SLanka seizes ship with supplies for war-hit civilians

Sri Lanka's navy Thursday seized a foreign-owned ship loaded with medical, food and other supplies for war-hit civilians, saying the vessel had entered its territorial waters illegally.
The supplies, arranged by supporters of the Tamil rebel cause, were loaded onto a ship in the English port of Ipswich in April -- just weeks before the government declared victory in the ethnic conflict, a navy spokesman said.

"We have seized the vessel and we are bringing it ashore now," Captain D.K. Dassanayake said, adding the crew offered no resistance when the navy boarded the vessel 140 kilometres (87 miles) west of Sri Lanka.

The ship, the Captain Ali, was carrying hundreds of tonnes of food, medicine and other supplies for Tamil civilians caught up in the decades-long conflict, he said.

A London-based group called Mercy Mission to Wani had arranged the transport of the supplies at a time when Tamil Tiger rebels were cornered in a strip of coastline in the island's northeast and using tens of thousands of civilians as cover.

Wani had formed part of the Tigers' virtual mini-state in the island's northeast before the end of the conflict.

"We have been tracking this ship for some time and seized it today as it got closer to our shores," Dassanayake said. "We are bringing the ship to a port together with its crew."

Initially it was believed that the ship had set sail from Britain but the website of the Mercy Mission said the shipment was made using two vessels and that the Captain Ali had set sail from France.

The website said the Syrian flag-carrying vessel with a crew of 13 was carrying 884 tonnes of food, medicine and other essentials for Tamil civilians affected by the fighting.

Government troops announced they had crushed the Tigers after killing the rebel leadership on May 18.

Nearly 300,000 Tamil civilians crossed over to government-held areas during the final stages of fighting.

Mercy Mission's website said an Icelandic national who had served as one of the monitors of a truce between Tamil Tigers and security forces between February 2002 and January 2008 was also aboard the the Captain Ali.

The supplies were first ferried from England to the French port of Fos-sur-Mer, 50 kilometres (30 miles) northwest of Marseille aboard another vessel, the Sea Ruby.

The supplies were then transferred on May 7 to the Captain Ali, the group's website said.
The cargo was donated by Tamils living abroad, according to the website.