]
A 24-year-old humanitarian worker of the CARE International has succumbed to his injuries caused by a shell attack inside the no-fire zone (safety zone) in Mullaiththeevu, said Nick Osborne, Country Director for CARE International in Sri Lanka on Wednesday. The victims leg had to be amputated following the injury, and he died on Tuesday lacking necessary medical treatment.
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Allow ICRC to transport medicines, RDHS urge Sri Lankan Health Ministry

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 March 2009, 10:40 GMT]
Regional Directors of Health Services for Ki'linochchi and Mullaiththeevu districts, Dr. T. Varatharajah and Dr. T. Saththiyamoorthy, Monday jointly urged the Sri Lankan Ministry of Health to supply medicines intended for the civilians in Vanni at least in the next ICRC shipment. Only 5% of the combined quota of medicine and dressings meant for the last quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of this year was earlier transported by the ICRC. "We were shocked and felt very sad when we were informed by the ICRC that no medicines have been handed over by the ministry officials to be taken in the ship," the doctors said. "Many deaths could have been prevented if basic infrastructure facilities and essential medicines were made available."
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50,000 families affected by floods in 'safe zone'

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 March 2009, 13:07 GMT]
Health officials in Vanni said Wednesday that civilians inside the 'safe zone', urgently need at least 50,000 temporary shelters and temporary toilets as they live under worn out tarpaulin tents. There is a severe shortage of food and medicines. Scarcity of drinking water and sanitation facilities add to the woes of the people, health officials said. The makeshift hospital in Puthumaaththa'lan was struggling to accommodate patients under its roof. Many patients were earlier staying outside the building. The ICRC ship, which uses to transport the seriously wounded did not come due to the bad weather conditions, the officials further said.
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Relief supplies reach Jaffna through A9 road

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 March 2009, 21:47 GMT]
Despite announcement made by Commissioner of Essential Services that relief supplies to Jaffna would be sent from Vavuniyaa in 40 lorries only 22 of them arrived in Jaffna Tuesday around 7:30 p.m at Naavatku’li Government Stores, sources in Jaffna said. Jaffna Government Agent (GA) and other key government officers in Jaffna, on directives by the government, had waited at Naavatku’li to receive the convoy of lorries that were bringing goods along A9 land route for the first time after a long period, but had to cancel their program and get back to Jaffna as the lorries were late in arriving at their destination, sources in Jaffna said.
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IDPs threatened by malnutrition - RDHS

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 March 2009, 19:07 GMT]
Dr. Santhiyamoorthy, the Regional Director of Health Services (RDHS) for Ki'linochchi district on Saturday people do not have vegetables or fruits to eat and severe malnutrition is going to be the result if they are not provided with nutritious food. He also said 50% of the children admitted at the hospital were coming with the history of watery diarrhoea which could have been caused by the food pattern.
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