Sri Lanka seizes Vanni ship

--BBC--

The navy in Sri Lanka says it has intercepted a ship sent by Tamil expatriates with supplies to be delivered to the north of the country.

	Organiser say the ship is carrying supplies for the IDPs

Expatriate groups say they are humanitarian goods intended for people displaced by the recently ended war.

The marine expedition first set out from British port in Ipswich in April while fighting was still raging. The first shipload of cargo collected from UK was then transfered to a bigger ship in France.

Military spokesmen told the BBC, the Syrian-registered ship, the Captain Ali, was intercepted by the navy and was being escorted to the port of Colombo. Its 13 membr crew were being questioned.

900 tons of cargo

The expedition has been organised by a Wembley-based group, Mercy Mission to Vanni, whose website says the ship is carrying nearly 900 tonnes of food, medicines and other essentials for Tamil refugees sent by European Tamil charities.

Half the shipment was brought from Ipswich port on April 20th, joining the other half later near Marseilles in France.

Tamil Tiger vessel

But the Sri Lankan government says the Captain Ali is a Tamil Tiger vessel and that the mission sought to provide logistical supplies to the now defeated rebels

Former Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission [SLMM] member Icelander Kristjan is also on board the ship.

Arjunan Ethiriweerasingham of Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation [TRO] told the BBC, that he is liasing with the government to get the cargo released. "If the supplies get to the people who needs it, It does not matter how it is done", he said.