The 600,000 inhabitants of the Jaffna Peninsula, already buffeted by decades of conflict, are now facing food and fuel shortages as a result of a recent upsurge in fighting.
Negotiators representing the Liberation Tigers and the Sri Lankan government began arriving in Geneva this week ahead of Norwegian-brokered talks over the weekend. Both sides have sent large delegations. But no agenda has been agreed. And there is no goodwill either.
The parties [to the conflict] should be reminded that they are under international legal obligations to enable unimpeded access to civilians' - Jan Egeland, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator.
Several governments around the world have tried to rebut criticism of how they handle detainees by claiming they are only following the U.S. example in fighting terrorism, the UN special rapporteur on torture said Monday.
Manfred Nowak said that when he criticizes governments for their questionable treatment of detainees, they respond by telling him that if the United States does something, it must be all right.
Liberation Tigers handed over 74 bodies of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers in black body bags Thursday evening in Kilinochchi. Another soldier's body was taken to Kilinochchi Thursday evening.
"The (main) handover took place on Thursday evening at 8pm local time at Omanthai checkpoint on the A-9 road," said the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which acted as intermediary.
The Liberation Tigers and Sri Lankan government blamed each other Friday for a flare-up of the conflict in Amparai.
Sri Lankan Special Task Force (STF) troopers launched a pre-dawn offensive into Liberation Tigers territory in Amparai Thursday, the LTTE said. "The STF ground troopers have moved in 6 km into our territory inside Kanchikudicharu," said LTTE Amparai District Political Head S. Jeya.
Soldiers undergoing treatment in Anuradhapura general hospital for serious injuries caused in their confrontations with Tiger terrorists at Muhamalai, Nagarkovil and Kilali security front line lamented that they do not receive sufficient care and attention due to various deficiencies in the wards reserved for them, reported the Daily Mirror.
Sri Lanka has banned imports of remote-controlled toy cars, boats and planes because of fears the Tamil Tigers could use them as bombs, a senior military official said last Tuesday.
"You get remote-controlled planes and cars which can be operated on the road. If it gets into the wrong hands, they can bring a small toy, send it underneath a vehicle and blast it," the official said on condition of anonymity.
Police imposed a curfew in Kattankudy as two days of clashes between religious factions resulted in damage to over 30 houses and a number of vehicles. Orthodox Muslims and an Islamic sect that preaches pantheism clashed on October 2 and 3, damaging 32 houses and a van and burning down 3 motorbikes.
The International community reacted with alarm to the latest fighting in Sri Lanka, and delegates from three countries are expected to visit this week to discuss the renewed outbreaks in the conflict.
The arrest of a Tamil youth, Poobalapillai Kantharajah, 26, from Batticaloa, on September 29, shed light on an abduction and extortion racket that has plagued the eastern city for some time.
Amid an intensifying civil war, the Sri Lankan defence authorities have set out tough new guidelines for the media, which amount to de facto censorship of reporting on military activities.
The bodies of 15 Action Internationale Contre la Faim (ACF) aid workers killed in Muttur in August are to be exhumed as part of the investigations into the massacre. Two of the 17 aid workers killed in August have already been exhumed and are being kept in Colombo awaiting examination.
