Only a phased peace process will work - Uyangoda

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 August 2006, 06:10 GMT]
A lasting solution to Sri Lanka’s ethnic question can only emerge out of a protracted peace process with interim agreements, rather than a quest for an up-front final solution, one of the country’s leading political scientists argued this week. "Protracted ethnic conflict always requires a protracted peace process. The peace process should [aim] for an interim settlement rather than a big-bang solution. We may have to go through a series of interim managements," said Professor Jayadeva Uyangoda, Head of Department of Political Science and Public Policy, University of Colombo.
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Armed men set fire abandoned LTTE office

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 August 2006, 05:08 GMT]
Armed men set fire to the building which functioned as the political office of the Liberation Tigers in Jaffna, Sunday night, local residents said. The building is located at Pottpathy in Kokkuvil, near Jaffna University Medical Faculty.
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Despair of one displaced village

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 August 2006, 15:20 GMT]
The experience of the residents of Vellaveli, a village in the eastern Batticaloa district, is a microcosm of that of over 200,000 people who have this year joined the hundreds of thousands of long-term displaced in the island. Driven from their homes by a Sri Lankan military offensive, the rice farming families face starvation and debt-riddled ruin.
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7 SLA soldiers wounded in Claymore explosion in Muthur

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 August 2006, 08:03 GMT]
At least seven Sri Lanka Army soldiers, wounded in a Claymore attack at Selvanagar, a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) controlled gateway towards Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled Muthur East, Sunday around 9:30 a.m., were rushed to Polonnaruwa hospital, Police sources said.
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WFP says food situation ‘critical’ - amid MoD embargo

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 August 2006, 06:34 GMT]
The food situation in LTTE-controlled areas is becoming ‘critical’ the World Food Program (WFP) announced Friday, as Sri Lanka’s Defence Ministry maintained its blockade. “In spite of high-level negotiations between the UN and the Government, the issue of access to areas not under Government control has not been resolved,” the WFP said. WFP said its staff “are [still] operating inside both the Vanni and Jaffna, but all supplies are running low in these areas due to the closing of the access roads by the Ministry of Defence.”
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SLA shelling injures 5 civilians, damage 10 houses

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 August 2006, 20:44 GMT]
Five civilians, including a 10-year old and a 11-year-old children were injured and at least 10 houses were damaged when Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers fired shells from Valaichenai and Komanthurai camps towards LTTE held western hinterlands of Batticaloa, Saturday evening.
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LTTE releases Sri Lankan Policeman

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 August 2006, 11:50 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers on Saturday handed over the Sri Lankan Policeman, B.W.Bopetigoda, who was held in LTTE custody since October 2005. The realease was made following a request for goodwill-gesture from the outgoing Head of SLMM Major General Ulf Henricsson, LTTE sources in Kilinochchi said.
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LTTE cadre killed, 2 policemen wounded in Amparai

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 August 2006, 22:44 GMT]
A Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadre was killed and two policemen riding in a three-wheeler were wounded, in a shootout on Thambiluvil Road in Amparai district Friday noon, Thirukkovil Police said. The LTTE cadre was gunned down when the policemen retaliated after an attack, police claimed. Meanwhile, LTTE Political Head in Amparai, Jeya, said the person shot dead was a political cadre of the Tigers.
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LTTE to release Sri Lankan policeman

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 August 2006, 16:08 GMT]
The leadership of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), on Friday, decided to release the third Sri Lankan Policeman held in custody since October 2005. The decision was made following a request for goodwill-gesture from the outgoing Head of SLMM Major General Ulf Henricsson, LTTE sources in Kilinochchi said.
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Thamilchelvan thanks Nordic EU Members

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 August 2006, 13:37 GMT]
The outgoing Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission Major General Ulf Henricsson and the newly appointed Acting Head of Mission, Major General Lars Johan Sølvberg, met Liberation Tigers Political Head Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan in Kilinochchi Friday evening. Mr. Thamilchelvan, on behalf of the LTTE leadership, thanked Maj. Gen. Ulf Henricsson for his courageous and determined efforts, at the risk of his own safety, to resolve the Maavilaru dispute and thanked the truce monitors of Nordic EU Member States for their "four and a half year profound service."
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Paramilitary detonates explosive laden motorbike with teenager - LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 August 2006, 11:01 GMT]
Paramilitary cadres operated by the Sri Lanka Army in Batticaloa district, sent a 19-year-old boy in a motorbike with explosives towards the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Forward Defence Line (FDL) and detonated the bike Thursday around 1:00 p.m., said LTTE's Batticaloa District Political Head P. Daya Mohan.
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Karuna Group child recruits, government links worry HRW

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 August 2006, 08:41 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s government was colluding in the recruitment of children by anti-Tamil Tiger paramilitary groups, Human Rights Watch said Thursday. Warning that the links between the Karuna Group and the government “seem to be very clear,” HRW senior legal adviser James Ross said a new worry for HRW was the abduction of children by the Karuna Group. Ross also condemned the LTTE for recruiting fighters under the age of 18 – a practice the LTTE says has ceased.
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Fresh SLA offensive move from Muhamalai thwarted - LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 August 2006, 07:30 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers two-pronged fresh move to take on Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) FDL positions in Muhamalai area, Friday morning, amid bombing by Kfir jets, artillery fire and Multi-Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) fire directed towards LTTE territory in the Northern Front, was thwarted by the Tigers, LTTE sources in Kilinochchi said. The Kfir bombers also dropped bombs in Mullaithivu Friday.
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Pakistan ‘guiding’ Sri Lanka’s war

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 August 2006, 05:16 GMT]
A group of Pakistan Air Force officers stationed in Colombo have been guiding the Sri Lankan military in carrying out air-mounted operations against the LTTE, a former counter-terrorism chief of India’s External intelligence says. The Pakistani officers have also been involved in drawing up plans for a decapitation airstrike with bunker-buster bombs to kill LTTE leader Vellupillai Pirapaharan, B. Raman says. The appointment of recently retired Deputy Chief of the Pakistani Air Force (PAF) as Islamabad’s representative to Sri Lanka is a deepening of Pakistan’s support, he says, adding the move is a concern for India’s national security.
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Kfir bombers over Vanni, SLA fires MBRL rockets

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 August 2006, 05:01 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Kfir jets, for the fourth day, flew over Vanni from 8:10 a.m. Friday. A reconnaissance aircraft was observed from 7:55 a.m. and continued to fly also after the Kfir jets had left the Vanni airspace. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) began firing Mulit-Barrel Rocket Launcher shells towards Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled territory from 8:20 a.m.
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Sri Lanka on EU FMs' agenda

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 August 2006, 23:39 GMT]
The situation in Sri Lanka is amongst matters European Union Foreign Ministers will discuss Friday afternoon at a meeting in Brussels, officials said. The 'extraordinary' meeting of EU Foreign ministers is primarily to deal with contributions to the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon by the EU member states, but will also consider other international matters, according to Finnish news agency STT.
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Clashes erupt in Vavuniya, A9 Omanthai entry point closed after brief opening

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 August 2006, 17:30 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) closed the Omanthai entry point from the SLA controlled Vavuniya to Liberation Tigers controlled Vanni, after opening the gates for a while Thursday. SLA soldiers fired mortar shells towards LTTE Forward Defence Line (FDL) claiming that the Tigers had fired 10 mortar shells towards SLA FDL. Meanwhile, two Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadres were killed at Semamadu FDL, the SLA sources in Vavuniya claimed to have recovered one body. An SLA trooper was killed at Mamadu FDL, 8 km northeast of Vavuniya, in a clash between the SLA and LTTE cadres, Vavuniya Police said.
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EU ban gave Sri Lanka Carte Blanche - SLMM Head

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 August 2006, 12:42 GMT]
Major General Ulf Henricsson, the Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), in an interview to AFP, Thursday, criticised the European Union for having ignored a "seven-point memo" sent by the SLMM before banning the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The EU ruling meant the Sri Lankan government thought it had "carte blanche" to take on the Tigers, the outgoing Head of Mission said adding that he had become "more convinced than other" that there would be no military solution to the Sri Lankan crisis.
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LTTE confers Maamanithar award on Sivamaharaja

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 August 2006, 06:31 GMT]
Leader of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eeelam, V. Pirapaharan, Tuesday, posthumously conferred Mamanithar (Great human being) award, the highest national honour granted by the LTTE, to Sinnathamby Sivamaharaja. He was the Managing Director of Jaffna Tamil daily "Namathu Eelanadu" until his death on Sunday when he was shot and killed at his residence located inside the High Security Zone (HSZ) in Tellippallai.


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Civil and Military officials discuss restoring normalcy in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 August 2006, 04:43 GMT]
Civil and Military Officials in Jaffna District held a discussion Wednesday, evening around 4.00 p.m. in the Palaly Military Base to find ways to restore normalcy in the peninsula where an abnormal atmosphere prevails with the imposition of curfew since the outbreak of fresh fighting between the Sri Lanka forces and LTTE.
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