NGOs consider withdrawing from Vanni as Sri Lanka tightens restrictions

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 July 2010, 16:10 GMT]
Some International and Local Non-government organizations (NGOs) serving in Vanni consider leaving Vanni as Sri Lanka government’s restrictions to stay and serve in Vanni are tightened. Permission from President’s Task Force (PTF), headed by SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s brother and Sri Lanka Minister, Basil Rajapaksa for NGOs has been a prerequisite to assist the war affected people in Vanni. In addition to this now Sri Lanka government requires the NGOs serving in Vanni to obtain permission from Sri Lanka Ministry of Defence (MoD) and renew same monthly if they wish to be in Vanni and serve its people, a representative of a local NGO in Vanni said.
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Resettled family children in Vanni abandon school to earn a living

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 July 2010, 06:20 GMT]
Most of the resettled families having lost their earning male members either killed, disappeared or detained in prison after arrest or surrender, their children are forced to drop out from school in order to earn a living for the family, an education officer in Vanni said. The number of children above fifteen in the resettled families abandoning school has shot up drastically, though most of them would like to continue schooling if only they have the means, he further said. Politicians and others who had been shouting hard for the rights of children during the war have become silent on this grave issue, Sitsabesan, a local NGO representative in Vanni said.
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SLA soldiers continue to plunder abandoned houses in Vadamaraadchi East

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 July 2010, 17:35 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers continue to plunder the valuable properties abandoned by the uprooted residents of the coastal area from Naakarkoayil to Chu’ndikku’lam in Vadmaraadchi East, a team of officials which had visited the area recently said. Only Naakarkoayil and its surroundings had been affected by war while the people and their properties in the rest of the vast area had not been greatly affected as the war did not take place in their area. These people, uprooted when SLA began to invade Naakarkoayil and Mukamaalai during the offensive on Vanni, had fled leaving all their belongings. It is this area that is now being plundered by SLA soldiers and Southern traders allowed into the area by SLA authorities, the officials further said.
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SLA forces resettled civilians in Ki’linochchi to vacate dwellings

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 July 2010, 06:12 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers occupying Ki’linochchi are forcing the resettled civilians in Selvaanakar Eight Houses Scheme to vacate their houses claiming that their houses are built on private land, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Vanni parliamentarian Sritharan said. He added that SLA soldiers entering the Scheme during nights in the last few days have been attacking the men, women and children in the housing scheme indiscriminately. The above families, whose heads are disabled, are so scared and frustrated that they consider suicide to escape SLA intimidation and harassment, Sritharan said.
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SLA to construct permanent base in demolished Koappaay Tiger Heroes’ Resting Home site

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 July 2010, 16:27 GMT]
Jaffna Sri Lanka Army (SLA) high command has requested Sri Lanka Electricity Board Jaffna to supply electricity to the site where Tiger Heroes’ Resting Home had stood in Koappaay before being obliterated by SLA recently as it intends to construct a big permanent base for its 512 Division, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, SLA, constructing several bases in Jaffna in haste, forces the uprooted civilians living in the area around the above site to evacuate their dwellings, the affected civilians complain.
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SL minister includes spouses of Balakumaran, Yogi, among widows

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 July 2010, 13:04 GMT]
According to Rajapaksa regime’s Rehabilitation and Prisons Reforms minister and Communist Party leader, Dew Gunasekera, the wives of the senior members of the LTTE, K.V. Balakumaran and Yogaratnam Yogi are among the widows needing rehabilitation, The Island reported Monday. Both the LTTE leaders were reportedly seen reaching internment camps run by the Sri Lankan military, by many who went into those camps. The international community was repeatedly telling the LTTE to surrender to Colombo and civilians to get into barbed-wire camps of the Sri Lankan Army. The Army killed Balakumaran on the Vanni east front early last year, The Island says. There were earlier media reports that the leaders were taken to Colombo.
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US landing-ship visits Trincomalee for 'community work'

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 July 2010, 09:13 GMT]
Sailors and marines from the amphibious dock landing ship USS Pearl Harbour, visiting Trincomalee last week were engaged in repairing broken bathroom sinks and toilets at the base hospital in Moothoor, said the official website of the United States Navy Thursday. Meanwhile, a Sri Lankan media reported Sunday that Sri Lanka shared her experience in fighting Sea Tigers with the US Navy during the three-day visit of the US Pearl Harbour. While some Sailors and Marines are planning to help with military-to-military training on board Pearl Harbor, others are planning on volunteering for medical assistance events ashore, The Sunday Island said.
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SLA installs Buddha statute in Tamil village in Mannaar district

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 July 2010, 15:09 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers have installed a Buddha statute in Pa’ndivirichchaan, a traditional Tamil village two km from Madu St. Mary’s Church in Madu Assistant Government Agent division in Mannaar district. Residents uprooted during SLA offensive two year back have been recently resettled in Pa’ndivirichchaan.
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Residents forced indoors as SL armed forces take control of Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 July 2010, 20:47 GMT]
The recently resettled people in Vanni were forced to remain indoors Wednesday as Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers, Special Task Force (STF) commandos, Sri Lanka police and the President’s Special Security Force soldiers took control of A9 road and the main streets in the districts of Ki’linochchi and Mullaiththeevu as a part of security measures related to the Cabinet meeting held by President Rajapakasa in Ki’linochchi Wednesday, sources in Vanni said.
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Cabinet meeting in Ki'linochchi aims to deceive Sinhala people: UNP MP

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 July 2010, 18:17 GMT]
“All should understand that the Sinhala people also have to bear the burden of foreign loans Sri Lanka has to borrow to develop the North which was destructed by Tigers,” Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa claimed in a public meeting in Ki’linochchi Wednesday after having held the Cabinet Meeting in Ira’naimadu Sri Lanka Army (SLA) head quarters in Vanni. Nearly a hundred people brought by SLA participated in the meeting held under tight security. “There is no minority in the country but all are majority in the sense that all are Sri Lankans,” Mahinda Rajapaksa further claimed. Meanwhile, Jayalath Jeyawardene, an opposition United National Party (UNP) parliamentarian said in a statement to media in Colombo Wednesday that Mahinda Rajapaksa’s cabinet meeting in Ki’linochchi was a political drama to deceive the Sinhalese in the South, condemning the Ki’linochchi cabinet meeting.
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No peace without justice, says Obama's envoy to Srebrenica

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 July 2010, 03:24 GMT]
On the 15th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide, Samantha Power, Director of Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights of the National Security Council in the Obama administration on her way to deliver message from President Obama in Srebrenica-Potocari memorial said, "as a factual matter, as a historical matter – it is very difficult to see lasting peace and stability without this kind of justice. So the more Serbia recognizes, the Bosnian government recognizes what atrocities were committed by its forces, the Croatian government grapples as well, more progress you will see and the more forward we move."
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SLA strengthens security in Ki’linochchi prior to Cabinet meeting

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 July 2010, 18:23 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has strengthened security in and around Ki’linochchi in Vanni as President Mahinda Rajapaksa has decided to hold his cabinet meeting in Ira’naimadu SLA Vanni Head Quarters Wednesday, sources in Ki’linochchi said. Traffic along A9 road has been cut down while hundreds of SLA soldiers and police personnel are posted at several points along the road. This is the first ever cabinet meeting to be held out of Colombo and an important one for President Mahinda Rajapaksa after the end of the war on Vanni, the sources added.
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Houses constructed for SLA in Vanni as resettled civilians suffer, abandoned in huts

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 July 2010, 14:38 GMT]
While the resettled civilians in Vanni suffer in makeshift huts in broiling sun Colombo government is hastily constructing semi-permanent houses for Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers near Muruka’ndi in Vanni in a Sinhalese colonization scheme consisting of 12,000 houses with facilities including hospitals, schools, post offices, sources in Vanni said. The houses are being constructed in a newly declared SLA High Security Zone, strictly out of bounds for all outsiders. Hundreds of container vehicles bring the construction material for the semi-permanent houses and heap them along A9 road. These materials are transported in SLA trucks to the construction site so as to prevent any outsider seeing the work in progress, the sources added.
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Imelda Sukumar assumes duties as Jaffna GA

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 July 2010, 13:47 GMT]
The Government Agent (GA) for Mullaiththeevu district in Vanni, Imelda Sukumar, officially assumed duties as GA Jaffna district Tuesday in place of outgoing Jaffna GA, K. Ganesh, whose term was extended after the announcement of his retirement on July 01 following alleged influence exerted by Northern Province Governor, former Major Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri and Douglas Devananda, a minister in Mahinda Rajapaksa's cabinet. Three days ago, Ms. Imelda Sukumar was again asked to assume duties as GA in Jaffna, cancelling the decision to keep Mr. Ganesh as GA in Jaffna for another six months.
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450 voluntary teachers in Vanni struggle for permanent appointment

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 July 2010, 10:11 GMT]
Four hundred and fifty volunteer teachers serving in schools in the districts of Ki'linochchi and Mullaiththeevu are still awaiting permanency in their posts even after ten years of service under trying condition, education sources said.
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Sexual abuse of resettled women in Vanni by SLA soldiers escalates

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 July 2010, 07:46 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers occupying Vanni continue to sexually abuse women among recently resettled civilians, according to complaints made to a Christian priest now living in Vanni. Meanwhile, a journalist from Tamil Nadu who returned Friday from a visit to Vanni also said that the resettled people in Vanni had told him about SLA soldiers sexually abusing women besides intruding into their privacy under the pretext of search and checking. The journalist who wishes to remain anonymous said that he will write in detail the sufferings of resettled civilians in Vanni in Tamil Nadu papers when he returns home.
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Navaali massacre of 147 Tamil civilians remembered

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 July 2010, 06:11 GMT]
Relatives of the victims and Navaali Church organization observed Friday the fifteenth death anniversary of 147 Tamil civilians including men, women and children who were killed in the indiscriminate bombing by the Sri Lanka Air Force bombers and artillery attack by the Sri Lanka Army on Navaali St Peters Church on 9 July 1998, sources in Jaffna said. Hemalatha Memorial Organization set up in remembrance of Hemalatha, a Village Officer who was killed in the bombing, was jointly engaged in observing the memorial event, the sources added.
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Rice stresses war-crimes accountability under international law

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 July 2010, 12:32 GMT]
"Governments bear the primary responsibility for protecting civilians, but other parties to armed conflict must also comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law. And all too often, they do not," said Dr Susan Rice, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, during a Security Council Debate on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict Wednesday. "Those legal obligations should have legal consequences. It’s incumbent upon the international community to end impunity—by helping governments create, maintain, and operate credible and effective national courts where possible, or by supporting international and other mechanisms where necessary. The International Criminal Court can also be useful in the fight against genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity," Rice added.
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Ki’linochchi police try to free SLA soldiers suspected of gang rape

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 July 2010, 06:06 GMT]
Ki’linochchi police informed Ki’linochchi magistrate court Thursday that they have no objection in releasing the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers detained on suspicion of gang raping a mother of two children in the resettled Visuvamadu in Vanni, legal sources in Ki’linochchi said. The suspects, earlier identified by the victim in an identification parade, had filed a petition seeking their release on bail. The lawyers appearing on behalf of the woman protested against releasing the suspects pointing out that it will give room for the suspects to intimidate the witnesses in this case, the sources added.
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CaFFE: Thousands in Ki'linochchi, Mullaiththeevu to be disenfranchised

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 July 2010, 14:41 GMT]
After a fact finding mission to the North, Campaign for Free and Faie Elections (CaFFE), an election watchdog, said that in Ki'linochchi only 16 out of the 96 Kiraama Chevakar (GS) Divisions have received voter registration forms, and in Mullaiththeevu none of the 127 divisions have been distributed with registration forms. CAFFE statement further adds that election officials have written off " 40,000+" IDPs still living in camps. Camp resident IDPs are widely believed to exceed 80,000.
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