Catholic priest reported missing, another dies of heart attack, in Vanni

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 May 2009, 16:42 GMT]
Former principal of St. Patrick’s College, Jaffna, Rev. Fr. Francis Joseph, aged seventy, who had been serving in Vanni with six other priests in Puthumaaththa’lan is reported missing, according to the request made to ICRC by Jaffna Bishop House to find his whereabouts, Thursday. Meanwhile, one of the six priests, Rev. Fr. Mariampillai Thatheus Sarathjeevan, 41, died of heart attack while leaving Vanni with the last badge of civilians fleeing Vanni, Jaffna Bishop House sources said.
Full story >>

'Epidemic waiting to happen' in detention camps

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 May 2009, 12:04 GMT]
A disease outbreak in Tamil refugee camps in northern Sri Lanka is imminent, aid agency Christian Aid said Wednesday. Conditions in refugee camps remained desperately poor and there are 30 refugees living in five-person tents, the NGO said, as the overcrowded camps struggle to contend with the influx of civilians. Robin Greenwood, director of the charity's Asia programme said the camps are "an epidemic waiting to happen."
Full story >>

NYT calls for investigation of war crimes in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 May 2009, 02:09 GMT]
Supporting UN High Commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay's, call for the investigation of war-crimes of both sides to the conflict, the Sri Lanka Government and the Liberation Tigers, the New York Times, in its Wednesday editorial said, "[T]he government claims it must screen out rebels hiding in the camps. But aid workers suspect other motives, including a desire to deny access to witnesses who may have seen abuses by government forces." The editorial pointed out that the Tamils were "long oppressed by the Sinhalese majority, and added, "[m]ost [Tamils] were driven to the guerrillas as a desperation move after decades of abuse. Until the government treats all of its citizens fairly, there is no chance for the peace that President Rajapaksa has promised his country."
Full story >>

Access to Sri Lanka detention camps ‘not satisfactory’ - ICRC chief

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 May 2009, 00:47 GMT]
The International Committee of the Red Cross has been barred from visiting internment camps in Sri Lanka to check on people held by the Colombo government, the head of the organisation has said. Jakob Kellenberger has asked the Sri Lankan government for access to all its camps, which are ringed by barbed wire and soldiers, to check on conditions of hundreds of thousands of Tamil civilians. He pointed out the present situation is "not satisfactory," Swissinfo reported. The ICRC, which usually refrains from publicly criticizing governments, is mandated under the Geneva Conventions to aid victims of war, Canadian Press reported.
Full story >>

SLA seeks help to trace Liberation Tigers in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 May 2009, 03:48 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Jaffna have sought the help of civil society organization representatives and government officers to trace the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) combatants who had infiltrated along with the civilians fleeing war from Vanni, sources in Jaffna said. No one has surrendered themselves to the SLA despite the 48 hour grace period given to the LTTE combatants, the sources added.
Full story >>

UN becomes battleground for maritime Great Game - paper

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 May 2009, 00:26 GMT]
"The strange line-up of the member countries of the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) for or against Sri Lanka at the special session of the body scheduled to take place in Geneva on Tuesday underscores the maritime Great Game unfolding in the Indian Ocean," says former Pakistani diplomat in the Tuesday edition of Deccan Herald, referring to the support by India, China, Russia, and Pakistan among others to a self-congratulatory resolution put forward by the Sri Lanka Government, and the competing resolution advanced by the Swiss Government.
Full story >>

Tamil civilian reported missing in Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 May 2009, 09:34 GMT]
A Tamil civilian residing in Kottawa in Colombo has gone missing since 19 May according to the complaint lodged with the police by his sister.
Full story >>

Sri Lanka blocks TNA from meeting Ban Ki Moon

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 May 2009, 11:36 GMT]
R. Sampanthan, parliamentary group leader of Tamil National Alliance (TNA), in a press release issued today, said that after the Sri Lanka Foreign Ministry had made arrangements for a TNA delegation to meet UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon prior to his departure at the VVIP Lounge of the Bandaranaike International Airport, the Defense Ministry of Sri Lanka refused the delegation entry into the BIA Airport, denying the Tamil representatives from meeting the UN Secretary General. Meanwhile, Ranil Wickremasinghe, leader of Sri Lanka’s main opposition United National Party (UNP), met with the Ban Ki Moon at the Airport.
Full story >>

Sri Lanka’s camps ‘most appalling’ in the world – Ban Ki-Moon

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 May 2009, 10:53 GMT]
"I have traveled around the world and visited similar places, but this is by far the most appalling scenes I have seen," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told CNN after visiting Manik Farm, the most presentable of Sri Lanka’s squalid and dangerous internment camps for Tamils civilians. "I sympathize fully with all of the displaced persons," Mr. Ban said Saturday. The UN Chief has also promised international action regarding the heavy shelling of civilian populations during the recent fighting.
Full story >>

Tamils in Malaysia demand justice for Sri Lanka’s genocide

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 May 2009, 10:50 GMT]
Over 5,000 Tamil Malaysians gathered at one of the country's iconic Hindu temples Sunday to protest acts of 'genocide' against Tamils in Sri Lanka, AFP reported. The demonstration by one of the world's largest Tamil communities outside India and Sri Lanka, followed Colombo's declaration of victory over the Liberation Tigers last Monday, following an offensive in which thousands of Tamil civilians were slaughtered by what the United States has described as indiscriminate shelling of ‘safety zones’. Federal Territories deputy minister M. Saravanan, who attended, along with Tamil opposition leaders, said Malaysia should not support a Sri Lankan-sponsored UNHRC resolution.
Full story >>

Ban Ki Moon stresses freedom of movement, resettlement of IDPs

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 May 2009, 11:09 GMT]
United Nation Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, while visiting the largest internment camp in Vavuniyaa, Manik Farm, Saturday for three hours from 9:15 a.m., stressed the need for freedom of movement and immediate resettlement of the more than 300,000 Tamils held in camps. The IDPs also told Ban Ki Moon that they would want the U.N. to take full responsibility for the welfare of the refugees, sources accompanying Moon on his visit said. "The UN has failed in several measures in preventing egregious human rights violations by Sri Lanka against unarmed civilian Tamils during the last several months, and this is the last opportunity to take bold action to repair the damage to UN's reputation. UN should shed its rhetoric on sovereignty and assume full responsibility for the Tamil people," an aid worker told TamilNet after Moon's visit.
Full story >>

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.
Full story >>

5 Tamils arrested in Kalutara

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 May 2009, 20:51 GMT]
Five Tamil civilians were arrested in a cordon and search operation conducted by the Sri Lanka Army and police in Arapalakanda Estate in Kalutara police division Wednesday early morning for about three hours. Police said they are detained in the police station for further inquiry as they failed to establish their identity and justify their presence in the location.
Full story >>

300,000 Tamils held in Nazi-style concentration camps, says Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 May 2009, 12:30 GMT]
"These Nazi-style concentration camps that the Government of Sri Lanka is now forcibly imposing on at least 300,000 completely innocent Tamil civilians constitute acts of genocide within the meaning of Article II(c) of the 1948 Genocide Convention, to which Sri Lanka is a contracting party," Professor Boyle who is an expert international law and teaches at the University of Illinois College of Law said.
Full story >>

South Africa calls for investigations into violations of Geneva Conventions

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 May 2009, 10:41 GMT]
Noting that "[t]he military offensive conducted by the Sri Lankan government has exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in the north of the country and resulted in the deaths of thousands of civilians and the displacement of many hundreds of thousands of citizens," South Africa's Deputy Foreign Minister Ehrahim Ebrahim in a press release issued today, urged the UN to "to urgently investigate possible violations of international human rights law and contraventions of the Geneva Convention," and called for "peaceful dialogue with all minorities to address their long standing grievances."
Full story >>

ICRC suspends operations, UN calls for access

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 May 2009, 10:02 GMT]
International aid agencies have called for greater access to the camps in which hundreds of thousands of Tamil civilians are being held, even as the Sri Lankan government’s restrictions led to the ICRC suspending its operations. The UN and ICRC have expressed concern about the fate of people newly arriving at the camps, which are already over-stretched and over-crowded.
Full story >>

Blake leaves Sri Lanka pondering war crimes

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 May 2009, 10:00 GMT]
Calling for increased access so the international community could make a decision on war crimes, the outgoing US Ambassador to Sri Lanka gave a final press conference on Wednesday before his departure from the country.
Full story >>

Boycott Sri Lanka – Times newspaper

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 May 2009, 09:58 GMT]
“We should boycott the callous Sri Lanka regime,” says the Time South Asia correspondent in an opinion in the newspaper today. Asking whether British shoppers and holidaymakers should “continue to support Sri Lanka's garment and tourist industries?” Jeremy Page answers: “Sadly, the answer must be no.”
Full story >>

Sinhala hoodlums harass Tamil civilians in the name of victory celebration

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 May 2009, 09:04 GMT]
Gangs of Sinhala youths holding Lion flags in hands in the name of victory against LTTE have been on the rampage, day and night, intimidating and harassing Tamil civilians in Colombo and its suburbs for the fourth day. Affected Tamil residents have complained to their respective police station. But the police have failed to take action to stop the harassment, civil sources lament.
Full story >>

Tamil civilian arrested in Kandy

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 May 2009, 06:08 GMT]
Terrorist Intelligence Unit of the Kandy police arrested a Tamil civilian in Senkadagala area Monday on a report that he had arranged accommodation for LTTE cadres to stay in Kandy area. Police sources said they took the man into custody on a statement made by LTTE suicide cadre arrested earlier and detained.
Full story >>