Teachers and students protest in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 July 1999, 16:50 GMT]
Several teaching uniouns picketed outside the Education Zonal offices in Vavuniya today demanding full payment of risk allowance and the balance of salary arrears for shool principals.
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ICRC 'not involved in convoy crossing'

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 July 1999, 10:58 GMT]
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was at no stage involved in the organisation or escort of the convoy which transported the Vanni residents who have been stranded in Vavuniya since last month due to the closure of the access route to the areas held by the Liberation Tigers said the organisation's spokesman in Colombo, Mr.Harasha Gunawardena this afternoon.
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Kilinochchi G.A urges President to open route.

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 July 1999, 10:43 GMT]
T.Rasanayagam, the Government Agent in Kilinochchi, has asked the Sri Lankan President to make immediate arrangements to open a land route to the LTTE held areas of the Vanni.
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Crossing cancelled as shots fired

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 July 1999, 16:29 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army General Lionel Balagalle the Chief of Staff and the Commander of Vanni region said today that the return home of Vanni residents stranded in Vavuniya since the closure of the access point was cancelled after shots were fired soon after the first batch had reached the area controlled by the Liberation Tigers.
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Stranded travellers to return tomorrow

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 July 1999, 21:52 GMT]
K.Ganesh, the Government Agent in Vavuniya, said today that over 2200 stranded travellers in Vavuniya had been registered with the civil authorities to be sent to the Vanni tomorrow morning after military officials informed him that the Vanni people will be returned home tomorrow.
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Stranded Vanni residents to go back?

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 July 1999, 16:46 GMT]
The Vanni Security Forces Commander, Major General Lionel Balagalle, said today that two thousand persons from among the Vanni residents who have been stranded in Vavuniya since the closure off all entry points to the areas held by the Liberation Tigers in the north could be sent back tomorrow.
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Journalists to watch travellers return

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 July 1999, 16:26 GMT]
Vavuniya kacheri officials were busy this morning making arrangements to send back about 2200 civilians from the LTTE controlled areas of the Vanni who have been stranded in Vavuniya since last month.
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Tamil groups appeal to President

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 July 1999, 11:38 GMT]
Six Tamil parties in Colombo resolved today to appeal to the Sri Lankan President to take action to avert the crisis in the Vanni.
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Soldiers arrested in Mannar

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 July 1999, 09:01 GMT]
Fourteen Sri Lankan Soldiers, including 3 military officers, from the Sunny Village military camp in Mannar have been arrested by the Special Military Police.
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LTTE agrees to Mannar sea evacuation

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 July 1999, 07:38 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers have welcomed a proposal by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) that seriously ill patients stranded in the Vanni due to the closure of the access point at Uyilankulam could be evacuated by sea, said sources close to the LTTE in Europe.
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Six killed in shooting incident

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 July 1999, 11:08 GMT]
A policeman, a soldier and four civilians were killed and six others seriously wounded when two gunmen, suspected to be members of LTTE, opened fire at Thekkankaadu, about one km south of Vavuniya town along the Vavuniya Anuradhapura road, said sources.
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Demonstrators demand route to Vanni

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 July 1999, 10:00 GMT]
About 500 travellers, including government servants and traders from the LTTE held areas of the Vanni, have staged a Sathyagraha demonstration outside the Vavuniya Kacherie this morning demanding that a route to the LTTE held areas of the Vanni be opened immediately so that they could return home to their families.
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Situation in Vanni Deteriorating - GA

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 July 1999, 07:43 GMT]
People in the Kilinochchi district are affected by shortages of food, malnutrition and disease due to the closure of an access route to the Vanni, according to T.Rasanayagam the Government Agent in Kilinochchi, said sources.
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News in Brief:

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 July 1999, 19:09 GMT]
Trincomalee residents alarmed by illegal settlements, SLA casualty in Vavuniya road accident, Teachers demand payment of risk allowance; Confusion over alternative exam arrangements.
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Mass protest in Vanni -GA

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 July 1999, 18:05 GMT]
At least eight seriously ill people in the Vanni have died as they had been unable to travel to hospitals in the south, due to the closure of the access route to the region, according to K.Ganesh, the Government Agent in Vavuniya. At least three thousand travellers who had come to Mannar and Vavuniya for various purposes and stranded are undergoing severe hardship without money and spare clothes to wear, the GA said.
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Sea transfers for stranded travellers

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 July 1999, 08:26 GMT]
Arrangements are underway today, to send by sea from Mannar island, those travellers from the Vanni who are stranded in Vavuniya and Mannar due to the closure of the access route to the areas not held by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), officials in Mannar said.
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Youth killed in STF ambush

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 July 1999, 19:00 GMT]
The Special Task Force shot dead a youth at Kaluthaavalai in Batticaloa at around 10.45 p.m. last night, said sources in the area. The STF said that they ambushed a group of Liberation Tigers when they tried to infiltrate an area controlled by the security forces.
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Patients await Vanni access route

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 July 1999, 12:26 GMT]
Four seriously ill patients who are awaiting treatment at hospitals in the south were taken yesterday by protesters to the ICRC's sub-delegation at Puthukudiyiruppu in the Mullaithivu district, to highlight the difficulties faced by ordinary people since the Vanni access route was closed, the Voice of Tigers(VoT) said this morning.
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Four civilians wounded in SLA fire

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 July 1999, 12:28 GMT]
Four civilians were seriously wounded when the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers opened fire indiscriminately in Sunny Village, two kilometres from Mannar town, this afternoon. Four houses and a video movie parlour set on fire by marauding soldiers were burnt down completely. Several civilians were assaulted by the troops.
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Vavuniya teachers on strike

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 July 1999, 11:19 GMT]
Over 1500 teachers and principals in the Vavuniya district boycotted schools today in support of the 9 demands put forward by the Ceylon Tamil Teacher's Union (CTTU), said sources at the Education Department.
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