Muslim abducted, killed in Batticaloa north

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 March 2005, 07:29 GMT]
A Muslim auto rickshaw driver who was abducted Tuesday evening by unidentified gunmen in the in the general area of Kadjuwatte, about 55 kilometres north of Batticaloa, was found shot dead Wednesday morning, Sri Lanka army (SLA) spokesman Brig. Daya Ratnayaka said. He blamed the Liberation Tigers for the abduction and killing. "This is a foul murder carried out by the Sri Lanka army and its lackeys calculated to destroy cordial relations between Muslims and Tamils in the east. We will not rise to the bait", said Mr. P. Thayamohan, a senior LTTE political official in Batticaloa. A member of the Liberation Tigers was shot dead in this area in an ambush on Monday.


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UNICEF has erred - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 March 2005, 18:47 GMT]
The question of child soldiers continues to vex strained relations between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers. That the matter has been raised against the Tigers by the UN and other rights organizations is considered by Colombo as a feather in its foreign policy cap. "The Government of Sri Lanka is more interested in cynically exploiting the child soldiers issue for its black propaganda war against us than in finding a political solution to the conflict", said Mr. S. P . Thamilchelvan in an interview with the TamilNet this week. He said there were serious errors in the UNICEF report on child recruitment by the LTTE.
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GTZ releases booklet on School Nutrition

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 March 2005, 01:00 GMT]
A Training manual "School Health and Nutrition" prepared by the Teacher In-service Project (TIP) under the German Technical Co-operation (GTZ) funding was ceremonially released at an event held Wednesday afternoon at the provincial education ministry auditorium, sources said. Dr.S.Abraham, Deputy Provincial Director of Health Services, was the chief guest at the event.
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SEDB opens tenth bank branch in Vakarai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 March 2005, 15:10 GMT]
10th branch of the Socio Economic Development Bank (SEDB) headquartered in Killinochchi was opened in Vakarai in the Batticaloa district Monday. This is the second in the Batticaloa district. Mr.Gopal, Vakarai divisional director of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) presided over the event, sources said.
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Boat building yard opened in Vadamaradchchi east

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 March 2005, 11:26 GMT]
Funded by the Norwegian and Malaysian branches of Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) and in collaboration with the Multi Marine Services (MMS) organization, the TRO Monday opened a boat-building yard in Nelliyan, Vadamaradchchi east division in the Jaffna district, sources said.


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Prince Charles arrives in Sri Lanka, visits Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 February 2005, 05:39 GMT]
Britain's Prince Charles arrived in Colombo on Monday morning on a six-hour brief visit amidst tight security. Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, Power and Energy Minister Susil Premajayanth and Deputy Foreign Minister Prof. Viswa Warnapala received the Prince at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) amidst tight security. From the international airport, Charles flew to the Eastern Batticaloa district in a special military helicopter and visited Navalady and Thiruchendoor, two coastal suburbs of Batticaloa town, which were completely devastated by the Tsunami.
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Indian envoy visits Jaffna, discusses developing Pt.Pedro hospital

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 February 2005, 14:39 GMT]
A delegation led by Ms Nirupama Rao, Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Saturday arrived in Palaly military air base Jaffna by a special aircraft and held discussions at the Point Pedro base hospital regarding its development with the funds allocated by the Government of India, health ministry sources said.
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Kumaratunga says no paramilitaries with Sri Lanka army

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 February 2005, 07:17 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunga told Norwegian special peace envoy Mr. Eric Solheim that there aren’t any paramilitaries working with the Sri Lankan armed forces, according to a press release by the Presidential Secretariat Friday. The Liberation Tigers say that Colombo had committed to disarm paramilitaries working with the Sri Lankan armed forces in the island’s northeast under the terms of the cease fire agreement (CFA) it signed with them three years ago. The statement said that Mr. Solheim conveyed to Ms Kumaratunge LTTE’s concern regarding the implementation of Article 1.8 of the CFA in relation to disarming of paramilitary groups when he met her Thursday in Colombo.
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Tamil MPs protest march in Sri Lanka Parliament

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 February 2005, 08:26 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance MP marched on the driveway to the Sri Lankan Parliament carrying placards condemning Colombo for failing to avail itself of the cease fire with the Liberation Tigers signed three years ago. “Do not buy weapons with Tsunami aid”, “Disarm the paramilitaries”, “Don’t divide the Muslims and Tamils”, read some of the placards. The march and demo were led by senior Tamil Parliamentarians Mr. R. Sampanthan, Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham, Mr. Mavai Senathirajah and Mr. Selvam Adaikalanathan.


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North preschool teachers killed in Tsunami remembered

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 February 2005, 16:34 GMT]
Sixtieth day remembrance of pre-school teachers and children died in the tsunami disaster in the coastal areas of Vadamaradchchi east division in the districts of Jaffna and Mullaitivu and the distribution of bicycles to tsunami affected pre-school teachers were held in the Mullaitivu district office of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) sponsored by the TRO and funded by Norway TRO under the auspices of the North East Pre-School Development Centre (NEPSDC) Wednesday morning, sources said.
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SLA troopers shot in Kilali no go zone

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 February 2005, 15:26 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army (SLA) trooper was reported killed and another was injured when the Liberation Tigers fired on them in the no man's zone when the SLA soldiers had advanced to within 40 meters of the LTTE Forward Defence line in the lagoon between the SLA held Kilali, Jaffna and the LTTE controlled mainland around 5 p.m. Wednesday. LTTE women cadres in the forward defence line opened fire when they spotted SLA soldiers taking aim at them, sources in Kilinochchi said. A similar incident took place at the same location in February 2003.
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Asian Football Federation officials visit Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 February 2005, 03:36 GMT]
Officials of the Asian Football (Soccer) Federation led by its Vice President Manilal Fernando visited Kilinochchi Monday and had an hour long discussions with Head of the Liberation Tigers Sports Wing, K. Pappa at the Planning and Development Secretariat (PDS) offices Monday, LTTE sources from Kilinochchi said.
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Foreign education officials visit tsunami hit Jaffna, Mullaitivu

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 February 2005, 15:48 GMT]
Mr.Fred van Leeuwen, General Secretary of the Education International (EI) and Mr.Aloysius Mathews, Chief Co-ordinator of the EI, Asia Pacific region accompanied by Mr.T.Mahasivam, General Secretary of the Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Union (CTTU) Monday visited the tsunami hit coastal areas in the districts of Jaffna and Mullaitivu, sources said.


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Stalled Peace talks strains Ceasefire, says SLMM chief

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 February 2005, 08:44 GMT]
The Scandinavian truce monitors, monitoring the ceasefire agreement between the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) since the day it came into operation on Feb 22, 2002, cautioned on Tuesday that the prolonging stalemate in the peace talks causes serious strain on the very existence of the ceasefire.
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Ranil calls for unity to safeguard ceasefire

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 February 2005, 08:31 GMT]
"Parties with vested interest would like to go back to war. But the reality is, this country cannot face another war. We will all be destroyed by the fight", leader of the opposition and former Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, on Tuesday said noting that the Ceasefire Agreement, which is entering into the fourth year, "is under threat" and called for unity to safeguard the ceasefire agreement and to achieve a lasting peace in Sri Lanka. Mr. Wickremesinghe has made these observations this morning while making a statement before the electronic media on the third anniversary of entering into ceasefire agreement with the LTTE, which brought to an end the two-decade long war.
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Arrest further suffering of Tamil people, IFT urges International Community

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 February 2005, 08:03 GMT]
"It is sad observe that even the devastation caused by the Tsunami calamity has failed to draw the sympathy of the Sri Lankan government towards the Tamils", noted the Geneva based International Federation of Tamils (IFT), a consortium of more than 150 expatriate Tamil organizations, in a media statement released on the third anniversary of the Oslo-facilitated Cease-Fire Agreement (CFA) and called upon the International Community to recognise the "prevalence of suffering of the Tamil people" and to address immediate measures to prevent "further neglect, deterioration, trauma and suffering under a callous state".
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Solheim in Sri Lanka, 3rd anniversary of CFA

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 February 2005, 06:25 GMT]
Norwegian Special Peace Envoy Mr. Erik Solheim and Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka Mr. Hans Brattskar arrived in Kilinochchi Tuesday morning to meet with the LTTE's Head of Political Division, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan. The LTTE and the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) signed the Oslo-facilitated Cease-Fire Agreement (CFA) 3 years ago, on 22 Feb. 2002.
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Civil groups demand action against sex assaults

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 February 2005, 15:16 GMT]
Citizens Committee, Justice and Peace Commission, Peoples Forum and Traders Association of Mannar district Monday appealed to Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge to take stern action against errand policemen who are involved in sexual assaults on students and women in Mannar, sources said.


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17 SLA recruits hospitalized, force fed plastic explosives

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 February 2005, 03:20 GMT]
Seventeen Sri Lanka Army (SLA) new recruits were transported to the Anuradhapura General Hospital by special helicopter after being admitted to the Vavuniya Hospital emergency ward with suspected food positioning, medical sources said. The soldiers are from the Kokkoveli army camp in Vavuniya district.
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Mullaitivu Institute targets producing skilled workers

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 February 2005, 17:41 GMT]
The Economic Consultancy House (TECH), a Non-Governmental Non-Profit Sharing Organization registered with the Government of Sri Lanka, is building a new Technical Institute in Mullaitivu to train Masons, Carpenters, Electricians, Fitters, Machine operators and other skilled workers to fulfil the current need of workers for building of houses and infrastructure in theTsunami affected areas. Training will also include outboard motor repair and fibre glass boat repair, TECH officials said.
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