LTTE Headquarters,
                                                Tamil Eelam.
                                                22. March 1997


PRESS RELEASE
NEWS FROM TAMIL EELAM

SRI LANKA CONTRAVENES HUMANITARIAN LAW OF ARMED CONFLICT
	370,000 Tamil people in Batticaloa's twelve divisions are now
	facing starvation. Since January 1997 no amount of food relief
	has reached them because Sri Lankan military officials have
	blocked all access routes to the area. The situation is
	desperate. Another 17,000 residents of Waharai are in an
	identical predicament. There is without doubt a co-ordinated
	effort on the part of the Sri Lankan government to starve Tamils
	to advance its own military aims.
	
	A clear pattern is emerging. Rice cultivation in Tamil-populated
	areas is being systematically disrupted by the Sinhala military.
	In the east, Tamil farmers are being stopped from attending their
	rice fields in Paduvankarai, where some of Batticaloa's finest
	paddy lands are situated. In Mannar (in the northwest) 12,500
	acres of rice fields bordering Giant's Tank were scorched and
	trampled during Sri Lanka's 'Edibala' operation. Tamil farmers
	here asking permission from Sinhala military authorities to
	proceed with paddy cultivation have been flatly turned away.
	
	Sri Lanka is violating international humanitarian law in armed
	conflict by blocking food relief to half a million displaced
	Tamils in the Vanni. The deliberate denial of food to civilians
	is a clear contravention of the existing law and is leading to
	severe food shortages amongst the displaced Tamil population.

TRIBUTES TO ANNAI POOPATHY CONTINUE
	Parts of the Tamil east not under Sri Lankan military occupation
	are celebrating the memory of the "mother" of Tamil Eelam, Annai
	Poopathy, in the third day of a week of activity recognising the
	tremendous sacrifice she made in protest at the IPKF presence in
	Tamil Eelam. She passed away nine years ago in a determined
	fast-unto-death. The streets of Mutur and Werukal are decorated
	with the bright red and yellow colours of the Tamil Eelam
	national flag while all shops, schools and offices display her
	portrait.

	
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:0181- 503 4294 / Fax: 0181-470 8593)