Saturday, May 02, 2009
செய்திகளும் பின்னான பார்வைகளும் 2 மே 2009 சனிக்கிழமை - 2
[Al Jazeera]
2 May 2009
Interview: Both sides of the Sri Lankan conflict
http://tinyurl.com/ddkr59
What is happening in Sri Lanka's war zone is practically impossible to
verify because independent observers and journalists have little or no
access to the area.
In an attempt to gain some clarity, Al Jazeera's Imran Garda spoke to
Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, a spokesman for the Sri Lankan military,
and Thileepan Parthipan, a representative from the separatist
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
Video can be seen at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahy3AK8jczY
Related Video from Channel 4
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1184614595?bctid=21901227001
http://tinyurl.com/clt4lx
[BBC] (Audio)
22:26 GMT, Friday, 1 May 2009 23:26 UK
Minister responds to Sri Lanka damage images
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8030254.stm
---------
[David Miliband Blog]
Tuesday 28 April, 2009
Going to Sri Lanka
http://blogs.fco.gov.uk/roller/miliband/entry/going_to_sri_lanka
Thank you to those who commented on my last blog on Sri Lanka, from
Britain and around the world. As the comments show, the roots of the
current crisis are very deep: Tamils who feel this is the last chapter
in decades of repression, others who feel that LTTE terrorism is an
open and shut case for government crackdown. I recognise that - but
there is also a simple fact: innocent lives are at stake now.
I am going to be in Sri Lanka on Wednesday with the French foreign
minister. We can think of no better way to highlight our concerns with
the short term civilian situation, which UN chief John Holmes
described yesterday as dire. We will be pressing the case on the
government of Sri Lanka to live up to the case made by the UNSC
President on Friday to the press and repeating that the LTTE should
facilitate exit from the conflict zone. There are the civilians in the
conflict zone; but as the comments bring out, there are also the
conditions outside the zone for anything up to 200,000 IDPs.
Britain has pledged more money the Prime Minister announced an extra
£2.5 million on Sunday and France a field hospital, but without
political will to allow aid workers to do their work there will be
further suffering that will compound rather than resolve the
fundamental conflict.
from
http://tinyurl.com/cbnvvf
-----
[BBC] - Audio
An interview with the Rajiva Wijesinghe (first 10 min)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p002t9py/Newshour_27_04_2009/
-----
[The Independant]
'75 die' as Sri Lanka forces are accused of shelling hospital
Government noose tightens around rebel Tamil Tiger enclave amid
growing fears for trapped civilians
By Andrew Buncombe, Asia Correspondent
Sunday, 3 May 2009
http://tinyurl.com/dk2uou
Fears were growing last night for scores of Sri Lankan civilians after
it was reported that more than 75 people had been killed in the last
two days by a government bombardment of a makeshift hospital in the
country's war zone.
Government health officials working in the clinic, located in the tiny
patch of land still held by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
rebel forces, have claimed that patients, visitors and their relatives
were among the dead. They said around another 100 civilians were
injured. The military has denied the reports and the government has
said the accounts of the health officials cannot be trusted.
Photographs, apparently taken by the health officials, show the
intensive care unit of the hospital, set up in a school classroom,
with two bodies lying on the floor.
Speaking last night from the clinic in the town of Mulliavaikal, one
of the officials, Dr T Varatharajah, told The Independent on Sunday:
"There were two attacks today. Sixty-four people were killed and 87
injured. Yesterday there was one attack. Nine people were killed and
15 injured." The doctor said the clinic was located less than a mile
from the front line and that he had no doubt the shelling had come
from government troops. He added: "There are other civilians outside
of the hospital who were also killed." He was unable to provide the
numbers.
full text is at
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/75-die-as-sri-lanka-forces-are-accused-of-shelling-hospital-1678113.html
-----
[Inner City Press]
On Sri Lanka, UN Dodges on Satellite Cover-Up and Arrest of Staff, UN
TV
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News
Analysis
http://www.innercitypress.com/un1may1srilanka050209.html
UNITED NATIONS, May 2 -- As in Sri Lanka death and disappearances
continued last week, in New York the UN Secretariat dodged questions
after question on the topic, apparently wishing that the government
would just “finish the job,” as one UN official put it to Inner City
Press. At the UN's noon media briefing on Monday, April 27, Inner City
Press asked the first question of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's
spokesperson Michele Montas:
Inner City Press: On Sri Lanka, I wanted to know in light of the
Secretary-General’s announcement last week that there will be a
mission into the conflict zone by a humanitarian assessment, is that
going forward or has it, as some of the reports have it, been blocked
by the Government?
Spokesperson Monas: This is what John Holmes is trying to arrange.
Inner City Press: Currently, it was announced that it had been agreed
to. Was it then un-agreed to?
Spokesperson Montas: It was agreed to. We don’t know where things are
at this point. Mr. Holmes is there and he is the only one who has the
answer to your question.
Inner City Press: And just also on Sri Lanka, I learned, and maybe you
won’t know this off hand, but that in late 2008 two UN staff members
were arrested by the Government. It now seems or I have been told and
the UN didn’t say anything publicly, but some think they’re still
being held. One is a UNHCR protection officer in Vavuniya; and the
other one is a UNOPS driver; both arrested by the...[inaudible].
Spokesperson: I don’t have that information. We can certainly have it
for you. All I can say is that right now we have 13 staff members who
are in the zone of conflict; and that is really all I have.
full text is at
http://www.innercitypress.com/un1may1srilanka050209.html
------
The Sunday Times, sl:
Mani Ratnam’s ‘Raavan’ can turn a new chapter in Tourism shooting in srilanka
http://tinyurl.com/ckosv4
2 May 2009
Interview: Both sides of the Sri Lankan conflict
http://tinyurl.com/ddkr59
What is happening in Sri Lanka's war zone is practically impossible to
verify because independent observers and journalists have little or no
access to the area.
In an attempt to gain some clarity, Al Jazeera's Imran Garda spoke to
Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, a spokesman for the Sri Lankan military,
and Thileepan Parthipan, a representative from the separatist
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
Video can be seen at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Related Video from Channel 4
http://link.brightcove.com/
http://tinyurl.com/clt4lx
[BBC] (Audio)
22:26 GMT, Friday, 1 May 2009 23:26 UK
Minister responds to Sri Lanka damage images
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/
---------
[David Miliband Blog]
Tuesday 28 April, 2009
Going to Sri Lanka
http://blogs.fco.gov.uk/
Thank you to those who commented on my last blog on Sri Lanka, from
Britain and around the world. As the comments show, the roots of the
current crisis are very deep: Tamils who feel this is the last chapter
in decades of repression, others who feel that LTTE terrorism is an
open and shut case for government crackdown. I recognise that - but
there is also a simple fact: innocent lives are at stake now.
I am going to be in Sri Lanka on Wednesday with the French foreign
minister. We can think of no better way to highlight our concerns with
the short term civilian situation, which UN chief John Holmes
described yesterday as dire. We will be pressing the case on the
government of Sri Lanka to live up to the case made by the UNSC
President on Friday to the press and repeating that the LTTE should
facilitate exit from the conflict zone. There are the civilians in the
conflict zone; but as the comments bring out, there are also the
conditions outside the zone for anything up to 200,000 IDPs.
Britain has pledged more money the Prime Minister announced an extra
£2.5 million on Sunday and France a field hospital, but without
political will to allow aid workers to do their work there will be
further suffering that will compound rather than resolve the
fundamental conflict.
from
http://tinyurl.com/cbnvvf
-----
[BBC] - Audio
An interview with the Rajiva Wijesinghe (first 10 min)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/
-----
[The Independant]
'75 die' as Sri Lanka forces are accused of shelling hospital
Government noose tightens around rebel Tamil Tiger enclave amid
growing fears for trapped civilians
By Andrew Buncombe, Asia Correspondent
Sunday, 3 May 2009
http://tinyurl.com/dk2uou
Fears were growing last night for scores of Sri Lankan civilians after
it was reported that more than 75 people had been killed in the last
two days by a government bombardment of a makeshift hospital in the
country's war zone.
Government health officials working in the clinic, located in the tiny
patch of land still held by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
rebel forces, have claimed that patients, visitors and their relatives
were among the dead. They said around another 100 civilians were
injured. The military has denied the reports and the government has
said the accounts of the health officials cannot be trusted.
Photographs, apparently taken by the health officials, show the
intensive care unit of the hospital, set up in a school classroom,
with two bodies lying on the floor.
Speaking last night from the clinic in the town of Mulliavaikal, one
of the officials, Dr T Varatharajah, told The Independent on Sunday:
"There were two attacks today. Sixty-four people were killed and 87
injured. Yesterday there was one attack. Nine people were killed and
15 injured." The doctor said the clinic was located less than a mile
from the front line and that he had no doubt the shelling had come
from government troops. He added: "There are other civilians outside
of the hospital who were also killed." He was unable to provide the
numbers.
full text is at
http://www.independent.co.uk/
-----
[Inner City Press]
On Sri Lanka, UN Dodges on Satellite Cover-Up and Arrest of Staff, UN
TV
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News
Analysis
http://www.innercitypress.com/
UNITED NATIONS, May 2 -- As in Sri Lanka death and disappearances
continued last week, in New York the UN Secretariat dodged questions
after question on the topic, apparently wishing that the government
would just “finish the job,” as one UN official put it to Inner City
Press. At the UN's noon media briefing on Monday, April 27, Inner City
Press asked the first question of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's
spokesperson Michele Montas:
Inner City Press: On Sri Lanka, I wanted to know in light of the
Secretary-General’s announcement last week that there will be a
mission into the conflict zone by a humanitarian assessment, is that
going forward or has it, as some of the reports have it, been blocked
by the Government?
Spokesperson Monas: This is what John Holmes is trying to arrange.
Inner City Press: Currently, it was announced that it had been agreed
to. Was it then un-agreed to?
Spokesperson Montas: It was agreed to. We don’t know where things are
at this point. Mr. Holmes is there and he is the only one who has the
answer to your question.
Inner City Press: And just also on Sri Lanka, I learned, and maybe you
won’t know this off hand, but that in late 2008 two UN staff members
were arrested by the Government. It now seems or I have been told and
the UN didn’t say anything publicly, but some think they’re still
being held. One is a UNHCR protection officer in Vavuniya; and the
other one is a UNOPS driver; both arrested by the...[inaudible].
Spokesperson: I don’t have that information. We can certainly have it
for you. All I can say is that right now we have 13 staff members who
are in the zone of conflict; and that is really all I have.
full text is at
http://www.innercitypress.com/
------
The Sunday Times, sl:
Mani Ratnam’s ‘Raavan’ can turn a new chapter in Tourism shooting in srilanka
http://tinyurl.com/ckosv4
// posted by ஜூலியன் @ 6:34 PM 
