300,000 civilians face hunger, Colombo, abettors re-enact African scene in South Asia
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 January 2009]
Ref:  http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=28166

Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has instructed UN and World Food Programme officials to keep away from 'safety zone,' which has been subjected to continuous inhuman artillery barrage, denying civilians any meaningful space of refuge, said the latest reports from the offices of the Regional Director of Health Services (RDHS) for Ki'linochchi and Mullaiththeevu. 300,000 Tamils are denied of even drinking water and are facing hunger, the reports say. "Completely given up by the International Community, the civilians are left to face the fate at the hands of their genocidal killers. Indications are that they would rather choose to die starving rather than getting caught by Colombo's army of predators," said a medical staff at Udaiyaarkaddu hospital.

"These are people who have maternal attachment to their land and freedom."

"If the abettors of Colombo's war, India and especially the Co-chairs, do not change their attitude, these people would face hunger and death. The situation is worse than what the world has witnessed in Congo and other countries in the Africa," he said.

"They think people would walk into the hands of the SLA as they were forced to do in Champoor and Vaakarai, but they fail to grasp the reality."

Humanitarian catastrophe worsens, as drinking water supply has been severely restricted.

In the meantime, pitched fighting was reported between the SLA and the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) in several fronts.




International Community urged to act on humanitarian grounds to safeguard
civilians
TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 January 2009, 12:45 GMT
Ref:  http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=28084

The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has cornered civilians in overcrowded areas in
the suburbs of Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK) town, according to sources in
Vanni. While artillery shells exploding in densely populated makeshift
settlements have caused several civilian casualties, civilians are fleeing
from indiscriminate bombardment from air and ground are forced to seek
shelters throughout the day, civil sources from Vanni said. Internal
Displaced Peoples' [IDP] representatives express fear that those who fall
into the hands of SLA units are likely to be forcibly transported under
close military supervision to detention centre style camps at locations
isolated from mainstream communities, as evidenced in Mannaar and in areas
north of the recently SLA-occupied Elephant Pass.

There is no international presence of rights groups or NGOs. Unconfirmed
reports said the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence had instructed the ICRC to
relocate from PTK, causing panic among the civilians in the town recently.

Following recent aerial bombing of the Vaddakachchi and Murasumoddai
areas, many fearing capture and torture by the advancing SLA forces had
fled into the jungles. A group of around 100 such refugees were captured
and transferred by the military with no legal processing to an isolated
location in Va'n'naamoaddai along the A14 between Mannaar and
Mathavaachchi.

According to local authorities, hundreds of residents have been forcibly
moved from Vadamaaraachchi East and areas around the A9 to Mirusuvil High
Security zone away from legal scrutiny with only limited access to
Chavakachcheari District Secretariat Officers.

Whilst some of the displaced have been handed over to local Police and
processed by the judiciary, increasing numbers of local villagers are
being evicted from their homes, as the SLA embarks on a ground clearing
mission and are being moved to hastily set up military detention centres,
without any judicial protection nor ICRC supervision.

Many of these locations including the heavily bombed and damaged Mirusuvil
Church are considered inadequate facilities for the rising numbers with
severe congestion and lack of adequate sanitation.

Local DS authorities have been struggling to cope with provision of food
for the escalating numbers.

Despite repeated letters from TNA Parliamentarian for the Vanni District
Sivasakthy Anandan to SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa and calls by New York
based 'Human Rights Watch', the nearly 400 residents of the "welfare
centre" (a detention camp) in Ka'limoaddai in Naanaaddaan, Mannaar are
still living under severe hardship and restrictions on freedom of
movement, isolated from surrounding communities for over 11 months.

Brad Adams, Asia Director for 'Human Rights Watch' reports that "Since
March 2008, all Tamil civilians fleeing the Vanni, as well as Tamil
refugees returning from India by boat, have been detained on the
assumption that they are a security threat. Approximately 1,000 civilians
are being indefinitely detained under military guard at 'welfare centers'
in Mannar and Vavuniya districts. The government's policy violates the
basic rights of displaced persons. Conditions in the camps are
sub-standard, with inadequate shelter, a lack of sanitation facilities,
and limited humanitarian assistance".

"The government's 'welfare centers' for civilians fleeing the Vanni are
just badly disguised prisons," said Adams. "To add insult to injury,
people who manage to flee the fighting end up being held indefinitely in
army-run prison camps."

Reports from Kodikamam and Point Pedro reveal that SLA is establishing
several new detention centres. The local judiciary is concerned that
detainees could face long term incarceration and denial of their
fundamental rights under Article II of the Geneva Convention.

Tamil parliamentarians, judiciary and doctors on the ground have
repeatedly raised serious concerns for the failure of adherence to the
above article relating to the 'Protection of Victims of Non-International
Armed Conflicts (Protocol II) Adopted on 8 June 1977 by the Diplomatic
Conference on the Reaffirmation and Development of International
Humanitarian Law applicable in Armed Conflicts'.

The ICRC has 'a permanent mandate founded in international law, a
worldwide mission to help victims of conflicts and internal violence,
whoever they are'. The ICRC's role 'to provide protection and assistance
to victims of conflict,' are mandated by the international community of
States and are founded on international law, specifically the Geneva
Conventions, which are among the most widely ratified treaties in the
world'.

In the absence of international monitors and aid organisations in Sri
Lanka's conflict areas, the International Community should have
pressurised Colombo to allow ICRC to fulfill its mandate by ensuring that
the innocent victims of its armed conflict at least have the protection
and basic human rights afforded to them through the Geneva convention.

The Co-chairs (USA, European Union, Norway and Japan), who formally
"represent" the International Community in the Sri Lankan "Process" have
been lulled into complacency and indifference by the carefully planned and
executed window dressing of the Sri Lankan government and it's military
establishment, said a TNA Parliamentarian disappointed with no open
statement from the IC and the Co-Chairs group.

"There are many civilians who have chosen to flee towards LTTE held areas.
They had several opportunities to stay behind, but they didn't choose the
option," S. Gajendran said.

"We have now witnessed a mass exodus from Tharmapuram that lasted for more
than 3 days. During that time, there was no LTTE fighters to control or
direct civilian movement. This exodus came as amusement for the outside
forces that attempt to allege that the civilians were being held against
their will by the LTTE."

In December 08, the Rajapaksa regime wasted no time in showing off the
newly captured areas of the Vanni and show casing supposedly "surrendered"
LTTE cadres and the so called "welfare centres" to defence force attachees
representing the co-chair countries and neighbouring India, Pakistan,
Bangladesh and Maldives.


"The silence of the Co-chairs representing the international community in
the current crisis is a sinister reminder of their tacit approval to
Colombo's war on the Tamil people and an abrogation of their own
responsibility as co-chairs, to the immediate safety and interests of the
Tamil people," says a representative of Vanni People's Welfare
Organisation (VPWO) adding that there were children and adults who have
never seen SLA soldiers in their lifetime.

"These are civilians who steadfastly supported the liberation struggle and
they know how they would be treated by the hostile Sri Lankan forces. They
had to face the indiscriminate bombardment or be always on the move as
IDPs with their belongings amid the psychological operations (psy-ops)
messages distributed from helicopters on a daily basis by the Sri Lanka
Army," the VPWO representative says.

"But, my question is why there is no international mechanism to ensure the
safety, security and a dignified life, without being subjected to military
despotism by the Sri Lankan military," he asks.

"Unless there is any 'miraculous initiative' by the IC to ensure the
safety of the civilians who have become victims of their geo-political
game, those who end up in the hands of the invading military are going to
face a slow genocide."

"This is not a matter of who is to be blamed, but a matter of grave
humanitarian concern," he adds.

see also:
Sri Lanka: End Internment of Displaced Persons
 http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/07/01/sri-lanka-end-internment-displaced-persons


Chronology:
21.01.09 IC urged to act on humanitarian grounds to safeguard civilians
20.01.09 Unprecedented civilian carnage in Vanni
 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=28076
18.01.09 Vanni civilians under deadly siege
 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=79&artid=28057
18.01.09 Artillery barrage kills several civilians, dozens ..
 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=28054
18.01.09 Sri Lankan shelling kills 4 civilians, children am.ong 11 wounded
 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=28048
17.01.09 Catholic priests appeal to UN to intervene in Vanni
 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=28041
16.01.09 5 civilians killed, 7 injured in Sri Lankan artillery attack
 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=28035
16.01.09 Jaffna Bishop urges SL President to stop bombardment
 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=28010
16.01.09 Humanitarian tragedy in Vanni enters deadlier phase
 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=28034
16.01.09 "Which norms of liberal democracy preclude IC attending to
exodus, genocide?" asks IDP activist
 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=79&artid=28031
13.01.09 Doctors call for attack free zones surrounding displaced hospitals
 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=79&artid=28012
13.01.09 Humanitarian tragedy unfolds in Vanni
 http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=28004