[DEBATE] : (Fwd) Tamil struggle for survival

[Patrick Bond]

Guardian

Tamil demonstrators block streets

Tamils have been staging protests in London over the last two weeks

Tamils staging an ongoing protest in central London have blocked roads 
around Parliament Square as they demand a ceasefire in Sri Lanka.

The Metropolitan Police said about 3,500 people had gathered at 
Parliament as MPs returned after Easter.

The demonstrators began rallying two weeks ago over the conflict between 
the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers separatist group.

Protesters want the UK to end the war in Sri Lanka - a former British 
colony.

The numbers at the protest swelled from hundreds to thousands overnight 
on Sunday after news broke that at least 25,000 civilians had fled 
fighting in a Tamil Tiger-held area in the north of the country.

Human rights

Suren Surendiran, of the British Tamils Forum, said those at the 
demonstration "did not want words any more" and he called on the UK 
government to take the issue to the UN Security Council in order to 
implement a ceasefire.

The prime minister is deeply concerned by the current conflict and there 
should be an immediate ceasefire
Gordon Brown's spokesman

"This is a peaceful demonstration. This is about brothers and fathers 
and sisters being killed. I know people who have lost 15 members of 
their family," he said.

"These are people exercising their democratic right when people across 
the world are having their human rights trampled on."

Among the protesters in Parliament Square is Prarameswaran Subramaniam, 
28, who has lost several family members in the conflict and has gone on 
hunger strike.

A second man, Sivatharsan Sivakumaraval, 21, agreed to call off a fast 
last week.

Lying on a bed in a makeshift tent, Mr Subramaniam said he was on his 
13th day without food.

"This is something I chose to do. I want to do whatever I can to 
highlight the plight of the Tamil people who have been discriminated 
against for the past 60 years," he said.

Mr Subramaniam pledged not to eat again until a ceasefire was agreed.

'Urgent' talks

The Sri Lankan government has rejected calls for such a ceasefire, 
arguing it would give the Tamil Tigers - a proscribed terrorist group in 
many countries, including the UK - time to regroup.

The Tigers - or Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam - are fighting for a 
separatist state in the north and east of the island.

On Sunday, Gordon Brown sent a special envoy to the United Nations in 
New York for "urgent" talks on Sri Lanka.

Des Browne will work to try to secure a ceasefire between government 
forces and Tamil Tiger rebels fighting in the north of Sri Lanka.

Some 100,000 civilians remained trapped in the area and Mr Brown's 
spokesman said the prime minister wanted them to be allowed to leave.

"The prime minister is deeply concerned by the current conflict and 
there should be an immediate ceasefire," he added.

***

Thousands flee from Sri Lankan war zone

April 20, 2009 Edition 2

More than 2 800 civilians had fled Sri Lanka's northern war zone, where 
they were cornered with the remaining Tamil Tiger insurgents, the 
military said yesterday.

Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said the civilians 
reported to the army after crossing the front-line on Saturday.

The UN estimates that more than 100 000 civilians are trapped in the 
area, earlier designated a "no-fire zone" for civilian protection, which 
measures only 20km2.

The government suspended its offensive last week for two days to allow 
civilians to leave, but only a few hundred departed.

Authorities have since rejected widespread international calls for a 
longer cease-fire to allow humanitarian workers to move the civilians to 
safety.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa said the insurgents must allow the civilians 
to move freely.

"If the (rebels) give such freedom … no one could prevent them coming of 
their own free will to the government-controlled areas," he said.

The UN estimates that about 4 500 noncombatants have been killed in the 
past three months amid fierce fighting as government forces have closed 
in on the rebels, aiming to bring an end to the 25-year civil war.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said on Saturday he was 
"gravely concerned" at the continuing threat to the civilians.

"The British government maintains its call for an immediate ceasefire in 
Sri Lanka and for civilians to be allowed to leave the conflict area," 
Miliband said.

Human rights groups have accused the rebels of using the civilians as 
human shields and the government of indiscriminately shelling populated 
areas and disregarding the civilians' safety.

Both sides deny the allegations. The rebels have been fighting to create 
an independent homeland for ethnic minority Tamils, who have claimed 
marginalisation by successive governments. More than 70 000 people have 
been killed in the violence. - Sapa-AP

***

Civilians trapped as Sri Lanka attacks Tigers

April 16, 2009 Edition 1

Sri Lankan forces attacked Tamil guerrillas with mortar fire, artillery 
and heavy machine guns yesterday following a two-day ceasefire aimed at 
letting civilians flee the war zone, a pro-rebel website reported.

The government denied launching a new attack.

The reported fighting could mark the start of a planned final assault 
aimed at destroying the Tamil Tigers and ending the 25-year-old civil war.

However, tens of thousands of civilians remain trapped in the war zone 
and diplomats and human rights groups have called on both sides to 
exercise restraint.

The government had announced a unilateral ceasefire on Monday and 
Tuesday and asked civilians trapped inside the war zone to move out, but 
only a few hundred left.

The government says the rebels are preventing the civilians from 
escaping, while the rebels say the civilians don't want to leave.

The TamilNet website said the government launched a large-scale attack 
for three hours yesterday near a "no-fire zone" intended as a refuge for 
civilians.

Bunkers

Families huddled in bunkers for safety, but as many as 180 civilians 
were killed in the fighting, the website said.

The top government health official in the war zone, Thurairaja 
Varatharajah, said only six bodies and 68 civilians suffering bullet 
wounds had been brought to the makeshift hospital that he runs from a 
school since Tuesday night.

He said the sound of gunfire resumed during the night after the 
ceasefire ended.

Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said government soldiers 
had not launched any new offensives and were only observing the rebels' 
activities.

"We cannot just go there because of the heavy civilian presence," he said.

Confirmation of the fighting was not possible because the government 
bars journalists and aid workers from the war zone.

The rebels said on Tuesday that the ceasefire, declared by President 
Mahinda Rajapaksa to mark the Sri Lankan New Year, was an "act of 
hoodwinking" and that only an internationally supervised truce would be 
effective.

Despite international appeals, the government said it had no intention 
of extending the ceasefire.

The UN says more than 100 000 people are trapped along with the cornered 
guerrillas in the gover ment- declared "no-fire" zone measuring just 20km2.

A series of battlefield victories in the past six months have pushed the 
Tamil Tigers - who once ran a de facto state in the north and east of 
the Indian Ocean island nation - into a small strip of land in the north.

Malnutrition

The government has rejected several calls for a permanent ceasefire, 
saying the military will finish off the insurgency soon.

Varatharajah said cases of malnutrition among children in the conflict 
area were rapidly increasing.

With little food for themselves, new mothers were not producing enough 
breast milk to feed their babies, and other infants were suffering when 
their lactating mothers were killed or badly injured.

The area only had enough infant formula to feed 25 percent of the 
affected children, he said, appealing for urgent supplies of formula to 
be sent to the region. - Sapa-AP