11 years today - Last hospital stops functioning
14 May 2020
Marking 11 years since the Sri
Lankan military onslaught that massacred tens of thousands of Tamils, we
revisit the final days leading up to the 18th of
May 2009 – a date remembered around the world as ‘Tamil Genocide Day’.
The total number of Tamil civilians killed during the final months is
widely contested. After providing an initial death toll of 40,000, the
UN found evidence suggesting that 70,000 were killed. Local census
records indicate that at least 146,679 people are unaccounted for and
presumed to have been killed.
See more at www.RememberMay2009.com, a collaborative project launched last year, between the Adayaalam Centre for Policy Research, Tamil Guardian and 47 Roots.
14th May 2009
Photograph: Tamil civilians wade across Nandiakadal lagoon over to Sri Lankan army territory on May 14th 2009.
Last hospital stops functioning
The last remaining makeshift hospital in the conflict zone, set up
inside a school, ceases to function from this day as Sri Lankan military
shelling becomes heavier.
The OISL reports,
“After 14 May 2009, the doctors could no longer go to the hospital due to the intensity of the shelling, and it had to be closed. Dozens of patients who could not be moved were left behind.”“Medical personnel were seen putting up a white flag and moved some patients to shelter, then, with the patients who were able to, they started to walk towards the Vadduvakal bridge to the south. Some 150 patients were left behind, as their injuries were too serious for them to be moved and they could not be evacuated by ship.”
Photograph: Sri Lankan soldeirs march into the final conflict zone backed by artillery fire on May 14th 2009.
It adds that the LTTE gave orders on this day to ensure civilians fleeing the conflict zone would not be stopped.
“From 14 May, tens of thousands civilians heeded the calls of SLA soldiers with megaphones and slowly walked along the A35 road lined with SLA positions towards the Vadduvakal bridge, which was one of the main crossing points. Most surviving LTTE fighters had discarded their uniforms, laid down weapons and other military equipment and donned civilian dress. Along with other LTTE political cadres, they walked amongst the crowds with their families.”
The UN Petrie report stated that as “several thousand civilians continued to flee the NFZ, mostly south along the lagoon, some walking, some on small boats or clinging to inflated tyres… Artillery fire reportedly continued from Government forces”
Photographs:
Above and right. Tamil civilians cross over into Sri Lankan military
territory, many by wading across Nandikadal laggon amidst heavy
artillery fire. May 14th 2009.
No respite from the shelling
The LTTE Peace Secretariat reported that the Sri Lankan military had
continued shelling, killing thousands of civilians. Extracts reproduced
below.
“The local aid workers in Vanni Region estimated 1700 civilians have been killed and over 3000 injured in the last 48 hours due to the persistent use of heavy artillery and mortars by the Sri Lankan armed forces.”“We call upon the international community to protect the civilians from this ongoing carnage by taking whatever measure required. The LTTE is ready to engage with the International Community in its actions to bring an end to the humanitarian crisis.”
See the full statement here.
LTTE welcome Obama’s call for end to shelling
Meanwhile the LTTE also welcomed a statement by US President Barack Obama made the day before.
"We thank and welcome the categorical calls by President Barack Obama
for the Sri Lankan Government to take toward alleviating the
humanitarian crisis," said B Nadesan, the political head of the LTTE who
was inside the final conflict zone.
"The United Nations Organization and the Security Council has held back in their traditional humanitarian leadership role to take prudent measures and bring about a truce and safeguard Eelam Tamils. Now, the Eelam Tamils earnestly look forward to President Barack Obama to lead the humanitarian intervention."“We thank and welcome the categorical calls by President Barack Obama for the Sri Lankan Government to take toward alleviating the humanitarian crisis. Presence and free access for independent humanitarian aid workers and media to all parts of this island, particularly in all areas of the Tamil Homeland, is urgently needed.”“We thank President Barack Obama once again, for taking time to shed light on the plight of Eelam Tamils.”
See the full statement here.
‘Unimaginable humanitarian catastrophe’
The US State Department reports that for the third consecutive day “a
ferry carrying 25 MT of food was unable to evacuate patients because of
continuous heavy fighting”. “The last time any food and medical supplies
were offloaded or patients were evacuated was on May 9.”
"Our staff are witnessing an unimaginable humanitarian catastrophe, " said the ICRC's director of operations, Pierre Krähenbühl.
" Despite high-level assurances, the lack of security on the ground
means that our sea operations continue to be stalled, and this is
unacceptable… No humanitarian organization can help them in the current
circumstances. People are left to their own devices."
Plans for surrender
The OISL reported that several senior political leaders within the LTTE
had begun to initiate plans to surrender, alongside injured cadres and
civilians. It states,
“This intention was communicated the same day to Basil Rajapaksa, brother of the President.”“Later that day, Tamil MPs who were in contact with Nadesan and Puleedevan also reported to Basil Rajapaksa, that the LTTE had laid down arms and ceased fighting. Basil Rajapaksa responded that the army was already making announcements and dropping leaflets that people should hold up white flags and walk towards the military”
British parliament debate
Parliamentarians held a debate on Sri Lanka inside the British House of Commons on this day. During the debate, then Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Bill Rammell said,
“As the Foreign Secretary made clear in New York on Monday, we strongly believe that the civilian situation in Sri Lanka merits the attention of the United Nations at all levels, including formal discussions by the Security Council.”
The former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn stated,
“There has to be isolation of Sri Lanka because of its refusal to undertake the ceasefire. There has to be a diplomatic and political way forward that brings about that ceasefire and a process of safety.”“Are we just going to allow satellite images of this killing to go on and no further action to be taken?... If we cannot act to impose economic sanctions now on Sri Lanka, shame on us.”
Former Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer John McDonnell said
there should be “breaking off all diplomatic links, as talking to them
(Sri Lankan government) is not working so what is the point of that?”.
He added,
“We should send back their representatives and bring back our diplomats. We should isolate them diplomatically, as has been said.”“We should also isolate them economically. If that means imposing sanctions, then so be it, and if it comes down to sequestration of Sri Lankan money, wealth and industrial investments in this country, let us do that to show them we mean business.”Most members of my Tamil community believe genocide has taken place, and I must concur with them now because of the numbers of those who have died and been injured, and because of the targeting, in this small area, of this community. We cannot stand by.”
John Bercow who has been the Speaker of the House of Commons since June 2009, said,
“I was a member of the five-person delegation to Sri Lanka…Let me be clear… the Government of Sri Lanka are still fundamentally in denial.""They were given to ostentatious and bellicose denunciations of all and sundry who had dared to criticise them. They were extraordinarily rude, and inappropriately so, about the Foreign Secretary. They took umbrage at our raising critical evidence against them. For example, when I mentioned, during a meeting with the President, the UN’s satellite photography, which appeared to repudiate the notion that they had stuck to their 12 February commitment not to deploy heavy weaponry, the President’s response was both to complain bitterly about UN spying and to rant at me about adopting a neo-colonialist posture.”“allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide must be investigated whenever… There can be no question of any amnesty for the Sri Lankan Government, at any time, from consideration of allegations of that kind.”
See more from Hansard here.
Watch the full debate below.
Conditions in camps worsen
According to the World Health Organization, cases of chicken pox in the
IDP camps have increased from 600 in February to over 8,000 at
present.
Diaspora protests continue
Protests by the Tamil diaspora continued across the world.
In London, demonstrators had occupied Parliament Square for the 38th day in succession.
Our Holocaust
The Tamil Guardian editorial went to print on this day, 11 years ago. Extracts have been reproduced below.
“…since January ‘genocide’ has not been some abstract concept. The world has witnessed it every single day since as first dozens, then scores, then hundreds of Tamils were killed and wounded. Even by Sri Lanka’s horrific standards, the rate at which our people have been slaughtered is stunning.”“What has also become clear is that the international community has knowingly and deliberately allowed this slaughter to proceed. The ideological fixation with ‘fighting terrorism’ and ‘ending armed conflict’ has meant that in the interests of destroying the Liberation Tigers, any number of Tamil civilians are expendable. Notice that even though it is the Sinhala state that is pounding the civilians, blocking food and medicine and repeatedly blasting the hospital, it is the LTTE that has drawn the focus of the UN’s condemnation?”“Not one Sinhala political actor – not even the UNP, the darling of the liberal West – has condemned the slaughter. It is inescapable that whatever the international community does, the Sinhala state will continue to pose an existential threat to the Tamil people”“The sixty-year old struggle for Tamil liberation is entering a new phase.”
See the full text here.
