ரோஸ்

[New York Times]
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/30/opinion/30thu3.html
Editorial
Published: April 29, 2009
Army troops in Sri Lanka are closing in on a dwindling band of Tamil
Tiger separatists who are outgunned on an ever-narrowing battlefield.
It would be a relief if this 25-year fight finally ends. In the
meantime, tens of thousands of terrified civilians are trapped in the
conflict zone — a strip of land about four miles long — and are
running out of food and water. They must be allowed to leave.

Human rights groups have accused both the minority Tamils, who
pioneered suicide bombing as a weapon of war and are widely classified
as terrorists, and Sri Lanka’s government of gross violations. After
several failed attempts at peace talks, the army began this latest
offensive. In recent months, as authorities sensed potential victory,
the attacks have gotten ever more fierce. The United Nations estimates
that more than 6,000 people have been killed and nearly 14,000 wounded
just since the end of January.

While there are no good guys in this fight, the government must do all
that it can to avoid harming civilians in a war zone. You know
officials have something to hide when they bar aid groups and
journalists from the war zone, as Sri Lanka has done since last year.

full text is at
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/30/opinion/30thu3.html
-----

[Winnepeg Free Press]
Arrests at Tamil demonstration outside U.S. Consulate in Toronto
THE CANADIAN PRESS
http://tinyurl.com/dz6gqo
29/04/2009 11:00 PM
TORONTO - Police say several people have been taken into custody at a
protest by Sri Lankan Tamils and their supporters outside the U.S.
Consulate in Toronto.

A Toronto police spokesman says nine people were arrested late this
afternoon, but he couldn't provide details on what charges they may be
facing. The demonstration began on Sunday night and shut down part of
University Avenue, a busy downtown thoroughfare.

The demonstrators are demanding U.S. President Barack Obama intervene
to stop what they call a continuing genocide in Sri Lanka.

full text is at
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/breakingnews/Arrests-at-Tamil...
-----

[Worl Socialist website]
Imperialist hypocrisy over the Sri Lankan war
30 April 2009
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/apr2009/pers-a30.shtml

The human tragedy unfolding in northern Sri Lanka has become the
occasion for an outpouring of hypocritical concern, on the part of the
major powers, for the plight of an estimated 50,000 civilians trapped
in fighting between the army and the separatist Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Over the past week, the US, the European Union (EU) and the UN
Security Council have called on the Sri Lankan government for a
ceasefire, dispatching their emissaries, UN humanitarian chief John
Holmes, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and French Foreign
Minister Bernard Kouchner, to Colombo.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse has rejected the appeals for a
temporary halt to the fighting and for a UN humanitarian team to visit
the war zone, insisting that the LTTE, now confined to a tiny pocket
of territory, must unconditionally surrender or be annihilated. Even
the government’s pledge this week to stop using heavy weapons was
broken within hours of its announcement. As a result, hundreds of men,
women and children have been killed in the past week.

full text is at
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/apr2009/pers-a30.shtml
-----

[Inner City Press]
Sri Lanka Disputes UN's Lack of Access, EU's Tariff Investigation as
"Hype"
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News
Analysis
http://www.innercitypress.com/ocha8srilanka042909.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 29 -- The capture of the UN by Sri Lanka became
clear Wednesday in back to back interviews with the UN's top
humanitarian John Holmes, followed by Sri Lanka's Ambassador
Palihakkara. Inner City Press asked John Holmes about Sri Lanka's
arrest of UN staff, and cut off of pay to doctors in the conflict
zone. Holmes said he wasn't aware of the arrests, and that the
doctors, according to the government, might be "under pressure from
the LTTE." Video here, from Minute 27:28. Holmes nevertheless
complained for the record about Sri Lanka reneging on its promise to
UN envoy Vijay Nambiar to allow a humanitarian assessment team into
the conflict zone.

Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative to the UN Palihakkara, on the
other hand, told Inner City Press that lack of access to the zone was
the UN's fault. "They have to go on the ship" of the ICRC, he said,
"security experts first." Palihakkara also dismissed the European
Union's complaints about the exclusion of the foreign minister of
Sweden, the next EU president. It is "a bit over-exaggerated,"
Palihakkara said, stating that the minister of Sweden has been
"invited in May. "Everything about Sri Lanka is a bit hype now," he
said.

Full Text is at
http://www.innercitypress.com/ocha8srilanka042909.html
Related Video
http://webcast.un.org/ramgen/ondemand/pressconference/2009/pc090429pm...
-----

[Inner City Press]
Sri Lanka Damage Satellite Photos Withheld by UNITAR, IOM Staff
Detained
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News
Analysis
http://www.innercitypress.com/iom1unitar042909.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 29 -- A UN agency produced satellite photographs
of damage to the conflict zone in Sri Lanka, but unlike in the Gaza
conflict did not release them to the public. The UN Institute for
Training and Research has a program known as UNOSAT which produced the
attached April 19 photographic report on "Satellite Detected Damages
and IDP Shelter Movement in CSZ, Mulattivu District, Sri Lanka."
Unlike UNITAR's January 10, 2009 report on Gaza, however, the Sri
Lanka report was not released by the UN, but rather was leaked.

Full Text is at
http://www.innercitypress.com/iom1unitar042909.html
Full Copy of Satellite Image_Report
http://www.innercitypress.com/UNOSAT19April09.pdf
-----

[ReliefWeb]
Sri Lanka: Vanni Emergency OCHA Situation Report No. 3
Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA)

Date: 29 Apr 2009

Full_Report (pdf format)
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/retrieveattachments?openagent&sho...

This report covers the period from 27 to 28 April 2009. The next
report will be issued on or around 30 April.

I. Highlights

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and French Foreign Minister
Bernard Kouchner arrived in Sri Lanka on 29 April 2009 and visited the
Kataragama model village and Cheddikulam hospital in Vavuniya. They
called on the Government to end its military operations and allow
humanitarian aid to be delivered to the conflict zone.
The Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs committed US$ 3.15 million
in humanitarian assistance for Sri Lanka on 29 April 2009. In a press
release, he restated his view that the safety and protection of
civilians must be the absolute priority for all sides engaged in
fighting in northern Sri Lanka. Australia also urged that a UN
humanitarian team in Sri Lanka be given access to the conflict zone.
The High Commissioner for Refugees issued a statement warning that
"conditions at the IDP sites have reached breaking point, placing
severe strains on the humanitarian services available."
Humanitarian agencies on the ground report that a total of 4,500 tents
have been erected in Menik Farm Zone 2.
ICRC reports that it evacuated 520 people from the conflict zone by
boat on 29 April, bringing the total number of people evacuated by
ICRC to almost 12,000 since 11 February 2009.
Another UNHCR humanitarian flight, carrying 103 metric tons of aid,
arrived early today in Colombo.
No new arrivals from Omanthai entry/exit point were reported in the
last 24 hours.

II. Access & Security
Sri Lankan security forces continue their operations in the conflict
zone and captured the Rektavaikkal junction on 28 April. Two aerial
bombardments on the "no fire zone" were reported on 28 April.
ICRC has carried out an additional evacuation of 520 people from the
conflict zone to Pulmoddai (Trincomalee District) on 29 April.

III. Situation Overview
No new arrivals from Omanthai entry/exit point were reported in the
last 24 hours. During the period 27 October 2008 to 29 April 2009
171,184 persons have crossed to the government controlled areas from
the conflict zone, according to Government figures. This represents an
increase of 9,419 IDPs since the last report (Sitrep No.2) on 28 April
2009. More than 100,000 people have left the conflict zone since 20
April 2009
The number of people accommodated in temporary camps is 169,280. This
includes: 152,671(1) in Vavuniya, 52(2) in Mannar, 11,089(3) in Jaffna
and 5,468 in Trincomalee. In addition, 1,904(4) IDPs are in hospitals
in various districts(5) as of 27 April 2009 (this figure includes
injured and care givers).
More than 50,000 civilians are believed to be trapped in the conflict
zone.
As overcrowding of the existing IDP camps continues to be an issue of
concern, a new IDP site, "Va/Komarasankulam School", has been created
in Vavuniya and 2,385 IDPs from "Va/Rambakulam Ladies College
(Convent)" were transferred to the camp.
In response to the request by humanitarian agencies to allow freedom
of movement of IDPs and release vulnerable populations from the IDP
camps, the Government authorities have released 111 elderly IDPs from
Menik Farm camp (Semi permanent site) and Vavuniya Sivapirakasa Ladies
College while 10 elderly IDPs were released from camps in Jaffna
district. Since the beginning of the year, Government authorities have
released a total of 1,252 individuals from camps.

Text is from
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/KERN-7RL2DV?OpenDocument

[New York Times]
Sri Lanka Rejects “Lectures” from Western Countries on Truce With
Rebels
By THOMAS FULLER
Published: April 30, 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/01/world/asia/01lanka.html?ref=asia
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — One of the highest-level European delegations to
visit this war-torn country in years has failed to persuade the Sri
Lankan government to declare a temporary truce with ethnic Tamil
rebels.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa emphatically rejected the appeal Thursday
and told Western governments to stop lecturing him, news agencies
reported.

“The government is not ready to enter into any kind of cease-fire with
the terrorists,” he said. “It is my duty to protect the people of this
country. I don’t need lectures from Western representatives,” he said
in a speech distributed by his office and quoted by the agencies.

“They’re not willing,” David Miliband, Britain’s foreign secretary,
said in an interview after talks Wednesday with Mr. Rajapaksa and
other officials. “The furthest the government has gone is to commit to
no heavy weaponry and to minimize what they call collateral damage,
mainly the damage to civilians.”

The delegation, which also included Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner
of France, paid a one-day visit as intense fighting raged near tens of
thousands of civilians who were being held as human shields by Tamil
rebels.

full text is at
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/01/world/asia/01lanka.html?ref=asia
Also see
[BBC]
Sri Lanka rejects West 'lectures'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8026639.stm

-----

[Himal Southasian] (connected to Akilan Kadirgamar)
Burning trump
May 2009
By: Cynthia Stephen

As elections to the Lok Sabha go forward, the plight of the Tamils of
Sri Lanka remains conspicuously in the background in electioneering in
Tamil Nadu.
http://www.himalmag.com/Burning-trump_nw2909.html
The police will try to lay my body to rest. Don’t allow them to do
that! Capture my dead body, don’t bury it, and use it as a trump card
to sharpen your struggle!” said K Muthukumar in a four-page written
statement in Tamil that he left at the site of his public self-
immolation in Madras on 29 January. Muthukumar, a young journalist,
was protesting the inaction of the Tamil Nadu government in the
ongoing humanitarian tragedy in Sri Lanka, as the Colombo military
continued to pound the area controlled by the Tigers. All the while,
over 100,000 civilians are thought to have been herded together by the
LTTE into a tiny, 20-sq-km ‘No-fire zone’ in the Vanni (see
accompanying story, “And the war continues”). In the end, Muthukumar’s
exhortations went unheeded. The students and youths to whom his final
remarks were primarily addressed were eventually persuaded otherwise
by local political leaders. Just two days after Muthukumar’s death,
the last rites were performed on his body, and he was given a martyr’s
funeral.

Timing has been a significant factor in the lead-up to the Lok Sabha
elections, slated for 13 May in Tamil Nadu. Just as the violence in
Sri Lanka had the potential to affect the state polls, Muthukumar’s
self-immolation and the subsequent public anger had carried the
possibility of bringing the humanitarian tragedy in the LTTE-
controlled areas of Sri Lanka to the forefront of the national
electoral battle. The ground reality, however, turned out to be rather
different. “Muthukumar’s death started a fire, but this has been
doused by the politicians,” says Bala, a longtime political observer
and cartoonist with Kumudam, a popular Tamil magazine. “So while the
issue is uppermost in the minds of a number of educated urban youth,
it has been more or less pushed out of sight in the general
discourse.”

full text is at
http://www.himalmag.com/Burning-trump_nw2909.html
-----
[Himasal Southasian]
Anthropology revisited
The politics of war zone writing

By Darini Rajasingham Senanayake
http://www.himalmag.com/Anthropology-revisited_fnw15.html

On 24 April 2005 Dharmaratnam Sivaram, (‘Taraki’) editorial board
member of the pro-Tamil website Tamilnet, was found shot dead from
gunshot wounds to the head several hours after four unidentified
persons had abducted him from a restaurant opposite a Police station
in Colombo. His murder, which followed weeks of threats, is as yet
“unsolved.”

Four years after his death, it is instructive to revisit his politics
and draw lessons from a life lived amidst violence. Mark Whitaker’s
Learning Politics from Sivaram: The Life and Death of a Revolutionary
Tamil Journalist (Pluto Press, 2006) is an extended and moving act of
mourning and meditation for Sivaram, and arguably the best and
brightest of a generation of youth lost in Sri Lanka’s interminable
post-colonial conflicts. Here is a fine grained, powerful, reflection
on war, violence, nationalism and their diminishing returns – not only
in Sri Lanka. For those who start reading the book knowing the tragic
end of its (anti) hero, this biography of the “life and death of a
revolutionary Tamil journalist” is a celebration of a life lived to
the full (if not always wisely).

Learning Politics from Sivaram is many things: biography, ethnography,
and intellectual history. At one level, the narrative constitutes an
extended ethnographic encounter, initially between a Princeton
Anthropology graduate student and his informant, Sivaram, then a
radical student of politics and philosophy, in Batticaloa, the
picturesque, battle-scarred coastal town on Sri Lanka’s east coast;
their friendship begins with a chance meeting on the steps of the
Batticaloa library. On another level, the book is an ethnography of
Tamil nationalism and its riposte to post-colonial Sinhala
nationalism, violence and displacement. It also touches on Diaspora
identity politics and the transnational networks that shaped and were
shaped by Sivaram. Learning Politics is also about idealism and
disillusionment, violence and anti-violence, among a lost generation
of youth.

full text is at
http://www.himalmag.com/Anthropology-revisited_fnw15.html
-----

[Reuters Alternet]
UN blocking release of Sri Lanka satellite images? 30 Apr 2009
11:50:00 GMT

Written by: Andrew Stroehlein
http://www.alertnet.org/db/blogs/3159/2009/03/30-115006-1.htm

Fresh satellite images of the war zone in northeast Sri Lanka are
available, but the UN agency charged with analysing them is not making
them public. The images contain evidence of severe damage from heavy
artillery and possibly air strikes, suggesting indiscriminate attacks
in areas of high civilian concentration, which could be classed as war
crimes carried out by the government of Sri Lanka.

The photos were taken on 19 April, and UNOSAT produced its analysis in
a ten-page PDF file on 26 April.

Initially that file -- including both images and analysis -- was
publicly available. Human Rights Watch even linked to it in their 27
April press release on Sri Lanka, which called for an international
commission of inquiry into violations of the laws of war by government
forces and the rebel LTTE (Tamil Tigers).

full text is at
http://www.alertnet.org/db/blogs/3159/2009/03/30-115006-1.htm
-----

[Dissident Island Radio]
a very short interview with Raj about London Tamil protest
http://www.dissidentisland.org/ShowArchive/2009-04-17.html
http://www.archive.org/download/DissidentIslandRadio-17April2009-Pict...
http://tinyurl.com/cwlnxf (Audio)
-----
[Edinbarough evening News]
30 April 2009
Protest at Tiger clashes
PROTESTERS will gather at the Scottish Parliament today in opposition
to the Sri Lankan government's offensive against the Tamil Tigers.
Campaigners will call for an immediate ceasefire when they gather at
Holyrood from 11am to 4pm.

Clashes between security forces and the Tamil Tigers have intensified
over recent weeks as the government bids to end nearly 30 years of
conflict.
http://news.scotsman.com/world/Protest-at-Tiger-clashes.5221121.jp

[Indy Media]
Parliament Square Hunger Striker Taken to Hospital
| 30.04.2009 14:33
It's been touch and go this week as 28 year old hunger striker
Parameswarn Subramaniyan's situation has gotten worse. Fearing that he
could die, Mr. Subramaniyan has since agreed to end his hunger strike
and talks are currently going on inside Parliament between the Foreign
Secretary and the Tamil community.

Twenty four days into his hunger strike for a ceasefire in Sri Lanka
between the government and the Tamil Tigers, 28 year old student
Parameswarn Subramaniyan from London has decided to start taking
liquids and food again. He started his hunger strike and has not eaten
solid food since Tuesday 7 April. This change came as the Foreign
Secretary David Miliband agreed to one of the five conditions put to
him by the Tamil protesters who have been occupying Parliament Square
since Monday 6 April. Their protest started in response to claims that
the Sri Lankan government has used chemical weapons against civilians
in Tamil areas of the country. Over this month, the fighting has
escalated with many casualties and hundred of thousands of civilians
trapped without food or water.

Mr. Subramaniyan has lost family in the conflict and vowed to forego
food and water until a ceasefire was declared or until death. At
first, he also refused to take water. Following fears of organ
failure, he agreed to take water. An ambulance and doctors have been
on stand by and a tent has been set up for him to rest in. Over the
last few days, Mr. Subramaniyan’s condition has deteriorated
considerably and there were fears that he would not be able to hold
out for much longer.

full text and photo at
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/04/429000.html
-----
[World Food Program]
WFP Assists 190,000 Sri Lankans Fleeing War Zone
30 April 2009

WFP is now feeding nearly 190,000 internally displaced persons in the
northern Vavuniya and Jaffna districts. An estimated 120,000 of these
IDPs arrived over the last ten days after escaping the conflict zone
in Mallaitivu.

by Heather Sutliff
http://www.wfp.org/stories/wfp-assists-190000-srilankas-fleeing-war-zone

COLOMBO – WFP ramped up its assistance to after receiving a request
from the Government of Sri Lanka to support its efforts in meeting the
basic needs of this massive influx of IDPs. The IDPs are being
assisted in more than 40 transit centres and 'welfare villages' set up
in Vavuniya and Jaffna.

“WFP has enough resources to provide food to the IDPs in the short-
term, but this is a very dynamic situation and to maintain much needed
food assistance we are appealing for funds from the international
community now,” said Adnan Khan, WFP Representative and Country
Director in Sri Lanka.

Full Text is at
http://www.wfp.org/stories/wfp-assists-190000-srilankas-fleeing-war-zone
-----

[Inner City Press]
As Sri Lanka Descends to UN Basement, Underground Envoy Talk

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News
Analysis
http://www.innercitypress.com/sc7srilanka043009.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 30 -- In the run up to the Security Council's
third “informal interactive dialogue” on Sri Lanka, slated for 5 p.m.
Thursday in the UN basement, sources tell Inner City Press that a move
is afoot to try to formally appoint a Special Envoy to Sri Lanka.
Mexico, which passes the body's Presidency to Russia on Friday, is
said to be looking to cap its schizophrenic month atop the Council by
finally having an outcome, or output: an envoy.

Vijay Nambiar's trip on behalf of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is
now widely viewed as a failure, even as buying more time for Colombo
to continue its assault and siege on the conflict zone. Nambair,
according to Ban, won a commitment by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to
allow a UN humanitarian assessment team into the No Fire Zone. This
commitment, if it was ever sincere, was immediately rescinded.
Nambiar, a otherwise affable and approachable UN official, has yet to
take a single Press question on what was in fact committed in Colombo.

Full Text is at
http://www.innercitypress.com/sc7srilanka043009.html
-----

[AlterNet-World Vision]
"Help child survivors of war... Help heal my country," pleads aid
agency chief
30 Apr 2009 15:57:00 GMT
Source: World Vision - Asia Pacific
Website: http://wvasiapacific.org/

International community urged not to lose once-in-a-generation
opportunity to help heal Sri Lanka
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/wvaspro/124110836175.htm

Aid agency World Vision is urging the international community to seize
a once-in-a-generation opportunity to help Sri Lanka by pledging
millions of dollars to meet the critical needs of at least 60,000
child survivors of war.

Suresh Bartlett, National Director of World Vision Lanka, who recently
returned from visiting camps in the North, said he was deeply troubled
about the impact of the war on children and was worried that the
global financial crisis and swine flu were taking the world's
attention away from meeting their urgent needs.

"There are almost 200,000 survivors in the camps in the North who have
survived a most brutal experience after being trapped in a conflict
zone for weeks. At least 60,000 children are among them.

Full Text is at
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/wvaspro/124110836175.htm
Also related link
http://wvasiapacific.org/sri-lanka-conflict/
-----

[The New Zealand Herald]
Sri Lanka stance earns plaudits
4:00AM Friday May 01, 2009
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10569680

Sri Lanka's honorary consul-general in Wellington, Aruna
Abeygoonesekera, has congratulated the Maori Party for blocking a
parliamentary motion even though the Maori Party leans towards the
Tamil Tigers.

A motion moved by Progressives leader Jim Anderton called on both Sri
Lankan Government forces and the Tamil Tigers to show restraint in the
present conflict so that civilians could escape from danger.

full text is at
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10569680
-----

[ISRIA]
Singapore: MFA Press Statement: Singapore’s Humanitarian Assistance to
Sri Lanka
http://www.isria.info/en/30_April_2009_115.htm
Singapore is deeply concerned over the serious humanitarian situation
in northern Sri Lanka.

The United Nations (UN), its related agencies and the international
media have reported on mounting civilian casualties and the
humanitarian emergency conditions in the conflict zone as well as in
the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps.

In view of the urgent humanitarian situation and in response to the
humanitarian action plan mounted by the UN, the Singapore Government
will contribute US,000 to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF),
which is one of the aid agencies involved in the humanitarian relief
efforts in Sri Lanka. This contribution will go towards meeting
critical needs such as the provision of safe water, sanitation
facilities and basic hygiene items to thousands of civilians displaced
by the conflict.

full text is at
http://www.isria.info/en/30_April_2009_115.htm
-----

[ISRIA]
UN: Daily Press Briefing (dated 29 April 2009)

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing
by Farhan Haq, Associate Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, and
Enrique Yeves, Spokesperson for the President of the General Assembly.

Briefing by the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General

Good afternoon.

** Sri Lanka –- Humanitarian Update
http://www.isria.info/en/30_April_2009_52.htm
As you are aware, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian
Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, John Holmes, has just
returned from Sri Lanka and he is to brief in this room at 3 p.m.
about his trip and the current situation in that country.

As of today, more than 171,000 people have crossed out of the conflict
zone in Sri Lanka, including almost 3,000 wounded and caregivers in
hospitals. There have been no new arrivals at the Omanthai screening
point in the last 24 hours and the Government informs the United
Nations that none are in transit.

The UN believes that 50,000 people remain in the conflict zone. The
situation in the camps, while improving due to the efforts of all aid
providers, remains less than optimal. One of the most serious concerns
is congestion in the camps. Shelter in the camps remains inadequate,
and there is urgent need for the allocation of more land by the
Government of Sri Lanka in which to house the displaced. Furthermore,
options need to be pursued to allow more people to be accommodated
with host families.

Health facilities continue to be overwhelmed and more capacity is
needed. Water and sanitation remain key concerns, with some areas
having only one toilet for 140 people. Although all internally
displaced persons have drinking water, there is inadequate water for
other purposes. And also psychological trauma is a serious issue.

Full Text is at
http://www.isria.info/en/30_April_2009_52.htm
-----

[Press TV]
Sri Lanka scolds West for 'lectures' on Tamils
Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:39:29 GMT
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=93112&sectionid=351020406
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa tells Western countries to stop
lecturing him about a ceasefire with the Tamil Tigers.

"It is my duty to protect the people of this country. I don't need
lectures from Western representatives," Rajapaksa said in a speech on
Thursday.

Rajapaksa's remarks come after visiting British Foreign Secretary
David Miliband and his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner failed to
secure a truce between Sri Lankan forces and the Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels.

Colombo has dismissed a Western-backed ceasefire with the Tigers,
calling it a 'joke' as the rebels are near a final defeat.

Full Text is at
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=93112&sectionid=351020406
-----

[The Economist]

Sri Lanka's humanitarian crisis
Exodus of misery

Apr 30th 2009 | COLOMBO AND PUTUMATTALAN
The war grinds to a close, leaving a human catastrophe in its wake
http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13579685

WITH loudhailers hitched to the tallest palmyrah trees, Tamil-speaking
soldiers of the Sri Lanka army had for weeks been urging civilians
inside a dwindling strip of territory held by the rebel Tamil Tigers
to break through their cordon and flee. But since April 20th, when the
army burst an embankment at Putumattalan, the authorities have been
overwhelmed by the thousands pouring out. The Tigers’ defences were
less to keep the army out than to fence the civilians in.

The government had expected an exodus far smaller than the one which
came, bringing 114,520 civilians in the next nine days. Since January
an estimated 190,000 have fled. The UN’s assessment that there were
originally around 250,000 trapped civilians, dismissed as exaggerated
by the government, now looks roughly right.

Full Text is at
http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13579685
-----

[National Post]

Police chief talks about decision to shift Tamil protest to sidewalk
Posted: April 30, 2009, 11:25 AM by Melissa Leong
http://tinyurl.com/dka7ba

Police were able to move protesters who have occupied University
Avenue for most of the week, to the sidewalk, reopening traffic on the
thoroughfare between Dundas and Queen streets.

As many as thousands of Tamil Canadians have been demonstrating
peacefully in front of the U.S. Consulate since Sunday.

But yesterday police arrested 15 individuals, charging them with
mischief and breach of peace, when the group tried to block the
traffic at Dundas Street and University Avenue. Last night, police
"dismantled their sound system" with the permission of protesters,
removing the speakers that have broadcast their chorus.

Full Text is at
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/toronto/archive/2009/04/30/p...

Related News
[National Post]
Verbatim: Chief Bill Blair defends police response to Tamil protest
Posted: April 29, 2009, 7:26 PM by Rob Roberts
http://tinyurl.com/cp8cfv
The Tamil demonstrations that have shut University Avenue since Sunday
became heated today, when officers tried to push protesters back
behind police barricades. Nine people were arrested, and one woman
reportedly injured. But the occupation of the area outside the U.S.
Consulate is expected to continue tomorrow, and Police Chief Bill
Blair today defended the city’s unwillingness to end the protest:

full text is at
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/toronto/archive/2009/04/29/v...

Also
Toronto cleans up from Tamil protest
Posted: April 30, 2009, 11:08 AM by Peter Kuitenbrouwer
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/toronto/archive/2009/04/30/t...
-----
[BBC]
16:39 GMT, Thursday, 30 April 2009 17:39 UK
Sri Lanka denies IMF loan delay
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8027634.stm

Sri Lanka has denied reports that a proposed loan from the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) is being delayed by the US,
officials say.

American officials said the move was aimed at putting pressure on
Colombo to do more to help civilians caught up in the fighting in the
north.

But a senior Sri Lankan official says the talks are on schedule.

Sri Lanka has been holding talks with the IMF for a loan of nearly a
$2bn to weather the global economic crisis.

Full Text is at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8027634.stm
-----

[London Free Press]

SRI LANKA: The London priest is haunted by the fact his fellow
countrymen are being killed
Priest prays for a ceasefire
Joe Matyas

April 30, 2009
http://lfpress.ca/cgi-bin/publish.cgi?p=263832&x=articles&s=societe
As a young seminarian in Sri Lanka, Francis Jeyaseelan had to sleep
under his bed at times.

"We did it whenever there was shelling," said the Roman Catholic
priest, known as Father Francis at St. George's parish in London.

Born and raised in a Tamil family in Sri Lanka, Rev. Jeyaseelan, now
39, was a member of a linguistic and cultural minority within the
country.

"I was a minority within a minority," he joked yesterday. "I was a
Christian within an ethnic minority that's primarily Hindu."

And he grew up learning what it meant to be a Tamil.

Full Text is at
http://lfpress.ca/cgi-bin/publish.cgi?p=263832&x=articles&s=societe
------

[CounterCurrents]
Sri Lanka: Humanitarian Disaster In Making
By Bobby Ramakant
30 April, 2009
Citizen News Service (CNS)
http://www.countercurrents.org/ramakant300409.htm

Activists expressed their deep anguish and concern on unabated mass
killings in Sri Lanka which is, as they underlined, "no short of a
humanitarian disaster in northern Sri Lanka".

"We also protest the covert provision of economic and military aid to
Sri Lanka by Indian government which has, certainly, deeply aggravated
the situation in Sri Lanka" said Dr Sandeep Pandey, Ramon Magsaysay
Awardee (2002) and Convener of National Alliance of People's Movements
(NAPM).

The Sri Lankan government’s indiscriminate military actions have
exacted an appalling toll on the civilian Tamil population. Unless
India does its part to negotiate an immediate ceasefire, civilian
casualties will continue to escalate, tarnishing India’s claim to be a
morally responsible regional ‘spiritual’ power.

"Indeed, we have watched with growing dismay the Indian government’s
effective complicity with the Sri Lankan government’s ongoing efforts
to brutalize the Tamil minority. There is considerable evidence that,
while publicly calling for a "political solution", the Indian
government has covertly supplied military equipment and training to
Sri Lanka through the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and other
Indian intelligence outfits. Decades ago, sending in the Indian Peace
Keeping Force (IPKF) to Sri Lanka had exacerbated the situation and
questions India’s claim of being a harbinger of ‘peace’ in the region"
said Gurudayal Singh Sheetal, Leader of Prakritik Manav Kendrit
Andolan, Punjab.

Full Text is at
http://www.countercurrents.org/ramakant300409.htm
-----

[Guardian]
Tamil student calls off Parliament Square hunger strike
Man who stopped eating to draw attention to Sri Lanka conflict ends
protest after letter from David Miliband
Sam Jones
Thursday 30 April 2009 18.46 BST
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/30/tamil-hunger-strike-sri-l...

A Tamil who has been on a three-week hunger strike in Parliament
Square called off his protest today after the foreign secretary wrote
to him explaining the "strenuous efforts" the British government was
making to secure a ceasefire in Sri Lanka.

Parameswaram Subramaniam, a 28-year-old student, stopped eating on 6
April to draw attention to the plight of the Tamil civilians caught in
the fighting between government troops and Tamil Tigers in the north
of the island. He is understood to have lost 10 members of his family
in the conflict, including his mother and many brothers and sisters.

The protester had said he would starve himself to death unless five
conditions were met: the declaration of an immediate and permanent
ceasefire; the provision of food and medical aid to the civilians
caught in the "safe zone" between the two sides; a meeting between the
UN, the British government and Tamil representatives; a reversal of
the UK's decision to classify the Tamil Tigers as terrorist group; and
a UN-backed referendum on an independent Tamil state in Sri Lanka.

Full Text is at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/30/tamil-hunger-strike-sri-l...
-----

[Daily Mail - UK]
David Miliband accused of spat with Sri Lankan defence secretary over
civilian safety

By Michael Lea
Last updated at 6:35 PM on 30th April 2009
http://tinyurl.com/djamcr
David Miliband was involved in an argument with Sri Lanka's defence
secretary over the safety of civilians in rebel-held enclaves, it was
claimed today.

The pair apparently clashed while Mr Miliband was being given a high-
level briefing on the situation during his visit to the country this
week.

The Foreign Office denied that discussions, which also involved
Britain's High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Peter Hayes, had ended in a
'stand up row'.

But one official who had been at the meeting said there had been a
'free and frank and clear exchange of views' - diplomatic speak for a
spat.

According to a report posted on the official Sri Lankan Defence
Ministry website, the meeting became tetchy when the Foreign Secretary
said that civilians were being caught up in artillery raids.

Full Text is at
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1175775/David-Miliband-accuse...
=====