Youths held in Jaffna SLA detention centre escape

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 April 2009, 16:49 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna said that a number of youths held in the SLA detention centre in Nelliyadi Maththiya Mahaviththiyalayam escaped Monday and Tuesday into residential areas in Vadamarraadchi. SLA is engaged in announcing over loudspeakers fitted to vehicles instructing the escapees to surrender, informing that the escapees would be granted general amnesty, since Monday in Vadamaraadchi, sources in Jaffna said.
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SLA arrests 98 youths in Vavuniyaa detention centre

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 April 2009, 04:01 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) intelligence unit officers arrested and took away Tuesday 98 youths among the civilians from Vanni held in SLA Ne'lukku'lam detention centre in Vavuniyaa despite the strong protest of the detainees numbering more than 3,000, sources in Vavuniyaa said. The enraged detainees attacked the government and other offices and employees in the centre, the sources added. The SLA officer-in-charge of the detention centre said that he has no information of the 98 youths taken away, the sources further said.
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'Explicit international deceit on Tamils'

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 April 2009, 20:03 GMT]
“What is the limit of IC’s appeasement with Colombo and what is the limit of IC in cheating Tamils,” asks Sri Navaratnam, on the 8th day of his hunger strike in Oslo, furious at the news of Colombo’s all out attack on Tamil civilians Monday night. “To facilitate the international community to deceive Tamils, Sri Lanka’s president Mahinda Rajapaksa on Monday announced the halt of the use of heavy weapons in the safety zone of more than 165,000 civilians. Everybody welcomed it as though killing the civilians by small weapons is acceptable. It was a joke, the UN begging ‘Sri Lanka must respect heavy weapons pledge’, as though they are prepared to act if Sri Lanka breaches it. Colombo, which was already aerial bombing the civilians started with intense barrage of heavy weapons Monday night”, he cited.
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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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Outrageous response of UN to humanitarian crisis: Diaspora scientist

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 April 2009, 14:33 GMT]
Children as young as 12 are forcefully recruited and given with guns to fight on the front line alongside LTTE, Guardian.co.uk reported Saturday, 9.49 GMT, citing Gordon Weiss, UN spokesman in Sri Lanka. “Whom are they guarding”, Tamil circles asked. “It is outrageous that the UN which has no means to stop Colombo’s genocide or immediately take responsibility of the captured and even reluctant to talk about the high casualty but only ‘leaks out’ figures, to raise this matter at this juncture in an imbalanced way, when Colombo is bombarding the remaining civilians in the so-called safety zone”, said Thomas Aloysius, senior scientist in Bergan, Norway. “If what the UN official says is true, it is deplorable, but aren’t they too responsible for the tragedy by their inaction in prevailing upon Colombo to stop the war. The LTTE always ask for ceasefire”, he asked.
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Rajapaksa appoints notorious commander to head IDP resettlement

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 April 2009, 17:32 GMT]
Sri Lankan President and C-in-C of the armed forces Mahinda Rajapaksa on Friday appointed Chief-of-Staff of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Maj. Gen. G.A. Chandrasiri as the Competent Authority Officer in charge of resettlement of Tamils from Vanni in alleged barbed-wire 'internment camps' and 'villages' in the North. Maj. Gen. Chandrasiri was the former chief of the SLA in Jaffna, under whose command Jaffna witnessed hundreds of forced disappearances, extra-judicial killings and other human rights violations in the period from 2006 to 2008. Meanwhile, Colombo has started to seek funds to 'resettle' and 'rehabilitate' civilians who have been captured from the LTTE controlled area.
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Yaazhtheavi extension to Thaa'ndikku'lam cancelled last minute

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 April 2009, 11:45 GMT]
The extension of Yaazhtheavi express train from Vavuniyaa to Thaa'ndikku'lam with effect from Thursday was cancelled last minute due to security reasons. Sri Lanka Railways inaugural event was arranged by the Transport Minister Mr. Dallas Alahaperuma. Thaandikku'lam is located about 3 km north of Vavuniyaa. Yaazhtheavi currently runs between Colombo and Vavuniyaa.
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'Bountiful in killing shells, but no means for food packets'

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 April 2009, 00:37 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) which was able to fire thousands of shells per day into the so-called safety zone to capture the civilians, doesn't have enough means to feed them when they are captured, said a District Secretariat official in Vavuniyaa. The SLA, which is still keeping the civilians inside the militarized zone, north of Oamanthai, for its screening, has asked the Tamil people of Vavuniyaa through loudspeaker announcements, to donate cooked-food packets to supply the captured civilians, the official speaking in condition of anonymity told TamilNet Thursday. So far, no civil official is able to confirm the arrival of the new batch of civilians into the internment camps of Vavuniyaa town this week.
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3 youths reported missing in Vavuniyaa, Mannaar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 April 2009, 15:45 GMT]
One Tamil youth was abducted in Vavuniyaa, and two Tamil youths were reported missing in Mannaar since last Tuesday in two separate incidents, according to complaints lodged by their relatives in respective police station.
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Colombo blocks WFP supply ship scheduled to reach Vanni Tuesday

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 April 2009, 17:29 GMT]
Sri Lankan authorities have put off the departure of a ship with WFP supplies scheduled to reach Vanni on Tuesday despite the local civil officials in Vanni indicated the coordinates for the new landing point, Vavuniyaa District Secretariat officials told TamilNet Tuesday evening. Starvation-stricken civilians have long been waiting for humanitarian supplies to arrive and the officials urged the WFP to impress upon the government of Sri Lanka not to delay the humanitarian supply ship, the sources further said.
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Contradicting figures raise fears of disappearances

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 April 2009, 15:05 GMT]
While the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) claimed Monday that 30,000 civilians had reached territory under its control from the so-called safety zone, civil officials in Vavuniyaa and in Jaffna reported Tuesday that only 8,500 have arrived in the districts. However, SLA officers in Jaffna gave contradicting figures ranging between 5,000 and 12,000 in the custody of the army in Vanni, waiting to be evacuated. Meanwhile, over 1,000 civilian casualties were reported from reliable sources in Vanni Monday. In addition a large number of injured were also in the custody of the SLA. Unconfirmed reports put the casualty figure much higher. It seems at least one in ten suffered either death or injury in the SLA's operation to capture the civilians on Monday.
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Armed men shoot dead medical specialist in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 April 2009, 07:51 GMT]
Unidentified armed persons waylaid a medical specialist of Vavuniyaa general hospital and shot at him Monday night around 7:00 p.m. when he was returning after attending patients in a private medical institution at Theakkuwathai in Vavuniyaa police division. He was rushed to the Vavuniyaa general hospital in a critical condition, but succumbed to injuries on admission to the hospital, police sources said.
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SLA shoots dead 3 Tamil youths in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 April 2009, 21:56 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army Sunday morning in a cordon and search operation shot and killed three Tamil youths at Thevarku'lam area in Vavuniyaa police division. Their bodies with gunshot wounds on heads and chests were handed over to the Vavuniyaa general hospital Sunday evening, police said.
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Armed gangs terrorize Pa'ndaarikku'lam villagers, in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 April 2009, 18:23 GMT]
Residents of Pa’ndaarikku’lam in Vavuniyaa police division live in fear due to continuous housebreaks and thefts by unidentified armed gangs during nights, sources in Vavuniyaa said. Police have failed to arrest suspects even after several complaints lodged by affected residents, allege residents of Pa’ndaarikku’lam.
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LTTE welcomes US initiative, asks Sri Lanka to listen to IC

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 April 2009, 07:35 GMT]
The LTTE on Monday, in a significant statement, recognized and welcomed a refreshing attitude in US, different from the other countries. It pleaded the Sri Lanka government to listen to international opinion, to stop the war and enter into negotiations. But at the same time it warned Colombo of dire consequences if the war is continued. "The LTTE and the fight for our freedom will also continue. The methods may vary but Sri Lanka will never be able to live in peace as it imagines a military victory will bring. However, for the record, the LTTE would like to emphasize again that it is always ready to explore peaceful means to resolve the conflict”, the LTTE statement issued from the political headquarters in Vanni, read.
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Transport of goods through A9 route to Jaffna falters

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 April 2009, 16:03 GMT]
The transport of goods to Jaffna through the newly opened A9 route had only been possible three times, in 56 lorries, since the launch of this procedure amidst much government publicity last month, sources in Jaffna said. The Defence Ministry does not permit the transport through A9 route because of the security risk of the goods and personnel involved, Jaffna Traders’ Union (JTU) sources said. The sources further expressed concern that the goods they wanted to bring from Colombo to Jaffna in lorries had first to be handed over to the SLA controlled Government Stores in Welisara where they have been delayed for weeks.
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'Regular rapes, killings, degrading interrogations in internment camps'

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 April 2009, 13:25 GMT]
Tamil IDPs inside the barbed-wire internment camps in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) controlled Vavuniyaa are not only medically underserved, but are subjected to degrading interrogations and there are reports of regular rapes and killings, reveals a well known German writer and Human Rights activist, Thomas Seibert, who recently returned from Sri Lanka after a humanitarian trip, conducting personal interviews that described the plight of civilians kept as near-prisoners under the SLA occupation.
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SLA alleged of forcing fleeing Tamils to strip and walk naked

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 April 2009, 14:47 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) personnel at the check posts in Jaffna, Vavuniyaa and elsewhere in Vanni subject both men and women coming from Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) held areas into SLA controlled areas to naked body checking before entering the check post, according to information given by the women held in the SLA detention centres to women representatives of Non-governmental Organizations in Jaffna. Though there are women SLA personnel at the check posts the women, irrespective of their age, have to undress at a distance from the check posts and walk naked to the check post where they are subjected to body check, the NGO representatives who visited the SLA detention centre in Jaffna said.
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Only 40 civilians reach SLA territory during 48 hour announcement by Rajapaksa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 April 2009, 13:32 GMT]
As a few hours remained of Colombo's announcement of restricting military operations for 48 hours, sources in Jaffna and Vavuniyaa reported that only 40 civilians were registered as having arrived in SLA controlled territory from the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) held area. 26 civilians arrived in boats to Point Pedro Munai in Vadamaraadchi while 14 civilians had reached Vavuniyaa by land during the said period.
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