LTTE Headquarters,
                                                Tamil Eelam.
                                                03. January 1997
PRESS RELEASE
NEWS FROM TAMIL EELAM

PREGNANT LADY FOUND DEAD ON ROADSIDE
        A Tamil woman has been found dead on a drenched street in
        Vavuniya with her new-born baby screaming by her side. The
        pregnant woman had been suffering from medical complications and
        was due in Colombo for treatment. But Sri Lankan military
        officials cut short her journey at Vavuniya forcing her to remain
        in a house near one of the notorious detention centres refusing
        to permit her passage to Colombo. They ignored her repeated pleas
        to leave Vavuniya. On the night of 26th December Kandasamy
        Vijayakumari ventured out in the heavy rain desperately seeking
        medical attention. She didn't get far. A passer-by found her dead
        body in a puddle with her new-born child lying alive next to her.
        The baby was rushed to a hospital but doctors were unable to save
        him. Kandasamy Vijayakumari was 33 and a mother of three other
        children. She came from Mankulam.

POPE WILL HEAR OF SHOCKING JAFFNA CONDITIONS
        A representative of the Vatican who toured Sri Lankan
        army-occupied Jaffna peninsula has expressed his dismay and
        horror at conditions there. After an official tour of the region
        in which he saw the extent of army-damaged buildings and woefully
        inadequate rehabilitation efforts he told the Bishop of Jaffna of
        his deep sorrow for the Tamil people. During Sri Lanka's military
        operations to capture the ancient Tamil heartland of Jaffna
        indiscriminate bombing of public and private buildings was
        routine. According to some journalists 80% of buildings in Jaffna
        town had been demolished by Sri Lanka's military assaults.

JAFFNA FUNDS NOT HELPING THE PEOPLE A massive portion of Jaffna's
        rehabilitation funds which the Sri Lankan government has obtained
        from various donors is to be used for rebuilding the police
        station, say government sources. Although the government's
        allocation of  funds for restoring Jaffna are known to be
        inadequate by any standards, the disproportionate amount being
        directed towards the police station is being seen by locals as a
        cynical move showing no concern for their basic needs. Residents
        of army-occupied Jaffna are at the moment without proper sanitary
        conditions and many do not have homes as most were shelled during
        recent Sri Lankan military operations. Up to now, no
        reconstruction work has been carried out in Jaffna.

MORE TAMIL ARRESTS - FATE UNKNOWN
        Ten Tamils were taken away by Sri Lankan army officials
        conducting their latest arbitrary round-up operation in
        Mirusuvil. As has become the norm in army-occupied parts of the
        north-east, no details of the whereabouts of those arrested have
        been provided to next of kin and all requests for information
        have been routinely ignored by military officials. The fate of
        the ten, meanwhile, remains a source of constant heartache for
        their families since it is well-known that Tamils taken into army
        custody are rarely treated with dignity and that cases of
        torture and murder are on the rise.

TAMIL WOMEN ARRESTED FOR CARRYING MONEY
        Four Tamil women on a train bound for Trincomallee have been
        taken into custody by police. The Sinhala police boarded the
        Colombo train at Kantalai station to do a routine search. The
        fact that some of these Tamil women were carrying a considerable
        amount of money became seen as sufficient reason to pull them
        from the train and arrest them. Tamils are routinely subjected to
        indignities like this which they are powerless to resist due to
        the considerable powers Sri Lankan police have been given over
        the arrest and detention of Tamils. The four women are still
        undergoing interrogation.

JAFFNA YOUTH IN COLOMBO - REGULAR TARGETS
        Dehiwala police stormed into a lodge in Galle Road (Colombo) and
        arrested 13 Tamil youth including a girl. The victims of this
        arbitrary raid are now in a remand jail where their fate remains
        uncertain. Many original Jaffna Tamils have been arrested in this
        manner by the predominantly Sinhalese police force in Colombo.
        Many have later been kept sometimes for years without their cases
        ever coming to trial.

NO SCHOOL UNIFORMS FOR TAMILS - GOVERNMENT
        The Tamil Teacher's Union in Vanni has demanded that Sri Lanka
        overturns its decision to stop school uniform cloth reaching
        Tamil Vanni. A regular quota of this material is supposed to be
        distributed all over the island but the defence ministry has
        given orders to prevent it going to Tamil school-children living
        in areas that are not under Sri Lankan army control. The measures
        confirm that the Sri Lankan government, far from being a
        "liberator" of Tamils, is engaged in a war against them.

'HEALTH WEEK' SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS MAIN AFFLICTIONS
        A health survey conducted in Tamil Vanni, a region which remains
        unoccupied by Sri Lankan troops, reveals that malaria, diarrhoea,
        dysentery, hepatitis and typhoid - in that order - are the main
        afflictions suffered by the Tamil people. The incidence of these
        illnesses has shot up in consequence of Sri Lanka's effective
        blockade on food and medicine to Tamil areas not under military
        occupation. The government's long-term strategy has been to try
        and "cripple" Tamils into submitting to Sri Lankan military
        authority. The LTTE has been trying to ease the people's
        hardships by organising major health initiatives aimed at
        promoting a cleaner environment and various self-help strategies.

Political Committee,
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam

(English translation of the LTTE statement released by
LTTE International Secretariat, 211 Katherine Road, London E6 1BU,
United Kingdom.  Tel/ Fax: 0181-470 8593)