TNA awaits action despite assurances

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 May 2002, 14:30 GMT]
(News Feature) An alliance of four Tamil parties said Friday that Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremasinghe, had “responded positively” to the three key issues they had raised: the deproscription of the Liberation Tigers, setting up of an interim administration in the northeast province and the full implementation of the cease-fire agreement before the commencement of the direct peace talks. Despite the Premier’s assurances the Tamil delegation said they remained concerned about his government’s ability to meet the promises.
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Tamil schools close in protest

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 May 2002, 12:44 GMT]
More than 90% of Tamil medium schools did not function Friday in the north and east when over twenty thousand teachers and principals staged a one-day token strike putting forward a list of demands to the Sri Lankan government. Students also stayed away from their schools.
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General shut down in east as protests mount

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 May 2002, 06:17 GMT]
Schools, government offices, shops and businesses were closed Friday in the Batticaloa district and the coastal region of the Ampara district as protests against the Special Task Force (STF) for firing on a demonstration in Thirukkovil on Wednesday, 22 May. Sri Lanka Police sources in the east said there was no traffic Friday morning because protestors were continuing to block main roads with heaps of burning tires.
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Anti-STF protests erupt on southeast coast

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 May 2002, 19:38 GMT]
More than ten thousand students from 52 schools in the Thirukkovil education zone, 78 kilometres south of Batticaloa, marched and demonstrated Thursday against the Special Task Force (STF), the elite counter insurgency arm of Sri Lanka's defence establishment. Angry protestors who came out in support of the students blocked traffic on 34 kilometres of the main road on the island's southeast coast by burning tires at key junctions between Neelavanai and Akkaraipattu.
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Pandemonium in Sri Lanka Parliament over local polls

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 May 2002, 15:51 GMT]
Pandemonium reigned in the Sri Lanka's parliament Tuesday when the Speaker refused permission to the leader of the Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Mr.Wimal Weerawansa to speak against alleged malpractices in Monday's local elections. The Speaker adjourned the sittings for fifteen minutes as the situation in the house was beyond his control, with MPs of the main opposition Peoples Alliance and the JVP shouting slogans and holding placards in the chamber denouncing the manner in which local elections were conducted Monday.
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'Last chance for peace' - Karikalan

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 May 2002, 08:36 GMT]
"This is the last chance for peace. The Sri Lankan government should firmly grasp this opportunity and make the most of it to settle the conflict. We, the Liberation Tigers, are resolutely committed to peace.
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Posters in Colombo denounce 'Norway-Ranil plot'

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 May 2002, 22:21 GMT]
Sinhala nationalist groups in Sri Lanka this week stepped up their campaign against Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's attempt to strike a peace deal with the Liberation Tigers. Thousands of posters put up all over the city by one group say, "Let's defeat the Norway-Ranil plan to hand over the country to the Tigers".
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Tamil mine-clearers struggle without equipment, funds

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 May 2002, 18:20 GMT]
(NEWS FEATURE) The estimated 1.4 million pieces of live ammunition, including 86,700 anti-personnel mines, remaining in territory formerly controlled by the Sri Lanka Army are taking a long time to clear due to the lack of equipment and funding, according to the official in charge of clearing the unexploded ordnance.
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Won't leave public buildings in Batticaloa - SLA

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 May 2002, 17:41 GMT]
"The Sri Lanka army will not leave public and private buildings and houses until permanent peace is established", said Lt. Col. Gunasekera, the civil affairs officer of the SLA's 23-3 Brigade in Batticaloa, Friday addressing government and municipal officials and more than a hundred locals whose homes are occupied by the military.
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'Peace saboteurs must be defeated' - SLMC

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 May 2002, 21:53 GMT]
"The Muslims will co-operate with the Liberation Tigers to annihilate the evil forces which are all out to sabotage the peace initiatives mooted by the present government with Norwegian facilitation," declared the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress parliamentarian of the Trincomalee district, Mr.K.M.Thowfeek, addressing the opening event of the Kuchchaveli Political Office of the LTTE at Nilaveli held Thursday evening.
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Sinhala opposition to peace deal gathers momentum

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 May 2002, 18:55 GMT]
More than five thousand protestors Thursday afternoon thronged the Virodhaya (oppose) campaign by Sri Lanka's main opposition alliance against the ruling United National Front's policy on peace talks, the economy and style of governance at Nugegoda Junction, a busy intersection in greater Colombo.
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Linganagar Tamils complain army harassment

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 May 2002, 05:08 GMT]
The residents of Linganagar, a crowded suburb of Trincomalee town have submitted a memorandum to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in the eastern port city that the Sri Lanka Army has not changed its routine checking and has not relaxed the ban on taking materials such as bricks, cement, tin sheets, poles and cadjans for repairing their houses even months after the permanent ceasefire came into effect.
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Sinhala nationalist MPs vow to fight peace deal

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 May 2002, 22:07 GMT]
A large gathering of Sinhala Parliamentarians Tuesday resolved before the statue of King Duttu Gemunu in the island's ancient capital of Anuradhapura to struggle against what they called a conspiracy to divide Sri Lanka through peace talks with the Liberation Tigers. Duttu Gemunu was an ancient warrior extolled in Sri Lankan Buddhist tradition for killing Ellalan, a Tamil king of the island in the 2nd century BC, and for unifying the island under Sinhala rule.
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Air Force flights are "negating confidence" - LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 May 2002, 10:33 GMT]
In the wake of a series of low-level flights over the Vanni by Sri Lanka Air Force surveillance aircraft which have raised fears amongst residents, the Liberation Tigers Monday lodged a formal protest with the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM). The causing of panic amongst civilians by the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is "a negation of the confidence building exercise undertaken by the government of Sri Lanka," the LTTE said in a letter to the SLMM.
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TNA delegation meet Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 May 2002, 22:07 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Saturday requested the Tamil National Alliance to pressurise the Sri Lankan government for the speedy implementation of the permanent cease-fire which came into effect on February 23.
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TRO office opened in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 May 2002, 07:16 GMT]
The Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) has commenced its activities in the Trincomalee district with the opening of its office in the east port town Friday. Dr.Dedo Geinitz, Team Leader of the German Technical Co-operation (GTZ) in Trincomalee declared open the TRO office.
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PA 'to oppose country's division'

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 May 2002, 01:19 GMT]
Sri Lanka's main opposition People's Alliance Thursday vowed to step up its campaign against the Norwegian peace initiative, saying it was decided to oppose "the division of the country and suppression of fundamental rights of opposition political activists." Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse, leader of the Opposition told a press conference held at his office Thursday that the cease-fire agreement currently in force is one sided and favoured the Liberation Tigers.
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Thamilchelvan says A9 should be open 24 hours, slams SLN

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 May 2002, 06:57 GMT]
"The Liberation Tigers want the A9 road to be open 24 hours, on all days of the week, to ensure the free flow of goods between Jaffna and the other parts of the island," Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan, the head of the LTTE's political division, told TamilNet Thursday.
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More LTTE activists in Trinco

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 May 2002, 05:52 GMT]
The second group of Liberation Tigers authorised to engage in political activities in government held areas under the permanent ceasefire agreement arrived in Trincomalee by sea from Mutur on Monday. The group comprising twelve LTTE members, including four women, was headed by District Political Secretary Mr.A.Ruban.
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Pilots picked Balasingham’s flight path

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 May 2002, 12:20 GMT]
Mr. Anton Balasingham, the LTTE’s chief negotiator and political advisor, Sunday denied reports in sections of the Colombo press that he had violated the terms of the ceasefire agreement between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government by directing his seaplane over the Trincomalee seas on April 24 during a tense standoff between Sri Lanka Navy gunboats and Sea Tiger craft.
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