ILO funds bakery training center in Mannar

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 June 2005, 23:58 GMT]
International Labor Organization (ILO) funded Bakery Training Center was opened in Illupaikadavai in Mannar district Thursday at 10 am sources in Mannar said. Ten teen aged boys and girls who dropped out of school due to war, and another ten women head of households were selected to receive training to build bakery skills in the center.
Full story >>

Profile of a shadow war veteran

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 June 2005, 01:02 GMT]
The veteran intelligence officer, Lieutenant Colonel Nizam Muthaliff, was a central figure in the atrocity-punctuated paramilitary aspects of the counter-insurgency campaign against the LTTE in the early nineties then had a critical role in the deep penetration attacks on LTTE commanders and officials, the Tamil Guardian reported Wednesday.
Full story >>

SLA, Police agree to remove Buddha statue in Omanthai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 June 2005, 00:31 GMT]
After a visit to the Omanthai Pillaiyar Temple grounds Wednesday by Vanni district parliamentarians Mr.Selvam Adaikalanathan, Mr.Sivasakthi Ananthan and Mr.Sivanathan Kishore and LTTE Vavuniya district deputy political head Mr.Dharmendra accompanied by Vavuniya Police Officer in charge Mr. Abeyasinghe Bandara, TNA parliamentarian Adaikalanathan said that the Police and the Army have agreed to remove the Buddha statue from the Hindu temple grounds, sources in Vavuniya said.
Full story >>

Economic embargo imposed in Batticaloa, Vaharai residents protest

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 May 2005, 17:14 GMT]
Large number of residents of Vaharai division in the Batticaloa district Tuesday morning staged a peaceful protest march demanding the withdrawal of economic embargo imposed recently by the Sri Lankan military, sources said. Last several days soldiers manning checkpoints in Batticaloa have been blocking civilians from transporting cement, building materials, fuel and other essential materials to the villages of Panichchankerni, Paalchenai, Kathiraveli, Kandalady, Uriyankattu and Mankerni which are located in LTTE controlled Vaharai division.
Full story >>

Buddha statue installed in Omanthai Pillayar temple grounds

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 May 2005, 13:24 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers in Omanthai camp has erected a three foot statue of Buddha in the grounds of Omanthai Pillayar temple in Vavuniya last March, according to local residents. The custodian priest of the Pillaiyar temple fled the area after the soldiers harassed him to hand over the land deeds, residents further said. All residents living close to the temple have been forcibly photographed by the SLA and have been warned against tampering with the statue. Residents say that no one goes near the statue out of fear of the soldiers.


Full story >>

Military blocks LTTE commanders’ return

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 May 2005, 14:17 GMT]
Amid the continuing cycle of violence in Sri Lanka’s eastern province, hopes of improving trust between the Sri Lankan military and the Liberation Tigers are being undermined by Colombo’s refusal to provide safe passage to senior LTTE commanders and other cadres across Army-controlled areas, officials said. In the wake of the massacre of an LTTE political leader and his team when travelling by road through Army-controlled roads, there are accusations the use of helicopters is being denied to expose LTTE officials to paramilitary attack.
Full story >>

Trinco Youth organization seeks Police protection

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 May 2005, 15:37 GMT]
Police has provided security to the office of the Trincomalee District Youth Development Aham (TDYDA), a local non-governmental organization which is located along Trincomalee-Kanniya at Mihindupura, after Sinhala groups hurled abuse and injured officials serving in the organization's Trinco offices, security sources said.


Full story >>

Do Sri Lanka's defense forces have conventional warfare capability?- Taraki

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 May 2005, 00:34 GMT]
In an article in the Colombo-based Tamil daily, Virakesari, on March 27, 2005, Dharmaretnam Sivaram, analyzed the history of Sri Lanka's defense forces and argued that from the very beginning, the Sri Lankan forces' mission was to confront internal crises that the country's ruling elite feared as grave threats, without the strategic thinking required for conventional warfare or to confront external threats.
Full story >>

LTTE officer’s funeral in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 May 2005, 14:42 GMT]
The body of Tamil Tiger officer killed in an accident in Vanni on Sunday was brought for funeral rites to his home village in Jaffna on Wednesday , the Sri Lanka Army said. The remains of Lt. Senthalan (Thurairajah Selvakumar) were taken to Arugalmadam at Lotus Road in Jaffna through the frontline checkpoint at Muhamalai.
Full story >>

NorthEast Housing Project workshop to be held in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 May 2005, 16:06 GMT]
The Project Launching Workshop of the World Bank funded North East Housing Reconstruction Programme (NEHRP) is to be held on May 19 at Mahaweli Centre in Colombo under the patronage of the Provincial Governor Mr.Tyronne Fernando, Sources said. The purpose of the workshop is to create awareness of the project's mission and objectives among all those who are involved in the project implementation, NEHRP sources said.
Full story >>

Donors meet in Kandy

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 May 2005, 11:44 GMT]
International donors met Monday at a key conference to discuss post-tsunami and post-conflict assistance for Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan Development Forum (SLDF), meeting in central hill country town of Kandy will deliberate for two days.
Full story >>

TNA kept out of Development Forum

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 May 2005, 15:06 GMT]
"The programme formulated for the Sri Lanka Development Forum (SLDF) which is to be held in Kandy on May 16th and 17th seeks to marginalize the North East and fails to recognise diversity, and respect the democratic verdict of the people of the North East," said Mr R Sampanthan, Leader of the parliamentary group of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), in a letter he wrote to the Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr. Sarath Amunugama, Sunday, TNA sources in Colombo said.
Full story >>

Norway funds Mannar Educational Resource Center

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 May 2005, 03:00 GMT]
An Educational Resource Center built under Operation Day's Work (ODW) project supported by Develpment funds from the Norwegian Government, was opened in Aandankulam Roman Catholic School in Mannar Friday, sources in Mannar said. ODW project is administered by the Rural Economic, Education Research and Development Organization (REERDO) branch of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization, an NGO registered with the Government of Sri Lanka.
Full story >>

Pro-peace groups receive death threats

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 May 2005, 13:46 GMT]
Leaders of civil society organisations calling for a peaceful solution to Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict have received death threats from an extreme Sinhala nationalist group calling itself ‘Theraputtabhaya force.’ The letter, which claimed responsibility for the murder of journalist Sivaram Dharmeratnam, says that all traitors should be ready to become "fertiliser for the motherland" if they continue to betray it.
Full story >>

Joint Mechanism concerns linger as Donor Group readies for Kandy meet

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 May 2005, 17:51 GMT]
Sri Lanka Development Forum (SLDF), the aid review meeting where multilateral lenders and officials Sri Lanka Government meet to firm up on aid pledges, "will focus on the post-tsunami recovery and reconstruction process and the overall method and development strategies of Sri Lanka," said Dr.Sarath Amunugama, Minister of Finance and Planning in the invitation to participants to the Forum. Leaders of political parties represented in parliament have also been invited for the inaugural session, which is to be held on May 16 from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m.
Full story >>

Vanni journalists protest Sivaram killing

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 May 2005, 12:32 GMT]
A large number of journalists and several Vavuniya residents took part in a demonstration Tuesday organised by Vanni Journalists Association, condemning the abduction and murder of Tamil political columnist and military analysts, Mr. Dharmeratnam Sivaram in Colombo on 29 April. Vanni District Parliamentarians Sivanathan Kishore, Sivasakthi Aananthan, Selvam Adikalanathan and Vino Nokarathalingam, also participated.
Full story >>

Military Academy's 10th anniversary celebrated

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 May 2005, 11:39 GMT]
Liberation Tigers (LTTE) celebrated the 10th anniversary of one of its military training academy by organizing a 60 km bike race from Paranthan Junction in A9 to Mullaitivu town Sunday 6.00am, according to sources from Kilinochchi.
Full story >>

Two LTTE cadres killed

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 May 2005, 17:02 GMT]
Two bullet ridden bodies found in Pollonnorawa police division near the border of Batticaloa District were identified as Capt.Suban (Arasaretnam Vigneswaran of Valaththapitty) and Lt.Nilavarasan (Rasalingam Shankar of Kaluwankerny), both from political wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), sources from Vanni said.
Full story >>

NorthEast pre-school teachers compete for honors

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 May 2005, 12:55 GMT]
Pre-school teachers from five regions in the NorthEast province vied for honors in general knowledge test conducted by the Pre-School Development Organization to mark its 10th anniversary since its establishment with a mission of improving the education standards of pre-school children in NorthEast, sources from Kilinochchi said. Pre-school development falls under the administration of Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), an NGO registered with the Government of Sri Lanka which works exclusively in the NorthEast.
Full story >>

Donors can't dictate dates to finalize aid deal- Kadirgamar

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 May 2005, 05:47 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister, Mr Lakshman Kadirgamar said after a meeting with donor community in Geneva Friday that President Chandrika Kumaratunga has been holding "intensive" talks with religious and political leaders ahead of a meeting with Liberation Tigers on May 15 th and 16th, and that Sri Lanka "could not accept any dictation by the donor community about dates," according to an AFP report.
Full story >>