Sri Lanka army permits hinder Kalmadu resettlement

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 December 2004, 15:41 GMT]
Refugee families that resettled in Kalmadu, 15 kilometres northwest of Vavuniya, said Thursday that rebuilding their lives is difficult because they have to obtain special permits from the Sri Lanka army for access to their fields. The village was destroyed in a Sri Lanka army operation in 1999. The villagers of Kalmadu lost all their belongings when they fled the war. They returned in late 2002, many months after Colombo signed a cease fire agreement (CFA) with the Liberation Tigers.
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LTTE cadre dies of old battle injury

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 December 2004, 18:29 GMT]
Captain Kadalventhan (Jeyasena Gemini) who sustained injuries in the attack on Vavuniya-Irambaikulam army camp in 1997 and was being treated for the last seven years died on November 28, sources in Vanni said. His body was buried with full military honours on 1st December Wednesday in the Chatty LTTE martyrs cemetery in Kayts in Jaffna district.


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Mannar, Vavuniya paralysed by protest

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 December 2004, 05:35 GMT]
Vavuniya and Mannar towns were paralysed Thursday due to a general shut down (Hartal) called by several public organisations to protest against attacks on civilians by Sri Lankan armed forces. Protestors blocked roads and burnt tires in some parts of Vavuniya town Thursday morning. The A9 highway and the Omanthai entry/exit point in Omanthai, 15 kilometres north of Vavuniya were closed due to the hartal. There were no incidents in Mannar although the town was generally deserted, Police said.
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NGOs to hold International Day for People with Special Needs

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 December 2004, 04:13 GMT]
"More than 1500 residents of Vavuniya district are People with Special Needs. The number has increased due to new borns with defects, loss of function of limbs due to illness and due to injuries from two decades of war," said V Subramaniyam head of the Consortium of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Vavuniya during a press meet Wednesday held to announce holding of International Day for the People with Special Needs at the Vavuniya Municipal Hall on Thursday, civil sources said.
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Mannar, Vavuniya to observe general shutdown

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 December 2004, 17:00 GMT]
NorthEast Civil Society Forums appealed to businesses and residents fo districts of Vavuniya and Mannar to observe general shutdown Thursday in protest against the killings of two innocent Tamil youths in Valvettithurai in Jaffna, and assaults on members of public including one Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian during the Heroes Day celebrations, civil sources said.
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Australian aid for peace-building, humanitarian efforts

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 November 2004, 15:44 GMT]
Australian Government is to provide $4M aid to support projects in peace building and humanitarian efforts, a media release from Australian Embassy in Colombo said.
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Vepankulam shooting, gross misuse of power- Judge

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 November 2004, 08:53 GMT]
Vavuniya district Judge M Ilancheliyan issued orders on Monday to Sri Lanka Army Commander of Vanni region and to the 211st Division Commander to assist the Police investigations relating to the shooting at the Tamil Marty’s Day celebrations in Verpankulam , legal sources said. Use of T-56 type weapons to disperse crowds when the Emergency Regulations is not in force will be seen as ''gross misuse of power,'' the Judge said.
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Trincomalee to observe general shut down

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 November 2004, 12:13 GMT]
Tamil Peoples Forum of Trincomalee District Sunday issued an appeal to the Tamils in the east port town to observe a one-day general shut down Monday condemning violent attacks on innocent Tamil civilians during the Maveerar Week celebrations in the Tamil districts of northeast province by members of State armed forces and chauvinist elements, sources said.
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TNA faults SLA for violence in Tamil districts

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 November 2004, 15:53 GMT]
"Unwarranted interference by the armed forces in the lives of the Tamil civilian population in the North-East must be brought to an end," said Mr.R.Sampanthan, leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentary group in a statement of national public importance tabled in Parliament Saturday in regard to several violent incidents that had taken place in the districts of Jaffna, Mannar, Vavuniya and in Trincomalee during Heroes Day week.
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SLA, LTTE meet in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 November 2004, 16:05 GMT]
Delegations of the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Friday held discussions in the presence of the Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), Major General (retd) Trond Furuhovde, exploring ways to curb violence in Vavuniya. The Parties agreed to strengthen the dialogue prevent future incidents and to facilitate confidence-building between the parties, according to the joint statement released after the meeting.


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Sri Lanka army fires into crowd in Vavuniya, six injured

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 November 2004, 14:16 GMT]
Six civilians were injured when Sri Lanka army opened fire indiscriminately on a crowd of people at Veppankulam Junction in Vavuniya town Thursday around 5.15 p.m. A civilian was seriously injured in the shooting. SLA troops fired directly into the crowds that were in front of the Pillaiyar temple where earlier in the morning the Thamil Eelam flag had been hoisted, according to the injured civilians. SLA troops pulled down the flagpole, tore up the flag and assaulted people who were in the area.
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Mannar situation calamitous- Thamilchelvan tells SLMM

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 November 2004, 13:02 GMT]
Head of Liberation Tigers Political Wing, S.P Thamilchelvan, in an urgent message to Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) Maj. Gen (retd) Trond Furuhovde described the situation in Mannar as "calamitous" that will lead to public unrest which is "totally undesirable" during the period of ceasefire and martyrs' day celebrations.
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Dhanapala says happy about Mannar situation

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 November 2004, 11:56 GMT]
“I am happy that in Mannar we have a relatively low number of cease fire violations that reflects very well the situation in Mannar”, said Mr. Jayantha Dhanapala, Secretary General of the Sri Lankan government’s Peace Secretariat, speaking to journalists briefly during an official visit to Vavuniya Wednesday. However, he refused to take questions from the media. Accompanied by Maj. Gen. Parami Kulatunga, Sri Lankan armed forces commander for the Vanni, Mr. Dhanapala visited the main entry point on the line of control at Omanthai, 15 kilometres north Vavuniya.
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Muddy SLA detour jams traffic

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 November 2004, 17:44 GMT]
Heavy morning traffic on the A9 highway near Omanthai, the main entry point to the northern Vanni region held by the Liberation Tigers, was blocked for more than five hours Saturday after two vehicles got stuck in a muddy side road made by the Sri Lanka army through a private property. The SLA made the detour road to divert public traffic around its Nochchimoddai camp, which straddles the A9 highway near Omanthai.
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TRO organizes Pre-School teacher training in NorthEast

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 November 2004, 09:00 GMT]
Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) is conducting training programmes to pre school teachers and pre school development coordinators jointly with Forut and SCiSL throughout NorthEast covering all the communities through a bottom up organization, Pre-School Education Development Centre, TRO sources said.


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Jaffna man killed by Police fire in Anuradhapura

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 November 2004, 06:58 GMT]
A sixty year old man from Jaffna who was returning from Colombo in a van with relatives from Germany was shot dead by Police in Anuradhapura around 3.15 a.m Tuesday. Anuradhapura Police said that the van was fired at because it did not stop when it was signalled to do so. However, the van driver told Vavuniya Police that he did not stop because the person who signalled at Jaffna Junction in Anuradhapura town was not in Police uniform.
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GAs, LTTE, Harim Peiris meet to discuss North rehabilitation

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 November 2004, 11:52 GMT]
Mr.Harim Peiris, Advisor to Sri Lanka's President on the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction and Reconciliation of the North East, Wednesday held a conference in the circuit bungalow of the Vavuniya district secretariat with the Government Agents of the districts of Jaffna, Mullaitivu, Killinochchi, Mannar and Vavuniya and political activists of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on the proposed rehabilitation and reconstruction activities to be undertaken in the northern province, sources said.
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"Tamils have right to make their own constitution" – Mavai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 November 2004, 08:52 GMT]
“The objective before us is to make our own constitution on the basis of our sovereignty, which is inalienable. We have the right to do it. The signing of the ceasefire agreement between the leader of the Tamil nation and the Prime Minister of the Sinhala nation proved that there are two states on this island”, said Mr. Mavai Senathirajah, Tamil National Alliance MP for Jaffna, speaking at the opening of the new building of the Thamil Eelam Law College in Kilinochchi Wednesday. The Thamil Eelam Law College was declared open by Ms. Adele Balasingham.
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Jaffna SLA assault case transferred to Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 November 2004, 18:29 GMT]
The case against two Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers who were indicted for causing grievous injury to a paper seller boy and a bus conductor by firing at them in Jaffna bus stand during early part of this year has been transferred from Jaffna to Vavuniya Magistrate Court on the orders of the Court of Appeal, legal sources said.


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WFP expands school meals project in northeast

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 November 2004, 17:36 GMT]
''Standard of education in the North East has deteriorated due to the two-decade old war and malnutrition in children has further impacted the educational standards,'' said Mr.M.S.Jayasinghe, Secretary of Ministry of Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction addressing the launching of School Feeding (Expansion) of the World Food Programme of United Nations at Nilaveli Tamil Maha Vidiyalayam located sixteen km off the east port town Trincomalee Monday.


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