9 July 2009:

Two months after leaving Fos-Sur-Mer, France on 7 May 2009 the humanitarian relief sent by the Tamil Diaspora in Europe through the Mercy Mission is currently being unloaded at Colombo Port.

After being detained by the Sri Lanka Navy for several hours on 8 July 2009 the MV Cap Colorado was released and allowed to proceed into Colombo Port late at night on the 8-9 July and began unloading on the 9 July morning.

The MV Cap Colorado sailed from Chennai, India with 27 containers of Mercy Mission’s humanitarian aid that was unloaded from the MV Captain Ali and packed into containers.

The Government of Sri Lanka had on 8 June denied permission for the MV Captain Ali to unload its cargo in Colombo even though the Govt of SL itself admitted that the cargo was purely humanitarian in nature. The Sri Lankan authorities also arrested, on 4 June, Mr. Athmanathan, a Colombo based businessman who was named as the ‘consignee’ of the humanitarian cargo. Mr. Athmanathan is still being held without charge in the notorious ‘4th Floor’ of the CID 34 days after being arrested.

As a result of the Govt of SL’s actions the MV Captain Ali was forced to travel to Chennai where the humanitarian cargo was, as per an agreement between the Governments of Indian and Sri Lanka on 24 June 2009, unloaded and handed over to the Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS) for transportation to the for distribution to the approximately 300,000 Tamil civilians being held in internment camps in the North of the island.

The actions of the Government of Sri Lanka have cost the Mercy Mission well over £50,000 in additional costs associated with travel to Chennai, waiting in Chennai (20+ days) for a response from the Indian government, unloading in Chennai, rental and transportation of containers, loading of containers, port and customs fees in Chennai, transportation to Colombo.

The MV Cap Colorado is carrying over 300 containers destined for other parts of the world and will depart Colombo after unloading the 27 Mercy Mission containers.