Mahinda Rajapakse leaves to India

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 November 2006, 15:54 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse left Saturday afternoon to India on a four day visit. Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse is scheduled to inaugurate the Asian Mayors Conference in Dehra Dun in Uttaranchal State in North India Sunday. Tamil mayors from Chennnai, Madurai, Tirunelveli, Saleem, Tiruchi and Coimbatore in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu will be boycotting the Asian Mayor's meeting, media reports in Tamil Nadu said.
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UNP national convention held, dissidents boycott

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 November 2006, 13:32 GMT]
The 51st annual national of the convention of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) was held Sunday held in Colombo with Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe, party leader in the chair. Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya and seventeen important leaders of the party did not attend the conference following the unsuccessful legal measure to stop the convention failed on Friday, political sources in Colombo said.


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Indian Foreign Secretary to visit Colombo Wednesday

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 November 2006, 03:27 GMT]
Mr.Shiv Shankar Menon, India's Foreign Secretary, is scheduled to arrive in Colombo on November 22 to hand over a special message from Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse before the latter visits New Delhi, media sources in Colombo said. Mr.Shiv Shankar Menon is to meet Mahinda Rajapakse on 23 November.
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British special envoy arrives in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 November 2006, 17:48 GMT]
Paul Murphy, special envoy of the British Prime Minister Tony Blair Tuesday arrived in Colombo to discuss ways in which the Britain could support the Norwegian peace process. Mr. Paul Murphy is a former Northern Ireland Minister.
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Thousands pay homage to Raviraj in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 November 2006, 01:58 GMT]
"Raviraj was a leader who fought for Tamils' rights and gave a democratic voice to their struggle. The Sri Lanka Government should hold itself responsible for Ravraj's assassination," said Rajitha Senaratne, United National Party parliamentarian for Colombo, addressing a public meeting organised by the Anti-War Front at Vihara Mahadevi Park in Colombo held Monday evening around 4:20 p.m held to pay homage to the slain Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Raviraj, sources Colombo said.
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GoSL should take responsibility for Raviraj's assassination - Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 November 2006, 14:03 GMT]
R. Sampanthan, Leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) said Friday in Colombo to the press, "Raviraj's assassination is a clear attempt by the paramilitary operating with the Sri Lanka Army to stifle the Tamil parliamentarians' voice in and out of the Parliament to inform the International Community of the Sri Lanka Government's genocide against the Tamils." Sampanthan further said, "Almost an year has passed since the assassination of Batticaloa parliamentarian Joseph Pararajasingam and the Sri Lanka government is yet to bring the killers to book. This reveals the covert connections the government has with them."
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TNA parliamentarians meet Wickremasinghe

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 November 2006, 10:54 GMT]
Nineteen of the twenty two Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians Tuesday met with Ranil Wickremasinghe, leader of the main opposition United National Party (UNP), at the latter's request and held discussions on the urgency of bringing normalcy in the North East, legalising the merger of the two provinces, and the opening of the land route A9 to Jaffna peninsula, political sources in Colombo said.
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UNP to strengthen rank-and-file voices on MoU

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 November 2006, 10:18 GMT]
The main opposition United National Party (UNP) is to hold seminars and discussions at district level to educate the rank and file members on the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with the Sri Lanka Freedom party (SLFP), the main constituent of the ruling United Peoples' Freedom Alliance (UPFA) last month, that gave top priority to solving ethnic conflict, political sources in Colombo said.
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Rajapakse, Wickremesinghe to co-chair MoU monitoring committee

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 October 2006, 14:47 GMT]
The high level committee appointed to monitor the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), main constituent of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), and the main opposition United National Party (UNP), is to co-chaired by Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse and the opposition leader Ranil Wickremasinghe, political sources in Colombo said.


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Peace process depends on ceasefire implementation - LTTE

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 October 2006, 10:49 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers called Saturday for the full implementation of the February 2002 ceasefire agreement (CFA), saying "such actions will bring normalcy in the lives of our people, and help in taking forward the peace process towards a satisfactory conclusion." Addressing the opening session of the Norwegian facilitated negotiations in Geneva, LTTE's Political Head, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan, said: "the best we can hope for from the current talks is therefore, the strengthening of the CFA agreement that has the potential to lead to a permanent, just peace in this island."
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Rajapakse, Wickremesinghe meet prior to Geneva peace talks

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 October 2006, 09:37 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse and Ranil Wickremasinghe, Leader of the main opposition United National Party (UNP), Friday morning met at Temple Trees in Colombo and discussed the issues related implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the UNP and monitoring MoU's progress, political sources in Colombo said.
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Ruling SLFP, opposition UNP sign MoU

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 October 2006, 08:04 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), main constituent of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government and the main opposition United National Party (UNP) Monday signed a 10-clause Memorandum of Understanding to implement a four point common national agenda. The UNP, under the 2 year long MoU, said it would "extend support to the Government in the pursuit of a negotiated settlement to the on-going conflict while opposing terrorism in all its manifestations and upholding human rights."
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Cabinet to meet to finalize MoU

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 October 2006, 15:19 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse has summoned a special cabinet meeting Monday to decide on the final draft of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which is to be signed with the main opposition United National Party (UNP) to implement the agreed six identified issues under the common national agenda giving top priority to peace process, sources said.
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Rajapakse, Wickremasinghe to meet to finalise MoU

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 October 2006, 11:36 GMT]
President Mahinda Rajapakse in the capacity of the leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), main constituent of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe, leader of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) are scheduled to meet on Saturday or Sunday to finalise the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and the basis for power-sharing, sources said.


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UNP leader meets Buddhist prelates over MoU

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 October 2006, 22:06 GMT]
Ranil Wickremasinghe, leader of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) Thursday met with Mahanayaka Thera of Malwatte Chapter and Mahanayaka Thera of Asgiriya Chapter separately and briefed them about the proposed Memorandum of Understanding between the two major political parties Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and UNP to forge a national consensus to identified six issues giving top priority to the ethnic conflict.
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US diplomat meets Rajapakse, Wickremasinghe, Hakim

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 October 2006, 16:19 GMT]
Richard Boucher, US Assistant Secretary of State for Central and South Asian Affairs Thursday held discussions with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse. The discussions were centred on the proposed peace talks between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and on human rights situation in the country, diplomatic sources in Colombo said.
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Scrap CFA, oust Norway, Weerawanse urges SC

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 October 2006, 09:07 GMT]
Wimal Weerawanse, the parliamentarian and propaganda secretary of the Sinhala nationalist Jantha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), welcoming the Monday verdict of the Sri Lankan Supreme Court (SC) ruling that the merged Northeastern province was unconstitutional, invalid and illegal, told the press in Colombo Monday that the SC should declare the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) illegal and oust Norway from its facilitator role.
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UNP to decide Monday on joining UPFA cabinet

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 October 2006, 17:23 GMT]
The working committee of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) is scheduled to meet Monday to take a decision whether to join the Cabinet of Ministers in the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government and finalise the draft Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to be signed with the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the main constituent of the ruling UPFA, political sources said.


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Budget support conditional on peace agenda- Wickremasinghe

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 October 2006, 01:34 GMT]
"We will not oppose the Budget of the government once the peace process is on the track moving forward," said Ranil Wickremasinghe, leader of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) addressing a press conference held at Cambridge Place Thursday. The United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government is to table its Budget for the year 2007 in the second week of November, parliamentary sources in Colombo said.
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Rajapakse-Wickremasinghe MoU to be signed late October

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 October 2006, 11:53 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse and leader of the main opposition United National Party (UNP), Ranil Wickremasinghe, Thursday met and discussed in detail regarding the implementation of six point programme agreed upon by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), main constituent of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and the UNP following four rounds of talks, political sources in Colombo said.
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