Kumaratunga softens opposition to lifting ban

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 April 2002, 14:26 GMT]
Bowing to international pressure not to impede the Norwegian peace initiative in Sri Lanka, President Chandrika Kumaratunga Wednesday tempered her long-standing opposition to the de-proscription of the Liberation Tigers, saying careful consideration should be given to it.
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Norway-Sri Lanka exchange views on Thailand talks

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 April 2002, 17:41 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe and Norway's Deputy Foreign Minister Mr. Vidar Helgessen Monday afternoon exchanged views on the agenda for peace talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which is scheduled to take place in Thailand in May or June, sources said.
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CWC supports self-determination demand -Thondaman

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 April 2002, 14:42 GMT]
"The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) have come to an understanding to work together for the resolution of the Tamil national question", said Mr.Arumugam Thondaman, a UNF government minister Sunday. Mr.Thondaman, CWC leader met reporters at the Katunayake International Airport lounge Sunday afternoon on his return from LTTE held town of Killinochchi in the Vanni region.
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SLMC, LTTE sign agreement, plan more meetings

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 April 2002, 19:26 GMT]
(News Feature) Muslim leaders and the Liberation Tigers have signed an agreement to cooperate on affairs related to Sri Lanka's Muslim community, the head of the largest Muslim party told a press conference Saturday. Mr. Rauf Hakeem, leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and a delegation from his party flew to the LTTE-held town of Kilinochchi on Saturday morning for discussions with an LTTE delegation headed by the movement's leader, Mr. Vellupillai Pirapaharan.
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"LTTE-TNA decide to work united"-Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 April 2002, 18:47 GMT]
"The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) have accepted the need to work unitedly,"said Mr.R.Sampanthan, leader of the TNA parliamentary group Saturday evening in a statement on his return to Colombo from Vanni. Mr.Sampanthan told Tamilnet that the three and a half hour meeting with the LTTE leader was a historic event.
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US welcomes Pirapaharan's comments

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 April 2002, 22:36 GMT]
In a statement issued by its embassy in Colombo Friday, the United States welcomed comments by the Liberation Tigers' leader Mr. Vellupillai Pirapaharan expressing his support for the Norwegian peace initiative. Mr. Pirapaharan made his comments at a press conference held Wednesday in Kilinochchi.
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Pirapaharan commits to peace, self determination

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 April 2002, 09:30 GMT]
(News Feature) It was reportedly the largest media event ever held in the island. The scale of the international and local media interest reflected the impact Mr. Vellupillai Pirapaharan has on Sri Lanka’s politics. His first press conference in over a decade - announced just a week in advance - drew almost six hundred reporters, photographers and cameramen from around the world to the war devastated town of Kilinochchi.
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A9 to Jaffna reopens

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 April 2002, 13:22 GMT]
The last closed section of the A9 highway running from Kilinochchi to Jaffna was reopened Monday in a joint ceremony by senior officers from the Sri Lankan military and the Liberation Tigers. Following the opening of the highway at Muhamalai, fifteen cadres from the LTTE's political section entered Army-controlled territory to travel to Jaffna where they are to begin work under the terms of the indefinite ceasefire signed between both sides on February 22. However, the Army prevented hundreds of civilians on both sides from crossing.
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Norway's Ambassador visits Vanni

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 April 2002, 17:45 GMT]
The Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Mr. Jon Westborg, and the leader of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), Mr.Trond Furuhoved arrived in Kilinochchi in the northern Vanni region, Saturday morning, in a Sri Lanka Air Force helicopter, 'Thamil Eelam Vanoli', the commercial service of the Voice of Tigers said in its news broadcast this evening.
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Shortcomings in Vanni schools to be addressed

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 April 2002, 17:42 GMT]
"During the past last ten years no school development work had taken place in Vanni region. No permanent buildings have been provided to majority of the schools. Many schools in the region are understaffed, and acute shortage for furniture prevails in these schools," said Provincial Director of Education Mr.I.M.Issadeen who returned after a four-day visit to the Vanni region, Friday.
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INGOs' concern for Vanni children said hypocrisy laced

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 April 2002, 00:07 GMT]
(News Feature) A flag week to promote awareness about malnutrition among children in the Vanni is currently being observed in the northern region, sources said. Awareness seminars for the public on mother-child nutrition will be held in all parts of the Vanni region during the week, a spokesperson for the largest NGO in the north, the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO), said.
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Pirapaharan to hold international press conference

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 April 2002, 16:19 GMT]
Mr. Vellupillai Pirapaharan, the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), assisted by Mr. Anton Balasingham, the LTTE's chief negotiator and political advisor, will be conducting a press conference on April 10 to discuss current political developments and associated issues, the movement, said in a press release Wednesday.
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Negotiations to resume soon - LTTE

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 March 2002, 12:14 GMT]
Political negotiations between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers will resume soon when the terms and conditions of the permanent ceasefire agreement between the two sides are implemented and conditions of normalcy are restored in the Tamil homeland, LTTE sources told TamilNet Tuesday.
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Balasingham returns to Vanni

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 March 2002, 10:22 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers' chief negotiator and political strategist, Mr. Anton Balasingham, returned to the Vanni Monday, arriving from the Maldives in a seaplane which landed on the Iranamadu irrigation tank in the LTTE controlled region. Accompanied by his wife, Adele, and an official from the Norwegian Embassy in Colombo, Mr. Balasingham was upon arriving met by the LTTE's leader, Mr. Vellupillai Pirapaharan, head of the movementís political section, Mr. Thamil Chelvan and senior LTTE military commanders.
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Govt., TE request ICRC's help to open A9

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 March 2002, 12:05 GMT]
The government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have officially requested the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) to assist in opening the A9 highway to Jaffna from Killinochchi. "We received the official request from the government and the LTTE on Friday. However we have not decided on the date of opening the A9 highway," said Mr. Arjuna Ranawana, Information Officer of the ICRC addressing Trincomalee district journalists Saturday morning at Seven Islands Hotel.
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LTTE leader compliments Norway for historic peace agreement

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 March 2002, 15:10 GMT]
Mr Vellupillai Pirapaharan, leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Wednesday hailed the truce agreement between the Sri Lanka government and the Tamil Tigers as a historical achievement that laid a strong foundation for the peace process and negotiated political settlement. The LTTE leader praised the Norwegian facilitators for their sincere and untiring effort to bring peace in the island when he met the head of the Norwegian monitoring mission, the retired Norwegian army general Trond Furuhovede in Killinochci, northern Sri Lanka Wednesday evening.
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SLA recruits, restructures for greater efficiency

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 February 2002, 12:14 GMT]
(News feature) The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) is at the cross roads today, warily eyeing the prospect of a long peace and the schemes of the modern technocrats of the new government who might be inclined, as the negotiations progress, to prune its lavish budget and compact it to its 'natural size'. But the United National Front has sought to allay the SLA's apprehensions by promising to help it achieve greater efficiency.
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A9 opening

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 February 2002, 06:22 GMT]
(Photographs) The TamilNet correspondent for Vavuniya visited the Vanni after the A-9 highway was reopened on Friday, February 15 from Vavuniya up to Killinochchi, as part of ongoing efforts to de-escalate the conflict. The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) opened the A9 highway northwards from Omanthai and the Liberation Tigers opened the southern end of the section of the road which falls within their areas.
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LTTE prepared to open Kilinochchi-Jaffna highway

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 February 2002, 15:37 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said Friday that they are willing to open the remaining part of the A-9 highway from Kilinochchi to Jaffna in the near future, if the Sri Lankan Government responded favourably. This was stated by Mr.Thangan (Sutha), Political Administrative Secretary of the organisation when speaking at the ceremonial function of the opening of A-9 highway from Vavuniya to Killinochchi Friday morning.
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A9 highway reopens

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 February 2002, 11:14 GMT]
(News Feature) Sri Lanka's main A9 highway, the target of an abortive and bloody 18-month Army offensive in the mid nineties was reopened Friday morning from Vavuniya up to Killinochchi, as part of ongoing efforts to de-escalate the conflict. The move provides greater access for people and supplies to the Liberation Tigers held Vanni region on which successive government in Colombo clamped an economic embargo for more than a decade. Goods were scheduled to flow into the area Friday, while seven hundred people waiting on either side of the former separating line had been cleared to cross. "Civilians would be allowed to travel to and from LTTE held Vanni region through these roads after their identities are checked and only five days a week between 8 am and 5 pm," authoritative sources told TamilNet.
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