While internal conflicts in government surfaced, the LTTE's political leader SP Thamilchelvan and MPs belonging to the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) met on 3 August at Kilinochchi and agreed to cooperate in all activities in the north-east. They also decided to bring more pressure on the government to carry out measures that should have been implemented within 160 days of the ceasefire agreement. One of them is the withdrawal of the security forces from occupied land and buildings. Reports say that in Vavuniya District, over 1,300 acres of land in the town and the suburbs are under Army occupation.
Movement within the Vanni is strictly controlled by the Tigers. People entering the LTTE-controlled Vanni are all expected to provide details about vehicles and passengers. Some traders complain that the LTTE has imposed a 'voluntary contribution' in addition to taxes on commodities. According to reports, the Human Rights Commission (HRC) has received over 300 complaints of child recruitment by the Tigers in Vavuniya and Jaffna. The people say that they have also brought this to the notice of the SLMM. But no action has been taken in most of the cases.
Local NGOs say despite a ceasefire being in force for six months, northern hospitals continue to be affected by shortages of medicines and medical equipment and disease prevention activities have hardly begun. The Kilinochchi hospital treated 9,250 people in July, 270 of them for malaria. The LTTE say that petroleum supply to the Vanni has been interrupted. The Army returned fuel trucks to Anuradhapura alleging lack of security in the Vanni. Since then, permit to supply fuel has been issued to a private trader in Vavuniya. The fuel prices in the Vanni have risen as a result.