Muttur Tamils protest against SLA embargo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 May 2005, 16:58 GMT]
About five thousand Tamil civilians Wednesday held a protest march from Poonagar in the LTTE controlled Eachchilampathu division in the Muttur area to the Mahindapura Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camp demanding the removal of ban on the transportation of cement, building materials, petrol and diesel urgently needed for tsunami reconstruction work and agricultural purposes, sources said.

Protestors shouted slogans and carried placards stating, "Benefit of 3-year ceasefire is embargo", "We will fight till the embargo is removed."

Eachchilampathu Divisional Secretary and members of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) were at the Mahindapura Army Camp when protestors arrived at the site.

Representatives of the protestors handed over memoranda to the SLMM and Divisional Secretary. Civil group leaders also handed over a memorandum to the Mahindapura SLA camp officer demanding the withdrawal of the embargo.

The SLA officer told civil leaders that he would give a reply within fourteen days after contacting his superiors, sources said.

The SLA imposed a ban on cement, building materials and fuel through their checkpoints in Kaddaiparichchan and Mahindapura to the LTTE controlled areas in the Trincomalee district from the latter part of April.

All tsunami rehabilitation and reconstruction work in the coastal villages in the LTTE controlled areas have come to standstill due to the ban, civil sources said.