Associated Press Writer

UNITED NATIONS (AP) _ More than a year after the tsunami in Southeast Asia, many of the most vulnerable survivors are plagued by discrimination in aid distribution, forced relocation and violence against women, according to a report released Wednesday.

The report, by three international nonprofit groups, documented conditions in five countries devastated by the Dec. 26, 2004 tsunami.

Within the countries _Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and the Maldives_ some of the most vulnerable groups are women, children and ethnic minorities, the report said. Those in poor neighborhoods consistently bear the largest burden, it said.

``Nature treated (the citizens of these countries) equally, but their governments are not treating them equally,'' said Ramesh Singh, chief executive of ActionAid International, one of the groups that compiled the report.

About 215,000 people died in the tsunami and millions of others in the region lost their homes, health care and livelihood.

Field research involving more than 50,000 survivors found widespread instances of land grabbing to serve commercial interests, shoddy construction in government-sponsored housing projects, uneven distribution of aid packages among devastated industries, and a host of other violations, the report said.

Women also continue to suffer because of their gender, the report said.

In relief camps and shelters in Sri Lanka, for example, men control access to sanitary napkins and underwear, and harassment prevents many women from asking for the items they need, said Judy Devadason, a Sri Lankan women's rights activist. She said none of the camps she has visited in the country offered any sort of reproductive care.

The tsunami prompted an outpouring of international support that broke previous donation records among groups such as the American Red Cross.

``This report shows that there has been a breach of trust _the trust offered by these supporters in the names of the people who suffered and survived the tsunami,'' Singh said.

ActionAid and the other two sponsors of the report, the People's Movement for Human Rights Learning and Habitat International Coalition, said the document was meant less as a criticism than as a cautionary tale and a call for the governments in question and the international community to right the wrongs committed in the tsunami response.

Discuss this story Published: Wed Feb 1 23:31:41 EST 2006

The guerrillas accused para-military forces supported by the Sri Lankan army of kidnapping 10 aid workers of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization or TRO, and said the abductions made it "difficult to resume talks," with the government expected to take place in Geneva, later this month.

The TRO is a registered charity in Sri Lanka, believed to have strong links to the Tigers.

"There has been some miscommunication. The two girls had returned home Monday, but were afraid to report anything due to threats to their lives from the abductors," said Arjunan Ethirveerasingam, of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization. "We still haven't head anything from the others," he said, about the eight other aid workers who remained missing.

He said it wasn't immediately known if the two female workers had been released or had escaped, adding that they were being questioned.

The two separate alleged abductions had taken place on Sunday and Monday close to the Welikanda army check point in restive eastern Batticaloa, about 150 kilometers from the capital Colombo, Ethiriveerasingham said.

The government and the military refuted the charge. "The government categorically denies any such incident taking place in close proximity to the Walikanda checkpoint," the governments said in a statement.

"This is a fabricated story against the security forces," said Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe, military spokesman. He said the location the TRO alleges the abductions took place was a populated area and someone would have witnessed the incident, which however was not the case.

However, the alleged incidents that raised international concern, also worried the government about its effect on proposed talks with the Tigers. Some speculated meanwhile, that the alleged abductions were aimed at whipping up international sentiment against the government and for the Tigers to squeeze out of the Geneva talks.

The Tigers' threat on Tuesday came barely a week after Norway's top peace envoy Erik Solheim broke an almost three year deadlock to resume stalled peace talks between the government and the guerrillas amid fears that the island was on the brink of war.

The Tigers have been fighting for a separate state since 1983 for the island's ethnic Tamil minority, claiming discrimination by the Sinhalese majority. Nearly 65,000 people were killed before Norway brokered a truce in February 2002. Subsequent peace talks broke down a year later amid rebel demands for wide autonomy in the Tamil-majority north and east.

p> Discuss this story Published: Wed Feb 1 11:54:39 EST 2006

Dr. Vigneswaran who was with the EPDP for more than ten years was also Devananda's chief advisor and main negotiator of the EPDP when the draft constitution was being drawn up, and obviously Vigneswaran's resignation is a huge blow 'resource' wise to the EPDP leader, sources pointed out.

Dr. Vigneswaran, confirming his resignation from the party due to irreconcilable differences, pointed out that, "I have left the party because I couldn't work with the leader's style of functioning, as there was no democracy within the party, due to the authoritative attitude adopted by Mr. Devananda," he noted.

He however assured that although he had resigned from the EPDP, his career in politics will continue.

A total of 11 former EPDP parliamentarians have left the party since 1994 to date, owing to the alleged dictatorial attitude of Mr. Devananda

Discuss this story Published: Wed Feb 1 11:52:50 EST 2006