UN envoy makes Sri Lanka aid push

by sathyajith | April 14, 2009 at 10:52 am

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Update 26.April 2009

Hope this visit will bring the very badly needed relief to civilians

UN envoy makes Sri Lanka aid push

The UN's top humanitarian official has arrived in Sri Lanka to push for greater protection of civilians caught up in the conflict in the north-east.

Update 25.April 2009

UN acuses once again Tamil terroror outfit ltte "Children as young as 12 are being given guns and forced to fight on the frontline". But ltte terrorists and the diaspora suporter wont care about such statements and put the blame on UN on the basis of so called "genocide", (genocide because misperceive of ltte and terroror suporters)

Those forcibly recruited included the 16-year-old daughter of a member of the UN staff, who had stayed inside the narrow strip of coast where the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are making their last stand.

Gordon Weiss, the UN spokesman in Sri Lanka, said there had been credible reports of clashes between LTTE members and families on the beaches who had tried to prevent their children being taken. Some of those who resisted had been beaten or shot, he said.

"They are sitting there on the sand and groups of armed LTTE come along and demand a member of the family joins them. They ask for one or two children and they are running around grabbing people," Weiss said.

[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.

Update! UNs top humanitarian official to visit Sri Lanka

UN Under-Secretary-General John Holmes, will be in Sri Lanka for two days Sat, 2009-04-25 17:22
United Nations, 25 April, (Asiantribune.com): The United Nations says that its top humanitarian official will fly to Sri Lanka tonight, to see at first hand the situation of civilians affected by fighting in the north of the island nation, and to meet with the Government.

UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, John Holmes, will be in Sri Lanka for two days, where he hopes to visit camps for the hundreds of thousands of people who have fled the fighting, to raise continuing high levels of concern about those still trapped, and to follow up on key points from his earlier visit to Sri Lanka in February.

"The top priority remains the preservation of the lives of the tens of thousands of civilians still trapped inside the combat zone," said Holmes. "But I also want to see the people in the camps, to visit UN staff being held there, and to review how the sudden outflow of so many people from the combat zone is being managed."

48 hours of ceasefire is expiring and civilians are still trapped in the war zone!!

Now come UN with a statement, but nothing hopefull for civilians.

Ltte terrorists wont let them (Civilians) go and killing them brutally, even children and Pregnant mothers! Stop Tamil Terrorists Tigers from Killing Civilians

TkT (Tamils kill Tamils)

(Some times even hier in NP you can find horrible Pictures from civilians, they were killed by Tamil tigers and using pictures for propaganda through their suporters) ""My opinion""

UN call for diplomatic solution

Sir Holmes

A diplomatic solution is needed to prevent a possible bloodbath in Sri Lanka says UN special envoy sir John Holmes.

He blamed the Tamil Tigers for killing civilians who are trying to leave their control.

In an interview with the BBC Radio4 Today programme, the UN special envoy on humanitarian affairs, Sir John Holmes said the pause in the fighting in Sri Lanka is a success.

There was a nasty incident just before this lull was announced, where they (Ltte Tamil Terrorist group) killed six civilians who were trying to leave

Sir John Holmes

At last the same statement but a Different viewe fro Tamillienet

Mass human tragedy possible any moment in 'safety zone' [TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 April 2009, 23:53 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on Tuesday night launched a full scale ground offensive attempting to break the last earth bund of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) situated close to the safety zone on Puthukkudiyiruppu - Mullaiththeevu Road, TamilNet correspondent in Vanni reported Wednesday early hours, Sri Lankan time.

Update 15.04.2009

UN Refuses To Reveal Location Of Staffers & Families Caught In Crossfire

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sathyajith

at 11:02 on April 14th, 2009

There was a nasty incident just before this lull was announced, where they killed six civilians who were trying to leave He blamed the Tamil Tigers for not letting people go. "It is just a matter of walking a few hundred metres in to the government controlled areas, where the government forces are". He said according to the information he had received, already about 65000 people have crossed over so far this year. "Over hundred thousand people are still waiting there to get out. We believe they are held against their will by the Tamil Tigers and they will be shot if they try to leave", John Holmes told the BBC.

John Holmes say the only way is to find a diplomatic solution. "The civilians are the last card the LTTE has. Their military situation by geography and is pretty hopeless only way for the LTTE, if they want to stop this is to lay down their arms".

"If the end is going to be purely military; an assault on the beaches, where these people are trapped, risk will be that it will be very difficult to prevent a catastrophe, a bloodbath. That is why a diplomatic solution is needed despite the brutal military agendas of both sides," says the UN special envoy Sir John Holmes.

Tamiya

at 11:26 on April 14th, 2009

Mahinda Rajapaksa gets his knuckles rapped by Human Rights Watch. A new report indicts his government for wide-spread abuse.

The Sri Lankan government is responsible for widespread abductions and “disappearances” that are a national crisis, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. Human Rights Watch urged the government to reveal the whereabouts of the “disappeared,” immediately end the practice, and hold the perpetrators accountable.

Since major fighting between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) resumed in 2006, Sri Lankan security forces and pro-government armed groups have “disappeared” or abducted hundreds of individuals, many of whom are feared dead.

The 241-page report, “Recurring Nightmare: State Responsibility for ‘Disappearances’ and Abductions in Sri Lanka,” documents 99 of the several hundred cases reported, and examines the Sri Lankan government’s response, which to date has been grossly inadequate. In 2006 and 2007, the United Nations Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances recorded more new “disappearance” cases from Sri Lanka than from any other country in the world.

israeli.agent

at 16:15 on April 14th, 2009

Good news, Sathya,

.Agent.

Tamiya

at 10:56 on April 25th, 2009

Sri Lankan government recruits child soldiers for pro-government arm groups:

The United Nations has accused Sri Lanka's security forces of helping to recruit child soldiers for a break-away faction of the Tamil separatist movement.

Allan Rock, the special adviser to the UN Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, said that government soldiers had been rounding up young Tamil children in the east of the country.

The allegations are deeply embarrassing to the Sri Lankan government, which routinely uses the ''child soldier issue" as a means of bringing international opprobrium on the separatist Tamil Tiger movement.

"Sri Lankan security forces rounded up children to be recruited by the Karuna faction," Mr Rock said at the end of a 10-day mission to study the situation of children in the embattled island.

sathyajith

at 14:26 on April 25th, 2009

Tamiya

Please try to get some NEWs

and not from

By Peter Foster, South Asia correspondent
Last Updated: 2:18AM GMT 14 Nov 2006

Tamiya

at 18:39 on April 25th, 2009

So if they voice Tamils' rights or concerns, then the journalist will be banned and their reporting would not be a viable one, according to Sri Lankan Government and Sinhalese extremists.

Your list, I mean the Sri Lankan government and Sinhalese extremists list of banned journalists just keeps on growing.

You don't like BBC Chris Morris, Your don't like Times UK Jeremy Page, You don't like Amos Roberts,

You definitely did not like Lasantha Wickramatunge (murdered in January 8, 2009 by Sri Lankan Government)

You didn't like Selvarajah Rajivarnam (murdered in April, 2007 by Sri Lankan Government)

You didn't like Sivaram Dharmeratnam (murdered in April, 2007 by Sri Lankan Government)

You didn't like Sinnathamby Sivamaharajah (murdered in August, 2006 by Sri Lankan Government)

You don't / didn't like Subramaniam Ramachandran (missing in the Sri Lankan security forces area since February 2007)

this list can go for a while...

Media freedom is non-existence in Sri Lanka. 14 journalists have been killed in last 3 years by the Sri Lankan Government; many fled the country to stay alive; many kidnapped; many harassed; many arrested; many went missing and never heard from again.

and you happended not like Peter Foster, what can I say?!!!

sathyajith

at 03:31 on April 26th, 2009

what can I say?!!!

anything than Forged and unveriyfied lies

The persons you mentioned above are Victims of TkT. Tamil terror group tigers killed them

senthil5000

at 11:27 on April 25th, 2009

LTTE denied this accusation. UN accepted its inability to speak against sri lanka government and only talk against LTTE so that they won't have any problem to continue there otherwise UN will be thrown out in no time.

LTTE Political Head B. Nadesan on Saturday categorically denied recruitment and arming children as young as 12 to fight alongside the Tigers as alleged by news reports citing the UN Colombo Spokesman Gordon Weiss.

"A large number of teenagers and children were killed in the deliberate shelling, bombing and firing by the Sri Lankan forces in Vanni in the last few months. The North Eastern Secretariat on Human Rights (NESoHR) is working on compiling documentary evidence on the massacre of children and all other war crimes and human rights abuses committed by the Colombo government during the war and this will be brought to light at the right time," Mr. Nadesan said.

The UN Colombo office accusation coincides with the visit of the Emergency Relief Coordinator of the UN and Under-Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes, who is on a three-day visit to Colombo to discuss aid to the civilians of Vanni, both in the safety zone and outside