Child Soldiers of LTTE Tamil Tigers
2006 Archive

International will can eliminate child soldiers: UN expert
Daily India: 31 December, 2006
Child soldiers number around 300,000 around the world, encompassing almost all the continents, and like slavery this problem too can be ended if there is international will, asserts a top UN official.

Radhika Coomaraswamy explained in an email interview that this is the only human rights issue the UN Security Council has taken up and the parties that recruit and use children in war will 'with time face targeted measures'. [Full Story]

Last three decades LTTE created humanitarian crisis and blamed the Government - Bernard Goonatilake, Sri Lanka’s US envoy
Asian Tribune: 28 December, 2006
Ambassador Bernard Goonetileke, envoy for Sri Lanka in Washington DC told Amnesty International that for three decades the aim of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has been always to create humanitarian situations in the country’s North and East for its own good and blame it on the government.Bernard Goonetileke: “In the nearly three decades old separatist war carried out by the liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) , civilians particularly in the North and the East had to pay a heavy price.” Goonetileke said LTTE’s aim has been always to exploit the situation to achieve international sympathy and support for its separatist agenda.

He was replying to a letter addressed to the Embassy and circulated among the public by the human rights organization.

“In the nearly three decades old separatist war carried out by the liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE) ,” said ambassador Goonetileke, “civilians particularly in the North and the East had to pay a heavy price. In their quest for a mono-ethnic one party separatist state for a part of the Tamil population living in the North and the East the aim of the LTTE has always been to create humanitarian situations in these areas and to blame it on the government , exploiting the situation to achieve international sympathy and support for its separatist agenda.”

...
In November 2006 , he said the LTTE used 45,000 civilians as human shields in Kadiravel and Vakarai, north of Batticaloa town in the Eastern Province. He charged the LTTE also used children and adults housed as refugees in two schools as human shields.

...
He said the Sri Lankan Government is fully ware of the need to ensure the safety of these refugees, but pointed out it was not always possible given the security situation when the LTTE mingle with them and try to keep them under control or try to recruit child soldiers. All IDP camps have been made accessible to ICRC and other humanitarian agencies and the IDP’s have been allowed to make representations to those institutions to ask for redress if necessary, Goonetileke said. [Full Story]

Why the international interventionists failed in Sri Lanka
Asian Tribune: 25 December, 2006
The various phases of the history of peace-making in Sri Lanka have consolidated collectively into an entirely separate segment in the chain of bloody events dragged on by the on-again-off-again war waged by the Tamil Tigers. For students of conflict resolution there are many Ph. Ds theses waiting to be teased out from the complex skeins of this peace process. The central issue of why the peace process has failed, despite the inter-actions of the many well-meaning and even sinister interventionists, can be turned into a profitable industry for academics and, of course, the hired NGOcoolies digging up dirt to throw at the Sri Lankan government.

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Case 2: Lord Naseby (speaking in the House of Lords): My Lords, is the Minister aware that the Tamil Tigers are still recruiting child soldiers in north-east Sri Lanka; that the suicide bomber was a pregnant young woman; and that the Tamil Tigers still proclaims that it wishes to have peace in that country? Meanwhile, the Minister says that proscription is tough on those proscribed. Is he aware, nevertheless, that there is continual money laundering in the United Kingdom; that illegal rallies take place under the flags of Tamil Eelam; that bogus charities are being set up; and that TTN is broadcasting Tamil Eelam propaganda in the UK? He may say that the issues are dealt with toughly and rest with other government bodies, but is he aware that the proscription is being flouted? Is it not the responsibility of the Home Office and the Government in general to make sure that proscription means what it is meant to mean and that it is not just flouted almost daily? [Full Story]

Rebel Group Preventing Children From Being Educated, Sri Lanka Says
The New York Sun: 22 December, 2006
SYDNEY, Australia — Sri Lanka's government said the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam group is trying to "cripple" education for children by forcing them to join their fight for an independent state.

The LTTE wants to "create an uneducated generation of children among the Tamil people," a Defense Ministry spokesman, Keheliya Rambukwella, said yesterday. The rebels abducted 21 students and two teachers earlier this week in the eastern district of Amparai before releasing the group.

Rebels said the abductions were a mistake and that the factions responsible will be disciplined, the TamilNet Web site cited unidentified LTTE officials as saying yesterday. [Full Story]

Students abducted for military training by the LTTE with shaven heads...
Lanka eNews: 22 December, 2006
Children who said they were abducted by LTTE talk to each other during police investigation at the Special Task Force police commando camp in Kanchanakuda Ampara, Sri Lanka, December 21, 2006. Seven Tamil school boys emerged from Tamil Tiger territory in eastern Sri Lanka on Thursday, saying LTTE threatened them with grenades and cut their hair in apparent preparation for military training.
(Photo Curtesy: Reuter)






[Full Story]

Tamil rebels admit 'mistake'
Gulf News: 22 December, 2006
Armed men have kidnapped 16 boys and three girls in eastern Sri Lanka, a pro-rebel website reported yesterday, as Tiger guerillas admitted a "mistake" in conscripting 21 others.

The Tamilnet.com website said members of the breakaway Tiger faction known as the "Karuna group", which is allegedly backed by the government, carried out the latest abduction in the district of Batticaloa on Wednesday night.

"Parents who opposed the abductions were beaten by the kidnappers, alleged to be paramilitary cadres of Karuna Group," the website reported.

The government on Tuesday had accused the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) of kidnapping 21 students and two of their teachers for military training.

The Tigers freed the children in two batches amid protests from parents and relief agencies in the area.

A rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthiriyan said the field commanders who had carried out the kidnappings had been suspended, adding the conscription was a "mistake". [Full Story]

We were forced to join tiger organization!
Lanka Truth: 22 December, 2006
Three tiger terrorists brandishing hand grenades broke into the tuition class they were attending and abducted them say girls who were abducted on the 18th by tiger terrorists at Vinayagapuram at Ampare.

After they were abducted the tigers put them into two groups – one for males and the other for females and forced them to join the tiger organization and receive military training said these girls. The children rejected the tiger request saying they wanted to pursue their studies.

Tiger terrorists released a few of the children abducted by them as pressure mounted locally and internationally against the tigers for abducting schoolchildren.

Out of the children who were abducted 15 were released due to pressure from the media and organizations. 7 more were released yesterday. However, no information has been reached regarding one female student. [Full Story]

Tigers holding seven boys for military training: officials
Hindustan Times: 21 December, 2006
Tamil Tiger rebels who seized 22 teenagers in eastern Sri Lanka freed 15 girls but were holding seven boys for military training, local officials have said.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said members of their eastern units had taken the children away by mistake on Monday night in Amparai district and the regional commanders were ordered to free all of them.

However, local officials in the area said that parents were still trying to secure the release of the boys, who had been deprived of sitting for a national-level examination. [Full Story]

Child abductions: Who cares?
Ministry Of Defence/The Island: 21 December, 2006
The LTTE abducted 23 school children and two teachers on Monday and later released some of the children and the teachers under pressure. The LTTE claimed it had let go of those children, as they were found to be underage. What right does the LTTE have to forcibly hold other children simply because they are not minors? The Tigers' excuse amounts to a confession that they are abducting children, despite their claims to the contrary.

A provincial leader of the LTTE has promised action against his cadres who were involved in the abduction of the 'underage' children. Whom is he trying to fool? In the LTTE, nothing gets done without the leader's nod. It may be that the outfit was desperate to avoid adverse publicity in the international media at a time when grand preparations were being made for Mr. Anton Balasingham's funeral in London. Abductions couldn't have come at a worse time for the Tigers.

Whether the LTTE owns up to child abductions or not, the entire world is fully aware of its crimes against children. The UN has placed it on its List of Shame for that reason. But, the question is why the world is not doing enough to rein in the Tigers for the sake of hapless children, many of whom have stopped schooling for fear of abductions. In liberating children from its clutches, as we have said umpteen times in these columns, pressure is the key. We have seen how pressure works as regards Monday's abductions. But, no powerful country accommodating the LTTE on its soil seems to care!

Strangely, in a world where international aid for sovereign states is linked to human rights, terrorist groups perpetrating heinous crimes against children (as well as others) are allowed to operate in the very countries that lead the global democratisation campaign from the front, despite bans!

An LTTE activist living abroad in comfort and fighting for the cause via Internet from a safe distance once wrote to us that the child soldiers were fighting for 'national liberation' and he saw nothing wrong in recruiting them. He said no issue should be made of child soldiers as many children in other parts of the country were being abused as sex workers and child labourers. In countering his skewed argument, we chose not to go the extent of asking him whether he had any of his own children fighting for the LTTE. We only politely reminded him that two wrongs do not make one right and the two issues had to be dealt with separately. An elderly Tamil scholar, who passed away recently, had the chutzpah to try to justify child abductions on the grounds that the LTTE was recruiting children, as it had no other way of raising its numbers, due to a sharp decrease in the population in the North! If so, then why the LTTE leaders don't encourage their progeny to make a con tribution to the armed struggle is the question. Charity begins at home, doesn't it? [Full Story]

Villagers assault on LTTE, avert abduction of youth - Batticaloa
Ministry Of Defence: 21 December, 2006
A collective effort from a group of villagers successfully averted an LTTE terrorist attempt to abduct a Tamil youth at Kaluwankerni, 07 miles North- West off Batticaloa, on Thursday, the 21st of December at about 4:50 p.m.

The group of LTTE cadres were rounded up and assaulted while attempting to abduct another 26 year old youth from an IDP centre in the East- Batticaloa area.

Civilians said that 5 unidentified men had come in a three-wheeler to abduct the youth. The angry villagers had attacked the outlaws and handed them over to the Army troops.

Later the arrested were transported to the Eravur police station for further interrogations.

The incident was reported amidst LTTE regrets over the mass abduction of 23 school children and two teachers at Thirukkovil in Ampara, on Monday 18th of December, and the mass abduction of 19 youth (20th December) who were traveling in a Colombo bound bus from Kattankudy - Batticaloa.

Later the LTTE terrorists released few of the abducted school children, after failing to conceal its crime from the local and foreign media organisations. About 100 of school students from the same school have been boycotting their exams, demanding the immediate release of their fellow students. The BBC correspondent in a news report said that it was a "rare display of open protest by Tamil civilians" against the terrorists.

The LTTE crime over innocent children in Ampara was immediately revealed by the defence.lk web site, in which consequently the terrorist outfit received heavy battering through news headlines. Realizing the forthcoming consequences pro-LTTE media immediately quoted the mass abduction of school children as a 'mistake'. [Full Story]

19 Youth abducted; Parents fear LTTE campaign for fresh recruitment - Batticaloa
Ministry Of Defence: 21 December, 2006
Fresh reports from Eravur - Batticaloa stated that the total number of abducted individuals has risen to nineteen. The report further said that the 19 youth including 16 males and 3 females have gone missing while traveling in a Kattankudy - Colombo bound bus on Wednesday, the 20th of December, at 9:00 p.m.

Complaints were logged by the parents who feared that the LTTE terrorists were responsible for the abductions of youth along the Batticaloa - Eravur(A16), main route.

Meantime, witnesses who had fled the crime scene said that a group of terrorists blocked the private bus numbered WPJN - 2063, and dozens of armed cadres surrounded the bus which 05 males and a female heavily armed boarded, and took the youth forcibly.

As per eye-witnesses the group of outlaws has immediately fled the scene along with the 19 youth who were mainly around 20 - 30 years of age. [Full Story]

Defence Spokseman Challenges Rock On Child Abduction Claims
SL Army: 21 December, 2006
GOVERNMENT DEFENCE SPOKESMAN Keheliya Rambukwella challenged the remark by UN Special Rapporteur on Child Soldiers Alan Rock that he would come up with evidence in two months to prove the Security Forces were conniving in child abductions, saying that the LTTE's self admission in the abduction of 24 GCE OL students clearly showed who the perpetrators were.

The international community now has proof and strong evidence that the LTTE was recruiting child soldiers. The Rapporteur of UN on Child Soldiers in Conflict Allan Rock blamed the Government Security Forces for conniving with in the recruitment of child soldiers and vowed to provide evidence within two months. [Full Story]

Govt rules out role in child abduction
One World: 21 December, 2006
Government Defence Spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella yesterday challenged the remark by UN Special Rapporteur on Child Soldiers Alan Rock that he would come up with evidence in two months to prove the Security Forces were conniving in child abductions, saying that the LTTE's self admission in the abduction of 24 OL students clearly showed who the perpetrators were.

The international community now have proof and strong evidence that the LTTE was recruiting child soldiers. The Rapporteur of UN on Child Soldiers in Conflict Allan Rock blamed the Government Security Forces for conniving with in the recruitment of child soldiers and vowed to provide evidence within two months.

"We are ready to provide credible evidence within the next 12 hours to prove how the LTTE is recruiting child soldiers. The interviews and details will be available from the 15 students released by the LTTE," Rambukwella said.

The Minister said the SLMM and INGO's have still not responded on the abduction. Even after the LTTE released the students, the SLMM announced that they are still probing who was behind the abduction even after the parents lodged complaint on the abductions. [Full Story]

LTTE slammed for continued child enlisting
Daily News: 21 December, 2006
Child rights activists yesterday slammed the LTTE for continuing to abduct and forcibly enroll children for combat and called upon the international community to take stern action against the LTTE.

Commenting on the LTTE's abduction of 23 Ordinary Level students in Vinayagapuram on Tuesday, leading child rights activist Dr. Hiranthi Wijemanne said that recruiting children for combat by the LTTE has been a pattern and a feature throughout the two-decade conflict in Sri Lanka.

"It is reported that some of the children abducted on Tuesday have been released. But it is not a question of abducting and releasing. Those children should not have been abducted at all. It is time that both the international community and organisations adopt a zero tolerance policy on this issue," she said.

Dismissing the LTTE's claim that the abduction was a 'mistake' owing to the failure to clarify the age of the children, Dr. Wijemanne said it was obvious that the children were under age since they were in a tuition class at the time of abduction. [Full Story]

Lankan Tamil Tigers free 15 girls out of 23 students abducted
Islamic Republic News Agency: 20 December, 2006
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels have released 15 girls out of 23 students abducted by them Monday night.

Two teachers were also released by the Tamil Tigers Tuesday evening, All India Radio (AIR) reported here Wednesday quoting Sri Lankan military sources. The release came following "enormous pressure exerted on the LTTE by both the local and international community."

Twenty-three students and two teachers were abducted by the Tamil Tigers from Vinayaga Puram, 30 kilometers south of Amparai district in eastern Sri Lanka. The students were attending a preparatory tutorial class for the ongoing O Level (matriculation) examination when the abduction took place.

The abducted students were reportedly taken to Kanji Kudichiaru where the Tamil Tigers are running a training camp. [Full Story]

Tamil Tigers Kidnap 2000 Children
Prensa Latina: 20 December, 2006
Major General Prasad Samarasinghe announced Wednesday that the Tigers for the Liberation of Tamil Eelam (TLTE) have kidnapped 2000 children since the signature of Sri Lanka truce in February 2002.

Sri Lanka Army spokesman Samarasinghe assured in a press conference in Colombo that 455 of the children were kidnapped in the area controlled by the government and the rest in the TLTE area at the north and east of the island.

The top military officials declarations report on the kidnapping of 24 minors, mostly girls at classes in a private school in Amparai district.

Subsequently Tamil Tigers released those students and considered the event on their website Tamilnet as an "unfortunate episode."

The UN has recently denounced the TLTE for violating childrens rights. [Full Story]

Sri Lanka accuses rebels of abducting at least 455 underage fighters this year
America Online: 20 December, 2006
Sri Lanka's government on Wednesday accused Tamil Tiger rebels of abducting at least 455 underage combatants from government-controlled areas this year and asked the insurgents to stop the practice.

"This figure is based on actual police reports that were lodged after parents complained," military spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe told a news conference. "The figure will be much higher as many parents do not come forward fearing retribution." [Full Story]

Tigers admit to kidnapping 21 children – BBC
The Island/BBC: 20 December, 2006
The LTTE have admitted to kidnapping at least 21 students in the East, the BBC reported yesterday.

An LTTE spokesman told the BBC that junior Tiger fighters had made a "serious mistake" in taking the children from their school.

Correspondents say that in the past the Tigers have always denied abducting children to use as soldiers.

LTTE military spokesman Rasaiah Ilanthirayan told the BBC Sinhala service that the junior Tigers who abducted the children had been expelled from the movement.

He said that the children were being handed back to their parents.

Earlier, army spokesman Brig Prasad Samarasinghe told the BBC News website that the children, mostly teenage girls, were abducted in the eastern Ampara area. [Full Story]

S.Lanka rebels free children amid recruitment 'mistake'
Reuters: 19 December, 2006
Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers said on Tuesday they had freed 23 teenage school children reported abducted overnight, and had suspended rebel fighters who recruited them without checking their age.

However the military said the Tigers only released 15 of 16 girls aged 15-17 who were taken from an evening class in the coastal hamlet of Vinayagapuram, in the tsunami-battered eastern district of Ampara, late on Monday.

One girl and seven boys were still missing.

It was the first time the Tigers have made public a disciplinary measure against their own fighters, as the rebels fight a new escalating chapter of the island's two-decade civil war with the military.

"It wasn't actually an abduction," Tiger military spokesman Rasaiah Ilanthiraiyan told Reuters by telephone from the rebels' northern stronghold. "Our cadres who brought in the young fellows did not properly check their ages, and that is criminal negligence."

"They have been released to their relatives," he added. "The cadres involved have been decommissioned - like a suspension."

The Tigers routinely deny charges by United Nations childrens' agency UNICEF that they recruit children, and argue that any children in their ranks lied about their age to get there. [Full Story]

LTTE terrorists abduct 23 school children - Thirukkovil
Ministry Of Defence: 19 December, 2006
A group of armed LTTE terrorists abducted 23 school children and two school teachers at Thirukkovil in Ampara last night. According to the civilian sources the terrorists at gun point had ordered a group of school children and their two school masters to get in to a van around 10.p.m at a place near the old post office at Thirukkovil. The van then observed being speeding towards the Kanchakudikkaru LTTE held area.

A mother of an abducted child told defence.lk , that her daughter along with all other abducted children were attending to an extra class conducted by two of their school masters in view of the ongoing G.C.E Ordinary Level Examination.

"My daughter had high hopes in her exam, but the LTTE robbed her future" the mother told in tears.

A school teacher from the area revealed that all abducted children were students of the Vinayagapuram Central College and were due to sit for the examination today (Tuesday the 19th of December). "The examination scheduled today is for the science subjects" the teacher added.

It has been further revealed that the van the terrorists used to transport the abducted children had also been robbed by them from a civilian, shortly before the abduction took place. The van owner told police, that four armed LTTE cadres had come to his residence last night and forcibly took his vehicle bearing the number 52-6095 away. However the van was later found abandon at a location between Thirukkovil and Kanchakudikkaru this morning.

A father of an abducted school child speaking to defence.lk said that all the parents of the abducted students would go to LTTE held areas today to demand the release of their children.

"They (The LTTE) hate our children being educated, all they want from Tamil girls to become suicide bombers, and I will never let them to make my young daughter a suicide bomber" the father said.

The details of the abducted children and the two teachers are as follows:

Name	Sex	Age
Ganeshmurthi Sadhaneshan	Male	16
Mailawaganam Jeykumar	Male	16
Pakkiyaraja Rajeshwaran	Male	17
Rasalingam Keerthanan	Male	16
Gokulakrishnan Ketheeswaran	Male	16
A.Sajindaran	Male	16
N. Nirojan	Male	16
Kovalapulle Prbha	Female	17
Arulrasa Kumudini	Female	17
Shammugalingam Gokulavadini	Female	16
Pushparadha Prasadhini	Female	17
Mahendran Roshandhini	Female	16
Mohanrasa Pushparani	Female	16
Yogeshwaran Gokulavani	Female	16
Thilakarasa Anula	Female	17
Arumugam Kachchayani	Female	16
Jeewarsa Jeewadharshani	Female	17
Dharmarathnam Renuka	Female	17
Devarasa Kuveni	Female	17
Ameerthan Fernando Vijitha	Female	17
Wilson Sakar Roomini	Female	17
K. Gokulavadini	Female	16
Manoharan Revathi	Female	17
Teachers
Dharmarasa Vignaraja	Male	33
Velupille Udayakumar	Female	36

[Full Story]

Anton Balasingham – voice or vice of "Thamby" in the Vanni?
Asian Tribune: 17 December, 2006
Though to some Tamils, particularly those in the diaspora, Velupillai Prabhakaran, the internationally banned terrorist leader, is a cult figure the Tamils in the east, a sizeable segment of the Tamils in the north and in the diaspora consider him as the man who denigrated the image of the Tamils and reduced the Tamils to almost a vanishing tribe in Sri Lanka. Faced with a backlash that was de-legitimizing his politics of violence Prabhakaran was in need of a spin doctor to polish his image and to justify his ruthless violence, targeting in particular the Tamils.

...
He did declare in Oslo that with the signing of the Ceasefire Agreement the Tigers had committed themselves to a federal solution (and Solheim repeats it to this day) and then reneged on it saying that he meant "self-determination." He could negotiate agreements with the UN to terminate recruitment of child soldiers and the next minute pigeon-hole it, never to be looked at again. He could vehemently condemn any excesses committed by the Sri Lankan security forces and in the same breath downplay the brutalities of the Tamil Tigers as "collateral damage." [Full Story]

Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy's credibility gap on child soldiers
Ministry Of Defence: 15 December, 2006
More child soldiers were handed over to the police by the UNICEF officials in Batticaloa yesterday. Although the UNICEF officials have shrewdly refrained from giving much information on how they found these child soldiers, the statements obtained from child soldiers themselves, revealed that they had been forcibly conscripted by the LTTE. Further, unconfirmed reports hint that these Tamil youths were rescued by the LTTE's breakaway Karuna faction, when the both groups clashed in Thoppigala .

Irrespective of how these child soldiers came to UNICEF office, it is crystal clear that they were the conscripts of the LTTE. Yet, it is not that unclear that there goes a sinister campaign to mislead the international community by concealing, or if it is not possible, by diluting the grave crimes committed by the LTTE.

"Child Soldiering" has become the most feared allegation levelled against the LTTE that the terror sympathizers are gutting out to defend. Failing to do so, some of the LTTE's sympathizers even try to justify the abominable act on the grounds that Karuna faction is doing the same.

On the other hand, the existence of the Karuna faction has been the most grumbled grievance by the LTTE, which it used to set out to conceal its diplomatic bankruptcy during the peace talks. The terror sympathizers, though miserably failed , strived hard to unearth a link between the Karuna faction and the security forces.

Ironically, the LTTE seems to exploit the same "Karuna" strategy to defend itself against the long standing allegation levelled against the outfit for keeping a "baby' Brigade. In this backdrop, it is inevitable for many Sri Lankans to see certain action as well as the inaction of local diplomats serving in International Organizations as parts of the same prank.

The following is a joint press release issued by two organizations namely World Alliance for Peace in Sri Lanka (WAPS) and The Consortium of Sri Lanka Expatriates (SLX) expressing their concerns with regard to Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy's behaviour towards the LTTE's child recruitment.

Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy's credibility gap on child soldiers
The escalating violence in Sri Lanka has placed a greater responsibility on the UN and its instrumentalities mediating with all parties to respect international humanitarian law. The role of Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy, the UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, is of special significance because the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (better known as Tamil Tigers) have been violating agreements signed with the UN on the forcible recruitment of Tamil children. She is well aware that her predecessor, Mr. Olara Ottunnu, had failed in his mission to get the Tamil Tigers to honour the agreements signed with the UN.

Besides, based on the commendable reports of the UN missions in seven countries (including Sri Lanka) Ms. Coomaraswamy reported to the Security Council (November 28, 2006) the prevailing conditions of the "children of war" in seven countries.

However, of the seven countries Ms. Coomaraswamy, decided to investigate only one country: Sri Lanka. She commissioned Mr. Allan Rock, a former Canadian Cabinet Minister of the Liberal Party to investigate the issue of child soldiers in Sri Lanka. Mr. Rock was the Minister of Justice in the Liberal Party government which had consistently refused to ban the Tamil Tigers despite mounting evidence presenting by Canadian authorities and research institutes.

This raises two questions: 1. if the UN missions in these countries had submitted commendable reports what was her objective in hand picking a special representative to investigate only Sri Lanka? 2. Wasn't it a waste of money considering the fact that she already had on her table a commendable report from the UN mission in Sri Lanka?

Predictably, after a brief tour of the eastern province, Mr. Rock produced a report that repeated what the Tamil Tigers have been propagating earlier. He said that the Sri Lankan government was responsible for rounding of up Tamil children in the east to beef up the cadres of the break-away group from the Tamil Tigers led by Col. Karuna.

The Government of Sri Lanka has asked her to substantiate the comments of Mr.Rock with hard evidence. Whether, his comments are true or not, Ms. Coomaraswamy rush to investigate only Sri Lanka and her decision to hand pick Mr. Rock, with his connections to a pro-Tamil Tigers government in Canada, has created a credibility gap.

Concerned that these first moves of Ms. Coomaraswamy after taking office are not conducive for the future of peace, the Sri Lankan diaspora has questioned her suitability to be re-appointed to handle the relevant complex issues with a fair degree of competence and objectivity. Organizations in the Sri Lanka diaspora have alerted both the incoming Secretary-General Designate, His Excellency Ban Kim-moon and the President of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapakse about the credibility gap created by her initial moves.

In an interview with IPS just before his election as secretary-general last month, H.E. Ban Kim-moon said: "The most serious issue facing the U.N. is the credibility gap resulting from the organization's inability to handle the complexities of the issues it faces." [Full Story]

Second Anton Balasingham would never be made to guide Prabhakaran out of the jungles of Vanni
Ministry Of Defence: 15 December, 2006
Anton Balasingham, (68) advisor to one of the most ruthless terrorist leaders of the world, Velupillai Prabhakaran, died of cancer Thursday at his London home.

...
Like many other diplomats he was ready to lie for his movement. When Ollara Otunu of the United Nations visited him in Kilinochchi he brazenly gave an assurance to discharge all the child soldiers from the army of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) knowingly he could not do it since their military future depended on them. He bluffed the UN and other Agencies so long that the child soldiers grew up to become adult soldiers and suicide bombers while his movement continued to kidnap more children from Tamil homes. He has never been condemned by anybody for his action although his movement has been condemned for it. [Full Story]

TWENTY ONE LTTE CADRES KILLED IN THE EAST BY THE KARUNA FACTION AND THE ARMY; ONE POW RESCUED
Lanka Web: 15 December, 2006
Twenty one LTTE cadres died at the hands of Karuna Faction and the Sri Lanka Army probably in two incidents but the LTTE alleged that the assaults have been done in a joint operation by the Sri Lanka Army and karuna faction. Asad Moulana , spokesman for the karuna faction, or Thamileela Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) told the BBC’s Tamil service “Thamil osai” that their troops in an attack conducted in defense shot down 15 LTTE cadres and handed over 12 child soldiers rescued who were in the custody of the LTTE to the police to be handed over to the UNICEF.

...
But Rasiah Ilantheriyan LTTE spokesman said the assaults were done jointly and they had attacked a medical team who were taking some injured soldiers from Vakarai to another area controlled by the LTTE. Giving an explanation of the 12 young boys handed over the police Ilantheriyan said they were civilians who sought the assistance of the LTTE to flee from the ravages of war.

Karuna spokesman, Asad Moulana said the clash that occurred 10.30 p.m. December 14 at Madurankuli in the Batticaloa District 15 LTTE cadres were killed. The 12 child soldiers rescued were handed over to the police so that they could be given over to the UNICEF.

Meanwhile the bodies of six LTTE cadres killed by the Army were handed over to the Valachchenai hospital for post moretem examinations. [Full Story]

TMVP killed 20 LTTE cadres and rescued 12 underage children
Asian Tribune: 15 December, 2006
Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal killed 20 cadres belonging to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, in a clash on Wednesday evening in the east of Sri lanka

According to Azad Moulana, spokesman for TMVP, LTTE launched the attack on their military wing at Maruthankulam .

He said that when their cadres were moving in the Poonanai - Maruthankulam area, LTTE cadres challenged their cadres and launched the attack which was readily responded by TMVP. He said that the attack lasted for nearly three hours.

In the battle he said that 20 LTTE cadres were killed and 12 underage children were also rescued from the LTTE who have been abducted by them against their wishes for compulsory military training.

...
The following 12 underage children who were rescued from the clutches of the LTTE were handed over by TMVP to the UNICEF Representatives:
Ganeshan Saththiyaseelan – 16 years
Manicjkavasagam Kuhanathan - 14 Years
Gnanasundaram Kumar - 16years
Nesathurai Mehanathan - 16 years
Kanthsamy Sathiyaraja - 13 Years
Thavarajah Kohularajah - 16 years
Piranchuliayan - 16 Years
Santhirakumar Ayinkaran - 16 Years
Sabapathipilla Sivnangnanam - 15 Years
Sellathurai Vijayakanth - 14
Amalathas Amalarupan - 14 Years
Subramanaim Rupanathan - 14 years.
[Full Story]

Captured LTTE child soldiers handed over to UNICEF by TMVP – EXCLUSIVE photo feature
The Independent: 15 December, 2006
Twelve LTTE child soldiers who were captured by the Karuna faction during the gun battle near Verugal were handed over to UNICEF yesterday(14) by the Karuna faction's regional leadership. The cadres were handed over to under the UNICEF with the inspection of Police and UN officials. Last week, UN officials and Karuna faction came to an understanding against the recruitment of Child soldiers and Karuna faction pledged to give fullest support to the UNICEF. It also vowed to free child soldiers who were conscripted by the LTTE.

These LTTE child soldiers were captured when TMVP attacked the LTTE cadres who were heavily withdrawing from Vakarai unable to bear the attacks of the Sri Lankan Army.

“We will continue to free child soldiers and expose LTTE atrocities to the world,” a Karuna faction spokesman told the correspondent. [Full Story]

Vaharai offensive brought 'under control'
The Independent: 15 December, 2006
A Sri Lanka Army (SLA) offensive towards Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) administered Vaharai region via Panichchankerni to the south has been brought 'under control' by LTTE frontline forces, Sethurupan Nadarajah says.

The offensive which began at around 6am this morning was the third such move towards Vaharai in as many days, he further added.

Sethu claims that "The Sri Lankan forces have been forced to retreat to their former positions, LTTE sources added," in his pro LTTE tamileditor website.

Meanwhile, dozens of retreating LTTE cadres were captured by the Karuna cadres.

"Sethu continues to fool Tamil expats," according to a former LTTE supporter now turned TMVP in Norway. " It is interesting that there are Tamils who actually believe in the nonsense Sethu is publishing in his website," he added. [Full Story]

UNICEF hands over LTTE child soldiers to Police- Batticaloa
Ministry Of Defence: 14 December, 2006
UNICEF officials in Batticaloa handed over 12 LTTE conscripts including six children to the Police station at Batticaloa this evening. The LTTE cadres have revealed that they were forcibly conscripted to the LTTE recently and were forced to fight against the security forces along with many similar rookies.

Police sources said, five of the surrendered LTTE cadres were with serious injuries and were admitted to the General Hospital Batticaloa by the UNICEF officials.

The head of the UNICEF in Batticaloa told the police that all twelve youth had deserted the LTTE during the battle and came to her office this afternoon. She also instructed the Police to take necessary actions to hand over the surrendered youth to their parents as early as possible. [Full Story]

'I am not a Tiger'
Toronto Sun: 13 December, 2006
The Sri Lanka-born mom of a drowned Scarborough boy told immigration officials she fled to Canada with her four children fearing they'd be recruited as child soldiers for the Tamil Tigers.

Nine years later, a half-frozen Canadian pond took the life of Sathiyasri Ratnasingham's third eldest, Birunthan Nadarajah, 11.

The boy died after Toronto Police found him in a water retention pond Sunday where he broke through thin ice trying to reach his friend, Koshoban Alakeswaran, 15.

"The children faced forced recruitment by the LTTE (Tamil Tigers) if they are returned to Sri Lanka," the mother told immigration officials at a hearing last year, "Boys and girls as young as 12 continue to be recruited.

"The children's refusal to join the LTTE puts them at risk of persecution and torture and entitles them to refugee protection." [Full Story]

Dead boy's family 'in limbo'
Toronto Sun: 12 December, 2006
The Sri Lanka-born mom of a drowned Scarborough boy told immigration officials she fled to Canada with her four children fearing they’d be recruited as child soldiers for the Tamil Tigers.

Nine years later, a half-frozen Canadian pond took the life Sunday of Sathiyasri Ratnasingham’s third eldest, Birunthan Nadarajah, 11.

Dad Muralitharan Nadarajah, whose first name is also spelled Muralidaran, said he, his wife and eldest daughter were born in Sri Lanka, before Birunthan, another daughter and youngest son were born in Switzerland.

The boy died after Toronto Police found him in a water retention pond Sunday where he broke through a thin shell of ice trying to reach his friend, Koshoban Alakeswaran, 15. [Full Story]

“I Am Still Unable to Visit My Home Town” – TULF Leader
Sri Lanka Army: 11 December, 2006
MODERATE TAMIL POLITICAL LEADER Mr. V. Ananda Sangaree, President, Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) who is a prime target of Tiger terrorist group that comprises his own northern Tamil youth was recently honoured in France with presentation of a special UNESCO award in appreciation of his prolonged tolerance and role against violence.

He was the first Sri Lankan to be the recipient of this prestigious UNESCO Award where, he in his brief address on the acknowledgement of the Award regretted his miserable inability to visit his home town in the north of Sri Lanka with this Award due to persistent Tiger (LTTE) threats on his life and his political work.

...
“Armed groups that use weaponry to fulfill their goals are emerging all over the world. LTTE is following the path of terror and go on recruiting child soldiers of Tamil families and brainwashing them for military attacks. LTTE has been banned in many countries and they are directly responsible for assassinations including an Indian Prime Minister, a Sri Lankan President, a Foreign Minister and a number of Sinhala as well as Tamil intellectuals, political leaders, civilians, members of the Armed Forces and the Police, journalists, etc. They also forcefully evicted many Muslims in the north and east and brutally murdered them.” [Full Story]

House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 07 Nov 2006 (pt 0001)
British MPs and Lords ask why Tamil Tigers are allowed to use UK as a base for terrorism
Asian Tribune: 10 December, 2006
The House of Commons and the House of Lords are putting pressure on Tony Blair’s government to crack down on Tamil Tigers raising funds in Britain.

Lord Naseby, pin-pointing "that there is continual money laundering in the United Kingdom; that illegal rallies take place under the flags of Tamil Eelam; that bogus charities are being set up; and that TTN is broadcasting Tamil Eelam propaganda in the UK" flouting the British proscription asked: "Is it not the responsibility of the Home Office and the Government in general to make sure that proscription means what it is meant to mean and that it is not just flouted almost daily?"

...
Lord Naseby: My Lords, is the Minister aware that the Tamil Tigers is still recruiting child soldiers in north-east Sri Lanka; that the suicide bomber was a pregnant young woman; and that the Tamil Tigers still proclaims that it wishes to have peace in that country? Meanwhile, the Minister says that proscription is tough on those proscribed. Is he aware, nevertheless, that there is continual money laundering in the United Kingdom; that illegal rallies take place under the flags of Tamil Eelam; that bogus charities are being set up; and that TTN is broadcasting Tamil Eelam propaganda in the UK? He may say that the issues are dealt with toughly and rest with other government bodies, but is he aware that the proscription is being flouted? Is it not the responsibility of the Home Office and the Government in general to make sure that proscription means what it is meant to mean and that it is not just flouted almost daily? [Full Story]

Sri Lanka breakaway Tamil Group To Give UNICEF Access To Check Child Soldiers
Lanka Everything: 08 December, 2006
A breakaway Tamil rebel faction says it will give Unicef monitors free access to its camps to check claims it has recruited child soldiers, the United Nations said Friday.

Col. Karuna, head of the faction accused by the U.N. last month of recruiting child soldiers with the active assistance of the Sri Lankan army, denied the allegation and said he would cooperate with Unicef to ensure children are protected, the U.N. said.

"This is a major step forward that will help to prevent children from being used by armed groups in Sri Lanka," the U.N. quoted Radhika Coomaraswamy, who heads the Office of the Special Representative for Children in Armed Conflict, as saying. [Full Story]

Sri Lanka: Karuna denies allegation of recruitment and use of children and volunteers to work with the UN
Asian Tribune: 08 December, 2006
Colonel Karuna a.k.a V.Muralidharan, has emphatically denied all allegations of children recruitment leveled against his Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP). While strongly registering his denial, he has agreed to allow UNICEF Monitors to visit his camps to ensure that no children remain associated with his armed group. But in the case of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, they have so far refused to allow UNICEF Monitors to visit their camps to ensure that no children are associated with them.

Karuna has officially contacted UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict to deny all allegations of child recruitment leveled against his political organization by the UNICEF, UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict and Allan Rock, Advisor to the Special Representative. [Full Story]

Tamil rebel faction offers UNICEF access to check for child soldiers
International Herald Tribune: 08 December, 2006
A breakaway Tamil rebel faction says it will give UNICEF monitors free access to its camps to check claims it has recruited child soldiers, the United Nations said Friday.

Col. Karuna, head of the faction accused by the U.N. last month of recruiting child soldiers with the active assistance of the Sri Lankan army, denied the allegation and said he would cooperate with UNICEF to ensure children are protected, the U.N. said.

"This is a major step forward that will help to prevent children from being used by armed groups in Sri Lanka," the U.N. quoted Radhika Coomaraswamy, who heads the Office of the Special Representative for Children in Armed Conflict, as saying.

Coomaraswamy also hoped to receive a similar commitment from the mainstream Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebel group for access to their camps in the near future, the U.N. said in a statement.

No immediate comment was available from the mainstream rebels, who have said in the past they have stopped the practice of recruiting children [Full Story]

UN calls on LTTE to release children by next month
Daily Mirror: 06 December, 2006
The UN Under-Secretary-General for humanitarian affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator says he is disturbed by reports of continuing child recruitment by the LTTE and called on the rebels to abide by the commitment to release all child recruits by next month.

Addressing the UN Security Council on Monday on the protection of civilians in armed conflict Coordinator Jan Egeland also reiterated concerns over serious threats to civilian protection in Sri Lanka even as hostilities continued to escalate. [Full Story]

EU urges LTTE to immediately cease recruiting child soldiers
Islamic Republic New Agency: 04 December, 2006
The European Union strongly deplored the practice of both the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and break-away rebel faction Karuna of recruiting child soldiers and urged the LTTE to immediately put an end to the practice and release its recruited children without delay.

Expressing concern that the Karuna group was also abducting children, the EU urged the Sri Lankan government to take immediate steps to release all children being held by the Karuna group and credibly investigate the alleged involvement of certain elements of government security forces and bring the responsible persons to justice, a Colombopage report said quoting the statement. [Full Story]

Tamil Tigers forcibly recruiting children
United Press International: 03 December, 2006
Tamil Tigers fighting for nationhood in Sri Lanka forcibly recruit child soldiers in preparation for a return to all-out hostilities, it was reported Sunday.

Villagers in the impoverished eastern region say rebels are picking up boys and girls in the street, sometimes in broad daylight, as they become desperate for recruits, London's Observer newspaper reports.

The children, as young as 11 or 12, make up more than 20 percent of the Tamil Tigers' frontline fighters, aid agencies estimate.

UNICEF figures show more than 5,000 children have been recruited since 2001.

One boy kidnapped with his friends was beaten unconscious and eventually let go.

"I don't know why they released me," he told the newspaper. "My mother told me they do that sometimes: They take a group and release one so they don't anger everyone." [Full Story]

EU urges LTTE to immediately cease recruiting child soldiers
Colombo Page: 03 December, 2006
In a statement issued on Friday, the European Union strongly deplored the practice of recruiting child soldiers by both LTTE and the breakaway rebel faction Karuna group and urged the LTTE to immediately cease recruiting child soldiers and release the recruited children without delay.

Expressing concern that Karuna group is also abducting children, the EU urged the Sri Lankan government to take immediate steps to release all the children being held by the Karuna group and credibly investigate the alleged involvement of certain elements of government security forces and bring the responsible persons to justice.

The statement said that EU is deeply concerned about the situation of children affected by armed conflict in Sri Lanka and stressed the need to protect children in all circumstances. [Full Story]

UN and Sri Lanka should ban Tamil Tigers
Asian Tribune: 02 December, 2006
Following the failed terrorist attack on the life of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the Defence Secretary, there is a mounting pressure on the Sri Lanka Government to reimpose the ban on the Tamil Tigers.

Both national and international Sri Lankan organizations are pressuring the Sri Lankan Government to ban the LTTE as a 'Terrorist’s Organization.'

This organization will urge the United Nations to list the LTTE as a terrorists based on -
(1) Failure to honor UN agreements not to recruit child soldiers.
(2) Not to use terror tactics which indiscriminately destroys the lives of non-combtatnt civilians
(3) Repeated violations of human rights
(4) Committing war crimes &
(5) Committing crimes against humanity [Full Story]

Q&A:'We're against terrorism, not Tamils'
Times Of India: December, 2006
Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakse is closely associated with Dehradun's Human Rights Training Centre run by the Rural Litigation and Empowerment Kendra. Narayani Ganesh interacted with him in Mussoorie before his official visit to New Delhi:

Why are you backing the breakaway Tamil rebels who are also recruiting child soldiers?

Why should we support a break-away LTTE group? It will only make matters worse. What if the two get together later? Allan Rock was given facilities and we asked him for concrete evidence; he never gave it. We're open to the world — we've had observers from Scotland Yard, Australia, Netherlands... we have nothing to hide. [Full Story]

Sri Lanka's Child Soldiers
Voice Of America: 29 November, 2006
Allan Rock is an adviser to the United Nations on the issue of children and armed conflict. He recently completed a ten day visit to Sri Lanka. According to Mr. Rock, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a terrorist organization, "has not complied with its commitments. . . .to stop child recruitment and release all the children within their ranks."

Mr. Rock said the U-N "also found that the so-called Karuna faction continues to abduct children in government-controlled areas of the east, particularly [in the] Batticaloa district." Karuna is a breakaway faction of the Tamil Tigers suspected of links to Sri Lankan security forces. Mr. Rock said the U-N "found strong and credible evidence that certain elements of the government security forces are supporting and sometimes participating in the abduction and forced recruitment of children by the Karuna faction." [Full Story]

Rights Group Calls For Sanctions Against LTTE For Child Recruitment
Sri Lanka Army: 28 November, 2006
THE NEW YORK based Human Rights Watch has called on the UN Security Council to impose sanctions on groups, including the LTTE, for child recruitment when the Council meets today (28) to discuss a UN report on child soldiers. Those refusing UN demands should be subject to sanctions, says Human Rights Watch.

The 14 armed groups and two governments that refused repeated UN demands to stop using child soldiers should be subject to sanctions, Human Rights Watch said. Since 2002, these “persistent violators” have been identified in four reports from UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan for violating international standards prohibiting the recruitment and use of child soldiers. The Security Council is to debate the 2006 report tomorrow. [Full Story]

Terror chief laments his agony; admits he would not survive in peace
Ministry Of Defence: 28 November, 2006
Velupille Prbhakaran , the terror chief of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam made his " Maha Weera Day" speech yesterday admitting that he could not survive in any peaceful settlement. Speaking out, form his underground den in Kilinochchi which is located 40feet beneath a proscribed target for military, Prbhakaran expressed his agony that he would not be able to get away with his crimes and come into the power in a political setup.

...
Prabhakaran sent thousands of Tamil children to death as child soldiers, ordered many hundreds of Tamil youth mostly girls, to blow themselves up as suicide losers and massacred thousands of Sinhalese and Muslim people including women and children in ethnic cleansing campaigns and genocides. [Full Story]

Solheim in the pay of Tigers: his house in Norway bought with Tiger money - Col. Karuna
Asian Tribune: 27 November, 2006
In a face-to-face interview with Bandula Jayasekera, the Editor of the Ceylon Daily News (November, 27, 2006) Col. Karuna, the former deputy to Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran said that...

...
Your faction is accused of recruiting child soldiers. Aren't you ashamed of it? Right-thinking Sri Lankans and the world is of the view that it must be stopped immediately.

No. It is not true. I deny it. It is not necessary for us to do so. We already have enough cadres. We don't need any more cadres. We are keen to do our political work. We have weapons only to defend ourselves from the LTTE.

You say, you have enough cadres. What is your strength?

No comments. I cannot give those details out

UN's Allan Rock went on record saying that the Army helped you to recruit child soldiers. Did the Army help you to recruit children?

No. We don't work with the Army. Allan Rock's statement is misleading. Allan Rock is an LTTE sympathizer and a supporter. He helped the LTTE in Canada earlier.

The SLMM and others have accused your group of working closely with the Army. Is it correct or do you get some sort of protection from the Army?

No. Politically we are working with the people. We do not need it. But, it is the responsibility of the government to protect all political parties. We don't work with the Army. But, I say it again; the government must protect us and all the political parties. They give protection to TNA. Don't they?

Your group is also accused of carrying out abductions, extortions and killings. You are no better than the LTTE though you broke away from them. You have become another menace. Haven't you added to the woes of the suffering people?

It is not true. It is all done by the LTTE. After I broke away Prabhakaran killed over 400 people including my own brother. We now work openly and everyone knows about it. Even Rock met my Secretary. I ask people not to believe LTTE propaganda.

LTTE does everything and puts them in my account. The world must know it. We are keen only to do political work. [Full Story]

Human Rights Watch says United Nations should punish armed groups including LTTE for using child soldiers
Colombo Page: 27 November, 2006
International watchdog Human Rights Watch says 14 armed groups including Sri Lanka's LTTE, which have ignored repeated demands by the United Nations to stop using child soldiers, should now be subject to sanctions.

“These groups have repeatedly and shamelessly defied the Security Council by using children as soldiers,” said Jo Becker, children’s rights advocate at Human Rights Watch. “The Security Council should use its power to punish the groups that ruin the lives of vulnerable children and apply sanctions against them.

“The Security Council can’t let groups use and abuse child soldiers year after year without paying a penalty,” said Becker. “But these groups will keep using children until they’re made to pay a heavy price for it.” [Full Story]

Rights group wants UN to monitor alleged Sri Lanka rights violations
International Herald Tribune: 25 November, 2006
An international group on Saturday urged the U.N. Human Rights Council to create a rights monitoring mission in Sri Lanka, amid increasing reports of abuses.

A letter from New York-based Human Rights Watch asked the council to raise the Sri Lankan issue during its session starting Monday, and to "work with the Sri Lankan government toward establishing a United Nations human rights monitoring mission."

...
On Nov. 13, Allan Rock, the U.N. special representative for children and armed conflict on Sri Lanka accused government troops of recruiting children for a breakaway Tamil Tiger group to fight the mainstream guerrillas.

The government denied the allegation and asked the U.N to furnish proof.

Rock also blamed the rebels, long accused of using child soldiers, for reneging on promises to the U.N. to release all underaged combatants. Rock said they are continuing to recruit children. [Full Story]

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH IN NEW YORK SAYS TAMIL TIGERS AND 13 OTHER ORGANIZATIONS SHOULD BE SANCTIONED FOR ENGAGING CHILD SOLDIERS REPEATEDLY FOR 4 YEARS
Lanka Web: 24 November, 2006
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) together with 13 other organizations that refused repeated demands to stop using child soldiers should be subject to sanctions said the New York based Human Rights Watch.

In the past freezing of assets and arms embargoes have been used against violators and so far the world body has not imposed any sanctions against the LTTE despite they continued to engage child soldiers.

Meanwhile it has been charged that certain UN bodies instead have shown leniency towards the LTTE, instead.

In a statement issued November 22 the Human Rights Watch said 14 groups and two governments have been identified as persistent violators in four reports from UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan for violating international standards prohibiting the recruitment and use of child soldiers. [Full Story]

UN's Allan Rock ridiculed in Sri Lanka
Lanka Everything: 23 November, 2006
Called `village gossip' for saying military helped rebel faction abduct child soldiers

United Nations envoy Allan Rock has been lampooned and accused of collaborating with the Tamil Tiger rebels.

The special adviser to the UN's representative for children and armed conflicthas also been called a "Snow Tiger" and a "village gossip" after he alleged the Sri Lankan military helped a breakaway rebel faction recruit child soldiers.

Concluding his recent 10-day fact-finding mission to the island, Rock told journalists "there is both direct and indirect evidence that elements in the Sri Lankan security forces are facilitating and, in some cases, participating in forceful abductions by Karuna of young people."

Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, a.k.a. Karuna, was the eastern military commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) until March 2004, when he split from the main rebel outfit over differences with its leadership. His group has since been fighting the Tamil Tigers in a clandestine war that the military has been accused of supporting. [Full Story]

LTTE ADVISOR AND LEADER OF NEGOTIATIONS ANTON BALASINGHAM IS DYING OF CANCER
Lanka Web: 23 November, 2006
Anton Balasingham,(68) advisor to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam is dying of cancer at his London home, LTTE sources revealed.

Balasingham’s cancer, diagnosed as duct cancer, (cholangia carcinoma) of the billiard system is in an advanced stage and it has spread to his liver , lungs , abdomen and bones pro-LTTE website the Tamil Net revealed.

...
He told Olara Otunu of the United Nations special envoy that the terrorist group would never recruit child soldiers and disband the existing ones. But regardless he encouraged the terrorist group to continue to use them as cannon fodder. [Full Story]

UN: Security Council Must Punish Users of Child Soldiers
Peace Journalism: 22 November, 2006
The 14 armed groups and two governments that refused repeated UN demands to stop using child soldiers should be subject to sanctions, Human Rights Watch said today. Since 2002, these "persistent violators" have been identified in four reports from UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan for violating international standards prohibiting the recruitment and use of child soldiers. The Security Council is to debate the 2006 report tomorrow. The violators include the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka, Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army, the Maoists in Nepal, the government of Myanmar, guerrilla groups and paramilitaries in Colombia, the Sudan People's Liberation Army and other parties from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi and the Philippines.

"These groups have repeatedly and shamelessly defied the Security Council by using children as soldiers," said Jo Becker, children's rights advocate at Human Rights Watch. "The Security Council should use its power to punish the groups that ruin the lives of vulnerable children and apply sanctions against them. [Full Story]

Thousands of demonstrators chant Allan Rock ‘a liar’ with past connections with the Tamil Tigers
Asian Tribune: 21 November, 2006
Thousands of protesters demonstrated in front of Sri Lanka’s United Nation’s office calling UN Representative Allan Rock, the Special Advisor to the UN Representative for Children and Armed Conflict a “liar” who lacked any qualifications to be an impartial UN Ambassador due to his past connections with a terrorist group notorious for recruiting child soldiers.An effigy of Allan Rock was taken in the protest rally in front of the United Nations office in Colombo against the UN ambassador. Protestors charged Rock has had connections with the LTTE who are notorious for recruiting child soldiers Rock ironically is a handling a job regarding child soldiers for the United Nations now, they charged. (Picture by Island).

The demonstrators charged that the Ambassador has had political connections with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) terrorist group to obtain votes in the past as a Canadian Liberal party politician that depended heavily on the terrorist group’s affiliated organizations.

Allan Rock, a controversial politician and a former Justice Minister of Canada has been charged in the past of being lenient on the collection of funds by the LTTE to fill their war chests with Canadian dollars, the demonstrators charged.

After losing his competition to be the leader of Canada’s ultra liberals Rock was appointed by the government of Prime Minister Paul Martin to be Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations where he has now established himself as a career diplomat working for the world body.

Prime minister Paul Martin himself was once in a Tamil Tiger scandal when he attended a fund raising Tamil new year dinner held by Canada’s FACT organization, recognized by US government as a front organization of Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers, another name for the LTTE, who are banned both in the US and Canada now. [Full Story]

Rock row: Lanka seeks proof from UN
Sunday Times: 19 November, 2006
Human Rights and Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe will this week ask the United Nations to furnish the Government with substantial evidence to corroborate charges that sections of the Government troops are helping the Karuna group in recruiting child soldiers to battle the LTTE.

The move comes after Ambassador Allan Rock — special advisor to the UN Representative for Children and Armed Conflict— made a scathing attack on the security forces following a ten-day fact finding mission in the East. He is accusing them for the first time of complicity in the forcible recruitment of child soldiers by the Karuna faction. [Full Story]

Fact finding Mission to Sri Lanka

Lanka Web: 18 November, 2006
Ambassador Allan Rock
UNSG
Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict
New York.

Dear Mr. Rock:

On October 29 I wrote to you before you embarked on the UN assignment in Sri Lanka… “When I take away the past Liberal Party mantle off you, a party that showed a bias in favour of the Tamil Tigers for reasons aligned to domestic politics, I see you as a person of peace that I envied so much in 1970 when you as the University Ottawa’s President of the Student’s Union visited John Lennon and Yoko Ono while they were bedding in Montreal’s Queen Elizabeth Hotel suite 1742, for wanting to change the world spreading peace of love. I was a graduate student at Memorial University in Newfoundland then involved in the peace movement myself against the war in Vietnam as well as South Africa’s Apartheid.” That retrospection of you as a student activist was said in all sincerity.

I think you are smart enough to know that you flew into Colombo carrying all the negative baggage you had collected being one of the Liberal parliamentarians who also happened to be the Minister of Justice and Attorney General, who favoured the Tamil Tigers and looked the other way letting the Canadian-Tamil Tiger sympathizers collect two million dollars each month to stuff their war-chest. All that to get their 100,000 votes to elect 10 Liberals in the greater Toronto ridings, and you too depended on their votes in the Etobicoke Centre riding. And along the way you and your Liberals smeared the Canadian hands with Sinhala blood as the massive truck bomb that brought down the Central Bank building on January 31, 1996 killing 114 and maiming for life another 1,400 was packed with high explosives bought from a Ukraine chemical plant with Canadian dollars which your government let them collect, and paid with a seven-and-a-half million dollar cheque cut through a bank in Vancouver.

Which ever way you may wish to slice your defense, you know the facts, I know the facts, the Tamil Tigers know the facts, the RCMP and CSIS knows the facts, and almost all Canadians know the facts. And this was the very reason why the ruthless Tamil Tiger terrorists’ political wing leader S.J. Thamilchelvam gave Canada’s Primer Minister Paul Martin and his Liberal Government the dubious honour in early 2005, that “Canada is our greatest ally”.

I listened to your interviews on ‘As it Happens’ as well as the ‘Current’ on CBC, read many news reports on your conclusions of your10 day fact finding mission as well as the press release from Colombo’s UN office, accusing “elements” of the Sri Lanka’s security forces that “…they rounded up children to be recruited by the Karuna faction” to fight the Tamil Tigers who they were part of since 1976 until 2004. [Full Story]

Mr Allan Rock-you are rocking the LTTE Terrorists
SPUR: 17 November, 2006
The statement from Allan Rock the special advisor to UN representative for children and armed conflict on Sri Lanka quoted below is appalling, alarming and irresponsible from a calibre of a person of that status. "Certain elements of the Government Security Forces were sometimes participating in the abductions and forced recruitment of children in Batticaloa while supporting the LTTE Karuna faction". His conclusions have been based on "eye-witness evidence" and "we were told" basis. LTTE has already started using his statement to boost its damaged image in the International Community. It sounds that Allan Rock is rocking the LTTE terrorists. Karuna Group should come out clean and tell the world whether GoSL has any hand in it as alleged by so-called Allan Rock. The Sri Lankan Government should take this matter at highest level of UNICEF on this subject.

But yet again, I have my doubts whether it is worthwhile as it will be like the famous Sinhala adage "Horage ammagen pena ahanawa wage". The question lies who are these so called "eye witnesses" and "we were told" witnesses Allan Rock refers to? It is a common and skilful ploy of the LTTE to plant eye witnesses when International VIPs are expected in Sri Lanka for some investigation on them and Allan Rock would have most certainly met some of them who speak LTTE's language. Glaring example was a BBC report a few months back relayed all over the world interviewing Karuna Group cadres at an alleged Karuna camp closer to a government military camp. Karuna Group categorically denied this interview and the existence of a camp where the interview took place. Karuna group challenged BBC on this report and alleged that the BBC reporter has visited a camouflaged LTTE camp and interviewed some LTTE cadres. That's how LTTE takes VIPS and journalists on joy rides. I believe that Mr .Alan Rock would have got trapped with some witnesses planted by LTTE to bring shame to the Government. [Full Story]

Sri Lanka’s leading author Gunadasa Amarasekera says United Nation’s Alan Rock lied against Sri Lanka about child soldiers
Asian Tribune: 16 November, 2006
Sri Lanka’s leading author, novelist and short story writer Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekera charged that the statement of Alan Rock, the special adviser to the UN Representative for Children and Armed Conflict that accused the Sri Lanka Army of complicity in the recruitment of Child soldiers was a big lie.

He said it has been done as a sinister move to lessen the true charges against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam( LTTE) of its notorious recruitment of children for war for many years.

He said his investigations has shown that Alan Rock’s accusations have no basis whatsoever and simply could be called a big fabrication to bail out the true offenders, the Tamil Tigers of their notorious crime, the forceful recruitment of children for the war and create an impression that both the country’s army and the terrorist movement commit the same offense. [Full Story]

Sri Lanka waiting for UN envoy's report on child soldiers
Colombo Page: 16 November, 2006
Sri Lanka government is waiting for a report from the UN envoy Allan Rock, Special Advisor to the UN special representative for Children in Armed conflicts, on the alleged involvement of the Sri Lankan security forces in supporting the recruitment of children for the breakaway rebel group, Karuna faction.

Defense Spokesman Minister Keheliya Rambukwella told media today that the government is waiting for the report to carry out further investigations to find the truth. Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa has also assured the UN envoy to fully investigate the matter when the latter met the President.

“He reiterates that he has credible evidence and said they are of eye witnesses and statements from two or three victimised mothers of those children during his few hours of visit,” defense spokesman fired at the UN envoy’s statement that has roused a controversy in human rights circles. The statement is being criticized by the Sri Lankan politicians and media as well. [Full Story]

UN Rock repeats Tiger accusations - Karuna Group
Asian Tribune: 16 November, 2006
Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) led by the Karuna faction accused Alan Rock, UN's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, of repeating "fictitious, fallacious and frivolous information" fed to him by "quislings who oppose them in the east".

After a quick 10-day visit Rock rushed to a press conference to announce that "the Government security forces are supporting and sometimes participating in the abductions and forced recruitment of children by the Karuna faction."

Referring to TMVP he alleged "The so-called Karuna faction continues to abduct children in Government-controlled areas of the East, particularly Batticaloa district, the mission said in a statement. Since May of this year, 135 cases of under-age recruitment by abduction have been reported to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), "with evidence that this trend is accelerating."

Both TMVP and JVP suspect that Rock, who was a minister in the pro-Tamil Tiger Cabinet in Canada, has been influenced by the Tiger lobby to deflect attention from the Tiger abductions of children to "Government complicity" in the abductions of children in the east. Tiger propaganda has been maneuvering for some time to damage the image of the Government with accusations of using child soldiers. First the Tigers accused the Government of working with "para-militaries" in the east. Then they escalated the charge to "Government complicity" in abducting children for the "para-militaries". They failed until Rock "based on hearsay", according to political sources, linked the Security Forces to TMVP child abductions. [Full Story]

Allen Rock is a tiger!
Lanka Truth: 15 November, 2006
Mr. Allen Rock, Representative of the UNO who toured Sri Lanka during the past ten days has been disclosed as a person who has acted in favour of the tiger terrorists.

He was a former MP of the Liberal party in Canada. He is also a person who had vehemently opposed the proposal to proscribe tiger terrorists in Canada. It is the Liberal party represented by Mr. Rock that rejected the report forwarded by Canadian Police revealing how tiger organization was acting to achieve their terrorist interests.

It has also been revealed that he had been given tremendous support by the tiger network active in Canada for his election campaigns.

Political analysts state that this information further confirm that the statement made by Mr. Allen Rock that security forces help Karuna faction to recruit children for military purposes was made on behalf of the tiger terrorists. [Full Story]

Forced Tiger Recruits Deployed To The Front After 15 Days Of Combat Training
Media Centre for National Security: 14 November, 2006
"They asked us to go to the front after 15 days of combat training" revealed 23 year old Pakyarasa Dinesh Kumar, a surrendered LTTE cadre. Dinesh Kumar (23) a father of one fled the Kadiraweli LTTE camp and surrendered to the Security Forces on 30th October 2006. Dinesh was just one of the escapees of the 16 that surrendered to the Selvanagar and Mahindapura Army camps in the Eastern province that day. He decided to escape from the LTTE fearing deployment in the front line. He knew tiger leaders were planning to deploy them to the front to relieve experienced cadres from fatigue. He was scared and worried about the safety of his wife and their 5 month old baby.

Forced tiger recruitment and training

Dinesh along with other men in Batticaloa were forcibly recruited for compulsory combat training by the LTTE. All males had been ordered to follow a 15 day compulsory combat training course. "All boys were ordered to report for duty six days of the month and no payment was made in exchange" Dinesh said. Hundreds of men like Dinesh underwent training throughout the week. On Sundays he was allowed to visit his home for two hours. Dinesh says he learnt to fire, assemble and dismantle a T-56 assault rifle. "If anyone was caught fleeing they would put us in a cell" Dinesh revealed. On a previous account the LTTE gunned down an ex-tiger cadre, Mailvahanam Kohulam for revealing the brutality of their hierarchy. He was shot dead near the Vipulananda School, Batticaloa.

According to Dinesh, the tigers kill the father, the main bread winner of the family and forcibly conscript the boys. This leaves the females of the family vulnerable to external elements. The family becomes insecure both socially and financially. This is a tactic used by the tigers to maintain their strength. Many boys and girls are forcibly abducted from their homes, while they walk to school or during religious activities. The Human Rights Watch, the largest human rights group based in the United States revealed in its report “Living in Fear, Child Soldiers and the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka” that

“Tamil children are vulnerable to recruitment beginning at the age of eleven or twelve. The LTTE routinely visits Tamil homes to inform parents that they must provide a child for the “movement.” Families that resist are harassed and threatened. Parents are told that their child may be taken by force if they do not comply, that other children in the household or the parents will be taken in their stead, or that the family will be forced to leave their home. The LTTE makes good on these threats: children are frequently abducted from their homes at night, or picked up by LTTE cadres while walking to school or attending a temple festival. Parents who resist the abduction of their children face violent LTTE retribution.

Once recruited, most children are allowed no contact with their families. The LTTE subjects them to rigorous and sometimes brutal training. They learn to handle weapons, including landmines and bombs, and are taught military tactics. Children who make mistakes are frequently beaten. The LTTE harshly punishes soldiers (LTTE cadres) who attempt to escape. Children who try to run away are typically beaten in front of their entire unit, a public punishment that serves to dissuade other children who might be tempted to run away”

Apart from combat duties forced recruits are also used to gather information and transport weapons and detonate explosives.

According to intelligence sources fresh tiger recruits are assigned to carry out brutal acts of violence to make them inhuman and prove their allegiance in the eyes of their leadership. Most atrocious crimes against innocent civilians in villages had been carried out by teenage male and female tiger cadres.

On 18th September 1999 armed LTTE female cadres hacked and chopped to death 61 innocent Sinhalese villagers including 17 women and 7 children in Gonagala and surrounding villages in the Ampara district. The victims were dragged from their sleep and hacked to death using swords, some of them still lying in bed. On August 4th 1990 the LTTE slaughtered 172 Muslims who were praying inside a Mosque in Kaththankudi. More recently tigers slaughtered 12 innocent villages in Welikanda on 29th May 2006 and another 6 farmers in Kalyaniapura Gomarankadawala on 23rd April 2006. The trail of Tiger atrocities against innocent civilians seem endless. Many of these brutal killings are carried out by fresh tiger recruits who are brainwashed and thrown into the deep end for bloodying.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, better known as the Tamil tigers have massacred around 9488 civilians in Sri Lanka. According to military sources around 575 civilians were killed and another 596 were injured due to tiger atrocities since 1st December 2005. These tragic losses of lives and injuries to civilians are a result of suicide bombings, claymore mine explosions, shootings and offensive operations launched by the LTTE. [Full Story]

UNICEF accuses breakaway rebel group of Sri Lanka for child recruitments
Colombo Page: 14 November, 2006
A newly released UNICEF report accused breakaway rebel group, Karuna faction of Sri Lanka for recruiting at least 142 boys below 18 years of age.

The report stated that as of 31 October 2006 there were 142 outstanding cases of under age recruitment by the Karuna group and all of them were boys.

UNICEF further estimates that only a third of the actual number of children have been verified, because often parents do not report abductions in fear of being harassed by these rebel cadres.

According to the UNICEF statistics, as of October 31, 2006, there were 1598 outstanding cases of under age recruitment by the LTTE. Of these, 649 are under the age of 18, and 949 were recruited while under 18 but have now passed that age. [Full Story]

LTTE RPG fire injure three - Batticaloa
Ministry Of Defence: 12 November, 2006
Three soldiers were injured in a LTTE fired Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) attack at Sithtandy - Batticaloa, on 11th November, at 07:00 p.m.

According to military sources the injured security personnel have been transferred to Polonnaruwa and then to the General Hospital Anuradapura.

The incident comes hours after four LTTE deserters including three child soldiers age 14, 16, 17 and the other just 18 years old surrendered to the Army camp at Kadjuwatte - Trincomalee. [Full Story]

18,742 TAMIL TIGERS HAVE DIED CHASING AN ELUSIVE GOAL OF A PUTATIVE STATE CALLED EELAM, LTTE SAYS
Lanka Web: 06 November, 2006
The Liberation tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) announced that 18,742 of their Tamil fighters have died during the last twenty four years chasing an elusive goal of a Tamil putative state called Eelam.

The LTTE announcement published in the pro-LTTE websites said the number has been calculated since November 27 1982 when the first LTTE fighter 'Lt. Sanker' died.

Although the LTTE official list of the killed during the year 2006 contains names of 818 fighters it did not specify how many of them were child soldiers. According to records of human rights organizations, many of them have been kidnapped from homes, schools and playgrounds.

The terrorist group is well known of using underage children as cannon fodder for battles before sparing more professionally trained adult soldiers at the front. According to records such child soldiers were killed in large numbers during recent fights at Muttur and Kilali.

Due to the concealment of child soldiers for obvious reasons, the terrorist group does not announce the birthday on the tombs of the dead at the graves of soldiers in their cemeteries for martyrs. Instead, the group announces the day of death of the soldiers killed. [Full Story]

Fresh UN Probe On Child Soldiers Here
Army: 08 November, 2006
A SPECIAL ADVISOR to Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy, the United Nations Special Representative for Children affected by armed conflict, is in Sri Lanka on a fact finding mission during which he will meet government and LTTE representatives as well as the Karuna faction, UN officials told the Daily Mirror.

Alan Rock, who was appointed by Ms. Coomaraswamy this year, is visiting the country to investigate child conscription by the LTTE and will meet the rebel political head S.P. Thamilselvan in Kilinochchi on Thursday to discuss the issue.

The visit comes just weeks after the LTTE formed its own child protection laws which prevent the recruitment of underage youth and the subsequent release on Sunday of 22 children who the rebels claimed had joined the organisation under a false age. [Full Story]

Tamil Tigers Free 22 Underage Recruits
AOL: 05 November, 2006
Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels, widely accused of forcibly recruiting child soldiers, said they released 22 underage recruits who lied about their age to join the separatist campaign.

The rebels, fighting to carve out a state for the country's 3.2 million Tamils, said in their Web site Saturday that the youths "joined the movement by lying about their age."

Two of the teenagers were sent to the rebel-run Education and Skill Development Center, and the others were returned to their families, the rebels said on their Web site. [Full Story]

22 underage recruits free, says LTTE
Times Of India: 05 November, 2006
Tamil Tiger rebels, widely accused of forcibly recruiting child soldiers, said they released 22 underage recruits who lied about their age to join the separatist campaign.

The rebels said in their website on Saturday that the youths "joined the movement by lying about their age". Two of the teenagers were sent to the rebel-run Education and Skill Development Centre, and the others were returned to their families, the rebels said on their website. [Full Story]

SLAT (UK) and CASTIS (Swiss) hold Anti-LTTE Demo In Geneva- Switzerland
Lanka Everything: 31 October, 2006
A massive anti-LTTE demonstration was held in front of the United Nations (UN) Office in Geneva, Switzerland on Saturday 28th October 2006. The protest was jointly organised by Sri Lankans Against Terrorism - United Kingdom (SLAT-UK) and Campaign Against Separatism Terrorism In Sri Lanka (CASTIS)- Swiss Chapter.

...
The petition included of all kinds of atrocities carried out by LTTE terrorists such as murder, kidnapping, extortion, credit card and charity fraud, drug and human trafficking, arms smuggling as well as recruitment of child soldiers. It also requested the UN to force the LTTE to stop suicide bombings and human rights violations and help the Sri Lankan government to implement democracy, ethnic pluralism and a multi party system in the North and East of Sri Lanka. [Full Story]

More LTTE cadres surrender to military
Daily Mirror: 31 October, 2006
Hot on the heels of the enactment of the ‘Tamileelam Child Protection Act’ by the LTTE, another batch of 16 LTTE combatants has surrendered to the security forces in Trincomalee yesterday, a day after seven youths surrendered to police in the same area.

Military spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe said that in the early hours of yesterday, nine boys had surrendered to Selvanagar security forces camp, while seven more boys surrendered to the Mahindapura military road block.

Brigadier Samarasinghe said those escapees had told police that they were forced to join the LTTE and were given military training at the camp. “Some of them were minors and had been schooling when the Tigers abducted them,” he said.

Action has been taken to inform the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission and the UNICEF about the surrender of the LTTE youths, the Brigadier said. [Full Story]

LTTE forcibly training under-aged children say escapees
Daily Mirror: 30 October, 2006
More than 75 underage children are forcibly being given military training at the Kadiraweli Tiger Camp in Trincomalee, military said. Military Spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe said this has been revealed by seven young LTTE cadres, who escaped and surrendered to the police in Kallar on Friday. He also said the cadres had told police that they were given weapons training after been abducted from Nilaveli and Palauththu areas in Trincomalee during the Mavil-Aru crisis.

“Five of the seven cadres who surrendered are between the ages of fifteen and seventeen,” Brig. Samarasinghe said.

According to them, another thirty other young cadres who were subjected to military training along with them were also below 14 years of age, many have already escaped due to constant harassments and lack of food inside their camps. [Full Story]

LTTE Misinformation Dupes International Audiences
Colombo Page: 30 October, 2006
Give the devil its due. What the LTTE lacks in legitimacy, integrity and humaneness, it makes up with malevolence and wiliness.

The LTTE propaganda machinery, since 1983, has spun yarns for the gullible West that swallowed the stories wholesale. The story of the underdog was an easy sell in the West and the LTTE portrayed itself as the savior of the Tamil people despite the fact that nobody has brought more misery to the Tamil people than the LTTE. As Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns said recently in Washington, “We do not recognize the Tigers and we do not support them. They are a terrorist organization and they have brought nothing but misery to the people of Sri Lanka, as well as to the Tamil population in Sri Lanka.” What is incredibly tragic is that there are still people who believe that the LTTE represents the will of the Tamil people.

However, international censure appears to have little effect on the LTTE as it continues unashamedly with its lies and deception, hoping the world will go on believing in the falsehoods it churns out regularly.

A look at some of the most recent LTTE attempts at misinformation shows the organization’s extreme deviousness and skill in pressing the exact buttons needed to generate a stir in international media. When the Sri Lanka Air Force struck a pre-identified LTTE training base on August 14, 2006, the LTTE mouthpiece Tamilnet claimed that security forces killed at least 61 schoolgirls and wounded 129 in an orphanage called ‘Sencholai’ established in 1998. As this misinformation hit headlines, the LTTE claimed the victims had been attending a two-day training workshop on first aid. Thereafter the LTTE claimed the girls were attending a 10-day residential training in the building. International attention got focused not on the atrocity the LTTE was committing by training child soldiers but on the security forces’ targeted strike on the training base. The LTTE once again displayed its expertise in wiliness and deception.

The LTTE’s international image is now at its lowest ebb ever and it is desperately grasping at straws to malign the government through its misinformation campaign. It appears to believe that in so doing it can reduce international awareness of its own diabolical disposition. While peace talks were on in Geneva on October 28th and 29th, the LTTE spread false stories of shortages of essential supplies to civilians in the north. The truth is that while the government does its utmost to ensure uninterrupted supplies of essential items to the north, it is the LTTE that is creating a humanitarian crisis by preventing essentials from being delivered to the people. The LTTE has several times fired at trucks bringing in supplies and has refused to grant security to vessels bringing in supplies by sea. Let the world judge who the villain is.

Furthermore, it is essential that well-meaning Sri Lankan expatriates around the world are aware of the LTTE’s ploys so they will avoid walking into traps Tamil Tigers lay for them. The recent incident concerning a LTTE seminar in Germany is a classic case in point. LTTE activists in Germany conceived a fiendish plot to effortlessly publicize their event by adding that the Sri Lanka Ambassador in Germany was invited to it. Sri Lankan expatriates were most concerned and their distress was translated into a flood of worldwide e-mails. These expatriates unwittingly played into the hands of the LTTE by giving publicity to the event at a global level. The event was even publicized on Sri Lankan web sites. When the truth was ultimately known, it turned out that the Sri Lanka Ambassador in Germany had never been invited for the event, and his name had been used on a leaflet without permission. The LTTE never tires of the devious role of playing the villain while appeari n g to be saintly. History is swamped with instances like this and Sri Lankans need to be savvy in dealing with a diabolical set up like the LTTE.

What seems incredible and incomprehensible is that even sophisticated, consummate international audiences get duped by the LTTE over and over. It is time that Tamil Tiger lies and deception are recognized for what they are and the organization is relegated to its rightful place as a fascist terrorist outfit. [Full Story]

27 Demoralized Tigers Surrender to Security Forces From 24th October to 30th
National Security: 30 October, 2006
522 Tiger terrorists including child soldiers have surrendered to the Security Forces and the Police since the year 2002.

During the week from the 24th until the Monday (30) 27 Tigers have surrendered to the Security Forces . On the 24th of October one Tiger terrorist surrendered to Selvnagar Army Camp. On the 26th, a Tiger aged 23 surrendered to the Jaela police. On the 27th seven (07) Tigers surrendered to the Kallar police road block . Among the Tigers who surrendered on the 27th one is 15 years old . Four are 17 years old while the other two are 19 and 21 years . They had run since the 25th for two days from the Tiger training camp in Kadiraweli. They said that 30 Tigers who were under training were below the age of 14 years and about another 30 had also run away. [Full Story]

LTTE is abandoned in large numbers
Ministry Of Defence: 30 October, 2006
Since the LTTE delegation left Colombo to hold talks with the government in Geneva on the 24th of October, many LTTE cadres have surrendered to the security forces.

The Media Centre for National Security said that total number of 16 LTTE members surrendered to the SL army camps at Slevanagar and Mahindapura in the Eastern province this morning (Monday the 30th of October).

Since the 24th of October 34 LTTE cadres have surrendered to the security forces at various locations in the country. Many of the surrendees are child soldiers and almost all of them claimed that they were forcibly recruited to the terrorist outfit during last few months.

The surrendees also revealed that the LTTE is engaged in recruiting children, forcibly providing military training for the civilians and robbing humanitarian aid sent for the civilians in the un-liberated areas in the North and east. [Full Story]

LTTE Continues Child Recruitment
National Security: 29 October, 2006

The LTTE is continuing the forcible recruitment of children in the North and in the East. Many Children in the two provinces say their education is obstructed by the LTTE.

These facts were transpired from the statements of some of the young LTTE cadres who had surrendered to the Police road block at Kallar, Serunuwara.

Seven LTTE cadres, including five minors surrendered to the Police road block at Kallar, Serunuwara on 25 October. They had escaped from Kadiraveli camp. One of the surrendees is 15 years of age. Tarkihan, the schoolboy who surrendered said he was studying for the Advanced Level examination. He said LTTE cadres who came to his school, abducted four students. They forced him to join the LTTE. The four students were given military training at the camp. He emphasized that he did not like war. He escaped because he wanted to continue his studies.

Thilakan, another young surrendee revealed he was abducted by tigers while he was studying at school.

Gandhi Ganeshan said he went to the refugee camp with his sister when the Army captured Sampur. LTTE cadres who came to the refugee camp forcibly took him to the camp after beating him and his sister. He escaped because he could not endure the hardships.

According to these statements, the LTTE is continuing the forcible recruitment of children. LTTE activities have obstructed the education of children. This is a gross violation of the United Nations Charter of Children's Rights. Further, the LTTE had ordered the students to donate blood to the LTTE. Every candidate must at least donate half a pint of blood, otherwise they will not be permitted to sat the examination.

Seven LTTE cadres including two minors who were forcibly recruited to the LTTE escaped the Kadiraveli training camp and surrendered to the police road block in Kallar in Serunuwara on 25 October.

Among the seven surrendees one cadre was 15 years old and four were 17 years of age.

Their statements were are follows;

• Dinush - LTTE gave us weapon training. We could not endure the training. That is why we escaped.
• Anpalahan - I am from Trincomalee LTTE cadres who came at night, abducted us. There are about 75 boys of our age; nobody is willingly staying in the camp.
• Gandi Ganeshan - When the Army came to Sampur, my sister and I went to the refugee camp. LTTE cadres who came there forcibly took us to Kadiraweli camp. Then they beat us. Since we could not endure, we escaped.
• Tharkihan - I was studying for Advanced Level exam. The LTTE cadres, who came to our school, forcibly took us. They forced us to join the LTTE. They trained us at Kadiraweli camp. We do not want to fight a war. We escaped because we want to continue our studies.
• Thilakan - I studied in year 10 at Vivekananda Vidyalaya, Kattaprachchan. I was forcibly abducted by the LTTE while I was going to school. I tried to escape. I was taken to Kadiraweli camp and chained and tortured. When I said I wanted to go home, they harassed me. When I could not endure their harassment any more. I escaped. There are 85 recruits being trained. 35 had escaped before me. I have a sister. I have to look after the family.
• Selveraga Harishankar - I have studied up to Ordinary Level. The LTTE forcibly took me to Kadiraweli camp on a motor bicycle. They gave me military training. When my parents came to see me they had said I was not there. I am sad though youth of my age are happy.
• Pranash - I work on paddy fields. When I was going to the field, two persons came and forcibly took me to Kadiraweli camp. After 05 days, I escaped. They captured me and tortured me. We were starving. The youth in the camp are frustrated.

Conditions ripe for fruitful talks, but...
The Nation: 29 October, 2006
Never before had all the ingredients been in place for a perfect soup on the stove. Always one element or more was lacking.

...
When former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was the cook from 2002-2004, you had the former President Chandrika Kumaratunga, the SLFP, the JVP and India all pulling the rug under his feet. The Co-Chairs worked overtime, but there were no dividends.

The military is dead against the opening of the Jaffna- Colombo Road at the Muhmalai entry/exit point after the Tigers launched their first attack at Muhamalai at this very entry point on August 11. A bus load of Tigers, mainly female cadres and child soldiers, got off this bus opening fire at the check point, commencing the war to wrest control of the peninsula. [Full Story]

LTTE continue abducting children despite peace talks
Peace Journalism: 28 October, 2006
Reports state that the LTTE has intensified violence in the North and east areas, during the past 24 hours despite SL government's commitment to build truce between the two parties. Security forces alleged that the LTTE has failed to show great commitment and are continuing offensives against both civilians and security personnel.

Meanwhile LTTE terrorists killed a Tamil civilian Nalliah Shivakumar (41) in Thoppur, Maligativu, in Trincomalee on today (28) around 3.45 p.m. The body has been taken to Muttur hospital. Muttur Police are conducting investigations [Full Story]

LTTE continue abducting children despite peace talks
Ministry Of Defence / MCNS: 28 October, 2006
Reports state that the LTTE has intensified violence in the North and east areas, during the past 24 hours despite SL government's commitment to build truce between the two parties. Security forces alleged that the LTTE has failed to show great commitment and are continuing offensives against both civilians and security personnel.

Meanwhile LTTE terrorists killed a Tamil civilian Nalliah Shivakumar (41) in Thoppur, Maligativu, in Trincomalee on today (28) around 3.45 p.m. The body has been taken to Muttur hospital. Muttur Police are conducting investigations

It was also reported that the LTTE terrorists forcibly kidnapped 11 children who had come for evening prayers to the Murugan Kovil in Siththandy at 9.30 p.m. on Friday (27). It was only recently that the Tigers announced that they have passed legislation against kidnapping children to be used as Child soldiers. Further details would follow. [Full Story]

Open road link or no talks, says Tamil Tigers
IOL / Reuters: 27 October, 2006
Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels threatened on Friday to scupper future peace negotiations if the government does not agree to open the main highway to the country's restive north.

...
In Geneva, government negotiator Palitha Kohona said Colombo wanted to discuss bringing in democracy and holding elections in the north and east as well as development in the region.

He also said the talks should focus on child rebel soldiers.

"We want to focus on child soldiers, who are sent to fight in mosquito-infested jungles, so they can instead dream of a better future," Kohona told Reuters from Geneva. [Full Story]

Memoirs of an anti-LTTE undercover agent in London - PART II
Asian Tribune: 25 October, 2006
Walking down the road towards the LTTE offices in London at 211 Katherine Rd, one comes across a disused corner shop with a side door. This tatty little X corner shop or office with blanked out windows was the LTTE London office. Once inside the office, directly across your view is a cubicle with a big desk, hosting LTTE flags and photos of the supremo, Velupillai Prabhakaran.

Around the office walls to the right was a room, full of PR videos and a long conference table.

Young men cleaned the office, served us tea and at just a lift of a finger, would run off and fetch files.

One day, I was suddenly asked to rush to the office to meet with Amnesty International's (AI) South Asia Desk Officer who was coming to meet the LTTE. I had to get there early as the Tigers wanted to pre-rehearse their script to AI representatives.

The LTTE's plan was to sweet-talk the AI officials–which was what happened during the hour-long meeting.

But the women were not impressed –the child soldiers' issue began to loom during the meeting.

But worse was to come.

A number of cases where Tamils had been killed by the LTTE suddenly popped up for discussion from nowhere! In fact, the LTTE ended up with a 'right telling off'. [Full Story]

LTTE pistol group kills a 17 year old child soldier - Batticaloa
Ministry Of Defence: 21 October, 2006
Eravur Police on information received through civilians in the area, found a body of a suspected ex-LTTE cadre at Sittandikudi - Batticaloa, today (21) morning.

The body was identified to be, of a 17 year old who has deserted the terrorist outfit during the recent defeats in the hands of the security forces in Muttur.

Police sources said that the gunshot wounds in the body indicated that the teenager was killed between the late hours on Friday, 20th October. Apart from the gunshot wounds, traces in the body exposed that the teenager had been dragged and tortured before execution by the terrorists.

The LTTE terrorists have being accused of intensified abductions and indiscriminate killings of Tamil Children in the North and East, who were determined to flee their clutches of terror recently.

Unconfirmed civilian information gathered, claims that the teenager was receiving continuous threats from Pro-LTTE activists in the area after deserting the terrorist outfit.

The young lad had come to live with his relatives in Batticaloa, after fleeing from the LTTE, unable to withstand the cruelty and hardships of the terrorist mafia.

It is said that over 100 child soldiers who fled the LTTE during the recent defeats in the East, are being now hunted down by masked Pro-LTTE pistol groups, especially in Batticaloa and Ampara districts.

It is believed that over 2000 children are confined in child soldering farms of the LTTE in the thick jungles in Batticaloa, Mullativu and Killinochchi.

The Liberation Tigers of Eelam, is a main stream terrorist organization accused of Child Soldiering and violations of Children Rights over two decades. [Full Story]

As Sri Lanka enters new phase of civil war, rebels resort to abducting teens to join their camp
Tamil Tigers eye young recruits
NewsDay: 25 October, 2006
The boys playing cricket with a homemade bat and an old tennis ball in Thirimaidu refugee camp pack up promptly at dusk these days.

The scrawny 13- and 14-year-olds, many of whom look much younger, know what happened to their playmate Detson a few weeks ago: Armed men from a renegade Tamil Tiger faction came for him at night, and they haven't seen him since.

As the boys squabble and laugh over their nightly game at the sprawling camp for survivors of the Dec. 26, 2004, tsunami outside Batticaloa, people in the region say Detson may very well be standing guard duty, with an AK-47 almost as big as he is, in the jungle a few miles away. As Sri Lanka slides into a new phase of civil war - with 2,000 combatants and civilians killed this year alone - the Tamil Tigers are energetically seeking recruits. They look for teens attracted by the glamour of the cause and the hopelessness of their lives. But if there are not enough of the willing, they kidnap the unwilling.

Fear of abduction
In the past few months, hundreds of children have been abducted at night or on their way to school in the hot, dusty camp comprised mostly of fishermen and their families left without a livelihood by the tsunami. Aid agencies in the country's east are besieged by tearful mothers pleading for help. In Batticaloa, parents try to hide their children at night from the illicit draft. It has a nickname: the English equivalent of "roundup." Young boys in Thirimaidu, the country's biggest resettlement camp for what authorities say may be 10,000 tsunami survivors, are haunted by a fear of abduction. "Our teachers tell us to be careful and our mothers tell us to come indoors after dark," said Thenesh, a 12-year-old boy.

...
Complaints unheeded
Hundreds of mothers complain about abductions to UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, which then contacts the Tigers or the Karuna faction to ask them to return the children. "Sometimes they release the child; sometimes they don't," said UNICEF spokeswoman Junko Mitani. The organization's figures show that 5,666 children were abducted between the cease-fire in 2002, when many child soldiers were released, and July, although UNICEF believes only about a third of abductions are reported.

Mothers will not talk openly about the abductions for fear of revenge attacks. One who did talk on condition that her name not be used admitted she feared complaining to the police because her family could then be tortured as Tiger sympathizers. Since her 17-year-old son was abducted on the way to a friend's house last year, the Tigers have allowed his mother one brief reunion with him.

[Full Story]

EXCLUSIVE-Tigers aiming to bully govt ahead of talks - official
Reuters: 22 October, 2006
Tamil Tiger rebels were trying to intimidate the Sri Lankan government ahead of crunch peace talks next week by launching high-profile attacks in the island nation, the head of the state's peace agency said.

There has been a surge of violence in the past month with scores of people being killed in rebel attacks.

Both sides meet in Geneva on Oct. 28-29 to try to end the fighting that has killed around 1,000 people since July and made a 2002 ceasefire almost redundant.

...
But the LTTE's official Web site said Sri Lankan artillery and air strikes were hitting civilians, citing a strike by air force jets last week which it said had killed three children in the north. The military could not confirm the incident. [Full Story]

Pro-LTTE Lobbying and Peace Talks in Geneva
Lanka Web: 18 October, 2006
There are many pundits who profess to know everything from guerilla warfare, terrorist strategies, economic remedies, social remedies- you name it and they have prescriptions for everything. Some of those pundits are Dr.Kumar Rupasinghe and Jehan Perera who for years have been championing the cause of terrorists and their activities in this country.

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It is true that there needs be commitment from the parties involved in the conflict, to find a lasting solution. However, while terrorists are attacking, abducting, torturing, conscripting child soldiers, disturbing the peace of the majority Tamil community in the North where even their children were afraid to attend school for fear of being abducted, it definitely did not seem as if the terrorists were genuine in their peace efforts. We must accept that it was the terrorists who were harassing their own Tamil community. Under the circumstances, any democratically elected government or it's Armed Forces have a bounden duty by the citizens of this country to protect them from terrorist attacks. [Full Story]

The human element is Govt’s ground reality
The Nation: 15 October, 2006
Mikko Klemetti, formerly of the Finnish army and an ex-truce monitor put it bluntly when he said, “The CFA is finished, the landscape is empty; it is only on paper and both parties don’t want that paper.”

The Ceasefire Agreement between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE has fortunately or unfortunately served to prove right the thesis that an improperly formulated ceasefire often results in blunting further the chances for resolution. While there are different opinions regarding what exactly were the flaws of the CFA, its inability to move from Square One can certainly be attributed to the fact that there was no Square Two in the script or even directionality in terms of such movement. In short, there was a marked absence of ‘process’ in that flawed and in the end failed initiative.

It is in this sense that the President’s brief to his delegation has to be assessed. He has delineated a set of ‘core issues’: democracy, multi-party elections, tolerance of political dissent, human rights and child soldiers, development of the North and East and devolution issues. If the LTTE agrees to any of this it would simply mean that it has agreed to the terms of surrender to the Sri Lankan State. The LTTE may not have a choice and indeed needs to ask itself whether the immense suffering they’ve brought on the people they claim to represent does not in fact justify surrender. [Full Story]

UNP spokesman says his party would never support the war of this government waged against the LTTE
Asian Tribune: 13 October, 2006
A spokesman of the United National Party now engaged in discussions with President Rajapaksa said that the party will never support any war by the government against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).Rajitha Senaratne of the United National Party said the Opposition United National Party would never support the war the government is waging against the LTTE.

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He said it was ridiculous that the government wants to take up for discussion seven core issues namely, democracy, multi-party system, pluralism, human rights, child recruitment, development of the North and East and devolution, with the Tamil Tigers at the peace talks.

He said democracy, ,multi-party systems , pluralism, human rights child recruitment for war, development of North and East have no place in a peace agenda. He said those things could be discussed after devolving power to the Tamil areas. [Full Story]

For the love of our children - untold story of the Sri Lankans Fleeing to India
Ministry Of Defence: 12 October, 2006
The reality of Sri Lankan ethnic issue has always been seriously aggravated with a lot of misinformation and lies. Thus the genuine grievances of the ethnic Tamils in the Island, have never surfaced in a way many people could clearly understand them.

It should be accepted that Sri Lanka is a country that protects the rights of minority at her best. There are many legitimate and serious problems faced by the Tamil people in Sri Lanka that no government could address so far. Consequently, the Tamil people in Sri Lanka have been left at the mercy of power hungry LTTE megalomaniacs who are still continuing to betray the innocent Tamil community to achieve their ends gaining power. [Full Story]

Swiss and Norwegian govts to facilitate peace talks
Relief Web: 11 October, 2006
The governments of Switzerland and Norway will coordinate the peace talks between the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)in Switzerland from 28 to 29 October 2006.

The government has asked the Norwegian facilitators to make necessary arrangements for talks after the Ambassador Hans Brattskar conveyed that the LTTE has agreed to hold the talks on the proposed two days. Brattskar discussed the issue yesterday with LTTE political head S P Thamil Selvan

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5. Child Soldiers / recruiting of children for combat should be totally stopped [Full Story]

Democracy, Pluralism, Child Soldiers on top of Government's agenda to talk with Tamil Tigers
Asian Tribune: 11 October, 2006
The government wants to take up for discussion seven core issues namely, democracy, multi-party system, pluralism, human rights, child recruitment, development of the North and East and devolution, with the Tamil Tigers President Mahinda Rajapaksa has informed the co-chairs, Defense spokesman of Sri Lanka Keheliya Rambukwella said.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lanka government have agreed to meet each other on October 28 and 29 for peace talks in Geneva, meanwhile Norway announced. [Full Story]

LTTE exploiting education system to recruit children - HRC
Daily News: 11 October, 2006
Following an in-depth inquiry, the Human Rights Commission (HRC) in their report has ruled that the Sencholai Camp was in fact an LTTE recruitment station and the 500 children and young adults had been receiving motivation training on the day of aerial attacks.

Based on their findings the HRC calls for a zero tolerance approach to child recruitment while setting demobilisation of child combatants as a pre-condition in the peace process.

The HRC report pointed out that their evidence proves the State supported education system is exploited by the LTTE for child recruitment and combatant training as it provides a ready made 'pool' of vulnerable children.

Children and young adults in their teens had been forced to attend the camp by the LTTE, threatening deprivation of certain 'training cards' which permit them to move freely to attend tuition classes.

The report maintained that the participants had also received basic weapons training.

Based on evidence of education authorities, First Aid Training organisations present in the area and the statements of the three injured girls from the camp, the HRC's regional office has come to this conclusion.

In response to the HRC's inquiries the St.John Ambulance Association has related that they were unaware of any first aid training on the particular dates at the site, contrary to the LTTE claims.

The regional education authorities and the Examinations Commissioner has confirmed that such a large gathering would not have been permitted by them for Advanced Level students who are required to fulfil 80 per cent attendance to sit for exam. [Full Story]

Sri Lankan Peace Talks Must Address Devolution, Government Says
Bloomberg: 11 October, 2006
Peace talks between the Sri Lankan government and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam must address the devolution of power in the northern and eastern parts of the country, the Defense Ministry said.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has made clear future discussions with the LTTE shouldn't be restricted to the cease- fire agreement, ministry spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said yesterday, according to the department's Web site.

Talks should also address human rights issues and the suspension of recruiting child soldiers, Rambukwella said, without elaborating. [Full Story]

Seven major issues to guide the peace talks- Defence spokesman
Ministry Of Defence: 10 October, 2006
The government Defence Spokesman Minister Keheliya Rambukwella says the President Mahinda Rajapakse has informant the Co-Chairs of the donor conference that the future discussions with the LTTE must be based on seven major issues.

The President has stated that the prominence should be given to establish the right to hold different political views under democratic setup, Preserve human rights, the suspension of recruiting child soldiers, and the devolution of power in the North and East. [Full Story]

UN dumps Sri Lanka’s Queen of Thieves
Asian Tribune: 08 October, 2006
Chandrika Kumaratunga, former President of the Sri Lanka, who was lobbying for a job in the UN as a high-ranking Under-Secretary, has returned empty handed. Media reports said that UN officials had dismissed speculation that Chandrika Kumaratunge had been offered the post of South Asia director general of UNICEF.

She paid a courtesy call on Ms. Ann Veneman, Head of UNESCO, and turned on her charm to impress that she is the right candidate to "do her bit to increase the UN children’s agency profile in Asia."

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"Besides, there is no record in her career as President where she had rescued the Tamil children who were plucked from the parents’ arms and sent as child soldiers to fight in the needless war of Tamil Tigers. On the contrary, she was making deals with the Tamil Tigers to strengthen their hands to perpetrate more crimes against humanity," he said citing the example of P-Toms, the agreement in which she was planning to hand over control of the north and the east to the Tigers. [Full Story]

Sri Lankan - Americans demonstrate for peace in Sri Lanka Opposite the white house
Lanka Everything: 06 October, 2006
Sri Lankan Americans in the Greater Washington area on Wednesday (4th October) held a mass demonstration for peace opposite the White House in Washington DC. This event was attended by almost 250 persons cutting across ethnic and religious persuasions. Sri Lankan Americans from New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania also participated in the event. [Full Story]

Dont commence talks without a written pledge from LTTE Leader Prabakaran - JHU urges the Sri Lanka Government
Asian Tribune: 06 October, 2006
Jathika Hela Urimaya (JHU) Party strongly objects the government’s decision to resume peace talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) ignoring the conditions in the Mahinda Chinthanaya, which clearly states that the government would not come to talks in the absence of its leader Valupillai Prabakaran.

The JHU leader Puravidya Chakkrawarthi Ven. Ellawala Medananda Thera, MP, told the "Asian Tribune" that from the Oslo peace talk’s up to the last round of peace talks, the LTTE has misled the government and it used the opportunity to strengthen their terrorist activities.

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He said that after the victory at the Mavil Aru and Sampur attacks, the LTTE suffered a serious loss and they now wanted to resume peace talks to strengthen their activities again. "We also want to support the government in peace talks but talks should be based on conditions in the Mahinda Chinthanaya, which includes a written pledge from Prabhakaran to refrain from any violence and the lay down arms before the peace talks begins, stop smuggling of weapons and stop recruiting child soldiers," thera said. [Full Story]

USA: Sri Lankan-Americans demonstrate for peace in Sri Lanka
Asian Tribune: 05 October, 2006
Sri Lankan Americans in the Greater Washington area on Wednesday (4th October) held a mass demonstration for peace opposite the White House in Washington DC.

The rally was held to protest the brutal killings, ethnic cleansing and forcible recruitment of child soldiers by the LTTE, to support the Sri Lanka peace process and to commend the U.S. administration for its recent arrests of LTTE agents in the U.S.

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The demonstrators were particularly appreciative of the action take by the U.S. administration and for its tangible support to Sri Lanka. They also highly commended the FBI for the recent investigation and for apprehending 16 LTTE agents in the U.S. They urged for continued vigilance to prevent U.S. soil being used by the LTTE and its front organisations.

The rally included a colourful display of banners and placards as well as U.S. and Sri Lanka flags and music. The main banner read ‘Sri Lanka supports the global war on terrorism’ while there were sub banners saying, ‘FBI: Thank you for busting the LTTE’; ‘Sri Lanka Tamils Want Democracy Not Terrorism’; ‘LTTE: Stop Recruitment of Child Soldiers’; ‘Sri Lankan Americans also support the Peace Process’. [Full Story]

Sri Lankan Americans protest Tamil LTTE policies
Lanka Everything: 05 October, 2006
Sri Lankan Americans held a demonstration outside the White House to protest the policies of Tamil Tiger rebels, including the recruitment of child soldiers and ethnic cleansing.

The demonstrators, who held a banner saying that the Island Nation was with the United States in the war against terrorism, thanked Washington for recently unearthing agents of the LTTE who were trying to procure arms in this country. [Full Story]

Captured foreign nationals have terrorist ties
KUAM News: 29 September, 2006
Six foreign nationals were charged in the state of Maryland in a conspiracy to export arms and provide support to a foreign terrorist organization. The case originated in the mainland, as sealed indictments were handed down against six defendants allegedly acting as brokers and middlemen for the Tamil Tigers.

For the last six months federal authorities working in Maryland and Guam have been conducting an undercover operation as six individuals with ties to a foreign terrorist organization attempted to purchase firearms and night vision equipment locally. Sealed indictments and complaints were handed down in Maryland on September 19. The federal complaints and charges were unsealed today charging six individuals with conspiracy to export arms and munitions. Three of those defendants were additionally charged with conspiracy to provide support to a foreign terrorist organization and money laundering.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the six were arrested in Guam after attempting to purchase sniper rifles, sub-machineguns with suppressors, grenade launchers and night vision equipment. The arms and support were to be given to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which is listed as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department and twenty-eight other countries.

55-year-old Haniffa Bin Osman of Singapore, 60-year-old Erick Wotulo and 69-year-old Haji Subandi, both of Indonesia, were arrested on Guam charged with conspiracy to export arms and munitions, providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization and money laundering. A complaint was also filed in the District Court of Guam this week against 36-year old Thirunavukarasu Varatharasa, a citizen of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, charging him with being a member of the arms trafficking conspiracy.

According to the USDOJ, the federal indictment and complaint allege that beginning in April 2006, the defendants conspired to supply the Tamil Tigers with nearly $1,000,000 worth of arms and munitions. This past May, Subandi allegedly sent undercover immigration and customs enforcement agents a list of fifty-three military weapons he wanted to acquire for the Tigers, including a request for pricing. The defendants and the Tamil Tigers are aware that because the LTTE is listed as a foreign terrorist organization - it cannot legally raise money or procure operational equipment in the United States.

Osman and Wotulo were the Tigers' representatives who were willing to travel to Maryland and meet with undercover agents. Osman told agents if the first transaction was successful, the second order could be worth as much as $15,000,000. He also inquired on the cost for unmanned aerial vehicles. On August 2 an international wire transfer of $250,000 was made from a bank in Kuala Lumpur to an account maintained by an undercover business in Maryland as a downpayment for the weapons.

On Monday Osman and Varatharasa met with undercover agents on Guam, discussing how the weapons would be shipped from the island and then offloaded by Tamil Tiger members at a location in the Indian Ocean. An additional complaint was filed against 34-year-old Reinhard Rusli and 33-year-old Helmi Soedirdja, both of Indonesia, and Subandi, accusing them of conspiring to ship night vision goggles to Indonesia. An initial appearance and petition for removal hearing was held at 6pm Friday at the District Court of Guam and the individuals will be transferred to a federal facility in Maryland.

The Tamil Tigers organization has been linked to assassinations, ethnic cleansing, recruiting and using child soldiers, extortion, and suicide bombings. Guam homeland security advisor Frank Blas, Jr. says federal authorities worked collaboratively with local law enforcement agencies. "The organization did not choose to come to Guam," explained Blas, adding, "This was as a result of the investigation and ongoing negotiations that they had with the organization, so Guam was in no danger and Guam is not in danger now as a result or because of what had happened."

U.S. Attorney Lenny Rapadas says the arrests in this particular case exemplify the cooperation between local and federal agencies combating and working to prevent terrorism. Rapadas adds at no point and time were the citizens of Guam or the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in any danger.

The six foreign nationals remain in federal, segregated custody at the Guam Department of Corrections, awaiting transfer back to Maryland. [Full Story]

Appraising the terrorist - A strategy doomed to failure
Ministry Of Defence: 29 September, 2006
In the aftermath of the 1st Anniversary of the "London Bus Bomb" tragedy (2005.07.07), has the attention of the entire global community is now focused on "Terrorism and it's perpetrators". [Full Story]

Offspring of Tiger Leaders Enjoy Heaven
Media Centre for National Security: 29 September, 2006
CHILDREN OF SEVERAL TOP TIGER TERRORIST LEADERS ARE PURSUING higher education in western countries while children of innocent Tamil civilians are forcibly recruited to fight against government troops. According to foreign sources Velupille Pirabaharan's daughter is studying English in Ireland while Tamil Chelvam's daughter is pursuing her education in Norway. Nadeson, the leader of the tiger illegitimate police faction has also securely sent his son and daughter to Canada. LTTE's head of finance, Tamil Landi's son is reportedly studying in Canada while Balakumar's son is studying in Australia.

While the children of the tiger hierarchy are secure pursuing their higher education abroad, children of innocent Tamil civilians are sent to the front line as child soldiers to fight a battle against the Security Forces. Children are abducted while they are on their way home or snatched away from their homes by the tigers. Once under the LTTE, they are trained for warfare, explosive handling, suicide missions and intelligence gathering. Survivors of the Sencholai attack revealed that LTTE agents visited their schools and demanded that they report for combat training at Sencholai. According to the LTTE hierarchy, Ordinary level and Advanced level students in tiger held areas have to undergo compulsory combat training for three months prior to their respective exams. Those who don’t comply will be deprived of higher education.

While part of LTTE sympathizer funds are being used to educate the children of the Tiger leadership abroad, the rest is being spent on training the children of innocent Tamil civilians into being murderers. [Full Story]

LTTE war crimes against children
Ministry Of Defence: 24 September, 2006

Introduction :
In more than thirty countries around the world, approximately 300,000 minors under the age of 18 have been denied their childhood for armed conflicts. These child soldiers, both boys and girls, are forced by terrorist outfits to take part in all military aspects. They are ordered to serve as human mine detectors, cooks, messengers, spies, lookouts, sex slaves, front-line combatants, or partakers in suicide missions.

At such a young age, these child combatants experience the horrors of war. They become witnesses or victims of extreme physical violence, which includes beheadings, amputations, massacres, bombings, death squad executions, torture, arrests, forced displacement, sexual abuse, and destruction of property. They are forced to contribute their services in these acts, and are given drugs to eradicate any fear or reluctance. [Full Story]

Former Tiger Cadre Killed For Revealing The Truth
Media Centre for National Security: 21 September, 2006
Tiger terrorists gunned down Mailvahanam Kohulam, a former LTTE cadre near the Vipulananda School, Batticaloa after he revealed the brutality of their hierarchy.

Mailvahanam escaped from the Vakarai tiger base due to frustration, unable to bear the inhumanity meted out towards him by the tiger hierarchy. He had revealed how LTTE leaders forced them to fight against the security forces in the front line while they remained far behind the battle zones in comfort and luxury. Mailvahanam had revealed how young child soldiers both male and female were forced to go to the front by their leadership.

He had further exposed how their leaders abandoned the wounded cadres in the battlefield. According to his revelation they never evacuate the wounded to safety and treat them. Instead they force them to fight.

Mailvahanam was hunted down by the tigers following his revelation about the nature of their brutal control. The frustration Mailvahanam felt is common among all other surrendees. Many such frustrated cadres surrendered to the Security Forces following their many defeats against the security forces. [Full Story]

The President requests UN officials to take action against Child Conscription by the LTTE- New York
Ministry Of Defence: 20 September, 2006
President Mahinda Rajapakse had a meeting with the special representatives of the Secretary General of the UN yesterday, Tuesday the 19th of September in New York, to discuss the matters related to the children affected by the combat in Sri Lanka.

The group of special representatives including a renowned Sri Lankan diplomat Miss. Radhika Kumaraswami called on the President at the Hotel and held the discussions with regard to the situation in Sri Lanka and the continued conscription of children by the LTTE as child soldiers.

The president emphasized that many a times the UN had drawn the attention of the world as well as the LTTE to stop recruitment of children as combatants. The president requested Miss. Radhika Kumaraswami to take necessary action to ensure that the LTTE does not recruit child combatants anymore. [Full Story]

U.N.'s rights chief says, Serious rights abuses continue in Sri Lanka
Lanka Everything: 19 September, 2006
Serious human rights abuses continue in Sri Lanka - , the U.N.'s rights chief said Monday, urging the international community to address the abuses committed both by the Tamil Tiger rebel group and government forces. gle in eastern Sri Lanka - on Monday, blaming Tamil Tiger rebels for the killings.

Some 65,000 people were killed in the conflict before the 2002 cease-fire, which began unraveling in December. Hundreds more lives have been lost this year, including more than 400 government troops since July, and more than 220,000 people have been from their homes.

Arbour welcomed what she called the Sri Lankan government's commitment to investigate human rights abuses, including the killing of 17 humanitarian workers last month, which European peace monitors blamed on security forces.

Arbour said, however, that many investigations ``have failed to produce results, and victims have been denied justice and redress.'' [Full Story]

Startling Revelation by a child soldier
Ministry Of Defence: 19 September, 2006

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A sixteen year old Tamil boy who had escaped form the clutches of the Tiger terrorists surrendered himself to the Security Forces on Saturday, the 16th of September.

The boy was found by the army soldiers on a foot patrol in Puwarasanthivu area in China Bay at 7.10 a.m, Saturday morning.

The child identified as Kliraza Ganeshlingam, told the security forces that he had been serving as a child soldier in the LTTE and escaped the outfit due to the unbearable sexual harassment committed by the senior LTTE terrorists.

"I lived with my parents at Ralkuli in Muttur. The LTTE forced seven children in the village including myself to join the outfit early in the month of March. The parents of the other six children managed to send their children away form the village, but I was taken forcibly to the LTTE camp in Kandalkadu in South of Trincomalee" the boy said.

Ganeshalingam further revealed that he had to undergo rigorous military training at Kandalkadu camp, where he was trained to use T-56 machine guns and Hand grenades.

"There was 75 youth in my batch of which at least 17 were younger to me" Kallirasa added.

The military sources said that the boy came running crossing the un-liberated area whilst being fired upon by the terroists.

When inquired on his battle experiences the boy told he was sent on the mission to attack the Kattaiparichchan army camp, in August ,with 75 other cadres of which only 50 could survive.

Explaining his misery at the hands of the LTTE the boy said "following the LTTE's defeat in Muttu,r I was assigned to work in the kitchen at Upparu LTTE base. There I was compelled to gratify unnatural lust of the senior LTTE cadres, almost on the daily basis"

"I could bear no more, it is better off dead than to live with them (LTTE), that is why I risked my life in escaping the out fit. They (LTTE) repeatedly open fire at me, but I survived "the boy concluded.

The LTTE is one of the terrorist organizations in the world that extensively exploit children as child combatants. The UNICEF itself handed over a list of 1387 child soldiers to the LTTE in July this year requesting immediate release of the underage fighters. Interestingly, the SLMM too, once declared in their reports that the LTTE was holding at least 2161 child combatants.

Child soldiering is a war crime. But for a reason unknown, the LTTE leadership seemed to find it difficult to do away this practice, though he has been warned several times, even by his own terror sympathizers.

Whilst committing horrendous crimes against the Singhalese and Muslim children in the remote villages of North and East, the LTTE leadership seemed to gratify his sadistic instinct against the Tamil children via child combatants. This crime itself has already brought about more harmful repercussions on the very Tamil community, which the LTTE claims to represent.

Meanwhile, doubts are raised why the LTTE leadership shows such kindness to pedophiles. It is well known fact that this kindness to the pedophiles turned into to a fury against the child protection officials when they attempted to arrest a pedophile who was seeking refuge of the LTTE. It has been alleged that Bandujeewa Bopitigoda was jailed by the LTTE because his Child Protection Agency arrested a pro-LTTE university professor, who had raped a 13-year old minor girl 40 times.

Strong evidence suggests that three pedophiles, Micheal Smith (British) and Thomas Caspar Wirtz and Armin Paffhauser (Swiss) were also escaped the country under the patronage of the LTTE leadership.

Kaliraza's story opened up a new frontier to look in to the elusive mind of Prbhakaran who brought 25 years of terror upon 19 million people. The story for sure is only the tip of the ice berg which hides so much of lies beneath. [Full Story]

Sri Lanka Tamil Tigers abduct teens to fight
Lanka Everything: 18 September, 2006
The boys playing cricket with a homemade bat and an old tennis ball in the Thirimaidu refugee camp pack up promptly at dusk these days, no matter how exciting the game.

The scrawny 13- and 14- year-olds, many of whom look much younger, all know what happened to their playmate Detson, 14, a few weeks ago -- armed men from a renegade Tamil Tiger faction came for him at night. They haven't seen him since. [Full Story]

Militants recruit children in J&K
Times Now: 17 September, 2006
After Afghanistan and Palestine, militant outfits are trying to recruit children from Jammu and Kashmir into militancy. Security challenge
The strategy of exploiting children by terrorist organisations for the purpose of carrying out terror attacks and suicide bombings is not a new development – Naxals in this country have allegedly carried out similar recruitments, while the LTTE in Srilanka has long been blamed for recruiting ‘child soldiers’ and running children’s’ training camps that masquerade as orphanages. [Full Story]

NEXT OF KIN AND NEIGHBORS BECOME IRATE AND ATTACK LTTE POLITICAL LEADERS WHO CAME TO HAND OVER DEAD CHILD SOLDIERS
Lanka Web: 16 September, 2006
Neighbors and next of kin who became extremely angry when they saw two dead bodies of child soldiers severely assaulted the LTTE men who came to hand over the bodies and smashed up their vehicles.

Reports from Mannar a predominantly Tamil area revealed that the irate villagers assaulted the LTTE group of men who came to hand over the dead children to the next of kin.

Among those assaulted was a LTTE area political leader who came ready to deliver his speech addressing the villagers that the children had entered the martyrdom for engaging themselves for the “liberation” of Tamils. A van and a motorcycle were also reportedly damaged.

The two children were among the hundreds of those whom were used as “cannon fodder” recently by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam during their recent clashes with the security forces in the North.

Security sources close to Mannar said the two children had been recruited by the LTTE not long ago against the wish of the parents by recruiters of children who visited the village.

The liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam is having 5000 such children trained for war and some as suicide bombers against civilian and military targets. Sencholai, named after a dead suicide bomber was exclusively dedicated of training school going children as well as orphaned children both as fighters and suicide bombers, according to some evidence by survivors of the bombing of Sencholai.

In Mannar area a different training center had been used by the LTTE.

After hearing the fate of the LTTE child soldiers there is an increasing tendency in the East to run away from the LTTE camps and surrender to the security forces.

On September 15, 2006 four LTTE cadets including two child soldiers surrendered to Mankerni Army detachment at Punani, in the Eastern Province army sources said. Two of them were as young as seven years while the others were young men in their twenties, the Army said. All four had been handed over to higher authorities for questioning, local authorities said. [Full Story]

Tigers killing spree continues, an aid worker killed - Eravur
Ministry Of Defence: 16 September, 2006
An aid worker attached to a NGO named "American Mission" was assassinated by the LTTE terrorists at 6.45p.m yesterday (Friday the 15th of September).

The victim identified as Mr. T. Thavanesarasa aged 25 years was shot dead in front of his residence at Eravur by a group of suspected LTTE "pistol" gangsters.

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The LTTE is known to be a terrorist organization that effectively misuses NGO's to support their terror activities. Many LTTE cadres have successfully enrolled themselves into NGO's and many more have been lured through monitory rewards to support the terror outfit. This contamination has reduced many world renowned NGO's in Sri Lanka to mere bandwagons of the LTTE.

This tactic of the LTTE as some defence analysts suggest, might put the world into a great danger if copied by the other International Terror Organization. The LTTE has already made some dangerous contributions to the international terrorism by inventing very effective terror tactics such as training of suicide bombers, child soldiers, effective vehicle bombing, ethnic cleansing, and fundraising techniques and etc.

The behavior of the LTTE's propaganda machine shows that the LTTE has stretched its tactic with the NGO workers further. The recent incidents show that the LTTE has not only developed a method to use the supportive NGO workers but also the non supportive ones as Mr. Thavanesarasa. The recent assassinations of aid workers in the Island are being extensively exploited by the LTTE propagandists and other terror sympathizers to mislead the international community by blaming the government for such killings. [Full Story]

Villagers attack at LTTE terrorists - Mannar
Ministry Of Defence: 15 September, 2006
03 LTTE terrorists were assaulted by angry villagers at Mannar, on Wednesday, the 13th of September.

The so called "Sole Representatives", had to use reinforcement to salvage themselves from the unexpected onslaught.

According to the villagers of Adampan area the incident was as follows.

An LTTE area leader and his two body guards who accompanied the bodies of five LTTE child combatants, killed in recent confrontations in Jaffna, had the pleasure of the unexpected treatment.

The bodies were to be handed over to their parents in Adampan at Mannar, on Wednesday(13).

The parents and neighbors unleashed their wrath on the terrorists by assaulting them unmercifully and damaging their vehicle. The LTTE terrorists were critically injured said an eye witness. [Full Story]

LTTE SHOULD DENOUNCE THE BULLET AND OPT FOR BALLOT
Media Centre for National Security: 14 September, 2006
In a democratic society which is governed by the people for the people and of the people conceptualizes the ballet as the key factor for a democratic government. The core concepts of democracy which emphasises on individuals freedom free movement political, social freedom and co – existence will never despise views, ideas and ideologies of others. There is a compromise process. Not self centered or selfish. It tolerates others suggestions opinions and is willing to accept criticism or constructive criticism. It is a philosophy of cooperative living sharing and caring. It is a “one for all and all for one” policy. It believes in “to live and let live policy”.

The pathetic situation prevailing in the Eastern and Northern areas in Sri Lanka is a despotism by a Tamil eccentric leader who wields power depicting the mean inhuman babaric mentality.

No one can fool all the people all the time truth prevails and the is like a rubber ball suppressed by one in the water. When it gets a chance it will surface. There is a saying that every dog has its day. The innocent children who became child soldiers by force of the so called self - styled despotic leader of a minority terrorist Tamil group undergoing mental & physical pain and has to face brutal torture by the hands of the tiger leaders. They joined this cardre at their flowering tender age.

These children at the age ranging from 11 – 19 years now opened their eyes and began to desert their one time hero-worshipped leader, running to their parental care for safety and protection seeking freedom from the cluches of bondage. They grabbed this miraculous golden opportunity to surrender to the SLA deserting the leadership. Some of these groups have already surrendered and & handed over their arms and amunitions to the SLA, seeking and believing in a democratic leadership under a democratic rule. Now they have realized the ballet is more powerful than the bullet. [Full Story]

UK gives $1 million to help victims of conflict in Sri Lanka
Lanka Everything: 14 September, 2006
Today, Gareth Thomas, Minister at the Department for International Development announced the UK will make a new $1 million contribution to the UN andRed Cross to help Sri Lankans displaced by recent violence in their country.

People receive quick and effective medical treatment to prevent unnecessary loss of life; - Children living in temporary settlements continue to receive a basic level of education; and - The government and LTTE recognise the need to uphold the civil rights of those arrested during the conflict, inform families about missing relatives and prevent the recruitment of child soldiers. [Full Story]

Global community must condemn use of children and youth as cannon fodder by the LTTE
Peace Journalism: 13 September, 2006
Thank you for giving me this opportunity to participate in this urgent debate on the current situation in the North & East. In presenting this urgent debate, Hon. Mavai Senathirajah states that he holds ‘the Government primarily answerable and accountable for this grave humanitarian crisis’ and wants to know what steps the Government will take to prevent its intensification. However, what Hon. Senathirajah doesn’t say is that this ‘grave humanitarian crisis’ was essentially triggered off by the offensive actions of the LTTE several weeks ago in Mavilaru. It would have been more appropriate if some of the concerns mentioned by Hon. Senathirajah were brought to the attention of his current patron saint in the jungles of Kilinochchi instead of him, as usual, trying to justify the terror and the aggression of the LTTE by making ‘Government primarily answerable.’ [Full Story]

Sri Lanka: Compulsory arms training for O/L and A/L students in LTTE areas
Asian Tribune: 13 September, 2006
Students sitting for Ordinary and Advanced level examinations in uncleared areas have to undergo compulsory Tiger combat-training for three months, the media centre for national security claimed.

"Students who refuse to undergo training are not allowed to sit for O/L and A/L examinations," the Centre, quoting sources, said.

Accordingly, selected school children are directed to LTTE camps for training. Tiger terrorist agents who are also attached to education offices in Mullaitivu have threatened students that they will not be able to sit for exams or pursue higher education if they do not undergo LTTE combat-training.

"Tiger terrorists have made combat-training compulsory for school-children in areas under their control in the face of cadre desertion following their humiliating defeats against the Security Forces in Sampur, Muhamalai, Nagarkovil, Kilali, Kayts, Muttur and Mavil Aru," the Centre claimed.

Tiger terrorists are known to recruit children as young as ten years of age to wage war against the government to carve out a separate State better known as a 'Tamil Eelam' for the ethnic Tamil minority. Children are forcibly abducted by LTTE cadres from their homes or in many instances on their way to school. Military sources confirm that these children are trained to use weapons and explosives apart from suicide missions and intelligence gathering.

"Top LTTE leaders and elite fighters cowardly remain in underground bunkers and plush compounds in the Wanni while these inexperienced child cadres, barely able to carry an AK 47 are sent to the frontline to face the brunt of the sophisticated fire-power of the Security Forces.

Children of Tiger leaders are abroad pursuing higher education peacefully while children of innocent Tamil civilians are forced to take up arms to fight a war that the LTTE can never win. Money generated by the Tamil diaspora is utilized by Pirabhakaran's war fanaticism to purchase weapons and explosives which ultimately are carried by innocent Tamil children to the frontlines.

The Tamil diaspora should be ashamed of themselves for funding a war that has killed thousands of Tamil children," the Centre added. [Full Story]

Child Recruitment continues- Jaffna
Ministry Of Defence / Daily News: 13 September, 2006
LTTE terrorists abducted a 15 year old child named N. Subachan on Monday the 11th of September at Karuwankerny in Jaffna.

The boy was reportedly abducted at 3.00p.m at a location close Karuwankerny Government School, whilst he was returning home after school.

The civilians in the area suspect that the child might have been taken to a terrorist camp in Wanni to be train as a child soldier by the LTTE.

LTTE is one of the terrorist organizations that practice child soldiering since its inception in 1983. The outfit maintains an infamous "Baby Brigade" which is deployed at the battle front as "One Way" fighters (Similar to suicide cadres).

It is believed that the LTTE holds over 6000 children as soldiers in its "baby brigade. Moreover most of its adult cadre was also known to be recruited to the outfit as children. The LTTE leadership has ordered each Tamil family living in North and East provinces to provide a child to the outfit for fight for his quest in creating an Ethnically Pure Tamil Homeland in Sri Lanka. [Full Story]

The Sri Lankan Conflict
Council on Foreign Relations: 11 September, 2006
Introduction
The fragile 2002 cease-fire between the Sri Lankan government and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has been repeatedly violated by both sides. Prospects for peace look grim; a recent surge in violence threatens to kill the agreement and rekindle the long civil war. India, the island’s neighbor to the north, hesitates to get involved and repeat the embarrassment of its 1980s role in the conflict. The European Union and Canada have joined the United States, India, and Australia in listing the Tigers as a terror group, creating obstacles to their support abroad. But the rebels, while pursuing their goal of an autonomous Tamil region, have managed to present repeated challenges to the government.

India, which had given the Tamil militants weapons and training, deployed a peacekeeping force in 1987 that left three years later amidst escalating violence. During the ensuing conflict, the Tamil Tigers emerged as a fearsome terrorist organization famed for suicide bombings, recruitment of child soldiers, and the ability to challenge Sri Lankan forces in the largely Tamil areas running from the Jaffna Peninsula in the north and down the eastern side of the island. The Tigers were placed on the U.S. State Department’s terror list in 1997, and in 2002 Norway brokered a cease-fire agreement between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government. Peace talks broke down the following year, but experts posit the fragile truce held in large part because of devastation related to the 2004 tsunami, which caused 30,000 deaths on the island. [Full Story]

LTTE leader Prabhakaran ordered three months' compulsory combat training for children, says Sri Lanka govt
Colombo Page: 10 September, 2006
The LTTE leadership had ordered three months of compulsory combat training for Ordinary and Advanced Level students in Sri Lanka's North and East, while the Wanni leadership also rejected sending more cadres to the East, the Sri Lankan government said.

Director General of the Media Centre for National Security Lakshman Hulugalle in a statement said that school children are ordered to undergo weapons and combat training before they sit for their exams.

“According to the LTTE leader’s directive, students prior to their exams must undergo training in weapons and the use of explosives for suicide missions from youth training camps established in Jaffna, Madhagal, Kilali, Kilinochchi, Periya Paranthan, Mullaitivu, Iranamadu, Adampan and Sencholai. According to Tamil media, all these camps had been opened by Prabhakaran himself,” the statement said. [Full Story]

Tamil Tigers get claws into young refugees
Sunday Herald: 10 September, 2006
THE boys playing cricket with a home-made bat and an old tennis ball in Thiramadu refugee camp pack up promptly at dusk these days. The scrawny 13 and 14-year-olds, many of whom look much younger, all know what happened to their playmate Detson a few weeks ago. Armed men from a renegade Tamil Tigers faction came for him at night. The children haven’t seen him since.

The youngster is probably not too far away from the sprawling tin-hut camp for tsunami survivors on the outskirts of Batticaloa. As the boys squabble and laugh over their nightly game, Detson is probably standing guard in the jungle a few miles away, holding an AK-47 almost as big as he is.

As Sri Lanka slides into a new phase of civil war, the press gangs from the Tamil Tigers are energetically seeking out new recruits. They look for teenagers attracted by the glamour of the cause. But if there are not enough of them, any boys – or girls – will do. Child soldiers are among the most ferocious fighters for the Tigers. Some go on to become Black Tiger suicide bombers.

In the past few months, hundreds of youngsters have been abducted, at night or on their way to school. Aid agencies in the country’s east are besieged by tearful mothers pleading for help. In Batticaloa parents try to hide their children at night from the illicit draft. It has a nickname: round-up.

Young boys in Thiramadu, Sri Lanka’s biggest resettlement camp for tsunami survivors, are haunted by the fear of abduction. “Our teachers tell us to be careful and our mothers tell us to come indoors after dark,” says a youngster called Thenesh.

Fear returned to the east of the country as the hopes of the 2002 ceasefire slowly died during the course of this year. Tortured bodies turn up around Batticaloa most mornings. Gunfights sometimes break out after dark between loyalists from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the breakaway faction belonging to Colonel Karuna which has sided with the government. Tamil families who can afford to leave are migrating to India, but most have to take their chances.

“We don’t know why this war has started again,” says one old man with a nervous glance to see if any spies or informers are listening. “You must ask the LTTE and the government why they are fighting again. Nobody here wants anything to do with armed groups or the army. But when they come for children, what can we do?”

Batticaloa, a languid fishing town of mosques and temples with an ancient Dutch fort, has the misfortune of lying at the centre of a three-way split in eastern Sri Lanka. Government soldiers hold the town, fighting LTTE rebels across a stinking muddy lagoon. The turncoat Karuna runs an adjoining fiefdom. Both the LTTE and Karuna are furiously recruiting children .

A few miles up the coast road is the scruffy market town of Valachchenai. A nun from one of the churches there says one of her pupils was abducted a few days ago.

“The girl’s mother was foolish,” the nun says. “She knew they wanted that girl and she did nothing to send her away. Now nobody knows where she is.”

The 16-year-old abductee cannot be named as the gunmen could return to her family looking for revenge.

Hundreds of mothers complain about abductions to the United Nations children’s organisation Unicef, which then contacts the LTTE or the Karuna faction to ask them to return the children to their families. According to Unicef’s Junko Mitani: “Sometimes they release the child, sometimes they don’t.”

Unicef’s figures show that 5666 children were abducted between the ceasefire in 2002, when many child soldiers were released, and July this year. But officials believe only around a third of cases are reported to them.

Mothers do not talk openly about the abductions for fear of revenge attacks. One admits that she fears complaining to the police because her family could then be tortured as LTTE sympathisers.

The Tigers have allowed her one brief reunion with her 17-year-old son at a jungle training camp since his abduction last year. “When I hear bombing or shelling I really worry for him,” she says. “His father is ill and the family depends on him. Our only hope is that there will be peace again, and the Tigers will release him.” [Full Story]

What after Sampoor?
Asian Tribune: 10 September, 2006
With each forward step taken by the Security Forces President Mahinda Rajapakse advances two steps. If the Army consolidates its position ousting the LTTE from one camp the President consolidates the entire acreage of his national electorate. And if the forces push the Tamil Tigers to retreat the President will not have to lift a finger to push the opposition into oblivion.

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Domestically too, there are no signs of the Tamil people rallying behind Prabhakaran like the Palestinians animated by intifada. Missing from the scenario are the political sophisticates/ intellectuals queuing up to join the suicide brigade. Prabhakaran has to forcibly pluck them from schools or from the arms of parents and throw them into the frontlines as cannon fodder. There are no committed volunteers flying in from all parts of the world to swell the depleted ranks at the front lines. The Tigers bank on the Tamils in the diaspora who finance the last suppers given to the suicide bombers recruited from Tamil orphanages or brainwashed youth to commit hate crimes disguised as "liberation politics". Tragically, the Tamils in the diaspora have no qualms about financing the last suppers of suicide bombers while they drive their children to elitist schools in the latest model sold in London, New York, Oslo, Melbourne etc. [Full Story]

What is happening to Tamil Youth By: Dr. Reffai
Ministry Of Defence / Daily News: 10 September, 2006
Concerned about it? As a mother I feel my stomach churning when I think of all the atrocities committed against the Tamil children

Tamil child soldiers is a much discussed subject which does not need elaboration. But the way they are brainwashed , the way they are intimidated to commit murders -it is blood curdling. The eye witnesses who were stopped by the LTTE while fleeing from Muthur said the Muslim youth were taken out one by one and their hands were tied, and then the child Tamil LTTE soldiers were pushed to the forefront and were compelled to shoot the Muslim boys, and the elder ones stood behind them and threatened to shoot the Tamil youth if they do not shoot the Muslims youth.

In other words they want the very young to become murderers so that they become used to it. Imagine the trauma these children must be undergoing! Only Consolation IS THAT MOST OF THESE LITTLE CHILDREN WILL DIE, thanks to the way they are pushed to the front line of shooting, EVEN BEFORE THEY HAVE TIME TO HAVE NIGHTMARES!

Looking at the massive LTTE graves with their neatly placed head stones - I really wonder whether the mothers of all these children feel the sacrifice is worth it. It might have been worth it if Prabakaran's child too is interred there, or atleast they are fighting in the forefront for Sampur, - one may think, well, even our leader is sacrificing his own child, and his fear is as real as mine, his loss as painful as mine. But where are the children of the leaders? In cozy little houses in UK and USA, celebrating gala birthday parties and obtaining university graduations! all Tamils are equal but some are more equal than others, eh?

What is the use of an Sampur if you cannot have your child living there? what is the whole purpose of these massacres? Killing the Sinhala youth , who did not commit any crimes against your child ( how can you forget that it was the older generation who committed all the crimes against you but they too are living abroad in posh houses comfortably with their own children safe), murdering the Muslim youth who only wanted to protect themselves ( don't they have as much yearning to live freely as the Tamils?) and forcibly taking away the Tamil grade five youth and training them to be murderers -what is this so called Sampur for? For the so called leaders to have an elder's homeland?

I sincerely wish the mothers of the Tamils will wakeup to the reality. We have come a long way from the time of Amirthlingam and "Thamby". War is not essential now. there are saner ways to settle this problem but your leader does not know any other way than fighting. Don't you all see that any extension of friendly hands are also chopped off by your so called leaders simply because they do not know how to shake hands? Is it because they fear loss of their own power with Peace? Probably.

What exactly are you fighting for? If say, Eelam does become a reality with war ( without peace) where will the rest of the Tamils be? will they be able to live in the Sinhala Sri Lankan land? are you all planning to emigrate en mass? to the Eelam? will there be enough land, jobs, income etc. to take all of you? or to go abroad? do you really think the Sinhalese will let the rest of the Tamils to live peacefully while the Eelam is established by force by massacre, by murder and evacuating everyone away from there? if so, what is the great idea of Eelam? for whom?

It's time the Tamils wake up from their stupor. the Eelam idea started with the correct ideology but somewhere along the line it had gone terribly terribly wrong - it had become ironically the "tiger's tail" - a situation where you can neither hold onto it nor let go. but let go, you must and tame the tiger, bring it to the table, not to bite the hand but to learn to rule without tyranny and terror, so that this story comes to a happy ending.

That can happen only through the efforts of discerning Tamils, no one else. [Full Story]

The EU calls for a stringent enforcement of the LTTE ban
Ministry Of Defence: 10 September, 2006
The European Union Parliament has called upon its member states to enforce the ban on the LTTE in a stringent manner. The LTTE is banned by the EU in May this year since the outfit failed to renounce terrorism.

The decision has made in the wake of the LTTE's refusal to allow truce monitors from EU countries to operate in the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM). The Terror outfit impliedly threatened EU citizen of the SLMM to leave the Island before the 2nd of this month.

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The resolution also stressed "the need for Government forces engaged in counter-insurgency and domestic security operations to exercise maximum restraint in order to minimise any risk of innocent civilian casualties". It also repeats the EP's "condemnation of the appalling abuse of children through the recruitment of child soldiers, which is a war crime, and calls on all rebel groups to stop this practice". The "intransigence of the LTTE leadership over the years" is also criticised. [Full Story]

EU ticks off LTTE and government for humanitarian crisis but urges "robust action against terrorism"
Asian Tribune: 08 September, 2006
Highlighting the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the country the European Parliament stressed in its resolution "the need for Government forces engaged in counter-insurgency and domestic security operations to exercise maximum restraint in order to minimize any risk of innocent civilian casualties".

The EU resolution focused on the "hundreds of deaths, 200,000 people displaced from their homes, 500,000 civilians in Jaffna deprived of essential food and water supplies and vital post-tsunami reconstruction disrupted".

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The resolution stresses "the need for Government forces engaged in counter-insurgency and domestic security operations to exercise maximum restraint in order to minimize any risk of innocent civilian casualties". It also repeats the EP's "condemnation of the appalling abuse of children through the recruitment of child soldiers, which is a war crime, and calls on all rebel groups to stop this practice". The resolution also criticized the "intransigence of the LTTE leadership over the years". [Full Story]

LTTE recruited tsunami-orphaned as child soldiers -US report
Daily News / Reuters: 08 September, 2006
UNITED STATES: The LTTE recruited tsunami orphaned children into its fighting units picking them from survivors' camps in the North and East, a new US Government report on Child Labour revealed.

"After the tsunami struck Sri Lanka in December 2004 there were reports of traffickers buying and selling orphans," the report said adding that the LTTE also recruited children from survivors' camps.

The report also found that war ravaged Afghanistan is a "country of origin" for children trafficked for sex and labour, as well as harvesting of human organs."

The report surveyed 137 countries and territories that receive US trade benefits, using information from US embassies, foreign governments and Non Governmental groups as well as field visits by Labour Department staff. [Full Story]

QUASH TAMIL TERRORISM TO REVIVE AND BOLSTER THE HELA NATION
Lanka Web: 07 September, 2006
THE COUNTRY, NATION AND IDENTITY
Although foreigners and short-sighted recent politicians kept changing the name of our motherland at their whims and fancies as Serendib, Ceylon, Sri Lanka and so on, as far as the indigenous people of the country are concerned, for centuries upon centuries, they referred to, and identified their country as Sinhale or Heladiva, the island of the Hela people, or Helabima or the land of the Hela people. Sinhale is built upon and shaped by a distinct national identity. It took shape during a period that exceeds 2300 years. A good part of the national character or the socio-cultural qualities of the Hela Nation was inspired by Buddhism which arrived in the country in the 3rd century before Common era (3c. CE). Today and always, Sinhale had been a sovereign nation, with a distinct oceanic boundary, and at present, with a legitimate, democratically elected Executive President and government.

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What we have is not a war, but a TERRORIST PROBLEM, a killing spree by a small group of racist Tamil murderers. It is, in actual fact, a problem with a group of criminals who are indiscriminately killing people, mobilizing children and youth for terrorist activities, destroying public and private property, and preventing people from leading peaceful lives. It is a case of violation of people’s basic human rights, by a group of cowards. They resort to devious means which are commonly used by murderers and wild and uncivilized elements in society. [Full Story]

Three months compulsory military training for the Children in Wanni - the LTTE orders
Ministry Of Defence: 07 September, 2006
The LTTE leadership has called for a three-month compulsory military training for all children in un-liberated areas in Wanni. The military training has been announced as essential to make a student eligible for sitting at the Ordinary level and advanced level examinations conducted by the Government Examination Department.

Thus, those students who refuse to undergo military training conducted by the terror outfit will be deprived form the education for the rest of his life, despite the free education being provided to all in the country.

According to the military sources the LTTE suffering huge losses in terms of man power during he recent battles against the Security Forces, has the led the outfit to impose such compulsion to the students.

It has been a great enjoyment for the LTTE leadership to see helpless Tamil children dying in the battlefield as child soldiers in pursuance of his utopian goals for the last 20 years or more. However the children of the LTTE leader as well as the other senior leaders are presently educated at the most prestigious colleges in Europe. [Full Story]

Elilan injured while fleeing to Verugal
Ministry Of Defence: 07 September, 2006
Sri Lanka government military sources said that the Trincomalee area LTTE political leader Elilan has been reportedly injured in the continuing military clashes between the Sri Lanka troops and the retreating LTTE guerillas who are fleeing into the jungles near Verugal, South of Sampoor.

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Reports from TMVP said increasing number of deserters from the LTTE in the Eastern Province have been surrendering themselves to the Karuna faction since the decreasing of the military fortunes of the LTTE in the Eastern Province. The TMVP said child soldiers among those who surrendered to them had been handed over to the authorities to be sent to their parents. [Full Story]

Tamil moves in North America cause concern: Sri Lanka
Lanka Everything: 04 September, 2006
The alleged efforts by North American-based supporters of the Sri Lankan Tamil Tigers to buy weapons in New York represent an alarming departure from their traditional activities, say experts and analysts.

Counterterrorism specialists said that the Tigers, armed separatists fighting the government of Sri Lanka for an ethnic homeland, had a highly sophisticated fundraising and political support machine in Canada and the US, but had never used it an attempt to procure weapons before now. [Full Story]

The World Out There
Asian Tribune: 03 September, 2006
An avalanche, it is said, begins with a few small snowballs. In Sri Lanka those first few snowballs, presaging a future avalanche, are already in evidence. There is the growing disaffection in Tamil Nadu, fed by the daily influx of Tamil refugees and by attacks such as Vallipunam. There is the growing disaffection in Delhi, concerned about the impact of the Fourth Eelam War on Tamil Nadu and about the 'Pakistan factor'. There is the growing disaffection in Western capitals and at the UN about the execution style killing of 17 aid workers and the absence of any discernible, verifiable progress in the inquiry. Even taken separately these developments do not bode well for Sri Lanka; taken together they indicate the possibility of an adverse change in Indian and international opinion, impacting on our chances of overcoming the Tiger challenge.

There is a lesson for us in the LTTE’s fall from grace. In the early, heady months of the Third Peace Process, the world, with the exception of a few countries, was the Tiger’s oyster. The LTTE was welcomed, feted, listened to and treated as an unofficial government in many of the world’s capitals. However a time bomb was ticking away, a time bomb created by the Tigers’ refusal to act in accordance with internationally accepted norms. That time bomb was the issue of child conscription. [Full Story]

Navy strengthens security measures in Northern Sea
Ministry Of Defence: 03 September, 2006
Sri Lanka navy has strengthened the security measures in Northern and Northwestern seas to prevent illegal migration to India.

It has been revealed that these migrants are being exploited by the LTTE for their media propaganda. Security forces have identified the recruitment of child soldiers and the artificial food shortages are the key facts are being deployed by the LTTE to send the hapless Tamil people to India.

Hence, the Navy has taken stern security measures in Pork Strait and Sea areas close to Mannar. [Full Story]

Nothing succeeds like success
Lanka Web: 03 September, 2006
The Sri Lankan Nation is grateful to the treasured sons and daughters of Sri Lanka serving in the tri-forces and the Police, who are gallantly fighting to root out Tamil racist terrorism from the country.

The LTTE commenced the much promised Mother of all Wars- the Eelaam war IV by capturing and closing the Mahaweli Oya sluice gates denying water to about 50,000 civilian farmers. The LTTE made a serious miscalculation. Judging by the past inaction of the Sri Lankan Government against the LTTE atrocities neither the LTTE nor its war advisors the SLMM expected the Sri Lankan Government to act like a government and come to the rescue of the civilians.

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Thamilselvan lost his baby monkey smile and took an immediate vow of silence. The child soldiers took over the Eelaam war strategy and they turned to diversion tactics by trying to overrun Muttur in a bid to dilute SLDF defence of Mahaweli Oya irrigation system and the surrounding villages. The Sri Lankan Government troops came up trumps there too by giving the LTTE a resounding hiding in the East. That turned out to be the Mother of all Humiliations number Two! This pattern seems to be repeating itself over and over again ever since with LTTE running amok in sheer panic and losing ground by the day. [Full Story]

"Chencholai camp" myth revealed
Ministry Of Defence / Daily News: 03 September, 2006
Three inmates at the so-called Chencholai 'orphanage' as claimed by the LTTE, injured in the August 14 aerial bombing in Mullaitivu and undergoing treatment at a hospital in Kandy, told Police that it was not an orphanage as claimed by the LTTE but a Tiger camp where hundreds of youth were given weapons training.

Inspector General of Police Chandra Fernando told the Daily News last night that the three girls undergoing treatment at the hospital has given details to Police how they were abducted by the LTTE and how they were given weapons training at this so-called orphanage as claimed by the LTTE.

According to the IGP, the three females aged 20, 19 and 18 were Advanced Level students in schools in Mullaitivu and had been forcibly recruited to the LTTE while studying at their schools.

"According to the youth they had been taken there by a person called Maran and were given weapons training at the Chencholai camp," the IGP said.

They had given statements to Police that they were given weapons training at the Chencholai camp when it came under aerial bombing.

"These youth have told Police that the place was not an orphanage," the IGP said.

According to the IGP one youth has already recovered from her injuries and is under Police protection while the other two are undergoing treatment at the hospital.

"The girls had been taken to the Vanni for treatment under ICRC facilitation and later transferred to Kandy in need of further medication," IGP Fernando added.

He said the girls have given all details about the Chencholai camp and the names of the youth undergoing weapons training along with them.

"Police are questioning the girls to get more details of this camp and the location," the IGP added.

The LTTE media machinery tried to expose to the world that Security Forces had bombed a girls' orphanage where hundreds of school students from various schools in Killinochchi and Mullaitivu were undergoing the 10 day first aid training programme.

The Government and Security Forces denied the LTTE's claim and emphasised that it was a military training camp used by the LTTE to train hundreds of youth and the target was taken after compiling enough evidence to prove it was an LTTE military camp. [Full Story] View Video

“Sencholei’ was a military training camp!” – two children injured in the attack
Lanka Truth: 01 September, 2006
It has been confirmed again that ‘Sencholei’ camp at Vavuniya was a military training camp of the tiger terrorists. Two girls who were injured when S.L. Air Force attacked have confirmed this. The two girls are being treated in Kandy hospital at the moment. They have been admitted to hospital by the Red Cross.

One of the girls revealed that she was abducted while studying for the A/L examination. A large number of children were receiving training in weapon usage at ‘Sencholei’ camp. The children were given a 15 days training in the use of arms which included the use of T-56 and AK 47 rifles and rocket launchers. The tigers had told them that a card would be given for them to continue their studies after the military training. She explained that they couldn’t go to any tuition class in un-cleared areas without that card. [Full Story]

Prabhakaran's ' Chencholai orphanage' is a Child military training camp – Injured LTTE child soldier
Sinhala Net: 01 September, 2006
“Chencholai training camp is not an orphanage; it is a training military camp” said injured LTTE child soldier (a girl) who is now, under the medial treatments in Peradeniya Kandy General Hospital with their parents.

There are three girl child soldiers currently under the medial treatments in Peradeniya General Hospital. The Kandy Police is also carrying further investigation.

These Childs soldiers injured by the air attacks carried out at 6.40 a.m. on August 14, 2006 on the LTTE’s military training camp and transit centre, located over 8miles from the nearest settlement in the thick jungles of Mullaitivu, was a significant blow to their operational structure.

They are about 16 years and are not like to disclose their names to media, said they were forcibly trained by the LTTE as their carders. They said they did not participated any first aid training course or leadership skills program as their training; they only got military training at the camp premises.

The air strike caused huge casualties estimated to be in excess of 300 Tiger terrorist cadres being put out of action. The extent of the damage could be assessed from the video footage released by the air force showing a large number of camouflaged and military type vehicles scurrying to the scene to evacuate wounded fighters.

Air force fighter jets joined the battle to inflict further punishment on the Tamil Tiger Terrorists attacking their military camps and naval installations. The attacks launched by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on the Sri Lankan Government forward defence positions in the northern Jaffna peninsula, Kayts island and the eastern townships of Muttur and Trincomalee were effectively repulsed by the security forces inflicting heavy damage on the Tamil Tiger combatants. Reports indicate that several hundred Tamil Tiger fighters including a large contingent of child soldiers used by the LTTE perished in the attempt to overrun the government defence lines. The LTTE’s military offensives on several fronts to enlarge their terrain failed miserably on the ground.

The Tamil Tigers propaganda organs operated by their front organizations in the west are attempting to mislead the public by claiming that the bombed jungle staging outpost was a ‘Children’s Home’ that housed orphaned girls. Do these pro-LTTE propagandists think that the public is gullible enough to believe that the Tamil Tigers who abduct and forcibly conscript children into their forces, were running a weekend training camp for school girls in first aid and leadership skills in a remote jungle facility? It was not an Orphanage, a Children’s Home nor a School, but a secretive military establishment where young girls are trained in explosives and brainwashed to become Black Tiger Suicide Bombers, and other abducted children are trained to become the advance squad that leads the charge on the security forces forward defences, often ending up as cannon fodder. These child recruits who are deprived of schooling, parental care and life skills, are then laid t o re st with ceremony in the LTTE’s Martyr’s land cemetery with a headstone to be remembered as a ‘Tiger Hero’, like so many other children whom these maniacal terrorist leaders have sacrificed in their pursuit of the illusive mono-ethnic racist Tamil separate state of “eelam” to be achieved by tearing Sri Lanka apart.

The LTTE propagandists claim that 61 school girls died in the bombing, the Nordic Monitors said they counted 19 bodies of youth aged between 17 – 20 years and did not rule out it was a military facility. UNICEF has previously reported that 5368 cases of child abductions by the LTTE had been brought to their attention, and that the actual number could be much higher as many parents are afraid to report same fearing reprisals. David Vignati, ICRC’s head of information has reported on 15th August 2006 that the LTTE propagandists had mischievously included an ICRC quote dated 1999 relating to civilian casualties at that time in their websites linking it to the air raid carried out the earlier day on the jungle facility. The Human Rights Watch organization in New York published a report in 2005 relating to the LTTE’s record of forcible child recruitment which is a war crime, and called on the Tamil Diaspora to stop funding the LTTE and help to prevent such viol ati ons. Not surprisingly, the Tamil Diaspora who are controlled by Velupillai Prabhakaran the Tamil Tiger Terrorist leader regarded as the ‘Sun God’ hiding in the jungles of Mullaitivu ( wanted by INTERPOL for the killing of Rajiv Gandhi of India and other Sri Lankan leaders) vented their anger at the HRW, stating that they cared more and knew how to safeguard Tamil children.

Chencholai or Sencholei is the name of a Tiger Terrorist Woman suicide bomber after whom so called orphanages have been set up by the LTTE, in order to raise funds through its supposedly humanitarian wing called the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), which is a funnel for siphoning funds for its terrorist warfare. Nirupama Subramaniam writing in the Frontline Magazine of December 20, 2001, called it the farm where the LTTE’s Baby Brigade is raised. Christian Worker also reported sometime back that the Chencholai Homes were used for brainwashing children to become Black Tiger Suicide Bombers who would sacrifice their lives for the cause of “Eelam”. Amy Walden of the New York Times who visited one of these so called orphanages was not given access to the adolescent children at the centre. It certainly is not a Summer Camp where school girls gather to have fun and learn useful life skills. [Full Story]

More Child Soldiers surrender- Batticaloa
Ministry Of Defence: 31 August, 2006
Five LTTE cadres including two child soldiers have surrendered to the TVMP (Tamileela Makkal Viduthalai Puligal) office in Batticaloa yesterday (Wednesday the 30th of August).

The TVMP officials have handed over the surendees to the ICRC. Later is has been reported that the ICRC handed over the two Child Soldiers to their parents

The two child soldiers are aged between 15 -16 years and were residents of Kalawanichikudi and Wachchala in the Eastern province and were reportedly abducted by the LTTE to train as Child Soldiers.

The other three surrendees who are aged between 19-27 years were residents of Nilaweli and Sampalthivu in Trincomalee district and were forcibly conscripted to the terror outfit during the CFA.

The LTTE is a one of the world's ruthless terrorist organizations that claims it to be the sole representative of the Tamils all over the world. The organization however is infamous for having large number of child soldiers, using young women including the pregnant as suicide bombers and conducting the most barbaric forms of ethnic cleansing in the world. The organization led by a tyrannical leader named V. Prbhakaran has been waging a war against the government of Sri Lanka for a separate and ethnically pure Tamil state for over 20 years. The maniacal aspirations of this tyrannical leader have so far claimed 65000 lives in Sri Lanka. [Full Story]

Tigers Organisation is one of the most vicious terrorist movements in the world
Lanka Truth: 30 August, 2006
Tigers Organisation is one of the most vicious terrorist movements in the world. In Sri Lanka they used children as young as 11 as soldiers and suicide bombers. In Canada they have been involved in a wide range of criminal activities including murder, arson, home invasions, drug trafficking, and bank and credit-card fraud. So says Ottawa Citizen, a newspaper published in Canada.

Quoted below is the full text of the report published on August 28, 2006

Following the arrest of a number of Canadians of Sri Lankan Tamil origin on charges of trying to procure arms for the Tamil Tigers, it should come as no surprise that the FBI has identified Canada as a major source of illegal fundraising to the terrorist group. [Full Story]

Mother killed by Tiger when she attempted to save her child
Lanka Truth: 29 August, 2006
Wanni Tiger have shot dead a mother who protested when they attempted to abduct her child. This happened at 8: pm day before yesterday (27). A group of Wanni Tigers suddenly broke into her house at 8:00 pm day before yesterday and attempted to abduct her child. She broke into tears before the terrorists pleading them not to take her child for military activities. As she adamantly resisted the abduction of her child Wanni Tiger have shot her.

A mother of four children, she died while being taken to Batticaloa Hospital.

Several months ago Tiger terrorists had shot dead a twelve years old child in Batticaloa. His refusal to join the Tigers organization brought death to him. A few weeks later Tiger terrorists shot a child in Trincomalee and wounded him seriously.

Security forces point out that the attacks launched on the terrorists during the past few weeks have considerably weakened them. They are therefore abducting teenagers to develop their man power. The most tragic fate of these children thus abducted is that they are made to fight in the frontline in the attacks against the Army. The Army says that therefore they will put in their maximum involvement to curb human tights violations committed by the Tigers. [Full Story]

LTTE terrorists assassinates a Sinhalese civilian - Trincomalee
Ministry of Defence: 28 August, 2006
LTTE terrorists brutally assassinated a Sinhalese civilian named Mr. Amal Janka today (Monday the 28th of August) at 3.00pm. Mr. Janka was shot inside a lorry near the cooperative shop at Ambilipuram in Uppuweli Police division.

The victim was employed as a driver for the government cooperative shop which is established for the welfare of the civilians in the area. He was the only Sinhalese employer in the shop situated in a Tamil village.

Mr. Janaka was resident of Smurdigama in Trincomalee

...
The organization though claimed to be the "Sole Representative" of the Tamil community in the world, has inflicted an irrecoverable damage to the Tamil people in Sri Lanka at large. Hundreds of intellectuals have been killed, thousands of children have been perished as child soldiers, and many more thousands of youth have been turned into racist fanatics and suicide bombers. [Full Story]

Tamil community pledge proactive measures against LTTE intimidations - Canada
Ministry of Defence: 27 August, 2006
The success of the massive surveillance operation done by the U.S officials in unraveling the huge network of the LTTE has, as at long last exposed the degree to which the LTTE has spread its tentacles all over the globe.

The very dangerously penetrative mode of operation of the LTTE has in many countries caused severe breaches of the internal security operations network, causing alarm and serious consternation. (defence.lk- 26/08/06)

The arrest of the outlawed LTTE group activists in Canada and the United States, the Tamil diasporas have surfaced their grievances. The latest report from the Human Rights Watch reveals the bitter truth of the sufferings brought upon the Tamil people by the phony "Sole Representative". Read the full text of the report below:

"Ninety percent of people, even if they don't support the LTTE, they are scared. The killing doesn't just happen back home in Sri Lanka. It happens in Paris, in Canada. They burned the library, they broke the legs of DBS Jeyaraj. They tried to stop the CTBC radio from organizing. A journalist was killed in Paris. The threat is not only in Sri Lanka. It's everywhere, all over the world".
-Tamil community activist, Toronto, January 2006

...
Other members of the Tamil community do not wish to contribute, either because of their personal economic circumstances, or because they do not believe in the LTTE's goals or methods. Some support Tamil political parties that have been decimated or marginalized by the LTTE. However, under intense pressure or outright threats, these individuals may be forced to provide financial support for LTTE operations, including its continuing pattern of child recruitment, political killings, and other human rights abuses that have continued, even during the four-year ceasefire [Full Story]

Terror suspects called 'loose cannons'
The Global Mail: 25 August, 2006
The organizers tried to get Usha Sri-Skanda-Rajah to calm down, but she just kept shouting louder. Fed up with all the media interest in Tamil "terrorists," she said it was the Tamils who were being terrorized.

...
Absent of any mention were the equally well-documented atrocities committed by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Formed 30 years ago, the separatist guerrillas who are more simply known as the Tamil Tigers, are notorious for recruiting child soldiers, using suicide bombers, and committing political assassinations. World governments are increasingly blacklisting the group as terrorists. [Full Story]

ANTI-LANKA CONGRESSMAN’S TRIP TO KILINOCHCHI WAS PAID FOR BY THE LIBERATION TIGERS OF TAMIL EELAM, SAYS CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Lanka Web: 25 August, 2006
A Democratic Party Congressman of the United States who has been making pro-LTTE statements regarding the Sri Lanka Air Force bombing at Mullaithivu received a trip to Sri Lanka last year that was paid for by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a proscribed terrorist group in the United States.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam had spent at least $ 13,150 for the trip of Congressman Danny K. Davis and his aid to visit Kilinochchi , it has been revealed.

“ Chicago congressman Danny Davis and an aide took a trip to Sri Lanka last year that was paid for by the Tamil Tigers, a group that the U.S. government has designated as a terrorist organization for its use of suicide bombers and child soldiers,” revealed Chicago Tribune news paper quoting law enforcement sources. [Full Story]

Rebel group funded congressman's trip to Sri Lanka, sources say
The Mercury News: 23 August, 2006
WASHINGTON - Illinois congressman Danny Davis and an aide took a trip to Sri Lanka last year that was paid for by the Tamil Tigers, a group that the U.S. government has designated as a terrorist organization for its use of suicide bombers and child soldiers, law enforcement sources said.

Davis' seven-day trip came under new scrutiny this week following the arrests of 11 supporters of the organization on charges of participating in a broad conspiracy to support the terrorist group through money laundering, arms procurement and bribery of U.S. officials.

The five-term Democratic congressman said he was unaware that the Tigers paid for the trip and on his required congressional disclosure form he reported that the trip was paid for by a Hickory Hills, Ill.-based Tamil cultural organization, the Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America.

During the visit, Davis spent most of his time in a region controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, as the group is formally known, and visited the organization's political headquarters. He also met with a police chief for the region appointed by the Tigers. [Full Story]

"Fodder To The Cannons Mouth"
National Security: 23 August, 2006
Children abducted by the terrorist tigers undergo severe mental pain and agony and they are treated in the hands of tigers as slaves. These innocent school going children during their prime of life, are used as soldiers by the inhuman ruthless terrorists. They become fodder to the bullet. These Tamil children are forced to join the LTTE cadre at the age of 11 or 12. LTTE cadres force the parents to hand over one of their children to their movement.

The families that resist are humiliated and harassed and threatened by the LTTE. Children are frequently abducted from their homes during the night or picked while walking to school or attending a temple during festival seasons. It is a crime to recruit children during their tender age for armed activities. Forcible conscription of children into armed conflict by armed terrorists stands as one of the most inhuman acts. [Full Story]

Soldier Meets Child Soldier
National Security: 23 August, 2006
In 1991, when the Elephant Pass Army camp came under a LTTE siege the then Divisional Commander of the SL Army, Late General Denzil Kobbekaduwa orchestrated a highly successful Amphibious assault landing at a place called Vettalaikerni in the north-eastern coastline of the Sri Lanka. The Army together with the Navy executed the then largest ever landing at dusk which took troops inland.

Major Anjelo Pieris was one of the officers that were leading men under heavy fire by the enemy. He was a highly reputed field officer and a trusted aide of General Kobbekaduwa.

When his men landed ashore, they faced determined resistance form the enemy. However they inched their way forward towards the Elephant Pass Garrison. In one of the battles, Major Anjelo Peiris was killed. He was killed because he hesitated to fire back at the enemy he met; a child soldier of 14 years! The child soldier never knew who this figure was or how humane this man was. To him, Major Anjelo Pieris was simply another figure to be killed. The Major’s buddy having seen his Officer getting shot at did not hesitate. He promptly returned fire which killed the child soldier. [Full Story]

The LTTE; A Price for Hypocrisy of Indian Politics
Lanka Web: 23 August, 2006
There is a France idiom that ''the one who creates the wind will harvest the storm''. Isaac Newton, a well-known scientist in past presented this natural phenomena logically in to science saying ''every action will have opposite and equal reaction''. All sort of terrorism is condemnable and compensatory. Islamic terrorism despite of nothing for justifying its existence does an equilibrium role in the midst of hypocritical politics in the world. But, both India and west is continuing to prosper one of the terrorisms earning enough returns from other form of terrorism. One of the good examples for this truth is that USA supported Kurdish & Afghan Guerrillas to fight against Iraq and Soviet Russia respectively and they have been still experiencing enough consequences of what they have prospered. India is still to experience the dire consequences from what they have prospered in LTTE.

...
Child Soldiers and Blind News Sources
According to the LTTE's unwritten rule, every family should let their one son or daughter to join with LTTE. LTTE has mastered the conscription of child soldiers denying their rights for education and spending their childhood with parents. It is reported that more than 5000 of child soldiers have been serving as the LTTE cadres and one third of its live strength consists of woman and children.

On 18th August 2006, pro - LTTE web released the name of 51 children died from the aerial bomb attacks as confirmed by the principals association so that world community can be further fooled to believe the reports of aerial bombing over a school. It is unfortunate that even well advanced news agencies like BBC, Reuters, AFP etc has used to publish the news abstracting from LTTE publications but pretending as their journalists were at the scene at the time of incident happen. LTTE is tactfully using these news agencies to propagate the false news of Tamils as no independent journalists are allowed to report from LTTE controlled areas.

LTTE terrorism in the unclear areas has no democracy or freedom of expression to reveal the truth behind the death of these children even though prime culprit for the loss of these innocent lives is LTTE only. If the so-called principal unions or association of parents are strong and independent enough, there won't be such inhuman child recruiting for war or suicidal missions in the terrorists held areas. Using a pregnant woman as a suicidal cadre to kill the Army Commander of Sri Lanka few weeks ago is clear evident that LTTE is not hesitate to use even an unborn child to achieve their objectives. The UNHCR and Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, The University Teachers for Human Rights - Jaffna and Sri Lanka police reports provide ample of evidence of human rights violations by the LTTE and any body who wishes to know the truth should refer them other than what LTTE publishes. [Full Story]

Tamil people confident of SL government peace efforts
Ministry of Defence: 22 August, 2006
LTTE suffers heavy defeat due to the strong political leadership said Minister Douglas Devananda. The Minister has pointed out that it is ludicrous to note statements issued by Human Rights and Non-Governmental Organisations against the war after maintaining silence, when the LTTE murdered leaders of alternative Tamil parties.

Mr. Devananda was addressing the media on the prevailing situation in the country at the parliamentary complex. He said the LTTE suffered heavy defeat as there is a strong political leadership in the country.

Prabhakaran is not permitting the Tamil-speaking people to live in a democratic atmosphere. He emphasised that the LTTE killed a group of child soldiers forcibly taken for military training, duping the Tamil civilians. [Full Story]

PRESIDENT RAJAPAKSA TELLS KOFI ANNAN THAT DOORS ARE STILL OPEN FOR THE LTTE TO COME AND SIT DOWN AT THE NEGOTIATING TABLE
Lanka Web: 21 August, 2006
In a telephone conversation with the United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, the Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa said the doors were still open for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to come and sit down at the negotiating table, Sri Lanka’s state owned Independent Television Network (ITN) reported

In a prime time news broadcast, the TV station said Kofi Annan telephoned the Sri Lankan President to inquire about the deteriorating peace in the island nation.

The President emphasizing about the terrorist groups propaganda about the air raids of the Sri Lanka Air Force said the troops identified and engaged an LTTE military base after a long period of surveillance and reminded the UN Chief of the terrorist group’s continued engagement of child soldiers for war. [Full Story]

Vallipunam: A Sri Lankan Tragedy
Asian Tribune: 20 August, 2006
The Tigers say that the Vallipunam air raid targeted an orphanage hosting a leadership and first aid training workshop for school girls of Mullaitivu and Killinochchi. The government contends that it was a LTTE training camp for child soldiers. Either way we can be sure that the young participants did not have much of a choice about their presence in Vallipunam at 7 am on 14th August 2006. If the LTTE is correct, the participants would have been ordered to attend the ‘workshop’ with no excuses tolerated; something the Tigers have been doing to schoolchildren throughout the peace process, with nary a protest from Wickremesinghe, Bandaranaike or Rajapakse regimes. [Full Story]

Orphanages, Schools and Children: Who is accountable when Children die in Combat situations?
Ministry of Defence: 20 August, 2006
There has been much concern about the bombing of what is claimed to be an orphanage ('Sencholai') by the Sri Lankan Air Force and protests have been made by the SLMM (Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission) of Norway and the UNICEF.

On one hand children should be protected by any form of violence of war, while on the other hand it should be the responsibility of the United Nations, specifically the UNICEF to prevent recruitment and address that issue. Although they should be sorry about the death of 'children' if there were any there, their highest responsibility should have been to condemn outright the recruitment of Children in combat, which we have not seen so far. Is this the policy of the UNICEF Mission in Sri Lanka who have been hijacked by terrorists for a long time from the time the UNICEF gave 1.44 Million US$ to open the transit centres for so called demobilization of these children in 2003 [Full Story]

Prabhakaran's "great" love for children- a LTTE cadre reveals
Ministry of Defence: 20 August, 2006
Three LTTE cadres who surrendered to the Army at Vakaneri in Batticaloa on Wednesday the 16th August revealed the bitter truth behind LTTE's "child training" camps in the Eastern province.

Three surrendees speaking to the military officials recalled the "horrifying incident" of the LTTE terrorists brutally killing a child named Maaran for the simple reason that he refused to undergo the rigid training session in the torturous camp where he wanted to runaway and be with his own family ; in front of their own eyes

One surrendee aged 18 years said that he was repeatedly brutally assaulted by the terrorists as he had once tried to runaway from the training camp. "I was severely threatened then I will be brutally killed the next time if I runaway from the organization.

Yet Another surrendee said that he had to leave behind his beloved wife, his elderly parents and his much treasured 9 month old infant when he was forcibly taken to the LTTE training camp at gun point . "I do not ever want to be killed by those treacherous people (LTTE), I deeply love my family more than anything else in the world, and that's why I decided to runaway, said the 25 year old "harassed" youth to the military officials. [Full Story]

AIR STRIKE ON PUTHUKUDIYIRUPPU TERRORIST TRAINING BASE
National Security: 19 August, 2006
There is a relentless campaign by the pro LTTE media and terrorist 'outlets' to discredit the Air Force for 'hitting' the Puthukudiyiruppu terrorist training base ten miles inside the jungles of Emulative, in the Mullattivu district. Whenever the terrorists are 'hit' where it hurts most, it is only to be expected that their sympathizers will use their well oiled propaganda machine for disinformation and rise in the name of human rights and as the saviour of children.

The LTTE terrorists stand condemned and listed for terrorism not only by India, a country which the LTTE call "Mother" – "Mother India". However after the brutal murder of the late Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991, son of Indira Gandhi, and grandson of India's first prime minister Shri Jawaharlal Nehru at Siriperumbudur in the state of Tamil Nadu the highest Indian Court of law sentenced the LTTE leader, his Intelligence officer and others to death. [Full Story]

Govt. committed to peace, negotiated political settlement
Ministry of Defence: 19 August, 2006
President Mahinda Rajapaksa emphasised to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan that the Sri Lankan Government is committed to peace in the country and the doors are still open for talks to negotiate a political settlement.

The President made this statement during a telephone conversation with the UN Secretary General on August 16, states a press release issued by the Office of the President.

...
The President also referred to the LTTE's forceful conscription of children, both male and female and deplored the fact that child soldiers are being used in LTTE attacks.

Secretary General Annan thanked President Rajapaksa for the Information provided to him and offered the assistance of UN Agencies to Sri Lanka in its humanitarian efforts. [Full Story]

Sri Lanka Tamil LTTE counting on child soldiers
Lanka Everything: 19 August, 2006
Sri Lanka's Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam are losing the ongoing battle in the northern Jaffna Peninsula and are depending on child soldiers, Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka, commander of the Sri Lanka - Army, claimed Friday. Fonseka made the remarks in an interview with The Island newspaper for publication Saturday.

The army commander, who narrowly escaped death in an LTTE suicide bomb attack last April, estimated the Tiger strength at between 8,000 and 10,000, including 2,000 'hardcore' fighters.

Asked if he advocated a military solution to the country's decades-long ethnic problem, he said it was the duty of an army of a sovereign state to defend its territorial integrity while the national leadership strives for a negotiated settlement. [Full Story]

Glimpse of Pirabakaran's forced conscripts fighting a war that they do not understand
Ministry of Defence: 18 August, 2006
The present war in Sri Lanka spearheaded by the Tamil Tigers is a war of attrition and has surpassed the boundaries to be recognised as a national liberation struggle. It does not reflect nationalistic aspirations of the Tamil people. Instead, have proceeded to become painful burden to the very same society it depends on. It thrives on the agony of the people. The struggle that started to counter the violence of an oppressive state against the minority has turned into a monster of a magnitude unbecoming of, which is swallowing the very same society that it pretends to protect. The degeneration that has penetrated into to the Tamil society in the guise of national liberation struggle is immeasurable. It is also crippling the social fabric and values uppermost to the Tamil society.

The children in their leaning ages are been engaged to fight a war that they do not understand why they are fighting for. Hatred in the only theme thought which is discharged under the oath of Ten Commandments of a tyranny of Pirabakaran.

The first four photographs produced below are from the Eelam Peoples Democratic Front (EPDP) website. These are the children whom have been trained by the LTTE to fight a war to win the so-called Tamil Eelam heavily funded by a small number of Diaspora Tamils who cannot see that the children holding guns too are children like their own but not fortunate enough to pursue avenues best suited for them in the western countries in safe environs like their children. Their only hope is death. The LTTE fund providers must invite their thoughts to place their children in these photos and imagine how they will feel to see their children holding guns with cyanide capsules hung on their necks. [Full Story]

Child soldiers are shot from behind if they refused to go forward
Lanka Truth: 18 August, 2006
The centre for National security says that tiger members have surrendered to the security forces on a request made by the government recently.

Three tiger members were reported to the security forces at Welikanda yesterday and most of the surrenders were child soldiers.

The recent tiger surrenders from Trincomalee have told the security forces that the tiger's organization has suffered a serious setback in the face of attacks by the security forces. One child surrendered has said that he was abducted by tiger terrorists on his way home from school. He has said that he was later taken to the Sampur Camp.

After three months training there, he was sent to attack the army camp in Muttur, the child soldier has said. Several tiger leaders and large no of tiger members were killed in this attack. When their members thus fell dead, their leaders forced him to go forward and those who did not obey them were shot from behind, said this child soldier to the security forces.

He has also told the security forces that he had no escape from the grip of the tigers organization and he realized that death was inevitable if he continued to stay with them.

It was during this time that the security forces distributed leaflets to inform them to surrender to the security forces and he accordingly surrender to the security forces.

This child soldier has told the security forces that he was well treated by the security forces after he surrender and what he now wants is to reunite with his parents and live happily with them. [Full Story]

Norway urges Tigers to stop using child soldiers
Ministry of Defence: 17 August, 2006
Norway's peace envoy to Sri Lanka on Wednesday urged LTTE terrorists to stop using child soldiers and said international patience with the conflict was running thin.

"There are persons under 18 years of age among the Tigers, that is true," Jon Hanssen-Bauer told The Associated Press in an interview. "It is important that they stop using children and that they gradually find a way to reinsert these child soldiers, eventually, into the society."

Hanssen-Bauer, who returned to Norway on Friday after a weeklong visit to Sri Lanka, said battles between the terrorists and government forces were still "limited in scope and objective," but warned that "there is a potential of civil war." Hanssen-Bauer said the conflict had been overshadowed in recent weeks by Middle East violence, but predicted the cease-fire in Lebanon would help turn the world's attention to the island. [Full Story]

LTTE "Orphanage" is a Terrorist Training Camp
Lanka Web: 17 August, 2006
About 60 young LTTE cadres died while many were injured when the Sri Lanka Air Force conducted air strikes on a previously identified LTTE training base in Mullaitivu, on August 14, 2006. The Media Centre for National Security (MCNS) said that the LTTE has continuously denied reports by the UN agencies such as UNHCR and UNICEF of inhuman child conscripts.

The Nordic truce monitors only saw the bodies of 19 young men and women, and they did not rule out the possibility they had been receiving civilian defence training. UNICEF said they did not have access to the dead. [Full Story]

An Account Of A Losing Battle
National Security: 17 August, 2006
After the humiliating defeat at MUTTUR and the setback at MAVILARU, the LTTE in a desperate attempt to revive the sagging morale of their frustrated cadres, initiated a battle with the main objective of capturing the city of JAFFNA last 11th August.

...
The LTTE going against universally recognized laws used children as cannon fodders in these attacks. The LTTE leadership had shamelessly ordered child soldiers to launch the offensive. The crouched postures of the dead bodies of child soldiers indicated their reluctance to move forward when ordered by their leaders. [Full Story]

The Island Editorial
Probe ‘Pudukudiruppu’!
Lanka Web: 17 August, 2006
The LTTE propagandists are going hell for leather to have the world believe that Monday's air strikes on Pudukudiruppu killed over 60 school children and injured many others. The foreign media has picked the LTTE version and beamed it across the globe. The government insists that the Air Force targeted an LTTE camp and supports its claim with real time aerial pictures of the site and its vicinity in the immediate aftermath of the attacks. The video footage that the government has released to the media shows perimeter walls, trenches, mounds an ammo dump in addition to some buildings and uniformed LTTE combatants fleeing. A person described as an LTTE area leader is also shown in a double cab together with vehicles removing the casualties. The government says the attacks had been carried out after months of reconnaissance and the verification of the information so gathered, by intelligence operatives on the ground. It has offered to arrange for the SLMM to visit th e areas and inspect the site.

The LTTE claim is not coherent in that it has called the place concerned different names–a school, an orphanage etc–and its latest claim is that it was a place where a group of children were undergoing a two-day residential course on first aid. It says different things at different times. However, the allegation of air strikes having harmed school children is too serious to be dismissed on the grounds of the LTTE's history of lying. [Full Story]

Sencholai training camp
Asian Tribune: 17 August, 2006
The government vehemently rejects the allegation leveled by the pro-LTTE websites on the Air Force attack at a so-called 'children's' home' in Mullaitivu. We have ample proof that it is a military training centre. These are the photographs of Velupillai Prabhakaran in his stripped military uniform opening the new wing of the training centre.

Prabhakaran makes it a point to don a safari suit or a white bush shirt when attending civilian functions. Here he is in military fatigue, a clear indication that this is training centre. You can see uniformed Tigers hovering around in these photographs. [Full Story]

‘Sri Lankan Patriots’ in USA staged a protest campaign in Manhattan, New York
Lanka Truth: 17 August, 2006
‘Sri Lankan Patriots’ in USA staged a protest campaign in Manhattan, New York ( on 16th August 2006) against abduction and conscription of children by wanni tiger organization. A large number of Sri Lankans were present and slogans were chanted [See Photos]

Prabhakaran's 'orphanage': Ready to supply cannon fodder
Ministry of Defence: 16 August, 2006
CHILD SOLDIERS: The LTTE web based propaganda disseminator TamilNet on Monday carried a news item that Air Force action has resulted in the death of 61 school children. The propaganda piece has been presented followed by a condemnation by the LTTE front the TNA as if the Sri Lankan Air Force has deliberately targeted school children.

But a closer look at the TamilNet news item exposes another dimension to this tragedy. It states that the target was an orphanage called "Chencholai" and that the 'school children' from the district were attending a First Aid course at the site.

The July 1997 issue of Hot Spring magazine, another Pro-LTTE propaganda vehicle, states that "Chencholai (an organisation for the care of war orphans) was established by Prabhakaran. The LTTE leader established 'Chencholai' in 1991 as a part of his grand design. [Full Story]

Govt. dismisses SLMM claim on Mullaitivu bombings
Lanka Web: 16 August, 2006
The Government yesterday dismissed the SLMM claim that it visited the scene of the Mullaitivu bombings and reiterated it was an LTTE transit camp at Pudukudiiruppu, where 200 terrorists were killed and 300 wounded, by an SLAF strike.

Speaking at yesterday’s Press Briefing, Defence Spokesman Minister Keheliya Rambukwella challenged anyone to prove that it was not a terrorist transit camp and offered to make arrangements for Norwegian facilitators to visit the place.

Dismissing the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission’s claim that it had visited the scene, he said child soldiers conscripted by the LTTE were kept there to be sent to join the LTTE cadres fighting the security forces in the North. [Full Story]

Lanka schools close after threats
Gulf Daily News: 16 August, 2006
Soldiers and Tamil Tiger rebels traded artillery and mortar fire in northern Sri Lanka yesterday, an official said, as schools closed over fears that civilians could be targeted by the insurgents. The Education Ministry ordered schools closed until August 28 as a security precaution, a day after the first attack on a diplomat since a civil war began in 1983. A suspected Tamil Tiger front's threat to attack civilians in the majority Sinhalese south added to the sense of alarm. [Full Story]

Tragedy of the child soldiering - Mullaittivu
Ministry of Defence: 15 August, 2006
The government of Sri Lanka strongly condemns the LTTE's attempt to blame the Sri Lankan military for the deaths of child soldiers amongst the other female LTTE cadres at Mullaittivu yesterday, Monday the 14th of August.

Since, the LTTE terrorists are engaged in a full scale war against the security forces; it as been imperative for the government to weaken the terrorists' strongholds in the larger interest of the national security.

Sri Lanka air force fighter jets have been engaged in bombing the strongholds since the LTTE unleashed its brutality against the peace loving citizens in the country.

[Full Story]

Air strike victims were 'child soldiers': Sri Lanka said
Lanka Everything: 15 August, 2006
Sri Lanka's government on Monday rejected Tamil Tiger claims that schoolgirls were the victims of an air force strike earlier in the day, saying the strike targeted a training camp for child soldiers.

The Defense Ministry said in a statement that a training base of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Mullaitivu district had been bombed and ''50 to 60 young LTTE terrorist cadres'' were killed and many were injured. [Full Story]

LTTE CANNOT FOOL ALL THE PEOPLE ALL THE TIME
Ministry of Defence: 15 August, 2006
An independent person, Dr. Hemasiri Kuruppu, who has done some in-depth analysis of pro-LTTE media reporting on the alleged bombing of school children in Mullaittivu has written to the media saying that “LTTE CANNOT FOOL ALL THE PEOPLE ALL THE TIME”. In his report he attempts to highlight the contradictory fabrications of the pro-LTTE media.

Following is the full text of his report; “The LTTE terrorists accused the government of Sri Lanka of carrying out air strikes targeting school children. Even though they initially claimed that a school has been attacked by the SLAF, their version of the air raid kept changing. Next they said a first aid nursing school was attacked by air strikes. Then they could not stick to their earlier claim and charged that it was a school of G.C.E. Ordinary level & Advanced level students while maintaining that it was also an orphanage.

According to pro LTTE web reports, among 150 students gathered there, 61 were killed. Subsequently they stated during that period that there were 400 children. Thoughtful readers can fathom the foolish strategy of Tigers who state one thing and changing it the next day to win the sympathy of the international community.

The security forces retaliating with air Strikes carefully targeted this terrorist camp identifying the location precisely after observing it for several days.

This particular camp had been identified as a centre for training suicide bombers and a military training camp. Can a sensible person believe scholars starting their lessons to follow GCE Ordinary level and Advance level classes at 7 a.m.? If they were all school girls, why couldn’t the training be held in their respective schools?

It is an established fact that the LTTE recruits children as child soldiers. UN agencies like the UNHCR, UNICEF and Human Rights Organizations have documented evidence to prove that the LTTE recruits children as combatants.

Media reports clearly show that the so called school girls were wearing dark terrorist uniforms and fleeing the camp. By Dr. Hemasiri Kuruppu” [Full Story]

Sri Lankans ask UNICEF to make LTTE answerable for war crimes against children
Ministry Of Defence: 15 August, 2006
Aug 14, New York: Over three hundred Sri Lankan expatriates in the New York area gathered outside the United Nations headquarters in Manhattan, New York, from 2-6 PM on August 13, 2006, to demand that UNICEF take action to bring the leaders of the LTTE before the International Criminal Court (ICC) to face charges of war crimes against children.

The protest rally was organized by two Sri Lankan expatriate groups, the New York Society for United Sri Lankans and Sri Lankan Patriots of the East Coast. These groups have already launched a worldwide petition calling on UNICEF Director Ann M. Veneman to follow the United Nations' own resolutions and invoke international laws such as the Rome Statute to bring LTTE leaders before the ICC for conscripting children as combatants.

Printed copies of the petition were passed around during the rally for the benefit of those who had not signed it online. As President of the New York Society, Sumith de Silva pointed out that there is overwhelming evidence that the LTTE conscripts children, some as young as ten, including tsunami victims. The LTTE is believed to have about 5000 children in combat camps. In 2005 alone, the LTTE is said to have recruited 1000 children. Furthermore, UNICEF has documented 3516 cases of child recruitment by the LTTE during the ceasefire period since February 2002. [Full Story]

Tragedy of the child soldiering - Mullaittivu
Ministry Of Defence: 15 August, 2006
The government of Sri Lanka strongly condemns the LTTE's attempt to blame the Sri Lankan military for the deaths of child soldiers amongst the other female LTTE cadres at Mullaittivu yesterday, Monday the 14th of August.

Since, the LTTE terrorists are engaged in a full scale war against the security forces; it as been imperative for the government to weaken the terrorists' strongholds in the larger interest of the national security.

Sri Lanka air force fighter jets have been engaged in bombing the strongholds since the LTTE unleashed its brutality against the peace loving citizens in the country.

The targets are pre identified and the locations are well confirmed via very reliable intelligence sources.

Through any counter terrorist operation levels off a threat for the civilian population living at the hostage of the terrorists; it is indeed praise worthy how the Sri Lankan military has been handling their war against terrorism so far. The professionalism acquired by the security forces in anti terrorist warfare has enabled them to defeat one of the most ruthless terrorist organizations in the world. Security forces personnel able to cause the minimum damage to the civilians who are being used as a "human shield" and their property. [Full Story]

Security Forces Appeal LTTE Child Soldiers To Surrender
Lanka Web: 14 August, 2006
SUBSEQUENT TO THE HIGH INCIDENCE OF CASUALTIES among LTTE terrorists, in confrontations that lasted during past 48 hours it has been observed that there are large numbers of minors among the dead LTTE cadres who have been observed by the troops.

On the other hand, large scale desertion in the LTTE organization has also been reported as those child soldiers learnt repercussions following set back LTTE organization suffered.

Therefore, Security Forces appeal both parents and those underaged LTTE cadres as well as those minors immediately to take necessary steps either to hand over those child soldiers to the nearest Police station or Security Detachment or surrender to the said authorities as early as possible.

Security Forces while guaranteeing the safety to all such surrendees, assure that all measures to rehabilitate them will be pursued in coordination with relevant authorities. [Full Story]

Government informs Tiger cadres to surrender
Lanka Truth: 14 August, 2006
Security forces have received information that Tiger cadres having experienced a bitter defeat in confrontations with the security forces in the North are vacating the Tigers Organisation despite orders from their leaders not to do so.

Security forces have discovered that among the Tiger terrorists killed in clashes during the last 48 hours there are a large number of child soldiers. [Full Story]

The LTTE is believed to have about 5000 children in combat camps
Sri Lankans ask UNICEF to make LTTE answerable for war crimes against children
Colombo Page: 14 August, 2006
Aug 14, New York: Over three hundred Sri Lankan expatriates in the New York area gathered outside the United Nations headquarters in Manhattan, New York, from 2-6 PM on August 13, 2006, to demand that UNICEF take action to bring the leaders of the LTTE before the International Criminal Court (ICC) to face charges of war crimes against children.

The protest rally was organized by two Sri Lankan expatriate groups, the New York Society for United Sri Lankans and Sri Lankan Patriots of the East Coast. These groups have already launched a worldwide petition calling on UNICEF Director Ann M. Veneman to follow the United Nations’ own resolutions and invoke international laws such as the Rome Statute to bring LTTE leaders before the ICC for conscripting children as combatants.

Printed copies of the petition were passed around during the rally for the benefit of those who had not signed it online. As President of the New York Society, Sumith de Silva pointed out that there is overwhelming evidence that the LTTE conscripts children, some as young as ten, including tsunami victims. The LTTE is believed to have about 5000 children in combat camps. In 2005 alone, the LTTE is said to have recruited 1000 children. Furthermore, UNICEF has documented 3516 cases of child recruitment by the LTTE during the ceasefire period since February 2002.

The organizers view the ICC arrest in March 2006 of Congolese rebel leader Thomas Lubanga Dyilo for war crimes, including the conscription and enlisting of children under 15, as a trail blazer, as it opens the door for the arrest and prosecution of leaders of all militant groups who use children to fight wars.

This is the second such rally held recently in the United States focusing on the LTTE's abuse of children's rights. On August 5, 2006, the Sri Lankan Patriots group in southern California staged a protest outside the Federal Building on Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles that also drew several hundred participants.

The Sri Lankan Patriots indicated that the petition drive and protests will continue in the US for as long as "we have children being trained as combatants and suicide bombers." [Full Story]

Government calls on LTTE Terrorists to surrender
Ministry Of Defence: 13 August, 2006
The government has called on all LTTE cadres to surrender to the armed forces.

Security forces have received information that LTTE terrorists are deserting the tiger outfit without heeding the orders of their leaders after the defeat suffered by the tigers, following hostilities with the government troops in the last few days in Muttur and Mavil-Aru and also in the past few days in areas in Jaffna.

It is revealed that there is a large number of child combatants among LTTE terrorists, who had died in hostilities in the past 48 hours. Many members from the East have already deserted the tiger outfit after being fed up of a battle which cannot be won and also in disgust of the LTTE.

Such groups have called on the government to provide them security directly or through people's representatives. The government is specially calling on child soldiers, as well as other LTTE terrorists to surrender to the nearest military camp or police station.

The government will assume the responsibility of all such volunteers and they will be handed over to their parents or guardians after being rehabilitated. [Full Story]

Government calls on LTTE Terrorists to surrender
Ministry of Defence: 13 August, 2006
The government has called on all LTTE cadres to surrender to the armed forces.

Security forces have received information that LTTE terrorists are deserting the tiger outfit without heeding the orders of their leaders after the defeat suffered by the tigers, following hostilities with the government troops in the last few days in Muttur and Mavil-Aru and also in the past few days in areas in Jaffna. [Full Story]

Sri Lankan Tigers say talks impossible
Reuters: 13 August, 2006
Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers said on Sunday peace talks were impossible as the worst fighting since a 2002 truce raged in the island's north and the government demanded rebel fighters surrender.

The government had said it received a message from the Tigers through ceasefire monitors on Friday, hours before clashes erupted on the northern Jaffna peninsula, saying that they were keen to talk -- something the government said it was keen to do.

...
"Security forces confirm there are many child recruits amongst the LTTE cadres killed in the confrontations that took place in the last 48 hours," the statement said. "The government requests all child recruits and other LTTE cadres to surrender to the nearest security forces camp or police station." [Full Story]

Prayers, tributes for Kadirgamar
The Hindu: 13 August, 2006
Inter-religious prayers and discourses marked the first death anniversary of the former Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka, Lakshman Kadirgamar, who was assassinated on August 12, 2005.

Speaking on the occasion, P. M. Amza, Deputy High Commissioner for Sri Lanka in Southern India, described Kadirgamar as "a colossus of our times and a politician who succeeded in internationalising the global menace of terrorism."

"He was an able Foreign Minister, patriotic Sri Lankan and a man who sincerely liked the community to which he belonged," Mr. Amza said. Recalling his keenness to have a "professional foreign service," the Deputy High Commissioner said Mr. Kadirgamar drew Sri Lanka's foreign policy with a motto `Friends to all and Enemy to none'. Mr. Kadirgamar brought international attention to the issue of "child soldiers, all of whom are young Tamil children, the future generation of Sri Lankan Tamils who were denied a normal life due to the forced conscription," Mr. Amza noted. "Even today, a large number of refugees, who are coming into Tamil Nadu, are coming with their children, to save them from the clutches of the LTTE," the diplomat added. [Full Story]

London Bombings – Global Terrorism Revisited
Lanka Web: 11 August, 2006
The terrorists have struck again. This time in London, the so called home of parliamentary democracy. They struck again and without even giving any notice. Apparently, Britain knew that they are going to be attacked and it had been a thing that was waiting to happen.

Our sincere thoughts and condolences go out to those who have lost loved ones and for those who are left with scars both physical and mental. The physical scars may heal, but the mental scars will still be lingering for many years to come. As always it is the innocent who pay for the crimes of omission and commission of their leaders.

...
This however is not possible by relegating countries like Sri Lanka to sign Cease Fire Agreements (CFA) with terrorist or enter into Memoranda of Understandings. Since signing these agreements and MOUs the LTTE terrorists in Sri Lanka have killed and maimed hundreds, have abducted and continue to abduct hundreds of children for recruitment as child soldiers. While thousands of CFA infringements have taken place the Viking cease fire monitors continue to look the other way and have actually colluded with terrorists to strengthen their armories and other wherewithal [Full Story]

Los Angeles Demonstrators Demand Arrest of LTTE Leaders for Conscription of Children
Asian Tribune: 10 August, 2006
Sporting tee-shirts with the outlined lion-and-sword symbol and the words 'Simply Patriotic' underneath it, for two hours on 05 August morning, demonstrators from the local Sri Lankan community filled up the entire block outside the massive Federal Building in Los Angeles, California. Rallying under the banner of the 'Sri Lankan Patriots' they shouted slogans and carried placards that called attention to the LTTE's continuing use of child soldiers and UNICEF’s failure to take the steps needed to bring punitive action against the leaders of the terrorist group. [Full Story]

Sri Lankan- Americans Rally against the LTTE - USA
Ministry Of Defecne: 09 August, 2006
Sri Lankan-Americans living in New York and the East Coast branch of the Sri Lankan Patriots are organizing a Peace Rally on the August 13th to protest against the immoral and criminal activities of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE), a terrorist organization in Sri Lanka. The LTTE has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, India and the European Union. It is by far most criminal organization in the world and has been responsible for the murder of several thousands of civilians and the assassination of several noted statesmen such as Rajiv Gandhi, Prime Minister of India, President Premadasa of Sri Lanka and several Cabinet Ministers. Only a few weeks ago, they murdered in cold blood 65 men, women and children riding a bus in Kebathigollawa in Sri Lanka. [Full Story]

Catch a Tiger by the Toe
Daily Standard: 08 August, 2006
WHILE THE WORLD focuses its attention on Lebanon, the bloody civil war in Sri Lanka looks poised for yet another flare-up. Even excluding the Sri Lankan army's current offensive, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)'s June 15 bombing of a passenger bus that killed 64 people and the June 26 assassination of a top Sri Lankan general, LTTE terrorism and Sri Lankan military reprisals have claimed hundreds of lives this year. Sri Lanka is a democratic ally, but the United States has limited options for preventing further bloodshed. However, international frustration with LTTE intransigence has created a rare, low-cost opportunity for American leadership in the region. If the United States can effectively target the LTTE's international finance and smuggling networks, a lack of money and weapons will reduce the group's capability to commit terror attacks, increase the possibility of a political solution in Sri Lanka, and improve the regional situation in Southeas t Asia.

Long before the terms entered the American lexicon, the LTTE's struggle for an independent, ethnically Hindu Tamil homeland in northern Sri Lanka featured hundreds of suicide bombings and IEDs at a cost in lives now estimated to exceed 64,000. According to the United Nation's Children's Fund, the LTTE has a history of recruiting child soldiers (including children orphaned by the December 2004 tsunami.) The LTTE has bombed Sri Lanka's World Trade Center and assassinated dozens of political leaders, including two national leaders: former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Ghandhi in 1991 and Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa in 1993. [Full Story]

Los Angeles Demonstrators Demand Arrest of LTTE Leaders for Conscription of Children
SinhalaNet: 08 August, 2006
Los Angeles, CA - August 5: Sporting tee-shirts with the outlined lion-and-sword symbol and the words ‘Simply Patriotic’ underneath it, for two hours this morning demonstrators from the local Sri Lankan community filled up the entire block outside the massive Federal Building in Los Angeles, California. [Full Story]

Los Angeles Demonstrators Demand Arrest of LTTE Leaders for Conscription of Children
Lanka Truth: 07 August, 2006
Sri Lankans in Los Angeles, CA held a demonstration for two hours on the 5th of August against the conscription of children by the Wanni Tigers in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankan community wearing tee-shirts with outlined lion-and-sword symbol and the words ‘Simply Patriotic” underneath it, filled up the entire block outside the massive Federal Building in Los Angeles, California shouting slogans and carried placards which called attention to the Tigers’ continuing use of child soldiers and UNICEF’s failure to take retaliatory against the Tiger leaders.

The demonstrators held a giant banner which prominently displayed ‘UNICEF say no to LTTE’s war on Sri Lankan Children’ at the head of the procession. The marchers also carried a child-size coffin, symbolizing the deaths of hundreds of children in the war.

Little children were carrying posters that said ‘We belong in schools not in LTTE terrorist camps,’ and ‘The LTTE Kills Kids Like us.’ Buddhist monks from the local temples also joined the march. [Full Story]

"Stop the LTTE's War on Sri Lankan Children"
Ministry Of Defence: 07 August, 2006
Los Angeles Protest Rally to Demand that UNICEF bring LTTE Leaders to International Criminal Court for War Crimes against Children

Los Angeles, CA - Saffron-robed Buddhist monks, saree-clad women, and men carrying children's coffins will be among the hundreds of demonstrators expected to rally on August 5, 2006 from 10 am to 12 noon outside the Federal Building, 11000 Wilshire Blvd., in Westwood, CA to demand that UNICEF take action to bring the leaders of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to face charges for war crimes against children. [Full Story]

Mutur, the Battle for the East and the Muslims
Asian Tribune: 06 August, 2006
The Tigers have been eying Mutur for a long time, because they regarded it as a gateway to Trinco, the designated capital city of Vellupillai Pirapaharan’s future Tiger Eelam. For instance, as the UTHR warned on a number of occasions, the LTTE has been making repeated attempts to get the Muslim residents of the town to vacate, so that a depopulated Mutur can be used to facilitate an assault on Trinco.

...
Incidentally Ranil Wickremesinghe and his lop sided peace process too share much of the blame for what happened and what could have happened in Mutur. As the UTHR reported the siege of Mutur by the LTTE began during his administration, with the construction of the LTTE's new camp at Kurangupanjan: “There are a large number of child conscripts trained and stationed in the area, including girls as young as 11 and 12. When child soldiers escape as they often do, they generally cross Salt River (Uppaar) and are often helped by Muslims to go from Kinniya to Trincomalee. [Full Story]

Deadly arsenals dot Sri Lanka
Asia Times: 05 August, 2006
Both sides in Sri Lanka's civil war are preparing for what is likely to be a bloody and prolonged resumption of the conflict. In operations now under way, the Sri Lankan army is having to fight its way across well-fortified and heavily mined terrain.

..
The LTTE
The Tigers are considered by many observers to be one of the more advanced and ruthless extremist organizations in the world and one that places immense emphasis on the cult of martyrdom.

Though the Tigers reject the description of "terrorist", preferring "freedom fighter", their actions are undoubtedly those of the terrorist: assassination, crime and suicide bombings.

It appears likely the Tamil Tigers knowingly recruit and use child soldiers as front-line troops. Despite its having agreed that it would stop conscripting child soldiers, both the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and Human Rights Watch have accused it of reneging on its promises, and indeed of conscripting Tamil children orphaned by the tsunami in December 2004. [Full Story]

UNICEF urged to bring LTTE leaders before International Criminal Court
Daily Mirror: 08 July, 2006
Los Angeles, California - Saffron-robed Buddhist monks, sari-clad women, and men carrying children's coffins will be among the hundreds of demonstrators reeled recently from 10 am to 12 noon outside the Federal Building, 11000 Wilshire Blvd., in Westwood, to demand that UNICEF take action to bring the leaders of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to face charges for war crimes against children.

According to the US State Department, there is credible evidence that the LTTE are holding about 5000 children in combat camps. In 2004 alone the LTTE recruited 1000 children. Children abducted from schools and homes are held in LTTE camps where they undergo training in guerilla combat and prepare for deadly missions such as suicide bombings. The escalation of tension between the LTTE and government security forces in recent months has led to an intensified drive by the Tigers to recruit children, which in turn is forcing hundreds of families to flee their homes. [Full Story]

In Sri Lanka, families struggle to escape
The Gazette / Associated Press: 01 August, 2006
They slipped out of the village and into the jungle after dark, whole families abandoning prized fishing boats and what little else they had to escape forced military training at the hands of the Tamil Tiger rebels.

In many ways, the 69 men, women and children sheltering Monday at the Mankeni Roman Catholic Church in this fishing village are the lucky ones -- they've gotten away, for the time being.

Dozens of others haven't across this seaside sliver of eastern Sri Lanka, where aid workers and villagers say the Tigers and a renegade rebel faction are abducting children and young men. The Tigers are also openly training civilians to fight.

The result: People here are struggling to keep from being sucked into Sri Lanka's ferocious ethnic conflict. Classrooms stand empty, fishing boats beached and streets deserted.

Guarded by soldiers, the people at Mankeni's church explained that they fled their village, Panichankerny, in rebel territory, after the Tigers began forcing able-bodied people between 14 and 55 to undergo military training.

"We're not soldiers, we're fisherman -- even firecrackers scare us," said Nadarasa, a 28-year-old who asked that his last name not be used for fear of rebel retribution. He said dozens of others remained in the village, but "they may join us if they can slip away."

As violence surges across Sri Lanka, the abductions and forced training of civilians are seen as a sign that insurgents are preparing for a possible return to a vicious civil war that for nearly two decades pitted rebels from the Tamil minority against the government dominated by the Sinhalese majority.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the rebels' formal name, took up arms in 1983 to fight for a homeland for Sri Lanka's 3.2 million Tamils, who have faced decades of often-violent discrimination. The resulting war on this tropical island of 19 million people -- nearly three-quarters of them Sinhalese -- left more than 65,000 people dead before a 2002 cease-fire.

Peace talks have faltered, and rising violence in the past four months has killed some 700 people, more than half of them civilians.

The violence continued Monday when at least eight people were slain in a series of explosions, including a blast south of this village that killed two government commandos.

Tensions are perhaps highest in this eastern region of fishing villages, rice paddies and groves of coconut palms, a predominantly Tamil area split between government and rebel zones. Gunfire rings out nightly from the fortified front lines, and fresh bodies turn up nearly every morning in the jungles beyond.

It's also the region where two years ago, the renegade Karuna faction broke away from the Tigers, sparking a murderous crackdown by the mainstream insurgents. UNICEF says the few hundred Karuna fighters now left -- who regularly attack the Tigers and are widely believed to get government protection -- have pressed at least 50 children into service since March.

The Tigers, who have a well-documented history of using child soldiers, abducted 64 children in April and May, UNICEF says.

Aid workers also say both the Tigers and the renegades have abducted dozens of young men over age 18 in recent months.

Everyone feels the fallout. "Teachers aren't going to schools, doctors aren't attending health centers -- it's having an overall impact on life in the communities," said Yasmin Haque of UNICEF.

In the nearby village of Pasikuda, one mother said she pulled a teenage son from school and asked another son, a contractor and the family's sole breadwinner, to stay away from work.

"Even going to the shop is scary," she said, asking her name not be used for fear of attracting attention to her fighting-age sons.

The rebels are also openly readying civilians for war. A pro-rebel Web-site last week claimed that 6,000 civilians already had been trained in regions they control.

Faced with such a frightening prospect, the fisherman of Panichankerny fled, most carrying the only valuables they could -- the intricate gold jewelry Hindu women are given when they marry.

"Everything else is lost," said Selvaseram, 20, who slipped into the jungle after midnight Saturday with his wife and baby daughter. He also asked his last name not be used.

One of the escapees, Kamawadipillei Balasudramuniam, 46, said that in the past two weeks his 15-year-old son and at least two other children in the village had been pressed into joining the Tigers, abductions which helped spark the exodus.

Leaving wasn't an easy decision -- abandoned were two new fiberglass fishing boats, pricey replacements provided by international aid agencies for ones lost to the 2004 Asian tsunami, which devastated this region.

But, he said, "I fish for my family, to earn them money. I am nothing without my family." [Full Story]

LTTE holding 5,000 children in combat camps
Daily News: 31 July, 2006
UNITED STATES: Credible evidence has emerged that the LTTE are holding about 5,000 children in combat camps.

In 2004 alone, the LTTE recruited 1,000 children.

According to the latest human rights reports, children abducted from schools and homes are held in LTTE camps where they undergo training in guerilla combat and prepare for deadly missions such as suicide bombings.

The escalation of tension between the LTTE and security forces in recent months has led to an intensified drive by the Tigers to recruit children, which in turn is forcing hundreds of families to flee their homes, the reports say.

In response to the LTTE's continued conscription of children, Buddhist monks, saree-clad women and men carrying children's coffins will be among the hundreds of demonstrators expected to rally on August 5 from 10 a.m. to noon outside the Federal Building in Westwood, CA to demand that UNICEF take action to bring the leaders of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to face charges for war crimes against children.

Rallying under the banner of the local expatriate activist group 'Sri Lankan Patriots,' protesters will launch a worldwide petition calling on UNICEF Director Ann M. Veneman to follow the United Nations' own resolutions and to invoke international laws such as the Rome Statute to bring the Tiger leaders before the International Criminal Court for conscripting children as combatants.

An online petition has already been launched.

Spokesperson for the group Hassina Leelarathna said that as the world's leading children's organisation UNICEF has failed in its attempts for over a decade to stop the recruitment of children in the island's North and East from the LTTE.

The UN agency is also accused of compromising the welfare of the children by cooperating with the LTTE - a view shared by the leading rights group Human Rights Watch.

"Every year UNICEF officials make a trip to Sri Lanka and extract a promise from the rebels that they will free the children. A token few are released, only to be re-abducted. A few weeks ago, even as UNICEF was making its annual plea, the Tigers stepped up their recruitment drive, taking dozens of children away from their parents."

Leelarathna, who is the editor of the bi-weekly newspaper 'Sri Lanka Express', said the arrest by the ICC in March of this year of Congolese rebel leader Thomas Lubanga Dyilo for war crimes, including the conscription and enlisting of children under 15, is a turning point.

This is the first such arrest by the ICC and it opens the door for the arrest and prosecution of leaders of all militant groups who use children to fight wars.

"There is overwhelming evidence that the LTTE has conscripted children, some as young as ten, including tsunami victims, and we are demanding that UNICEF take the steps needed to bring the LTTE before the International Court, so similar punitive action may be taken against this group that has openly flouted international norms for the past twenty years," she said.

The Rome Statute, under which the ICC was established, requires that a state government or the United Nations Security Council refer the 'situation' to the ICC prosecutor for a criminal investigation to commence.

Ven. Apareke Punyasiri of the Maithri Buddhist Meditation Center in Sun Valley, California said the August 5 rally is being organised in the face of the LTTE's intensified recruitment drive in recent weeks. "We cannot ignore the plight of hundreds of Sri Lankan children. It is urgent that we act now," he said.

He said copies of the petition will also be circulated among US leaders to create awareness of the problem.

"The petition drive and protests will continue for as long as we have children being used as combatants and suicide bombers," he added. [Full Story]

LTTE holding 5,000 children in combat camps
Ministry Of Defence: 31 July, 2006
Credible evidence has emerged that the LTTE are holding about 5,000 children in combat camps.

In 2004 alone, the LTTE recruited 1,000 children.

According to the latest human rights reports, children abducted from schools and homes are held in LTTE camps where they undergo training in guerilla combat and prepare for deadly missions such as suicide bombings.

The escalation of tension between the LTTE and security forces in recent months has led to an intensified drive by the Tigers to recruit children, which in turn is forcing hundreds of families to flee their homes, the reports say. [Full Story]

Stop killings, Britain tells LTTE
Ministry Of Defence: 29 July, 2006
The United Kingdom urged the LTTE to bring an end to killings, intimidation, acts of violence and abductions. They raised these concerns during a meeting with the LTTE leadership.

"The meeting was an opportunity to discuss the current situation, its impact on civilians and the role of the international community," British High Commission officials said after talks with the representatives of the LTTE. "During the talks, we raised concerns about the continuing high levels of violence including the issue of child soldiers," the High Commission quoted the officials as saying. [Full Story]

British Deputy High Commissioner meets LTTE in northern Sri Lanka
Colombo Page: 29 July, 2006
British Deputy High Commissioner for Sri Lanka Lesley Craig met LTTE Political Wing leader S.P. Thamilselvan in Kilinochchi today. She urged both the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government to fulfill their commitments made at Geneva earlier this year.

"The meeting was an opportunity to discuss the current situation, its impact on civilians and the role of the international community," British High Commission officials said after talks with LTTE representatives. "During the talks, we raised concerns about the continuing high levels of violence including the issue of child soldiers. [Full Story]

Britain urges Sri Lankan Tigers to stop killings
Islamic Republic News Agency: 29 July, 2006
The United Kingdom urged the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to bring an end to the killings, intimidation, acts of violence and abductions.

Officials of British High Commission in Sri Lanka raised these concerns during a meeting with the LTTE leadership.

"The meeting was an opportunity to discuss the current situation, its impact on civilians and the role of the international community," British High Commission officials said after talks with the representatives of the LTTE.

"During the talks, we raised concerns about the continuing high levels of violence including the issue of child soldiers," The Sri Lankan Official News Website reported from Colombo. [Full Story]

United Kingdom stresses importance of ending killings in Sri Lanka
Colombo Page: 28 July, 2006
The government of the United Kingdom today stressed the importance of ending the killings, intimidation, acts of violence and abductions in Sri Lanka.

“The commitments made at Geneva should be fulfilled by both parties and the Ceasefire adhered to,” it said, referring to talks between the Sri Lankan government and LTTE in Switzerland earlier this year.

...
“We raised concerns about the continuing high levels of violence including the issue of child soldiers,” a spokesperson for the High Commission said. [Full Story]

Southern Sri Lanka's political leaders demand for the demerger of Northern and Eastern provinces
Asian Tribune: 26 July, 2006
An outfit claiming itself as an “Organization to Defend Rights of People in the East” met on Monday Mahinda Rajapakse, President of Sri Lanka at his official residence - Temple Trees in Colombo and handed over a letter demanding that the North and the East should be separated and administered by two separate provincial councils.

...
Furthermore, the de-merger of the North-East Province will help strengthen the security in the said Province as it can then pave way for more effective and efficient administration and to adopt stringent security measures and also to provide a safer and more secure environment to the citizens of the Region. As Your Excellency is aware, the LTTE is engaged in ethnic cleansing operations in the Eastern Region against the Sinhalese and Muslim populations, and also carry out extortion, violation of human rights, recruitment of child soldiers, unlawful taxation etc.which are facilitated by the merger of the two Provinces providing ample opportunities for the LTTE to gain access easily to the Eastern Region. The de-merger can also effectively halt and/or disrupt the smuggling of arms, ammunition and drugs by the LTTE using the sea coast of the Eastern Province, which comprises of many safe landing sites for the sea tiger crafts. [Full Story]

UN Security Council focuses on Child Soldiers in Sri Lanka
Colombo Page: 25 July, 2006
Ambassador Prasad Kariyawasam, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, speaking at the Security Council on ‘Children and Armed Conflict’ recently, stated that detestable crimes have been committed against young children, particularly against Tamil children living in the Northern and Eastern parts of Sri Lanka by a rebel group known as the LTTE or the Tamil Tigers for over two decades.

It is no secret that the situation has scarcely seen any improvement, as well-documented by none other than UNICEF, which has taken a lead role in bringing this sad state of affairs to public attention. These children have been forcibly conscripted for battle against the Sri Lanka Army and civilian villagers. Some of them have been programmed into suicide bombers. We in Sri Lanka, therefore, are well aware of the damage caused to the social fabric of a country and its future by this abominable practice engaged in by a terrorist group. As an affected country, we urge the international community to take swift and decisive action to end impunity enjoyed by non-state actors who continue to abuse children, without further delay. Let us not, in this endeavour, miss the wood for the trees, and let us not divert responsibility. Let us not fail in our quest to ensure a safe and secure world for our children. [Full Story]

Killings, horror rise in Sri Lanka's war zone
News Scotsman / Reuters: 23 July, 2006
Bodies dumped in wells, dead children hung from rafters and underage boys abducted to fight. During two decades of civil war, such atrocities were commonplace in Sri Lanka but a cease-fire since 2002 halted the worst of the attacks on children.

...
In the island's east, temporary relief camps like Thiraimadu were hastily built but these have to proved to be easy places for children to be abducted to be trained as soldiers.

"Some people come for boys and take them away," Indrajh Piyaraj, 24, told Reuters as he returned from washing. "Some come back but refuse to say what happened. They said their faces were covered with cloth and they didn't know where they were taken."

Not everyone gets away from abductions alive. [Full Story]

The Great Divide: Gated Communities And Street Children
Counter Currents: 21 July, 2006
Sao Paulo, South America’s largest metropolis with an estimated population of almost 20 million people, has long been a multicultural zone of contrasts. Built by its coffee industry in the late 19th century with labor supplied by European, mainly Italian, immigrants Sao Paulo went on to become the center of Brazil’s industrial revolution by the mid 20th century.

...
West Africa hasn’t been the only region to have currently or recently seen the use of child soldiers. The LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) in Uganda, a cultish group well known for abducting children in northern Uganda and making them sex slaves- in some instances forcing them to kill family members, the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelamin) in Sri Lanka, and both the FARC and AUC in Colombia (guerilla squads include girls as young as eight) all use child soldiers. Both sides of Sudan’s recently ended civil war also used child soldiers (numbers of child soldiers in Sudan may be the highest in the world) and Myanmar’s military government widely recruits children to fill its ranks. Children soldiers were also used in wars in Angola, DR Congo, Rwanda, and Afghanistan. [Full Story]

LTTE siphoning off foreign funds, says Peace bureau
Gulf Times: 17 July, 2006
The government Peace Secretariat has alleged that up to 20% of the foreign funds channelled to the north-east are siphoned off by LTTE. According to the Secretariat, these illegally acquired funds were used by the LTTE to maintain its name-board structures and logistics, train its child soldiers as well as men and women, and keep those living in Tiger-held areas under a perpetual state of war. [Full Story]

LTTE is siphoning off Government funds
The Hindu: 17 July, 2006
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) "siphons off" 10 to 20 per cent of the Sri Lankan Government's development and infrastructure funds allocated for the territory in the north and east, the Secretariat for Coordination of Peace Process (SCOPP) has claimed.

Projects to the tune of $1,283 million are currently in progress in the region.

"However, studies reveal that approximately 10-20 per cent of these funds are siphoned off by the LTTE. It is largely from these illegally acquired funds that the LTTE maintains its name-board structures and logistics, trains its child soldiers and places its armed cadres, both men and women, in a perpetual state of war", the SCOPP said in a presentation. [Full Story]

RESPONSE TO THE EDITOR DAILY NEWS
Lanka Web: 16 July, 2006
Your editorial dated 15 July 2006 captioned “LTTE obliged to release seized policeman” refers.

I beg to differ with your views regarding the matter of ‘humanitarian’ VIP treatment showered by President Rajapakse on the ailing LTTE spokesman Dayanidi.

I would remind you as well as the readers of the golden adage that “those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it”. We Sri Lankans as a nation have been down this path before. We have shown tolerance, compassion and goodwill to the LTTE before with disastrous results. We facilitated specialist medical emergency treatment for Kittu, Anton Balasingham, Soosaai, a senior woman cadre called Kuweni and a host of other LTTE barbarians over the last several decades. These compassionate acts have merely been acts of casting pearls before swine for LTTE swine have returned to base after gaining good health to resume killing and maiming our kith and kin by their thousands.

...
It is also a crying shame that the Sri Lankan Government did not think it important at least to demand the release of the police officer attached to the National Child Protection Authority who according to your own editorial “is suffering silently in an LTTE terror cell”. You ask “why cannot the LTTE release this police officer in response to the consideration shown by the State to Daya Master?” After thirty years of dealing with this monstrosity is it still so difficult to understand that the LTTE is not capable of civilized reciprocities? The LTTE will only understand playing hard ball and any gains the country needs to secure must be achieved by playing their game! We must not kid ourselves thinking that the LTTE “would release the policeman in a gesture of goodwill and help pave the way for a resumption of the negotiatory process”. [Full Story]

Twenty percent of foreign funds sent to Sri Lanka's northeast are taken by the LTTE
Colombo Page: 15 July, 2006
Twenty percent of foreign funds channeled to Sri Lanka's North and East are siphoned off by the LTTE, the government Peace Secretariat said.

With “these illegally acquired funds”, the LTTE “maintains its name, [supports] structures and logistics, trains its child soldiers and places its armed cadres, both men and women, in a perpetual state of war,” the Secretariat said.

“This is an aspect that the donor community needs to address while engaging the LTTE. It is an illusion to assume that the LTTE has the capability to provide even the minimum services to the people of the North and the East,” it added. [Full Story]

For the Love of our children: An exodus invisible to international community
Ministry Of Defence: 15 July, 2006
Children are the flowers of a nation. Anybody who does not value the lives of children is not suitable to be called a human being. Imagine a situation where a group of maniacs coming to your home and threateningly telling you that your children must be handed over to them in order that these children are then trained to be child soldier of the LTTE's baby brigade. These children also used as suicide bombers.

Imagine the horror you will feel, the hopelessness and helplessness you will feel, the feeling of anxiety fear and anguish you will feel. This is the type of horrifying experience the innocent Tamil civilians in the LTTE dominated area are today facing.

The situation in the North and Eastern areas of the country is ever worsening day by day, despite a surprising stoic silence maintained by many foreign correspondents of international famous news papers hundred of Tamil families continue to come to the government controlled area seeking refuge of the security forces, every day.

These desperate people leave behind virtually all their belongings in their hurry to flee from clutches the LTTE, to safeguard their most valuable "asset"-their children.

Within few days of opening refuge camps a total number of 58 families reached the church at Mankerni. This refuge camp was opening by the security. Three more families comprising of 16 members including 6 children arrived on Thursday the06th of July. Now the total number of refugees is 200. The government school in Mankerni is also utilized for purpose of accommodating such refuges. [Full Story]

Sri Lanka : The peace process is tottering on its weak legs
The New Nation: 13 July, 2006
With the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and government forces engaging each other in a limited war at the moment, many observers would conclude that the process of peace was fast faultering in Sri Lanka. They would be right. As per their commitment in February they would have met in April in Geneva to firm up the peace agreement that was lying in shambles since November 2003. The February 2006 meet between the LTTE and Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) delegates in Geneva had raised hopes of the international community as well as the Sri Lankan people. It was, in fact, hailed as the restart of the peace process. But very soon there was a descent into violence, as each party accused the other of betrayal of trust.

...
In fact, Karuna was the military commander of the LTTE in the eastern districts of Ampara and Batticaloa and was the mainstay for the Tigers during their mean days after the GOSL takeover of Jaffna in 1996. The division within LTTE's eastern flank was noticeable from 2001-2002 and Karuna was more favoured than others for his dynamism and aggressive nationalistic posture. It was the same Karuna who was primarily responsible for the recruitment of child soldiers and killing of Tamil Muslims. [Full Story]

Tigers abduct 35 children for armed training
Lanka Truth: 10 July, 2006
Members of wanni tiger organization have abducted 35 children for military training says security forces. Children living in threatened villages including Batticaloa, Seruwila, Sevanapitiya, Karuwappulai have been abducted by the tigers. Though tiger organization try to put the blame on the Karuna faction of the tiger organization the parents of the abducted children say wanni tigers were responsible for the abductions pointing out there was abundant evidence to put the blame on wanni tigers.

Meanwhile, another group of people who were alarmed at the atrocities committed by wanni tigers have fled the un-cleared areas and surrendered to the security forces. There were 16 including little children in the group which had arrived from Wakare. They had surrendered to Army camp at Mankerni at Valachchena stating that the tigers had demanded that they join the tiger organization and have armed training or face death. [Full Story]

Stop bullying Sri Lanka
SPUR: 10 July, 2006
On his way to Japan during the latter part of the month of May, Erick Solheim had told the Indian National Security Advisor M. K. Narayanan, that "Sri Lanka needed to show 'statesmanship' and 'political maturity'and fulfil the promises it made during the first round of peace talks with the LTTE in Geneva in February." The so-called Co-chairs, where the Norway 's Solheim play leading roles, made similar statements. when met in Tokyo a few weeks after they read the following statement of the Co-Chairs.

...
They also attempt to hide the facts and figures of suicide bombing, child recruitment, killing of political opponents and innocent civilians (including Tamils, Muslims and Sinhalese) tactically by simply asking ' both sides to stop violence' and commence 'Peace Talks' while all the Western countries are strictly maintaining a 'non-negotiable policy' with groups of terrorists who attack them. [Full Story]

The SLMM visits Tamil families who fled from LTTE terror in the East
Ministry Of Defence: 07 July, 2006
The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission members visited the make shift refugee camps made at the Mankerni Catholic Church and the government school at Mankerni for Tamil refugees who are escaping from LTTE occupied Vakarai area in fear of forced military training and conscription of children as child soldiers., military sources said. Sri Lanka Army spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe said the Monitoring Mission members met the people at both centers and interviewed the refugees who had left their villages in fear of the LTTE recruiters. The refugees told the European monitors that they had left their villages and their precious fishing boats and even household goods since they were being forced to join the civilian army the LTTE was building to wage war with the Sri Lanka government.

Many parents complained to the monitors that they were also compelled to give up their children to the LTTE for military training.

They said they had to walk through shrub and jungle trekking more than 20 kilometers to reach the Sri Lanka army outpost to seek protection from the intimidation of the LTTE recruiters.

Latest reports suggest, that the number of families who had escaped from the LTTE intimidation has now increased up to 58. The total number now housed in the Mankerni Catholic Church and School is 184 people, consisting of men, women and children.

The parents reportedly told the Scandinavian monitors that since they were afraid of sending the children to the schools for fear of them being abducted they thought it was advisable for them to escape. The Red Cross has joined the army in supplying food for the refugees. [Full Story]

Perpetuated by hatred and lie....
Ministry Of Defence: 07 July, 2006
Pro LTTE electronic media are using news in a particularly distorted view of the crisis. Such misrepresentations are endlessly repeated until they become "truth" in the public and international conscience.

The prism through which the events in Sri Lanka are presented is that of the "failed sate"; extra judicial killings; paramilitaries; deep penetration units and presently the abductions of Tamil civilians.

...
The maximum cadre of fighting terrorist is no more than 4,500, in which 60% are reported to be child soldiers or well known as the "Baby brigade." Adding to their agony, spilt of the Karuna's (former Batticaloa, Tiger head) LTTE faction (TMVP); has disarmed 4000 terrorists. [Full Story]

PEACE & HUMAN RIGHTS CONFLICT ZONES
National Security: 06 July, 2006
Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict Deshamanya Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy – in her first exclusive interview in Sri Lanka – in conversation with Namini Wijedasa. -Courtesy Lanka Monthly Digest (LMD)

...
Q: You are widely recognized for your role as an advocate for women’s rights. Did you ever think you would secure such a high-profile appointment to protect child rights?
A: In many ways, there are very common elements between women and children. In many cases, they are vulnerable groups in need of international protection. In many cases, those who commit violence against them are given impunity – and often, women and children’s lives are interlinked. However, the international regime for the protection of children is far greater. One of the most innovative developments has been Security Council Resolution 1612, which provides for the naming of groups that engage in child recruitment for combat. This is an extraordinary development, with the UN Security Council taking an interest in social and human-rights issues. It is truly a rare occurrence.

Q: What are your plans for the office of the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict?
A: At the moment, we are in the process of building a strategic vision for the office for the next two years. In many ways, it is the era of application – especially when it comes to child soldiers. International standards and frameworks have been set. Now we must apply those standards and frameworks to concrete situations. This, I think, has to be the centerpiece of any strategic vision. I also feel this position has two roles. One is as a special representative on children and armed conflict. This is an important issue. It has seized the conscience of the Security Council and it is, therefore, important that we push forward with the agenda set out by Olara Otunnu. We must do everything to bring an end to the six violations against children: child soldiers, killing and maiming, abduction, sexual violence, attacks on schools and hospitals, and the denial of humanitarian access.

Q: Otunnu is, indeed, remembered for his blacklist, or list of shame, and for urging the UN to introduce stronger sanctions against state and non-state parties who are guilty of violations against children during war situations. Will you take this further?
A: It is my duty to take it further. It is important not only for children, but for all issues that deal with impunity in times of war. [Full Story]

Villagers in Sri Lanka flee forced rebel military duty
Star News OnLine: 05 July, 2006
They slipped out of the village and into the jungle after dark, whole families abandoning prized fishing boats and what little else they had to escape forced military training at the hands of the Tamil Tiger rebels.

In many ways, the 69 men, women and children sheltering Monday at the Mankeni Roman Catholic Church in this fishing village are the lucky ones - they've gotten away, for the time being.

Dozens of others haven't across this seaside sliver of eastern Sri Lanka, where aid workers and villagers say the Tigers and a renegade rebel faction are abducting children and young men. The Tigers are also openly training civilians to fight.

The result: People here are struggling to keep from being sucked into Sri Lanka's ferocious ethnic conflict. Classrooms stand empty, fishing boats beached and streets deserted.

Guarded by soldiers, the people at Mankeni's church explained that they fled their village, Panichankerny, in rebel territory after the Tigers began forcing able-bodied people between 14 and 55 to undergo military training.

"We're not soldiers, we're fishermen - even firecrackers scare us," said Nadarasa, a 28-year-old who asked that his last name not be used for fear of rebel retribution.

As violence surges across Sri Lanka, the abductions and forced training of civilians are seen as a sign that insurgents are preparing for a possible return to a vicious civil war that for nearly two decades pitted rebels from the Tamil minority against the government dominated by the Sinhalese majority.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the rebels' formal name, took up arms in 1983 to fight for a homeland for Sri Lanka's 3.2 million Tamils, who have faced decades of often-violent discrimination. The resulting war on this tropical island of 19 million people - nearly three-quarters of them Sinhalese - left more than 65,000 people dead before a 2002 cease-fire.

Peace talks have faltered, and violence in the past four months has killed 700 people, more than half of them civilians.

The violence continued Monday when at least eight people died in a series of explosions. Tensions are perhaps highest in this eastern region of fishing villages, rice paddies and groves of coconut palms, a predominantly Tamil area split between government and rebel zones. Gunfire rings out nightly from fortified lines, and fresh bodies turn up nearly every morning in the jungles beyond.

It's also the region where two years ago, the renegade Karuna faction broke away from the Tigers, sparking a murderous crackdown by the mainstream insurgents.

The few hundred Karuna fighters now left regularly attack the Tigers and are widely believed to get government protection. UNICEF says they have pressed at least 50 children into service since March.

The Tigers have a well-documented history of using child soldiers, and UNICEF says they abducted 64 children in April and May.

Aid workers also say both the Tigers and the renegades have abducted dozens of young men over age 18 in recent months.

Everyone feels the fallout. "Teachers aren't going to schools, doctors aren't attending health centers - it's having an overall impact on life in the communities," said Yasmin Haque of UNICEF.

In the village of Pasikuda, one mother said she pulled a teenage son from school and asked another son, a contractor and the family's sole breadwinner, to stay away from work.

"Even going to the shop is scary," she said, asking her name not be used for fear of attracting attention to her fighting-age sons.

The rebels are also openly readying civilians for war. A pro-rebel Web-site last week claimed that 6,000 civilians already had been trained.

Faced with such a frightening prospect, the fisherman of Panichankerny fled, most carrying the only valuables they could - the intricate gold jewelry Hindu women are given when they marry. [Full Story]

Tigers rap Unicef’s child soldier report
Gulf Times: 03 July, 2006
Sri Lanka’s Tiger rebels hit back yesterday at claims by the United Nations that more than 1000 children are enlisted as soldiers, saying its reports are grossly exaggerated. The United Nations Children’s Fund released a list of 1,387 children last week that it said were rebel soldiers amid increasing violence in Sri Lanka that threatens an already shaky truce with the government.

The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said it had checked the list and determined that more than 800 of those named were aged over 18.

“Given that more than 800 of the youths in the list are now over the age of 18, Unicef’s call for the release of these youths is not based on any international human rights standards,” the LTTE said in a statement. [Full Story]

Daily breeze letter says that Tamil Tigers have exchanged their suicide jackets with other terrorists
Ministry of Defence: 04 July, 2006
The Daily Breeze, a Los Angeles suburb newspaper commenting on the assassination of Lt. General Parami Kulatunga said that the Sri Lankan terrorist group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has perfected the art of suicide bomb technology so well , some of the world's top terrorist groups have copied its bomb technology for exchange of weapons with them.

The letter appearing in the June 29 issue of the "Daily Breeze" published in the South Bay area of Los Angeles, from the city's airport to the harbor for the last 112 years, said some of the world's top terrorist groups like Al-Qaida, Hezbollah, Hamas and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade have been allowed to copy the design of the Tamil Tiger suicide jacket for friendly exchange of weapons by the group.

The Daily Breeze letter written by Walter Jayawardhana said one of the most alarming thing is that some of the child soldiers who have been kidnapped from their homes and schools by the LTTE terrorists have been brainwashed to become suicide bombers. [Full Story]

Tamil Tiger leader lectures Harper
Toronto Star: 04 July, 2006
Sri Lanka—In a villa surrounded by tall jak fruit trees and a squad of cadres toting T-56 assault rifles, S.P. Thamilselvan, the political leader of the Tamil Tiger guerrillas, sits pondering the political missteps of Stephen Harper's rookie government.

"We know the complexity of the political problems any party would normally come across during a period of transition or a change from one party to another," he says.

Thamilselvan says he's been searching for a plausible reason Harper's government ignored Canada's 200,000-strong Tamil community and placed their "freedom-fighting organization" alongside Al Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah on a list of criminal terrorist groups.

...
What's more, UNICEF says the Tigers have recruited thousands of child soldiers. And overseas, the rebels' fundraising agents use fear and extortion to extract significant sums from the Tamil diaspora, especially in Toronto. [Full Story]

LIBERATION TIGERS OF TAMIL EELAM- GUARDIANS OF HUMAN RIGHTS
National Security: 03 July, 2006
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has taken on the role of guardians of Human rights. The LTTE must bear in mind that thirty (30) countries have listed them as a terrorist organization thereby placing them among the world’s most ruthless terrorists as the Al-Qaeda.et.al. It was the LTTE which very recently boasted that it was they who introduced and popularized the use of the suicide ‘ bomber’ and not Al-Qaeda.

The countries that hav listed the LTTE as a terrorist organization include USA, India, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, and the twenty five (25) countries of the European Union (EU). They comprise more than half the world’s population including USA the most powerful country in the world. It also includes India with a population of over I billion people. Many factors have brought the LTTE to notoriety as a terrorist organization. Among them are the brutal massacre of innocent civilians, extortion, drugs and weapons smuggling, assassination of all opponents, torture, and worst of all the forcible conscription of children as child soldiers. These child soldiers are not only used for intelligence work but are used as front line troops in armed assault exposing them to certain death. The LTTE deftly denies they recruit child soldiers even to UN organizations as UNICEF, UNHCR, Al and the Human Rights Watch based in New York. [Full Story]

Trapped in conflict, Sri Lanka Muslims mull action
Money Control: 03 July, 2006
As violence rages between Sri Lanka's government and ethnic Tamil Tiger rebels, the island's Muslim minority says it is caught in the middle, and there is talk of an armed "Jihad" group emerging if war returns, Reuters reports.

...
The Tigers have fought the government with suicide bombers, ambushes and child soldiers and Sinhalese Marxists fought a bloody insurgency against the government in the 1980s, but the Muslims have largely a ed serious political violence. [Full Story]

1,387 child soldiers with LTTE: UNICEF
The Hindu: 02 July, 2006
The UNICEF has handed over to the LTTE a list of 1,387 child soldiers on the rolls of the Tigers and urged it to stop recruiting underage fighters and release those who are already enlisted.

The U.N. children's agency on Friday had said it had met representatives of the Tamil Tigers and handed over the list. An official said UNICEF was mandated to verify and monitor underage recruitment cases reported to the agency mainly by the families.

Acknowledging the list provided by the UNICEF, the LTTE however complained that there were "several sources of errors" in it. "Firstly, many youths in the list are well above the age of 18. Secondly, of these 1387 names, 53 are known to have been released, although UNICEF has not removed them from their list... ..LTTE believes that many names in the UNICEF list are outdated. Many names could have entered the UNICEF list, for instance, without the youth ever formally joining the LTTE," a statement put out by the Tigers Peace Secretariat said.

The rebel group said children affected by war in the Northeast cry out for help by joining the LTTE. It said children prefer the Tamil Tigers to the UNICEF because the later "does not take on resource intensive responsibilities like that of caring for children at risk." [Full Story]

Interview with Dr. Palitha T.B. Kohona
Engagement is the key
Front Line: 01 July, 2006
But, interestingly, both sides maintain that they are ready for talks. Where do you see the starting point in negotiations?
We can start at any point. For us the starting point should ideally be the substantive issues - the need to engage in talks relating to devolution of power. Extension of democracy from the rest of Sri Lanka to the areas controlled by the LTTE, tolerance of political dissent and the ability to engage in mutli-party democracy. These could be the beginning. Similarly, human rights and humanitarian issues could also be the beginning. Child soldiers are a case in point. The appalling practice of recruiting children to wage war needs to stop. We need to start talking about these things and the Sri Lankan government will, if it has the opportunity. The development of the North and the East is another major issue. The North and the East contributed more than 10 per cent of the Sri Lankan GDP [gross domestic product] in 1983. Today it hardly manages 4 per cent. That is also from a very low base - a war-ravaged, tsunami-devastated base. The government is ready to pump in $1.25 billion into the North and the East. [Full Story]

Peace loving citizens urge Australia to ban LTTE
Ministry of Defence: 01 July, 2006
Peace loving Sri Lankans, handed over an appeal to Hon Phillip Ruddock, Cabinet Minister(Attorney General)- Australia, requesting to ban the LTTE under the criminal code- 1995.

The appeal is quoted below. Also, a package of information (related to LTTE activities in Australia) was presented during the secession.

The Hon Philip Ruddock, MP
Attorney- General
Parliament House
Canberra
ACT 2006

Dear Mr Ruddock,
You may be aware that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), also known as Tamil Tigers, have now been listed as a banned terrorist organisation by the EU. The LTTE had been banned in the US, the UK, Canada, India and Malaysia earlier. However, in Australia, the LTTE is only gazetted as a terrorist organisation under the Charter of the UN but not under the Criminal Code.

I learn that there are 19 organisations currently listed as terrorist organisations under the Australian Criminal Code. The fact that all of them happen to be Islamic or Middle Eastern is fuelling the claim that we are targeting Islam rather than terrorism.

To my knowledge, none of them have committed any terrorist acts in Australia. Most of them do not even seem to have any active representation in this country. However, they have been listed because there may be reasons to believe that they are directly or indirectly engaged in, preparing, planning, assisting in or fostering the doing of a terrorist act. Such an act, whether to be done in Australia or in a foreign country, is valid enough reason for listing an organisation. I totally agree.

However, if the volume and the severity of past terrorist acts are used as the yardstick, most of these listed organisations pale in to insignificance when compared to the LTTE. Even during the internationally monitored "ceasefire", the LTTE committed thousands of atrocious terrorist acts19. A few of the high profile "ceasefire" violations were the assassination of Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister on 12-08-2005, the suicide bomb attack on the Sri Lankan army commander on 25-04-2006, The suicide attack on a ship carrying sailors and international peace monitors on 11-05-2006 and the massacre of 13 unarmed civilians on 29-05-2006 only hours after EU officially proscribed the LTTE. The UNCHR and the AI have repeatedly pointed out that in the "ceasefire" period the LTTE have not stopped abducting children as young as ten to be trained as child soldiers.

If the potential future threat to the Australian way of life posed by an organisation is taken as one of the measures for proscription, then the LTTE is an excellent candidate. It was the LTTE who pioneered and developed the technique of the suicide jacket and then sold or bartered the "art and science" to other international terrorist outfits. LTTE is known to have such links even with Al-Qeda. 8, 9, 10 It is no secret that LTTE raises funds by people smuggling and trafficking of drugs. 12 In fact, many Sri Lankans believe that Myuran Sukumaran, a Tamil, variously described as the "enforcer", "ring leader" and "God father" of the Bali 9 was raising funds for the LTTE by drug trafficking. 11

If one of the tests for proscription is the local activeness of agents, then again the LTTE appears to come out on top: Millions of dollars are extorted each year from the Australian Tamil community by the LTTE under different banners and facades such as the TRO. 12,13 In spite of countless complaints, a top LTTE leader - Jay Maheswaran - continued to work in the taxpayer funded SBS Radio until he resigned to join the team of top LTTE "negotiators" at the failed peace talks. Through intimidation14 LTTE agents regularly coerce Australian Tamils to meetings and events in which suicide bombers are openly venerated. 5 Most of these events are held in State-owned premises such as Homebush Boys High School and are patronised by ALP Federal and State Parliamentarians including Mr John Murphy, Ms Virginia Judge, Mr Laurie Ferguson and Mr Allan Griffin. 6, 7.

In fact, I raised the issue of the LTTE using State school premises for their meetings and the issue of Ms Virginia Judge, MP taking money to terrorist held areas in Sri Lanka with the NSW Premier. The reply I received (attached) states: "......NSW Police is aware that some members of LTTE organisation may have an association with terrorist cells. However, I understand that the Commonwealth Attorney General has not declared the LTTE to be a terrorist organisation for the purpose of Division 102 of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) ...." 3, 4

As such, I appeal to you - the Attorney General, the Minister responsible for matters of national security - to proscribe the LTTE as a terrorist organisation under the Criminal code Act 1995 (the Criminal Code) without further delay. [Full Story]

UNICEF urges Sri Lanka's Tigers to release 1,358 child soldiers
Colombo Page: 01 July, 2006
The United Nations children's agency UNICEF yesterday urged the Tigers to release 1,358 child soldiers in its captivity immediately.

UNICEF communications officer Junko Mitani told media that a three-member UNICEF delegation had already held discussions with the Tigers and made the requests to stop recruiting underage fighters and to release those already enlisted immediately.

“We emphasized the need to cease all underage recruitment and release all such children,” Ms. Mitani said. Last month, the LTTE announced that they had handed 16 youths aged 15-17 back to their families [Full Story]

UN Special Representative to send adviser to Sri Lanka to look at abuse against children
Noticias: 01 July, 2006
Warning that the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are continuing to “recruit and use child soldiers” in Sri Lanka and highlighting allegations of “grave violations” against children by all parties in the conflict, the United Nations Special Representative for Children affected by armed conflict said today she was appointing a Special Adviser to undertake a fact-finding mission to the island.

The LTTE militant group “continues to recruit and use child soldiers and the office has also received reports that the Karuna faction has abducted and recruited children under the age of eighteen,” Radhika Coomaraswamy, the UN Special Representative said.

“Besides recruitment of child soldiers, there are also allegations of other grave violations against children by all parties to the conflict,” she added, expressing deep concern about the deteriorating situation in Sri Lanka, where separatists and Government forces have been fighting for two decades. [Full Story]

Lankans dying daily in low-intensity war
The Peninsula: 01 July, 2006
Someone is killed almost every day in the crossfire of Sri Lanka’s undeclared war with Tamil Tiger rebels, but the island is likely to be tormented by low-intensity attrition rather than all-out war—for now.

Escalating ambushes, suicide attacks and military clashes have killed more than 700 civilians, soldiers, police and rebels so far this year, raising the spectre of a return to a two-decade civil war that has killed more than 65,000 people since 1983.

Some diplomats believe it is just a matter of time before war reignites. Others feel neither side is ready for a full-blown conflict, and while constantly provoking the military, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are eager not to be seen as the ones to start a major conflict.

“The Tigers are moving towards a war state, but not a war involving mass troop movements. We’ll see more ambushes, more Tamil civilians being killed, more clashes—low intensity attrition,” said one Western diplomat.

“Grenade attacks are the new peace.”Some analysts believe the Tigers are trying to provoke an ethnic backlash against minority Tamils by the majority Sinhalese, and are using the increasingly tattered 2002 ceasefire to buy time to regroup and rearm.

The Tigers say they are ready to fight a war if one is thrust on them by the government, and said this month they would resort to all strategies—including suicide bombings—if war resumes.

“I don’t think there is going to be any dramatic change in the situation in the short run, in spite of a lot of sabre-rattling on the part of the LTTE,” said Gerald Peiris, Professor Emeritus at the University of Peradeniya.

“It seems as though the LTTE is responding to a series of setbacks they have had in the recent past,” he added, referring to a series of botched attacks and a feud raging between the Tigers and a band of breakaway former comrades. [Full Story]

Youth abductions haunt Sri Lanka as violence rises
Reuters: 30 June, 2006
Dozens of young men have been rounded up and abducted in eastern Sri Lanka, the United Nations and residents say, probably to train as fighters for rival ethnic Tamil groups.

With violence between the government and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at its highest level since a 2002 truce, the mainstream Tigers are also facing off against a breakaway faction known as the TMVP who analysts say may be army-backed.

"They came at three o'clock at night to the next road," 55-year-old Krunaharan Ratha told Reuters inside her shop in the town of Kiran in the eastern Batticaloa district. "They took two or three boys. No-one knows where they are. I have sent my two sons away from here because of fear."

Many residents on the main road through Kiran have fled, fearing a Tiger attack on an army convoy might prompt military retaliation. Most houses are shuttered and empty.

The LTTE have long been accused of using child soldiers in their two-decade war for a separate Tamil homeland. They deny it, but UN children's fund UNICEF say boys and girls continue to be grabbed. And they say TMVP abductions are soaring. [Full Story]

Anti-LTTE Tamils in Sri Lanka face death – Human Rights Watch: Advocates protection of civilians from both government & Tigers
Asian Tribune: 30 June, 2006
America’s most influential and prominent human rights advocacy group, Human Rights Watch, is deeply concerned about child recruitment by the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) of Sri Lanka and political killings, according to Jo Becker, the children’s rights advocacy director for the rights group in a recent interview with the PBS, the Public Broadcasting Service, a widely subscribed broadcasting and television network in the United States.

However, she advocates that the United Nations and western governments should continue to pressure both the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers to protect civilians from violence and strictly observe international human rights and humanitarian law.

Jo Becker is the author of the HRW report entitled “Funding the ‘Final War’: LTTE Intimidation and Extortion in the Tamil Diaspora,” which created a diplomatic and political onslaught by western nations on Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers a few months ago which led to the Canadian government and European Union’s decision to proscribe the outfit in their jurisdictions.

The Children’s Rights Division (of the HRW), in which Ms. Becker presides, focuses specifically on abuses against children, including abusive child labor, the use of children as soldiers, conditions in institutions (including detention centers and orphanages), police abuse against street children and more.

Asked what issues are most pressing in Sri Lanka now and what’s changed since the 2002 ceasefire agreement, Jo Becker said, “Violence has escalated dramatically in Sri Lanka since mid-2005. In the last few months, several hundred people, many civilians, have been killed in attacks by both government forces and the Tamil Tigers. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced. At this point, the ceasefire appears to exist only on paper.

“We’re also concerned about continued child recruitment by the Tamil Tigers and political killings. Since the beginning of the ceasefire, more than 200 Sri Lankans, mostly (ethnic minority) Tamil, have been killed, often for being critical of the Tamil Tigers or participating in non-LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) political parties. The Tamil Tigers are believed responsible for the majority of these killings.”

To the question whether the recruitment or use of child soldiers increased or decreased, Ms. Becker noted, “Over the last four years, UNICEF has documented over 4,000 cases of child recruitment by the Tamil Tigers. We know that the true number is even higher, as many families are afraid to make reports when their children are taken. In many of these cases, children are taken by force, and families face violent retribution if they resist. More than a third of the children recruited are under the age of fifteen, which is considered a war crime.” [Full Story]

Special UN envoy to probe LTTE's child recruitments
Asian Tribune: 30 June, 2006
Warning that the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are continuing to recruit and use child soldiers in Sri Lanka and highlighting allegations of grave violations against children by all parties in the conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy, United Nations Special Representative for Children affected by armed conflict said today that she was appointing a Special Adviser to undertake a fact-finding mission to the island.Radhika Coomaraswamy has appointed a special envoy as the LTTE militant group continues to recruit and use child soldiers.

Ms. Coomaraswamy has appointed Ambassador Alan Rock of Canada as Special Advisor to conduct the fact-finding mission, according to a UN news release that added the dates would be finalized in consultation with Sri Lanka s Government, UN partners and others. [Full Story]

Pushing for peace in Sri Lanka
Toronto Star: 28 June, 2006
Canada has done the right thing by banning the Tamil Tigers and must follow up by making sure there is no more fundraising, a former Sri Lankan peace negotiator said yesterday.

"The financing must stop," said Jayantha Dhanapala, the former secretary-general of the Sri Lankan peace process that negotiated with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Yesterday morning, a suicide bomber in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo killed the deputy-chief of the Sri Lankan Army, Maj.-Gen. Parami Kulatunga.

In other violence overnight, four Tamil Tiger rebels were killed in an attack by a breakaway faction in Vakarai in the east and a soldier was shot dead by suspected Tigers in a separate incident in Trincomalee, further north.

President Mahinda Rajapakse urged calm and said his government would "act with patience" — a sign officials were moving carefully amid fears the island nation was sliding back into all-out war after a four-year lull.

According to a human rights officials, 171 politically motivated killings were recorded in Sri Lanka's north and east in May.

Authorities blamed the Tamil Tiger rebels for yesterday's attack on Kulatunga — a charge the rebels deny.

An insurgent leader, Seevaratnam Puleedevan, insisted the Tigers were abiding by the 2002 ceasefire and were committed to peace, but the denial was viewed skeptically by many diplomats and analysts.

In Ottawa yesterday, Dhanapala called the killing of Kulatunga an indication the LTTE is taking advantage of the ceasefire to come into the capital and launch suicide attacks that kill innocent civilians.

Despite the violence, he said he is optimistic there can be peace.

"I know that on one side of the conflict there is a genuine desire to solve it, to have a solution, but we need to have that reciprocated."

Dhanapala said expatriate Sri Lankans can help bring an end to the violence.

"I think the expatriates have a profoundly significant role to play," he said. "They have been providing much of the finance for the LTTE to buy arms and bullets which have gone to killing innocent men, women and children, which have gone into arming child soldiers in this horrendous conflict."

He said he appreciated that contributing money to the LTTE is illegal under Canadian law. Canada listed the LTTE as a terrorist group in April.

"There are very able professionals among the expatriate community, not only in Canada but in other countries, who can contribute enormously to the development of Sri Lanka, particularly in areas where the predominant population are Tamils," he said.

Dhanapala said there are also lawyers and constitutional experts who could help Sri Lanka achieve what the president calls maximum devolution within a united Sri Lanka.

Dhanapala, who is a candidate to succeed Kofi Annan as secretary-general of the United Nations, was in Ottawa yesterday to meet with Foreign Affairs officials as part of his UN bid.

Identified by the U.S. publication Foreign Policy as a front-runner for the position, Dhanapala was a Sri Lankan diplomat for 30 years, serving in London, Beijing, Washington, New Delhi and Geneva. He speaks Sinhala, English, French and Chinese.

Dhanapala, 67, was the president of the 1995 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review in 1995 and served as UN Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament from 1998 until 2003, when he returned to Sri Lanka to work on the peace process.

Yesterday, he said that until his experience with the non-proliferation treaty review, it would not have occurred to him to seek the job of secretary-general, but after that success, the New York Times identified him as a potential candidate.

Other candidates include Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai, India's under-secretary-general for communications and public information Shashi Tharoor and South Korean Foreign Affairs Minister Ban Ki-Moon. Speculation has also included Turkey's Kemal Dervis, the head of the UN development program, and Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga. The UN Security Council nominates a candidate, who must be approved by the General Assembly.

with files from the star's wire services [Full Story]

United Nations sends envoy to investigate violations against Sri Lankan children
colombo Page: 28 June, 2006
Ambassador Alan Rock of Canada will serve as a special advisor to an United Nations fact-finding mission in Sri Lanka on the "continuing recruitment and use of child soldiers" by the LTTE.

The dates for the visit by the mission are to be finalized in consultation with the Sri Lankan government.

Announcing the mission, UN Special Representative for Children Affected by Conflicts Radhika Coomaraswamy said that her office has also received reports that the Karuna faction has abducted and recruited children under the age of eighteen.

"Besides recruitment of child soldiers, there are also allegations of other grave violations against children by all parties to the conflict," she said

[Full Story]

UN envoy on Lanka mission to probe LTTE's child recruitements
The Hindu: 28 June, 2006
A top United Nations envoy is going to Sri Lanka on a fact-finding mission on "continuing recruitment and use of children" by Tamil Tigers.

Announcing the mission, UN Special Representative for Children Affected for Conflicts Radhika Coomaraswamy said "the LTTE continues to recruit and use child soldiers" and her office has also received reports that the Karuna faction has abducted and recruited children under the age of eighteen. [Full Story]

UN Special Representative to send adviser to Sri Lanka to look at abuse against children
United Nations: 27 June, 2006
Warning that the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are continuing to “recruit and use child soldiers” in Sri Lanka and highlighting allegations of “grave violations” against children by all parties in the conflict, the United Nations Special Representative for Children affected by armed conflict said today she was appointing a Special Adviser to undertake a fact-finding mission to the island.

The LTTE militant group “continues to recruit and use child soldiers and the office has also received reports that the Karuna faction has abducted and recruited children under the age of eighteen,” Radhika Coomaraswamy, the UN Special Representative said.

“Besides recruitment of child soldiers, there are also allegations of other grave violations against children by all parties to the conflict,” she added, expressing deep concern about the deteriorating situation in Sri Lanka, where separatists and Government forces have been fighting for two decades. [Full Story]

United Nations Special Representative to send adviser to Sri Lanka to look at abuse against children
Lanka Everything: 27 June, 2006
Warning that the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are continuing to “recruit and use child soldiers” in Sri Lanka and highlighting allegations of “grave violations” against children by all parties in the conflict, the United Nations Special Representative for Children affected by armed conflict said today she was appointing a Special Adviser to undertake a fact-finding mission to the island. The LTTE militant group “continues to recruit and use child soldiers and the office has also received reports that the Karuna faction has abducted and recruited children under the age of eighteen,” Radhika Coomaraswamy, the UN Special Representative said.

“Besides recruitment of child soldiers, there are also allegations of other grave violations against children by all parties to the conflict,” she added, expressing deep concern about the deteriorating situation in Sri Lanka, where separatists and Government forces have been fighting for two decades.

Ms. Coomaraswamy is appointing Ambassador Alan Rock of Canada as Special Advisor to conduct the fact-finding mission, according to a UN news release that added the dates would be finalized in consultation with Sri Lanka’s Government, UN partners and others. Ambassador Rock has served as the Canadian Ambassador to the UN from 2004 to June 2006. During this period, he was involved in setting up the UN Human Rights Council and the Peacebuilding Commission. [Full Story]

UN aide decries use of child soldiers in Sri Lanka
Reuters: 27 June, 2006
A U.N. envoy on Tuesday accused all sides in Sri Lanka's two-decade civil war of abusing children's rights and said she would send an adviser to check out the situation in the south Asian island nation.

Radhika Coomaraswamy, a Sri Lankan who serves as the U.N. special representative for children and armed conflict, was deeply concerned about deteriorating conditions in her homeland and wanted a first-hand report, her office said.

"The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam militant group continues to recruit and use child soldiers and the office has also received reports that the Karuna faction has abducted and recruited children under the age of 18," Coomaraswamy said.

All parties to the conflict are alleged to have committed grave violations against children, she added in a statement. [Full Story]

Dhanapala says Canada did the right thing by banning the LTTE
colombo Page: 27 June, 2006
Sri Lanka's candidate for the United Nations Secretary General post, Jayantha Dhanapala, says Canada has done the right thing by banning the LTTE and must follow up by making sure there is no more fundraising.

The former Sri Lankan Peace Secretariat head, who is in Ottawa, told the media, “The financing must stop.”

He also said yesterday’s suicide attack that killed the Sri Lanka Army's Deputy Chief of Staff Major General Parami Kulatunga was “an indication the LTTE is taking advantage of the ceasefire to come into the capital and launch suicide attacks that kill innocent civilians.

“I know that on one side of the conflict there is a genuine desire to solve it, to have a solution, but we need to have that reciprocated,” Mr. Dhanapala said.

“I think the expatriates have a profoundly significant role to play. They have been providing much of the finance for the LTTE to buy arms and bullets, which have gone to killing innocent men, women and children, which have gone into arming child soldiers in this horrendous conflict.” [Full Story]

At secret base, LTTE ready to die for their cause
The Hindu: 25 June, 2006
Past the minefield-line paved road, down a sandy track hemmed in by coconut palms and thatch huts, the gate appears, a metal boom bookended by log-and-sandbag bunkers.

It's not visible until you're on top of it, and the lone sentry's tiger-striped camouflage is the only sign this is a Tamil Tiger rebel base [Full Story]

Sri Lankan soldiers killed in ambush
The Age: 25 June, 2006
Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels ambushed an army checkpoint in troubled northern Sri Lanka on Saturday, killing two soldiers, authorities said.

The attack was part of a wave of violence that has put the government and insurgents on a war footing.

...
The rebels have not commented on the abductions, although they routinely deny pressing underage fighters into service, even though rights groups have detailed their use of child soldiers.

But the Tigers are not the only militia in Sri Lanka accused of using child soldiers. On Thursday, UNICEF said a breakaway rebel faction that many in Sri Lanka believe is backed by the government abducted up to 30 children to use as fighters. [Full Story]

AS THAMILSELVAN THREATENS MANY CHILDREN ARE READY TO BE USED AS SUICIDE BOMBERS AGAINST SRI LANKAN TARGETS, EXPERTS SAY
Lanka Web: 23 June, 2006
As the political Chief of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) S. P. Thamilselvam threatened to use their suicide bombers against Sri Lankan targets intelligence sources indicated that the terrorist group have trained many children as suicide bombers.

The sources said this was confirmed by the discovery of unused child size suicide kits in LTTE safe houses in the past and other information.

According to the United Nations Children Fund, conservative estimates say, there are more than five thousand children in the abominable LTTE military camps into which the terrorist group has refused permission to let in UN inspectors.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), also known as the Tamil Tigers, visit schools, homes and any other places where children go and forcibly remove them without the explicit permission of their parents , to be exploited as child soldiers. At least some of them are brainwashed to become suicide bombers of the group.

Intelligence sources say that the group recruits children and women as suicide bombers since they could easily move into civilian and military targets without arousing much suspicion and getting a considerable amount of sympathy. It was a pregnant woman the LTTE unsuccessfully used to kill the country’s Army Commander Sarath Fonseka, last April. But many of his guards and onlookers died while he sustained critical injuries from which he is still recuperating.

LTTE political chief, S.P. Thamilselvan said Wednesday that his group would use suicide bombers if full scale war resumed.

On June 4, Colonel Balaraj, reportedly addressing a passing out parade of the auxillary forces of the LTTE said the Eelam War 4, (or the fourth phase of their separatist war against Sri Lanka) had already begun.

Since last December despite a controversial ceasefire agreement signed by a former Prime Minister and the LTTE ,700 people have died leaving the agreement in tatters. The violence culminated when LTTE exploded two claymore mines and killed 65 civilians allegedly as a protest against an European Union ban against them. In retaliation the country’s Air Force bombed their bases.

The LTTE considers their group of suicide bombers as their most potential weapon against the enemy. Terrorism experts say that the LTTE has been able to perfect the technology of the suicide bomb jacket worn by the suicide bombers. In friendly exchanges for weapons the jacket apparatus has been allowed to be copied by Al-Queda, Hezbollah, Hamas and Al Aqsa terrorist groups, intelligence sources said [Full Story]

Children at War: Young Soldiers Used in Conflicts Around the World
Asian Tribune: 22 June, 2006
“Children are recruited through all sorts of means. Some are abducted. Typically, recruiting parties from rebel groups of the like are given conscription targets that change according to need and objectives. Some, like (Sri Lanka’s) Tamil Tigers, even use sophisticated computerized population databases to direct recruiting efforts, so they target the communities that have the most children. [Full Story]

Former Sri Lanka rebels recruit child soldiers - UN
Reuters: 22 June, 2006
A group of former Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger guerrillas -- who the mainstream rebels say are backed by the government -- are abducting and recruiting children as soldiers, the United Nations childrens fund said on Thursday.

The government has long denied backing fighters loyal to former eastern rebel commander Karuna Amman, but truce monitors say they have at least been turning a blind eye to his operations in government territory and diplomats are increasingly skeptical. [Full Story]

Tiger breakaway faction recruiting child soldiers: UNICEF
The Hindu: 22 June, 2006
A breakaway faction of Tamil Tigers is increasingly recruiting child soldiers with more than 30 cases reported last week alone, UNICEF said today.

The agency called for the Government to take immediate action to halt abduction and forced enlistment of children by a rebel commander in the island's east, V Muralitharan, better known as Colonel Karuna.

"Over the past week, the agency has verified reports of 30 cases in Batticaloa district. Reports of abduction and forced recruitment of boys under the age of 18 have increased since March," UNICEF said. [Full Story]

Karuna Group is also recruiting Sri Lankan children as soldiers
Colombo Page: 21 June, 2006
Residents of the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka complain that the Karuna Group, the breakaway faction of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), is also recruiting and training child soldiers.

It is reported that the paramilitary group is capitalising on the story of the LTTE training civilians in self-defence and is abducting children from government-controlled areas in the East for recruitment to its ranks on the pretext that they too will be given self-defence training.

According to the reports from the Eastern Province, both the LTTE and Karuna Group have abducted hundreds of people from poverty-stricken villages, and the majority of the victims are underaged children. [Full Story]

War and Peace in Sri Lanka
Asian Tribune: 21 June, 2006
Optimists believed that the Oslo talks, which were scheduled in the wake of the EU ban on the LTTE, would break the impasse between the two contesting parties viz. the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE. However, those who were familiar with the tactics of the LTTE and the politics in Sri Lanka never expected resolving of such a complicated issue with a simple move. Ultimately, Oslo talks failed and undeclared war is being waged between the Government and the LTTE.

...
After the EU ban, the LTTE felt that it was let down by the European countries which had been the safe heaven for them for a number of years. The ban shattered the dreams of the LTTE supporters and sympathizers. Under the present environment so called slogan about "freedom fight for Tamil" has become stale. No one is ready to by these rustic ideas anymore as the LTTE unveiled its terror mask to the world community by violating human rights, committing crimes, abusing and intimidating their own people and recruiting child soldiers for their dirty war. Their alliance with the international terrorist organizations added more minus points. [Full Story]

Samaraweera exposes Prabhakaran’s myths and lays down the line to the Norwegians
Asian Tribune: 20 June, 2006
Addressing the Norwegian Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs Mangala Samaraweera, Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister, said that Velupillai Prabhakaran is not a freedom fighter like Nelson Mandela but a “brutal guerilla leader who has crushed all democratic voices of dissent within the Tamil community”. He added that Prabhakaran has eliminated almost all democratic Tamil leaders (over 70) and “today the democratic franchise enjoyed by Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslims living elsewhere in Sri Lanka does not extend to these (LTTE-controlled) areas. The right to dissent is no more.”

...
Only the most economically depressed segments of the Tamil community continue to live in the North and East. All those who can afford to go abroad or join relatives in other parts of Sri Lanka do so to escape from illegal taxes, punishment from kangaroo courts and to prevent their children being forcibly recruited as child soldiers. [Full Story]

FEATURE - Sri Lanka's overseas Tamils fill rebel Tiger coffers
Reuters: 19 June, 2006
It's thanks to Sri Lanka's overseas Tamils – people like engineer S Vijayadeva or accountant Kana Naheerathan – that the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) can afford to keep up its insurgency. For two decades, the Tamil Tigers have fought for an ethnic Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka's north and east. They say they are the only legitimate representatives of the Tamil people, but several countries, including Britain, regard them as terrorists.

...
The Tigers say taxes from rebel areas are used to fund their military, consisting of an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 fighters – including some child soldiers, according to the United Nations – as well as a navy and fledgling air force.

Analysts say the rebels have spent $US30 ($NZ49.21) million to $US40 million on weaponry since 2002, but figures are hard to come by.

Sri Lanka's government says drug and arms smuggling also play a role in the funding – a charge the rebels deny.

But most analysts say they believe the bulk of the money comes from expatriate Tamils, many of whom fled discrimination under the majority Sinhalese following independence from Britain in 1948. Others left after brutal anti-Tamil riots in the 1980s. [Full Story]

Sri Lanka's overseas Tamils fill rebel Tiger coffers
Stuff.co.nz: 19 June, 2006
It's thanks to Sri Lanka's overseas Tamils – people like engineer S Vijayadeva or accountant Kana Naheerathan – that the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) can afford to keep up its insurgency.

For two decades, the Tamil Tigers have fought for an ethnic Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka's north and east. They say they are the only legitimate representatives of the Tamil people, but several countries, including Britain, regard them as terrorists. [Full Story]

Ban LTTE in Australia under domestic law – Sen. Steve Hutchins, Labour Party
Asian Tribune: 17 June, 2006
In his speech yesterday (June 16, 2006) to the Federal Parliament in Canberra Senator Steve Hutchins (Australian Labour Party, New South Wales) blasted the LTTE on several counts and urged the Australian Government to proscribe the LTTE as a terrorist organisation under domestic law.

The LTTE has been banned under international law but not under Australian domestic law. Led by the Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights in Sri Lanka (SPUR) there is a growing lobby to list the LTTE under the Criminal Code of 1995 which would proscribe it under domestic law, giving the Police more powers to track down and prosecute agents of LTTE terrorism in Australia.

...
The issue that is very disturbing, of course, is the use of child soldiers. The Tamil Tigers have a conscription policy where you join or die. Families must provide a child to the movement. If those families do not, they are harassed or threatened. Once the children join, they are allowed no further contact with their families. [Full Story]

THERE ARE NO "LTTE CONTROLLED AREAS IN SRI LANKA"
Lanka Web: 16 June, 2006
In Sri Lanka there should be nothing called "LTTE controlled areas" - an area currently comprised of more than 75% of the north and east.

One country can never have two armies.

It is high time that the Sri Lankan military enters all areas including the so called "LTTE controlled areas" of Sri Lanka and annihilate the Tamil Tiger menace for ever

...
Innocent Sinhalese villagers who were shopping for the Sinhala New Year in April at the Trincomalee market place were massacred by a Tamil Tiger bomb. About 15 died; 50 were wounded critically. About 30 villagers including infants were hacked to death in the Sinhalese villages of Gomarankadawela and Welikanda in north central Sri Lanka. Again in Welikanda 12 Sinhalese youth were shot and brutally massacred by LTTE child soldiers. There are many more such reports. [Full Story]

Norway wants answers
Aftenposten: 09 June, 2006
Norway said it had sent an unprecedented letter to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, asking five questions about their commitment to the peace process.

Sri Lankan government delegates prepared to return on Friday from talks in Oslo without meeting Tamil Tiger rebels as mediator Norway, which brokered the original 2002 truce, asked if the two sides stood by their ceasefire and a senior rebel warned of war.

...
The monitors had angered both sides, blaming security forces for extra-judicial killings and the Tigers for attacks and recruitment of child soldiers. They infuriated the rebels by saying they had no rights at sea. [Full Story]

Norway asks if Sri Lanka sides stand by truce
Boston News: 09 June, 2006
Sri Lankan government delegates prepared to return on Friday from talks in Oslo without meeting Tamil Tiger rebels as mediator Norway asked if the two sides stood by their ceasefire and a senior rebel warned of war.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) blindsided Norwegian diplomats on Thursday by refusing to meet a Sri Lankan government delegation for talks about the safety and operation of the 57-person Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM). [Full Story]

Sri Lankan government “dismayed” by the “distinct” LTTE bias of the truce monitors
Asian Tribune: 09 June, 2006
Sri Lankan government today contradicted a report released by the Scandinavian truce monitors and said it was dismayed by the “distinct bias” towards the Tamil Tigers displayed by the chief ceasefire monitor.

“GOSL is dismayed by the attempt by the Head of the SLMM through the said report to cast aspersions on the conduct of the GOSL,” the government said in a media statement referring to the truce monitors expressed lethargy at ruling against the assassination attempt on the army commander, Gen Sarath Fonseka, at the same time blaming the government for not fulfilling its commitment made at the first round of Geneva talks.

...
As regards the opening of political offices of the LTTE the ceasefire agreement entitles the LTTE to do political work in cleared areas but does not entitle it to open political offices therein. The right to open political offices in government controlled areas was, therefore, a privilege granted to them as a measure of goodwill and confidence. SLMM Report completely ignores the fact that the LTTE abused that privilege by using those offices to organize and engage in violent anti-Government and anti-civilian activities and other illegal activities such as child recruitment, extortion, covert intelligence operations that were totally contrary to the CFA in that they do not build confidence but destroy it. SLMM also ignores the fact that even after the LTTE closed those offices on their own accord the government did permit them to open such offices but with conditions on matters relating to security, which are those which are imposed on other political parties to open political offices in any other part of the country. It is important to note that SLMM has failed to recognize that no political activity whatsoever is permitted in the uncleared area by the LTTE unless such activities are those of or in support of the LTTE which claims to be the sole-representative of the Tamils. The SLMM has also totally ignored and failed to record the fact that the LTTE has continued to deny access to its illegal aviation facility established contrary to United Nations Security Council Resolutions, national and international law. [Full Story]

Norway fires out letters to Sri Lankan President and LTTE leader, demands to know whether Ceasefire should continue
Asian Tribune: 06 June, 2006
The visibly annoyed Norwegian Facilitators have fired out letters to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse and LTTE Leader V. Prabhakaran demanding to know whether it was necessary that the four-year-old Ceasefire Agreement in the country continue.

The letter, consisted five questions, sought the commitment of the two parties with regard to their commitment to the peace process as well as the Ceasefire Agreement signed in February 2002.

...
The monitors had angered both sides, blaming security forces for extra-judicial killings and the Tigers for attacks and recruitment of child soldiers. They infuriated the rebels by saying they had no rights at sea. [Full Story]

Sack Truce Monitors - Tigers demand
Asian Tribune: 06 June, 2006
An angry LTTE team led by S. P. Tamilselvan, head of the Political wing of the LTTE, will be filing into the Oslo meeting tomorrow with one main item on their agenda: change the composition of the Nordic Truce Monitors (officially known as the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission (SLMM)).

Their main objective will be to get rid of three out of the four Truce Monitors: Sweden, Finland and Denmark who joined the EU in banning them. Only Norway declined to join the other three countries. Head of LTTE Peace Secretariat, S Pulithevan said the organization will raise the issue of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) having three EU countries as its members. He added: “We are going to discuss about the SLMM activities and the future of the SLMM,” he told BBC Sinhala language service.

...
But Plan implementation minister Keheliya Rambukwela accused the LTTE of using child soldiers to an attack in Welikanda in which 13 civilians were killed. [Full Story]

Prabhakaran’s daughter’s 20th birthday bash in London "quite unusual and bizarre" – Australian MP, Don Randall
Asian Tribune: 04 June, 2006
Don Randall, a senior member of the Federal Parliament of Australia and Chairman of the Australia-Sri Lankan Friendship Group MP told Parliament last week said that Prabhakaran’s daughter’s lavish 20th birthday bash in Britain is rather “unusual and bizarre” because “the British listing of the LTTE as a terrorist organisation was supposed to stop travel and flow of money to terrorist organizations.”

He said: “I am concerned about the fact that, while the British may have listed the LTTE, their sanctions do not seem to be as strong as they could be, because I understand that this weekend in Britain the Tamil terrorist leader Prabhakaran will be in London celebrating his daughter’s 20th birthday.

I find this quite unusual. He is putting on a lavish function for her birthday in London, yet this listing is supposed to do something about stopping travel and the flow of money to terrorist organizations.

As a result I find this quite unusual, quite bizarre, and I would be surprised that the British would be very supportive of this. Here he is living a lavish lifestyle, yet the child soldiers that he forcibly recruits to act on his behalf have to carry cyanide pills around their neck in case they are caught. So I find that quite disappointing as well.” [Full Story]

JHU welcomes European Union's ban on LTTE
Colombo page: 04 June, 2006
The Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), while welcoming the European Union's (EU) decision to ban the LTTE, has urged the EU to 'tactfully handle' the Tiger organization and put pressure on it to work towards a negotiation settlement with the Sri Lankan government.

...
"We also urge your Union to insert pressure on the LTTE terrorists to come forward to discuss matters relating to the present conflict with a specific timeframe, to agree on a final solution based on an Undivided Unitary State within Sri Lanka, to stop with immediate effect all political assassinations, to stop on its forcible recruitments of child soldiers and most importantly a pledge to renounce separatism and terrorism with an agreement to disarm its destructive armory. These conditions have to be honored to arrive at a peaceful resolution to the conflict. The Government and the peace loving people of Sri Lanka [are] totally committed for a just and a honorable solution and would request the European Union to respect the Constitution of Sri Lanka and the wishes of our people and the democratically elected Government,” it added. [Full Story]

Sri Lanka to appoint all-party committee to draw political solution
IRNA: 03 June, 2006
In a fresh initiative to arrive at a "political consensus," the Lankan government agreed to appoint a committee comprising members of all political parties in the south to end the protracted ethnic conflict.

The government took the decision to appoint the committee at an All-Party Conference (APC) chaired by President Mahinda Rajapakse at the Temple Trees here Friday.

...
The leader of the JVP, Somawansa Amarasinghe, had requested President Rajapakse at the meeting that the government should necessarily take over the LTTE's child soldiers, assuring them of a better future by providing them education, higher education, vocational training and employment opportunities [Full Story]

LTTE child soldiers behind Welikanda massacre
Lanka Everything: 02 June, 2006
Police investigators probing the Omadiyamadu massacres have made the shocking discovery that the ruthless killings had been part of LTTE training for their child recruits.

Government Defence Spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella quoting investigating officers told the media yesterday they have found that three child cadres were involved in shooting down the 12 workers at Omadiyamadu.

Rambukwella was hosting the regular Government media briefing on the current security situation at the Gramodaya Centre in Colombo. The massacre which took place on the day the EU ban was made public in the local media, brought a lot of criticism on the LTTE. The organisation denied the charge fearing further isolation by the international community.

The Minister referring to their denials charged that the attack which took place at Omadiyamadu where innocent civilians had been working on an irrigation canal, bore all the hallmarks of the Tigers. The labourer who survived the shooting told the investigating officers that after they were lined up, three children stepped back and fired at them. Of the two who survived, one had taken off before the shooting. The injured worker is receiving treatment at Polonnaruwa hospital.

The 12 workers who were gunned down had their hands tied up behind the back before being lined up for shooting. The child cadres had searched their pockets for money before the killing. "One can imagine the ruthlessness of their training. They don't have an iota of respect for human life," the spokesman stressed describing the manner it was carried out and the use of children for the brutal act. [Full Story]

LTTE's attacks at FDL - "A real life experience" to Tamil civilians in Wanni
Ministry Of Defence: 01 June, 2006
LTTE terrorist continuing their new habit of attacking the security forces forward defence line (FDL) at NAKARKOVIL in Jaffna peninsula , started firing small arms and 120mm motor shells at the army line yesterday (31st) around 12.35p.m. The army was also compelled to retaliate in self defence. It is reported that the firefight lasted about 15 minutes when a huge blast was heard by the troops. The troops also observed a large fire following the blast in the LTTE controlled area.

It is suspected that an ammunition or explosive dump belonged to LTTE might have exploded during the attack. However, the security forces suffered no injuries or damages.



[Full Story]

Boy survives tiger attack
Lanka Truth: 01 June, 2006
A 14 years old Tamil boy shot by members of Wanni Tiger organization for not joining they organization. The boy was shot at Mamangama in Batticaloa, yesterday at about 8:30 pm.

Thinking that the was dead the tigers had left leaving the body at the place. The people in the vicinity had taken the boy and admitted in to the hospital.

He has received injuries for his arm and chest and he in a serious condition. [Full Story]

"London Bash" : How Prabakaran prepares to celebrate his daughter's B'day?
Ministry of Defence: 28 May, 2006
Fire crackers are exploding all around the North and East area, filled with iron balls with a composite weight; Hundreds of Tamils are prompted to flee their native places after being threatened; Innocent civilians are being killed in broad day light; Children are being abducted or conscripted and being marched to jungle training camps; Millions of dollars campaigns and protests are being organized around the world ( MAY 29) to help the terrorist organization ease their way through the present tensed situation; all these are merely practiced under the banner of a "Freedom Fight". But what we hear from LONDON proscribes the myth of a so called "Freedom Fight".

Moves are a foot to celebrate the 20th birthday of Duwaraha, the only daughter of Velupillai Prabhakaran, in London. Invitations have gone out to VIPs to attend the function. Only selected invitees will receive the invitations. Hush-hush preparations are going on for this event. Her birthday falls on June 04. Her brother Charles Anthony is expected to participate in the lavish birthday party.

According to an insider information mother Mathivathani has told very clearly that no LTTE leaders either in London or anywhere else shall be invited.

She has made it known that it is her family ceremony and no participation of the outfit's cadres - how big they are.

"This is going to be a big bash," said a Tamil activist who did not want to be named for obvious reason.

"This is how the money collected from the Tamil Diaspora goes," he added.

"We are asked to sacrifice for our leaders children to have lavish birthday parties. Our people are asked to sacrifice," he added.

Mathivathani and Velupillai Prabhakaran were married on October 1, 1984 at the Murugan Temple in Thiruporur, Chennai, and South India. The wife's family at first objected to the marriage as Prabakaran was from a lower caste.

It is learnt that Duwaraha is following her higher education in a university in London while her brother studies in Ireland. [Full Story]

LTTE – Dream On!
Lanka Web: 27 May, 2006
The rhetoric from Tamil Silva and Soosai ten days ago, (Soosai too has joined with his dime sized contribution after trying to sink an unarmed troop carrier), is what one might consider in the international arena a “joke” but needs to be addressed and to be taken care of.

Are these thugs from Vanni on drugs too or are they hallucinating.

...
You fellas are just Dreaming. Dream On. You may fool the child soldiers and those foolish, misled, school kids and the (so-called) university students into believing that you are right and just. But you have a blood thirsty leader who would butcher anybody as long as his butt is safe. That is the way of the Terrorist. But soon the time will come when, just like Hitler did, your boss will start culling his own near and dear. [Full Story]

Tamil guerrillas release 16 young fighters in Sri Lanka: Site
Zee News: 26 May, 2006
Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels, accused of abducting young people and using them fighters, said today that they have released 16 youths ages 15-17 back to their families in April and May.

"They joined the movement lying about their age," said a statement on the web site of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the Tigers' formal name.

The tigers have been fighting since 1983 to create a separate homeland for the island nation's minority ethnic Tamils, claiming discrimination by the majority Sinhalese.

Sri Lanka's military and the UN children's agency have repeatedly accused the tigers of forcing young people to become combatants.

UNICEF said in March that rebels still were holding up to 1,358 child soldiers, despite the guerrillas' pledges to free all underage combatants. [Full Story]

Tiger Math
Wall Street Journal, New York,USA: 26 May, 2006
To understand how dependent Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers are on foreign funds, consider the separatist group's desperate reaction to hints that the European Union might dub it a "terrorist" organization. "The more the international community alienates the LTTE, the more the LTTE will be compelled to tread a hardline individualist path," the Tigers' chief negotiator, Anton Balasingham, told a Tamil Web site on Saturday.

...
... Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, is one of the world's most violent terrorist organizations. Known for forcibly enlisting child soldiers and for ... [Full Story]

“self-defence training”
Daily Mirror / AFP: 25 May, 2006
An LTTE soldier showing an automatic gun to Tamil children during a “self-defence training” in the LTTE-controlled village of Uthayanagar East just outside Kilinochchi. AFP
[Full Story]

Join us or Die - LTTE kills Tamil children who refuse to join
Lanka Web: 24 May, 2006
It is apparent that LTTE has implemented the 'join or die" policy for children of Eastern Tamils, whom it had been using as thehuman baits in the good old days (before Colonel Karuna estranged). 12 year old S. Sthyam (see photos) was assassinated by the LTTE terrorists on 20th, just to teach a lesson to other Tamil children in the area, of the consequence of disobeying the "sole representative". The Lanka teachers union denouncing the brutal killing recalled how the teachers and school principals too, were killed when opposed to child conscription.

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) issuing a statement to Pro LTTE media has suddenly shown a great interest in long suffering Tamil people. TNA in their statement, begs the European Union and the rest of the International community to not to take any action against LTTE since such action may cast too much blame on "innocent" LTTE leadership, that he may not be able to bear up such pain. Or may be the honourable parliamentary members of TNA have already received the letter of execution by the "broken-hearted" terror leadership.

Whilst the TNA is striving hard to convince the International community that the LTTE is enjoying "an overwhelming support" among Tamil people and it is still the "sole representative" of Tamil speaking people; the terror leadership goes on killing children in the East.

Meanwhile in another tragedy in Mannar, an elderly civilian was killed as the weapon of a LTTE child soldier accidentally discharged yesterday (21st). The child soldier, who was playing with his weapon which he had taken home after training, killed his grandfather by accidentally firing his weapon. Thus, how can TNA remain silent any longer? It certainly has sincere concerns over long sufferings of Tamil speaking people ! [Full Story]

INTENSIFIED PRESSURE COULD FORCE THE TIGERS TO EAT THE DUST
Lanka Web: 23 May, 2006
President Mahinda Rajapakse’s sincere commitment and firm determination to establish peace and liberate the innocent Tamil masses suffering under the jackboots of the Tiger terrorists through endurance and diplomacy have paid rich and fitting dividends. In an atmosphere of horrendous provocations and escalation of killings of the security forces and civilians by the LTTE, the President held firm trust in the virtues of patience and vigorously acted to implement the assurance given in the Throne Speech (25.11.05) that “all friendly countries, the international community, India and other regional states will be properly organized and utilized to strengthen the peace process.” European Union’s resolution to list the LTTE as a terrorist organisation is a mammoth success for the President’s assiduous diplomacy.

...
These two clauses would undoubtedly help to break the backbone of the Wanni terrorists and deny them the luxurious living they enjoy on the sweat and labour of the Sri Lankan Tamil population living outside the garrison territory being orphaned, widowed, denied or separated of kith and kin, or held hostage, children being snatched away and properties and treasures plundered forcefully.

The resolution also condemn the recruitment of child soldiers, emphasising it as a war crime, and calls upon the LTTE to stop this practice, to release those its holds and to make a declaration of principle not to recruit any children in the future. This particular clause of the resolution also urges the Government of Sri Lanka to put into place legal measures to prevent and criminalise the practice of child proscription. [Full Story]

Why does the LTTE leadership hate children so much?
Ministry Of Defence: 23 May, 2006
In his latest savagery, LTTE leader Velupille Prabhakaran unleashed his indiscriminate hatred towards women and children by using a pregnant woman as a suicide bomber. In the suicide bomb attack targeting Army Chief in Colombo, The LTTE leadership deliberately planned to use a pregnant woman to penetrate army barriers, exploiting the respect paid by army to pregnant ladies. Why are the LTTE terrorists so keen to shed innocent blood? The statements of several Lady Intellectuals in denouncing the brutality of LTTE leadership are as follows:

Dr. Hiranthi Wijeymanna Executive Director of South Asian Women's Fund and Former Chairperson of National Child Protection Authority, said:
"This incident has violated all humanitarian principles. This is a crime against humanity specially women and children. I might be emotional, but this is the truth. Women and children are being totally abused by this kind of activities". She pointed out that it was not the first time a woman was used as a suicide bomber in Sri Lanka.

"But this is the first time that a pregnant woman was used for the purpose of killing another".

"How can anyone, by any means justify a pregnant woman and the innocent life within her being used to commit such a heinous crime?" she asked.

The perpetrators in this case, the LTTE, has committed a terrible crime not only against those who were injured and killed by the brutal attack, but also against the unborn child and a mother to be, by making her carry out such an action, she said. "These are issues that the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission and the International Community should take into consideration, and take immediate action to prevent", Dr. Jayamanne added.

Maheshwari Velautham (Secretary of Forum for Human Dignity, Advisor to Social Welfare Minister Douglas Devananda). 'Suicide is condemned and prohibited by law as well as by religion. Taking one's life for any purpose could not be acceptable.

"You will be charged by law if you attempt suicide and survive, and your spirit will suffer if you kill yourself. And so, taking the life of an innocent unborn, to achieve a so called 'liberation' could be the worst thing in the whole world", she said. "We are even against sentencing the most horrible criminals to death. And this kind of murder of a fetus in the womb is something barbaric", Velutham added.

Dr. Usha Gunawardhana (Consultant Psychiatrist), though our general belief is that a pregnant mother would develop a strong bond of love with the life growing within her, this is not always so, she said.

The bond can be positive or negative depending on how much the mother and baby would be accepted by the society. In cases as such, she conceives for a mere purpose. According to Dr. Gunawardhana, "girls in their early twenties who are very impressionable could easily be convinced to follow the orders of their leaders without objection and thereby be utilized to carry out any kind of violent act without questioning".

According to many other intellectuals, no other terrorist organization in the history has demonstrated such hatred towards women and children as the LTTE. For reasons unknown, LTTE terrorists are motivated to kill pregnant women and infants by hacking them in to pieces even whilst they are in their sleep (see pictures). In almost all their genocidal attacks on Sinhalese villages, these terrorists enjoyed such barbaric killings. Unfortunately, their hatred towards the innocent and helpless did not limit itself to racism. The LTTE leadership turned it inwards by launching his own "Baby Brigade".

It is a well known fact that LTTE did conscript children and still continue to do so. Children who had escaped form LTTE concentration camps confessed that there exists a baby brigade's camp in SAMPOOR in TRINCOMALEE where more than 350 "abducted" children are being trained. Further, The LTTE "political wing" has been very keen to close down schools and forcibly participate children in their irrelevant protest campaigns in the North and Eastern province. The schools in Jaffna and Baittcaloa were often kept closed than they were open in the last year (2005). [Full Story]

Suspected Tamil rebels attack foreign aid offices; 15 reported killed in other violence
Khaleej Times/AP: 22 May, 2006
Suspected rebels attacked the offices of three international aid groups in Sri Lanka in what appeared to be their first assault on foreigners, the army said. Tamil separatists denied the allegation.

A breakaway rebel faction also said on Sunday that it had killed at least 10 mainstream Tamil rebel fighters and a top commander in separate attacks in the east. Four other people were also killed in spiraling violence that has threatened to push the island nation back into civil war.

...
In the eastern town of Mavadivembu, a 12-year-old boy was killed by suspected rebels late Saturday as he sat at his home with his grandmother, an army statement said.

The army said he was killed after spurning attempts by the Tigers to recruit him. The rebels have been criticized for recruiting child soldiers. [Full Story]

Tigers shoot dead 12 year old Tamil student
Lanka Truth: 21 May, 2006
A 12 year old S. Sathyan of Meeraode at Valachchena, a student, who had refused to join the organization, has been shot dead by members of wanni tiger organization. This barbaric murder had taken place at Mawadiwembu area in Batticaloa yesterday (20th).

Members of wanni tiger organization had repeatedly pressurized Sathyan to join the organization. However, the student had not given in to their demands. When he had visited his grandmother, members of wanni tiger organization who had come there had forced him to go with them. When he had declined the tigers had shot him on the spot.

Residents in Batticaloa say the murder had been carried out by tigers to scare the students who refuse to join the organization. [Full Story]

EU: Human Rights: Nepal, Sri Lanka and Taiwan
Noticias Info: 19 May, 2006
Sri Lanka: Parliament condemns latest attacks

In its resolution on Sri Lanka, Parliament strongly welcomes the move by the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE to return to the negotiating table in February, and condemns, therefore, the LTTE's unilateral refusal to participate in the second round of negotiations in Geneva that were scheduled for April 2006. It urgently calls on the LTTE to resume peace negotiations with the Government of Sri Lanka without delay, to be prepared to decommission its weapons and to set the stage for a final political settlement of the conflict. It severely condemns the renewed campaign of attacks by the LTTE, the high level of human rights violations committed by both sides and the constant breaches of the ceasefire agreement.

...
Parliament condemns the appalling abuse of children through the recruitment of child soldiers, which is a war crime, and calls on all rebel groups and notably the LTTE to stop this practice, to release those it holds and to make a declaration of principle not to recruit any children in the future. [Full Story]

EU backs President Rajapakse and moves to freeze LTTE assets
Asian Tribune: 19 May, 2006
The European Parliament yesterday whacked the LTTE out of the boundary lines when it recommended a total freeze of Tiger assets before EU considers listing Tigers as a terrorist organisation.

...
The EU resolution also -
condemned the "appalling abuse of children through the recruitment of child soldiers, which is a war crime" calling on the LTTE to stop this practice, to release those its holds and to make a declaration of principle not to recruit any children in the future. The Government was also urged to put into place legal measures to prevent and criminalise the practice. [Full Story]

EU ban will not stop peace process, says top SL official
Hindustan Times: 19 May, 2006
The Sri Lankan government's commitment to the peace process in the country will continue whether the LTTE is banned by the European Union (EU) or not, according to the Deputy Director General of the government Peace Secretariat, Kethesh Loganathan.

...
Calling attention to the recruitment of children by the LTTE, the resolution said: "Parliament condemns the appalling abuse of children through the recruitment of child soldiers, which is a war crime, and calls on all rebel groups and notably the LTTE to stop this practice, to release those it holds and to make a declaration of principle not to recruit any children in the future." [Full Story]

EU parliament seeks to freeze LTTE assets
Hindustan Times: 19 May, 2006
The European Parliament on Thursday unanimously called for the freezing of any assets that the LTTE might be holding in member countries.

A resolution passed at the plenary session held in Strasbourg, called upon the European Commission and the 25 Member States, to follow the example of other countries and freeze the assets of LTTE-associated bank accounts, holdings, companies and other undertakings.

...
Calling attention to the recruitment of children by the LTTE, the resolution said, "Parliament condemns the appalling abuse of children through the recruitment of child soldiers, which is a war crime, and calls on all rebel groups and notably the LTTE to stop this practice, to release those it holds and to make a declaration of principle not to recruit any children in the future." [Full Story]

BBC; Truth, bias and lame excuses
Lanka Web: 19 May, 2006
I refer to the article authored by South Asia Editor of the BBC news website Bernard Gabony published by BBC titled “Sri Lanka: Truth, bias and the BBC” on 16 May 2006.

It is indeed encouraging to see that BBC has taken the criticism of the anti-terrorist populace of Sri Lankan origin both living in Sri Lanka and abroad seriously enough to make a response. Mr. Gabony quotes emails sent in to BBC by the LTTE terrorist sympathizers which target equally strong criticism against BBC as proof that their journalists have been impartial on the issue of Sri Lanka’s terrorist problem. I personally believe that BBC is taking just the wrong interpretation of things in order to soothe a slightly bruised ego. The fact that both parties to the conflict, Tamil terrorists and the anti-terrorist Sri Lankans are upset with BBC equally strongly must mean that BBC has been consistently bad in reporting both viewpoints.

...
There were a large number of accusations the anti-LTTE forces have been making against BBC that were not answered by Mr Gabony. One of these is the utterly unholy fascination and reverence BBC journalists treat the Tamil terrorists and their activities with. Take for instance how Mr Biswas ends his above mentioned report. “In the searing heat, it is business as usual outside. Armed Tigers patrol the road, and a young Tiger, Olichelvan, smilingly shows us his cyanide pill hanging from his neck. A fellow Tiger tells us: "Seven seconds... that's all it takes for you to die after biting the pill. The glass casing shatters, cuts through your skin, the poison enters your blood stream, you feel a fizzy sensation, and you are dead. Just seven seconds." What is this- if not pure romanticism of brain-washed child killers who have been trained on masochism? [Full Story]

Two LTTE child combatants surrendered to Army
Asian Tribune: 19 May, 2006
Two child soldiers of the Tiger guerrillas have surrendered to a military roadblock in Trincomalee in the island’s volatile East, the security forces said.

“Two child combatants of the LTTE surrendered to army road block in Mahindapura seeking our protection at 4.45 pm today,” a military officer in the field told the Asian Tribune. The Mahindapura roadblock in located in Serunuwara, bordering LTTE control areas in the east.

The Two children aged 14 and 15 have claimed they were abducted and conscripted by the Tiger guerrillas early this year.

The police declined to disclose their names citing security reasons.

The two children had been handed over to Trincomalee Police and an officer there said the police will decide whether the kids to be handed over to UNICEF upon meeting their parents.

UNICEF (United Nations Children Fund) two years ago embarked on a multi million dollar program to reintegrate child soldiers into society.

Tiger guerrillas have , however been, accused of continuing with conscription of children into its rank despite agreeing to demobilize its child brigades.

The LTTÉ has handed over a few hundred child combatants to the UNICEF organized reintegration programs, but the UN agency itself, let alone the Sri Lankan government accuse Tiger guerrillas of continuing with its former practice of child conscription.

When the renegade Eastern Tiger Commander Vinyagamoorthy Muralitharan better known as colonel Karuna split from the main stream LTTE, he disbanded 4000-5000 cadres of the eastern block of the LTTE including a large number of child combatants.

But, the LTTE is believed to have approximately 2500 child combatants in its ranks. [Full Story]

European Parliament resolution on the situation in Sri Lanka
Tamil Week: 18 May, 2006
The European Parliament,
– having regard to thearmed conflictwhich has torn Sri Lanka since 1983, taking over 60 000 lives and causing the displacement of more than 800 000 people,

...
F. whereas international monitors say that the recent violence is the most serious threat to the 2002 ceasefire brokered by Norwegian mediators, previously weakened by a large number of reported ceasefire breaches, including armed ambushes, abductions, intimidation, killings, torture and recruitment of children as soldiers, [Full Story]

EU Calls for freeze on LTTE assets in 25 countries
Tamil Week: 18 May, 2006
The European Parliament with 700 Members has in a unanimous resolution recommended a total freeze on LTTE assets in all its Member States.

The resolution while reiterating its earlier decision of imposing a travel ban also stated that it was actively considering the formal listing of the LTTE as a terrorist organisation in the EU.

...
Parliament condemns the appalling abuse of children through the recruitment of child soldiers, which is a war crime, and calls on all rebel groups and notably the LTTE to stop this practice, to release those it holds and to make a declaration of principle not to recruit any children in the future. [Full Story]

Mass Demonstration Against BBC In London
Lankae Everything New: 16 May, 2006
A newly formed umbrella organisation in London called Sri Lankans Against Terrorism held a mass demonstration on 15th May in front of BBC World Service office, Bush House,London, to protest at the Tamil Tiger bias of the coverage of Sri Lankan news. A large crowd of several hundred people assembled in front of Bush House shouting slogans and carried banners stating 'BBC silent on child soldiers 'BBC supports terrorism' etc.

A letter addressed to Mr Mark Thompson, Director - General, was handed to Ms Nicki Clarke, Executive Editor of The Asia Pacific Region by two of the organisers. In it the organisers said, " We strongly object to regular in curate and bias reports on BBC in favour of Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka. We wish to bring to your attention some of the very recent examples of these bias and false reporting. On 26th April 2006, Dumeetha Luthra reporting from Sri Lanka said that over 40,000 civilians were fleeing Sampoor area because of indiscriminate bombing by the Sri Lankan Air Force. In fact the total number of residence in the area was just over 12,00 only. Even the Scandinavian Monitoring Mission said that the figure of 40,000 was a gross exaggeration. This was a false report to mislead the international community. Ruthless terrorist acctivities of the LTTE, for example the massacres of Sinhala and Muslim villagers including babies in arm, suicide killings and use of pregnant women as suicide bombers are glossed over. [Full Story]

Stringent Remedial Action Needed Against The LTTE Terrorists! The Buck Has To Stop Somewhere!
Lanka Web: 28 April, 2006
These are times when world condemnation of international terrorism is at its highest level wherever terrorism is manifest! Yet in Sri Lanka, ridiculing all the animosities the world feels against the concept of terrorism The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE) have unimpeded, unconditional carte blance towards carrying out their attrocities at will in the name of being freedom fighters but in reality are a bunch of conscienceless ruthless murderers!

...
As the prominent Indian News Journal The Hindu Newspaper of India has aptly expressed, quote " Holed up in the Vanni, the LTTE leadership believes the international community will ignore its ruthless terrorist record, its recruitment of child soldiers, and its intolerance of dissent and democracy, and, above all, recognise it as a legitimate force fighting for Tamil rights. [Full Story]

EU divided, may not ban LTTE
New Kerala: 28 April, 2006
The European Union is sharply divided over outlawing Sri Lanka's Tamil T iger guerrillas, and indications are a ban is not immediately in the offing despite this week's suicide bomb attack blamed on the insurgents.

The 25-nation grouping is debating whether or not it should declare the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) a terrorist group, a public request for which was made only on April 23 by the Sri Lankan government.

...
Some European countries do favour banning the LTTE, saying its actions, particularly suicide bombings, are incompatible with European values of democracy and free speech. They are also upset over the LTTE's intolerance of dissent and its unending recruitment of child soldiers. [Full Story]

BAN TAMIL TIGER TERRORISTS (LTTE) IN EU COUNTRIES IMMEDIATELY
SPUR: 27 April, 2006

Mr. Jose Manuel Durao Barroso
President of European Union Commission
1049, Brussels
Belgium.

Dear Mr. President,
BAN TAMIL TIGER TERRORISTS (LTTE) IN EU COUNTRIES IMMEDIATELY

We refer to our letter dated 15 Aril 2006 and bring to your notice the subsequent perpetration of brutal terror by the LTTE against the democratically elected Government of Sri Lanka and its people, including unarmed civilians.

A LTTE woman suicide bomber attacked the Sri Lanka Army headquarters critically injuring the Army Commander General Sarath Fonseka, killing 8 and injuring 27 others. It was only on 23rd April that the brutal LTTE killed 6 Sinhala farmers who were toiling in their paddy fields. Yesterday they stabbed and killed a young Sinhalese mother who was breast-feeding her child in Serunuwara in Trincomalee. The LTTE is executing a plan to ethnically cleanse Sinhalese and Muslim communities from the East of Sri Lanka. Their strategy is to maximise the killing of Sinhalese and Muslim people, driving them away from their villages abutting terrorist controlled areas. The complementary objective is to provoke civilian riots elsewhere to justify the LTTE’s racist claim that Tamil communities cannot coexist with the Sinhalese and the Muslim people. [Full Story]

Suicide bomber pushes Sri Lanka close to all-out war
Guardian - UK: 26 April, 2006
The shadow of a full-scale war between the Sri Lankan military and Tamil Tiger rebels was cast over the Indian Ocean island last night after a suicide bomber targeted the country's top military general, prompting reprisals on guerrilla positions.

The female suicide bomber, a suspected member of a ruthless Tamil Tiger suicide commando unit, killed eight people and injured 27 others, including Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka as he was about to enter military headquarters in Colombo. She had apparently pretended to be pregnant to conceal her explosives.

...
Recently the United Nations accused the rebels of holding almost 1,400 child soldiers, despite pledges to free all underage fighters. [Full Story]

LTTE: The parallel force in Sri Lanka
NDTV: 26 April, 2006
The morgue-like silence in Kilinochi town of Tamil Eelam was broken by the sudden arrival of an armed LTTE patrol.

Just before that, Prabhakaran, their leader, had said that the LTTE has never recruited child soldiers.

But from their faces, it was obvious that the boys with guns were just that.

It's not the kind of contradictions that the Tamil Tigers wanted visiting journalists to witness and the boys were shooed off.

Instead the visiting NDTV team was taken on a guided tour that only exposed the charade of a separate country, with Tamil Eelam district court, the Eelam police station and finally the Bank of Tamil Eelam.

On the surface, the bank seemed normal with customers busy taking loans and withdrawing cash, except that the bank used Sri Lankan currency and had only one other branch in the LTTE-held town of Mulativu.

Other projects
A more successful LTTE project was that of a girl's orphanage, which was run by a front group called the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO).

The children lost their parents in the war or were brought there by desperate widows.

In its three orphanages, the TRO is bringing up about a 1000 boys and girls, some of them infants.

The LTTE insists that these girls will not grow up to become suicide bombers, but the question is what is their future?

Virtually, all the territory held by the LTTE, which they are running as Eelam, looks the same - broken by war and empty of human life.

The Tigers say that the Tamil-dominated north was always neglected by the rest of Sri Lanka.

Now even if someone wants to invest in this land, they will have to deal with the deadliest terrorist group in the world. [Full Story]

RCMP search Tamil office in Toronto
Canada.com: 24 April, 2006
RCMP officers investigating an alleged terrorist financing scheme raided a Toronto non-profit group Sunday that's been called a front organization for the Tamil Tigers.

The World Tamil Movement headquarters in Scarborough, Ont., was surrounded by yellow police tape and a U-Haul rental truck was parked out front as armed Mounties searched the one-storey brick industrial building.

Police wouldn't comment on the weekend raid but it follows complaints from Tamil-Canadians that the WTM has been involved in an aggressive fundraising campaign that sought donations for the Tamil Tigers.

...
The Tamil Tigers are renowned for their terrorist tactics, which include almost 200 suicide bombings, political assassinations, ethnic cleansing of Muslims and recruitment of child soldiers. [Full Story]

Getting knickers twisted over terrorism and liberation
Sunday Observer: 23 April, 2006
What happens to these leftists just because they are against George. W. Bush? One Nimalka Fernando castigates George Bush and says that "...today human lives are threatened by poverty and the 'thirst for fuel' of (U.S. President George W.) Bush." Fernando said so in a recent interview with IPS. She castigates Bush and then she castigates terrorists. But then she goes onto say that because of Bush, all forms of liberation movements have come to be seen as terrorist movements. From here on, it becomes obvious that where her leftism and her anti Bush ism-ends, her vapidity begins.

...
Now, from the same environs of happy-hooker NGOdom (I'm talking of prostitution in the sense of selling mind and soul for mess of pottage) comes this other charlatan, who assumes much like the previous one, that every movement that uses terror such as LTTE or ETA has a legitimate liberation struggle on their hands.

For her the terrorism of suppressing human rights of other groups, of child soldiers being made to lose their limbs is all the fault of the Sri Lankan government.

We end by quoting UNICEF's spokesperson Junko Mitani in Sri Lanka. He said on April 16th 2006 that 'UNICEF deeply regrets the death of a 17 year old child in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) auxiliary killed on 13 the April in a reported claymore mine incident in Vavuniya.

This incident underlines the risks children are exposed to when used in direct combat or in support roles such a delivery of supplies. Recruitment of children is a direct violation of their right to protection from violence. UNICEF calls on the LTTE to immediately release all under-age recruits within its ranks and to cease recruitment of children. UNICEF conveys its condolences to the family for their loss.' [Full Story]

Bombs kills eight in Sri Lanka, Norway in fresh salvage bid
Lanka Business Online/AFP: 17 April, 2006
At least eight people were killed in a wave of blasts in Sri Lanka Monday as Tiger rebels suspended their participation in ceasefire talks, military officials said.

Peace broker Norway planned to send special envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer to Sri Lanka Tuesday as part of efforts to save a tottering truce and prevent the two sides slipping into full-scale hostilities, diplomatic sources said.

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Meanwhile, the UN agency for children, UNICEF, said a child soldier of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was among recent mine victims and demanded that the guerrillas demobilise all underage combatants. [Full Story]

Editorial:
Tamil Tiger ban is only half of the Sri Lanka solution
Asian Pacific Post: 20 April, 200