TNA slams NE Governor’s visit to Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 February 2005, 07:20 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance Wednesday boycotted a meeting with Governor of the Northeast Province, Mr. Tyronne Fernando, at the Vavuniya district secretariat in protest against what the TNA described as “gross discrimination by the Sri Lankan state in delivering Tsunami aid to Tamil and Muslim areas affected by the disaster”. At the meeting, Government Agents for Kilinochchi and Mullaithivu informed the Governor that no heavy machinery for clearing Tsunami destruction was sent to their districts.
Full story >>

Probe NGO links with the LTTE, JVP tells President Kumaratunga

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 February 2005, 06:25 GMT]
Describing the field hospitals, ambulances and generators as "war-like materials brought in by the NGOs for the LTTE", the Marxist extreme Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), a major coalition partner of the ruling Freedom Alliance government, has urged President Chandrika Kumaratunga in a letter Tuesday to probe "into the activities of foreign NGOs, their staff and foreign volunteers" working in Sri Lanka's tsunami-hit areas. The JVP's letter has come as an apparent bid to divert the public attention from their widening rift with President Kumaratunga, who according to reports, was getting ready to retaliate the JVP for its recent remarks against her.
Full story >>

Catamaran fishing to recommence in northern sea Monday

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 January 2005, 17:42 GMT]
Fishing using traditional craft "catamaran" is to start again in Jaffna northern sea Monday after a month since Tsunami hit the coastal areas. Most of traditional fishing crafts had been damaged in the natural disaster but the balance would be put in use this week, fisheries sources said. The word catamaran is of Tamil origin. The Tamil word 'Kattumaram' means logs bound together which, pronounced in English, transforms into Catamaran.
Full story >>

TCF assists Eachchilampathu tsunami victims

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 January 2005, 14:01 GMT]
Trincomalee Children Fund (TCF) funded by a group of Trincomalee Tamils domiciled in Canada Friday distributed a consignment of cooking utensils, mats and other relief items to hundreds of tsunami victims in the LTTE held Eeachilampathu division, down south of the Trincomalee district. Mr.S.Umamaheswaran, Eeachilampathu Divisional Secretary inaugurated the distribution at his office, sources said.
Full story >>

Protest in Mannar against Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 January 2005, 07:36 GMT]
More than four thousand people marched in Mannar town Friday in protest against the Sri Lankan government for denying equitable distribution of Tsunami aid to Northeast. The march and brief rally were led by Vanni district MPs and civil society groups in Mannar.
Full story >>

Tsunami relief to northeast inadequate- Chandrasekaran

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 January 2005, 03:46 GMT]
"The distribution of relief to Vanni region by the Sri Lanka government is not satisfactory and urgent needs of the Tsunami affected people are not being met adequately. No responsible government official has visited Jaffna, Vanni and other affected districts in the NorthEast after Tsunami disaster to see the ground situation there," said Mr.P.Chandrasekaran, leader of the Upcountry Peoples Front (UPF) and Nuwara Eliya district parliamentarian addressing the National Mourning Day meeting in Trincomalee esplanade held Wednesday evening.
Full story >>

Tree planting, shramadana campaign mark remembrance day

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 January 2005, 03:58 GMT]
Members of Trincomalee District Women Organizations and officials of the provincial ministry of education, provincial department of education and zonal education office Wednesday organized a shramadana campaign to clean the surrounding of Tsunami welfare centre located in the village of Sambaltivu, about five km north of Trincomalee district to mark the first month remembrance of people died on December 26 in the natural disaster, sources said.
Full story >>

National Day of Mourning observed in NorthEast

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 January 2005, 12:54 GMT]
Amid cries among those attending the various ceremonies, a highly emotional day of mourning was observed throughout the Northeast Wednesday on the 31st annivesary day of the Tsunami that devastated the Northeast on 26th of December. A wall-clock, which stopped at 8.50 a.m. on December 26 at Mullaitivu Kallapaddu Maha Vidiyalayam following Tsunami disaster was again made to tick into operation on Wednesday at 8.50 a.m. symbolizing the return of life. Tamils observe 31st day of death with special ceremonies.
Full story >>

STF incites trouble in Mandaanai welfare camp

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 January 2005, 04:04 GMT]
Special Task Force (STF) soldiers had assembled the tsunami refugees in the Mandaanai camp in Amparai district Tuesday morning and had told them that relief supplies the STF was planning to deliver to the camp will not be given as the LTTE had intimated that shelter residents do not like to receive hand outs from the STF. LTTE sources said STF personnel's calculated efforts to undermine the relief efforts by the LTTE is escalating tension in welfare centers in Amparai district.
Full story >>

Colombo’s post tsunami development blueprint assailed

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 January 2005, 03:03 GMT]
Plan drawn up as a blueprint for post-tsunami development by the “Task force to Rebuild the Nation” (TAFREN), one of the three committees comprising the Center for National Operations (CNO) set up by Sri Lanka’s President Chandrika Kumaratunge, announced Monday, is assailed as being immoral, hastily produced, too centralized and conceived without adequate consultation with organizations whose support is vital for the plan's successful execution.
Full story >>

Earth tremor in Mannar evokes fears of tsunami

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 January 2005, 13:39 GMT]
An earth tremor in Muthariputhurai village, located 15 km north west of Murungan in Mannar, forced 1800 residents to move to safer areas of Potkerni, Sirukandal and Pariharikandal to spend the night Friday, sources in Mannar said. Offical Sri Lanka Government agencies have not yet acknowledge the incident in Muthariputhurai, sources added.
Full story >>

Equitable aid distribution, focus of Pirapaharan, Norway meet

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 January 2005, 11:39 GMT]
Leaders of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Saturday requested the Norwegian government delegation led by its Foreign Minister Mr.Jan Petersen to ensure that the northeast region received equitable proportion of the international aid Sri Lanka is expected to receive in the aftermath of tsunami disaster. In the NorthEast region about seventy five thousand families have been affected and around 25,000 have lost their lives, the Norwegian delegation was told, Vanni sources said.
Full story >>

Dutch Ambassador, EU official meet Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 January 2005, 12:07 GMT]
Ms. Susan Blankhart, H.E. The Ambassador for The Netherlands and European Commission’s Charge d’Affaires Mr. Wouter Wilton expressed their condolences and their "solidarity to the people of the region in distress and bereavement" when they met with the Liberation Tigers' Head of the Political Division, Mr.S.P.Thamilchelvan at the Peace Secretariat Tuesday morning, sources from Vanni said.
Full story >>

Pirapaharan meets disaster management planners

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 January 2005, 16:03 GMT]
Leader of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Mr. V. Pirapaharan, met with disaster management planners who are currently participating in relief and reconstruction planning and praised them for their services to the people of NorthEast. Pirapaharan told the planners that all resources available have to be utilized to ensure a swift and sustained recovery from the tsunami disaster that has brought destruction and grief to the community. The meeting took place in Kilinochchi Monday.
Full story >>

Colonel Kittu remembered in Jaffna, Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 January 2005, 14:14 GMT]
Twelfth death anniversary of Colonel Kittu, senior commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and nine other cadres was observed in Jaffna and Trincomalee Sunday. They committed suicide when the Indian Navy seized the ship they travelled in January 1993.
Full story >>

Fourth anniversary of Pongu Thamil Declaration held in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 January 2005, 11:26 GMT]
An event to mark the fourth anniversary of the first Tamil Resurgence Movement (Pongu Tamil) was held Monday morning in the Jaffna University premises amid large crowd. A public meeting was also held in the Kailasapathy Auditorium. Mr.C. Ilamparithi, Jaffna district political head of the LTTE delivered the keynote address, sources said.
Full story >>

Police disrupts Kittu death anniversary in Mannar, Pesalai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 January 2005, 16:11 GMT]
At least 15 civilians were injured in Mannar when the Police opened fire in air and assaulted several Tamil people when they attempted to hoist Thamileelam flag in the Pesalai town Sunday morning in preparation to hold a commemoration meeting to mark the 12th death anniversary of Colonel Kittu, senior commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and nine other LTTE cadres. Tension prevailed in Pesalai town and transport services came to halt, sources said.
Full story >>

Kofi Annan's Special Envoy visits Mullaithivu

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 January 2005, 21:19 GMT]
Margareta Wahlstrom, UN Secretary General's Special Envoy on Relief Operations, met with the Head of the LTTE's Political Wing, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan Saturday and expressed condolences and solidarity to the Tamil people affected by the tsunami on behalf of the UN Secretary General, sources said. Urging the UN not to allow political considerations to deter its participation in the rebuilding efforts in the Tamil homeland, Mr. Thamilchelvan told UN Envoy that the Sri Lanka government has "acted in bad faith" by bringing the military into the humanitarian equation.
Full story >>

Canadian parliamentarian meets Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 January 2005, 17:20 GMT]
“All Canadian aid for Tsunami relief would be channelled through our own organisations and equitable distribution is the bottom line of our humanitarian aid for relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction” said Hon. Jim Karygiannis, P.C., M.P., and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport in a meeting with the head of the Political Division Mr. S.P.Thamilchelvan, LTTE's peace secretariat reported.
Full story >>

Canadian Parliamentarian meets with TRO leadership

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 January 2005, 13:18 GMT]
Mr.Jim Karygiannis, Canadian Liberal MP for Scarborough-Agincourt visited Tamil’s Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) Head Office in Kilinochchi Friday. He was received by Mr.K.P.Regi, Executive Director of TRO, and Mr.Lawrence Christy, Planning Director of TRO.
Full story >>