May 11th, 2009:
▪️LK army continues to inflict carnage
▪️Mullivaaikkaal and Vadduvaakal areas where more than 130,000 civilians have sought refuge without adequate bunkers and shelters Gordon Weiss, @UN spokesman in Sri Lanka said “The large-scale killing of civilians over the weekend, including the deaths of more than 100 children, shows that that bloodbath has become a reality.”
Mr @stevecrawshaw of @hrw commented: “If the Security Council stays silent on this issue any longer, it will be a failure of historic proportions… It is already late, but lives can still be saved”.
Tamil diaspora came together to lend their voices to their loves who were being massacred. Protests continued in capitals across the world, where the Tamil diaspora had taken to the streets to demand a ceasefire. Tamil Canadians protest blocking Gardiner Expressway
Tamils protest outside the White House demanding a ceasefire.
May 12. 2009
▪️LK army advanced into the NFZ
▪️According to a cable released by WikiLeaks:
Army advanced into the south & north of the conflict zone. The post received reports of continued shelling & heavy fire in the conflict zone through the morning of May 12.
▪️Makeshift hospital was hit again- around 2,000 wounded patients within the last 3 days were waiting for the @ICRC to be transported on the ship
▪️OISL indicated patients had burns that were unusual - with skin like “black charcoal”, indicating the use of chemical bombs
▪️Many were dying in the conflict zone, and increased death of the elderly also took place in camps in Vavuniya due to starvation and illness
▪️ US Secretary of State @HillaryClinton & UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband urged the UN to facilitate 'safe evacuation of civilians
MP Sampanthan:
there is genocide taking place in Vanni; the entire international community is being silent; we don’t want just statements of condemnations and pledges without any action; the killings of civilians must immediately be stopped; this is our urgent request. Also, on this day in 2009, Sri Lanka sought the IMF loan to help meet a balance of payments deficit, support post-war development, and boost foreign exchange reserves hovering around six weeks of import cover.
May 13. 2009:
President @BarackObama Obama calls for action to ease the Sri Lanka crisis. He asked the LK State to “stop the indiscriminate shelling that has taken hundreds of innocent lives”.
The members of the Security Council @un expressed concern over the worsening humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka, in particular the reports of hundreds of civilian casualties in recent days, and called for urgent action by all parties to ensure the safety of civilians. Released cable indicated that UK Special Envoy for Sri Lanka Des Browne visited New Delhi to consult with Indian officials on possible collaboration on the humanitarian and political situation in Sri Lanka.
Once again, on this day in 2009, LK army shells struck a makeshift hospital in Mullivaaikal again. One surviving witness indicated an @ICRC worker, Sivakurunathan Majuran, was also killed in this attack. This was the 3rd time this same makeshift hospital was hit.
Tamil diaspora around the world continues to protest against this genocide. In Toronto, Tamil Canadians protested in front of Queen's Park calling for an immediate end to the killing of Tamils.
Then Ont Premier @Dalton_McGuinty asked @UN Security Council to find a way for Canada & other countries to help. "According to the UN, what is unfolding in northern Sri Lanka is a bloodbath & this is not a time for the international community to be silent," he said.
May 14. 2009:
▪️100000s of civilians are still stuck in a narrow space & trying to stay alive in spite of continuous shelling, bombing, airstrike, lack of food & meds
▪️ @ICRC was unable to offload food from or evacuate patients
▪️last makeshift hospital, at a school, stopped functioning due to heavy shelling
▪️Tamil Tigers request the International Community to protect the civilians from the ongoing carnage by taking whatever measures required
▪️ >1700 killed & 3000 injured within 48 hrs, ICRC Ships prevented
▪️Tamil Tigers wanted to lay down arms to protect injured cadres and civilians
▪️Tamils MPs conveyed to @basilrajapaksa who told them the army is notified & people should surrender holding up white flags
▪️At the same time, many Tamil youths were being arrested without a cause, across the island
▪️ From this day onwards, many civilians, along with Tiger political wing leaders and cadres who laid down weapons walked along the A35 road to get out of the conflict zone
May 15.2009:
▪️LK army closes in on 'No Fire Zone' & the entire safety zone area is in smoke as shelling was destroying all the structures within a narrow strip of coastal land which has 100000s people pushed into it
▪️Same day Indian election results came out
The @icrc raised the alarm that an "unimaginable humanitarian disaster" unfolding in the conflict zone
and called on the Government to enable assistance to reach trapped civilians.
UK minister @D_G_Alexander said “appalled that ICRC is no longer able to cont its operations in SL…Denying life-saving evacuation & medical Tx is a fundamental violation of Intl Humanitarian Law…There is simply no justification for allowing such needless suffering”
The @ICRC abandoned its missions, there was no food, and no proper access to potable water for tens of thousands of civilians who were forced to stay under the bunkers, surrounded by dead bodies and wounded civilians who died without medical help
The @UN genocide experts requested a ceasefire, and UN investigators wanted war probes. Francis Deng, the UN special advisor, called for both sides to “pursue a reconciliatory & peaceful path with the ethnic Tamil population.” By now, Tamil Tigers have laid down arms.
@wakaelin, Secretary-General’s Representative for the Human Rights of Displaced Persons, called on Colombo to allow @UN & other agencies “full and unfettered access to all civilians and detainees.” But this request was denied.
2 months prior, @UN's human rights official, @Navi_Pillay, called on SL govern & Tamil Tigers to suspend hostilities, warning # of civilian deaths could reach catastrophic levels. Tamil Tigers announced a unilateral ceasefire on April 26, but Sri Lanka rejected it & intensified the bombardment of the sliver of land where over 160,000 civilians were concentrated.
High Commissioner's spokesman, @RColville, then stated that "there has to be the accountability of what has gone on in Sri Lanka. There has to be clarity and there cannot be impunity."To date, no one has been held accountable for the genocide.
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