WB team inspects NEIAP focal villages in northeast

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 December 2003, 21:31 GMT]
A World Bank team is to begin its six-day tour in the northeast province and its border areas Thursday to assess the ongoing rehabilitation and development works in the selected villages under the North-East Irrigated Agricultural Project (NEIAP), which is funded by the Bank, sources said.
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NE pre-school education development program inaugurated

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 December 2003, 17:58 GMT]
A seven-day residential training camp for pre-school education coordinators of the education zones of Trincomalee and Vavuniya south began Wednesday in Trincomalee. The training program has been organized by the North East Pre School Education Development Council (PSEDC) and funded by the Norwegian-Swedish agency, FORUT, and the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization in the northeast province, TRO sources said.
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Departing Vanni SLA commander commends LTTE’s cooperation

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 December 2003, 06:01 GMT]
“During the last 13 months of my service in Vavuniya, the Sri Lanka Police and the LTTE’s political cadres, who are working in the SLA-controlled areas, cooperated with me. The problems that arose with respect to the LTTE’s peace-related political activities and other issues were solved with the assistance of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, and we were able to maintain peace and order in Vavuniya,” said Maj. Gen. Susil Chandrapala, the outgoing Vanni commander of the Sri Lanka Army, during a Police farewell given to him in Vavuniya Monday, sources said.
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Sinhala nationalists dared to go beyond Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 December 2003, 03:40 GMT]
“I dare Wimal Weerawanse and Champika Ranawaka to go beyond Vavuniya. They can’t. But I can take them now or even during war because we have trust in the Tamil people,” said Mr. Dharmasiri Bandaranayaka, a well known and respected Sinhala film director, addressing a meeting organised by leftist political parties, trade unions and civil society groups at the New Town Hall in Colombo Wednesday. The Liberation Tigers control most of the northern province beyond Vavuniya.
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International Day for people with special needs held in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 December 2003, 00:01 GMT]
People with special needs (the handicapped) in Vavuniya gathered at the Urban council hall in the Northern town Wednesday to participate at the International Day for people with special needs, and re-iterated in an oath that disability did not mean lack of talent and that they would demand equal rights in spheres where such rights are currently lacking, sources said.
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NE environmental management workshop begins in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 December 2003, 18:23 GMT]
A four-day international workshop on Environmental Management in the NorthEast of Sri Lanka began Monday at the Kailasapathy auditorium of Jaffna University. The University of Jaffna, Eastern University of Sri Lanka and The Economic Consultancy House (TECH) have jointly organized the workshop. The concluding session of the workshop is to be held on Thursday with Dr.Jay Maheswaran in the chair.
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‘Flagrant discrimination’ in allocation of Health funds alleged

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 December 2003, 23:01 GMT]
The allocation of funds for a program on emergency Obstetrics and Child Health in the war-ravaged areas of the North East, jointly sponsored by the UNICEF and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), flagrantly discriminates against Tamil provinces, several health officials in the North East told TamilNet’s Vanni correspondent Tuesday.
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Vavuniya Courts hears case of missing youth

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 December 2003, 11:33 GMT]
Ariyathas Puvaneswary, mother of Ariyathas Vijayakumar, who went missing after 15 August 2000 when he was arrested by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers from the Vavuniya 211 Brigade, gave evidence at the Vavuniya courts when the case was taken up for hearing under District Judge M.Ilancheliyan, legal sources in Vavuniya said.
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Row erupts at TULF meeting

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 November 2003, 11:42 GMT]
The central working committee of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) Sunday evening voted on a no confidence motion on the President Mr.V.Anandasangaree. The meeting ended in uproar. Jaffna TULF organiser Mr. T. Kulasingham, Vavuniya TULF organiser and TNA parliamentarian Mr. N. Raviraj were assaulted.
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Canadian paramedics donate medical equipment to North

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 November 2003, 05:18 GMT]
The Emergency Medical Service (EMS) Unit in Toronto, Canada, has donated medical equipment and medicine used in emergency surgery, worth 30 million Rupees, to the government hospitals in Vavuniya, Mannar and Kilinochchi, sources said.
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LTTE honors parents of martyrs in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 November 2003, 04:30 GMT]
The practice of honoring fighters who sacrifice their lives for their homeland even during periods of war, and honoring the parents of the fighters on-going now in the NorthEast, is not seen in other parts of the world and is unique to the Tamil homeland, said Mr. S. Ezhilan, the political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Vavuniya, speaking at an event held at Sastrikoolankulam in the Vavuniya district to honor parents of LTTE martyrs Saturday, sources in Vavuniya said.
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UNHCR's mobile service helps India returnees

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 November 2003, 16:12 GMT]
K.Ganesh, Government Agent (GA) Vavuniya inaugurated a one day UNHCR organized mobile service to assist displaced who had returned from India after seeking refuge in India during the last several years. Mr.Jim Warrall, head of Field Office in Vavuniya and Head Quarters Inspector of Police in Vavuniya joined the GA during the ceremony.
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Thousands of teaching vacancies in northeast schools

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 November 2003, 11:45 GMT]
There are presently 4820 teacher vacancies and 132 vacancies for principals in northeast schools, a conference held Saturday at the provincial education ministry auditorium in Trincomalee and presided by the Sri Lanka's Minister for School Education Mr.Suranimala Rajapakse, was told.
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Most landmine accidents in Jaffna – UN group

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 November 2003, 06:49 GMT]
The United Nations Inter-Agency Working Group on Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) in Colombo said Tuesday that most of the accidents caused by mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) occurred in Jaffna this year. UNDP supported de-mining began in Jaffna seven years ago. Today there are three international de-mining groups active in the peninsula, including one from the US army. The UNDP continues support. A year ago, the region controlled by the Liberation Tigers in the north had much larger and extensive concentrations of mines, minefields and UXOs than Jaffna.
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US official on media familiarization tour to NorthEast

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 November 2003, 14:36 GMT]
Cody C.Taylor, Assistant Public Affairs Officer at the American Embassy in Colombo, visited Trincomalee to familiarize herself with media persons in the NorthEast province in Sri Lanka, sources said.


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Committee for advancement of education formed in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 November 2003, 16:23 GMT]
The importance of forming a committee for the advancement of education in the Vanni district was stressed by the Liberation Tigers’ educational and political divisions' leaders, at a meeting of education officials held at the Saiva Prakasa Ladies College in Vavuniya Thursday, sources said.
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Vavuniya judicial officers demonstrate in support of CJ

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 November 2003, 01:27 GMT]
The judicial officers in Vavuniya protested against the alleged motion by the United National Front Government of Sri Lanka in parliament to impeach the Chief Justice (CJ), stopping work at half-day on Thursday to hold a demonstration, sources in the Northern town said.
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Media reports on LTTE, UNF Ministers' meet false - LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 November 2003, 11:25 GMT]
In a press release issued from its Political Head Quarters in Kilinochchi Monday morning, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) denied media reports that said a meeting took place between Peace Secretariat Director Pulithevan and Senior ministers of the United Front Government, Ravi Karunanayake, lands Minister Rajitha Senaratne, Agricultural Minister S. B. Dissanayake and Rural Economy Minister Bandula Gunawardena, Sunday in Vavuniya.
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Thamil Eelam judiciary said a basis for rebuilding northeast

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 October 2003, 01:05 GMT]
“The purpose of the LTTE’s legal system is to create a crime free environment where adjudication of civil and commercial disputes is fair and expeditious. This is the essential foundation on which one can rebuild Tamil society to achieve economic development and prosperity," said Mr. E. Pararajasingham (Para), head of the Judicial Division of the Liberation Tigers, in an in depth interview with TamilNet this week about the LTTE’s legal system. “The very instruments designed to subvert the Rule of Law in the northeast were eventually turned on the Sinhala people too," he points out.
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Norwegian Advisor on Gender Issues visits Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 October 2003, 15:34 GMT]
Dr. Astrid N. Heiberg, the Advisor to the Subcommittee on Gender Issues (SGI) and Ms. Kjersti of the Norwegian High Commission in Colombo, visited the women’s secretariat in Kilinochchi Thursday morning and held discussions about women’s issues throughout the day, sources in the Vanni said.
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