Mutur Tamils appeal to Kofi Annan

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 December 2001, 11:27 GMT]
Hundreds of Tamils in Mutur east in the southern part of the Trincomalee district demonstrated Monday demanding that the Sri Lanka army and Navy should stop bombarding their villages immediately. More than thirty thousand Tamils live in about forty villages in Mutur east. ìWe are unable to fish in the sea because Sri Lanka Navy gunboats attack us. We are unable to cultivate our rice fields because the SLA indiscriminately fires artillery on us day and night. Our children do not go to schools due to traumatic experiences caused by the loss of lives in their familiesî, states the memorandum sent to the Secretary General of the United Nations by the Tamils of Mutur east.

The memorandum was sent through the Consortium of the Non-Governmental Organizations in Trincomalee south Monday after the demonstration Monday morning to observe the World Human Rights Day.

"We are unable to move out of our dwellings after dark to get medical assistance to the needy. The basic human rights of our people are violated blatantly by the state armed forces and the government authorities," the memorandum states.

Hundreds of people from Sampur, Chenaiyoor, Pattalipuram and several interior villages assembled at Kadatkarachcenai in Mutur east Monday morning around 10 to observe the World Human Rights Day.

They then went in a procession demonstrating against human rights violations perpetrated on them by the Sri Lankan government and its armed forces. The demonstrators marched for about 2 kilometres from Kadatkaraichchenai to Navaladichenai.