Posts Tagged ‘Vanni’
Sri Lanka: UN expert calls for ‘humanitarian pause’ to save trapped civilians
[UN News Centre] “I am deeply concerned for the lives of over 100,000 civilians trapped in the 14-square kilometre area of the Vanni declared by the Government of Sri Lanka as a no-fire zone, Walter Kälin, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Representative for the Human Rights of Displaced Persons said following a four-day visit to the island…
Read MoreSri Lanka patients tell of shooting, shelling and trapped relatives
[Doctors Without Borders] As heavy fighting continues in northern Sri Lanka, over 200,000 civilians remain trapped in the conflict in the Vanni region. But, over the past few weeks, some 35,000 people have managed to flee to the city of Vavuniya, 80 km south of the conflict zone. They tell of a beleaguered population living…
Read MoreSri Lanka: End ‘War’ on Civilians
[Human Rights Watch] The Sri Lankan government should immediately cease its indiscriminate artillery attacks on civilians in the northern Vanni region and its policy of detaining displaced persons in internment camps, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Since early January 2009, civilian casualties have skyrocketed in the fighting between the Sri Lankan…
Read MoreTamil journalist killed in bombardment amounting to “war crime”
[Reporters Without Borders] Reporters Without Borders today expressed revulsion at the death of a Tamil journalist in a Sri Lankan Army bombardment on the north of the country, which it described as a “war crime”. Punniyamurthy Sathyamurthy was killed during an air raid on 12 February on Thevipuram, Mullaithivu district in the region of Vanni,…
Read MoreCalls for temporary truce and humanitarian corridors in Sri Lanka
[Amnesty International] Amnesty International has called on the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to immediately declare a temporary humanitarian truce and create humanitarian corridors. This would allow more than a quarter of a million civilians trapped in the Wanni region to escape the ongoing war and also let food,…
Read More