Most landmine accidents in Jaffna – UN group

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 November 2003, 06:49 GMT]
The United Nations Inter-Agency Working Group on Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) in Colombo said Tuesday that most of the accidents caused by mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) occurred in Jaffna this year. UNDP supported de-mining began in Jaffna seven years ago. Today there are three international de-mining groups active in the peninsula, including one from the US army. The UNDP continues support. A year ago, the region controlled by the Liberation Tigers in the north had much larger and extensive concentrations of mines, minefields and UXOs than Jaffna.
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Resettled Kanniya farmers to get paddy store

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 November 2003, 17:46 GMT]
The resettled farm families in the Kanniya village, about six km north of Trincomalee town on the Trinco-Anuradhapura road, are to get a new paddy store and co-operative retail shop. Earlier the paddy store and retail shop were completely destroyed without any remains at the site in the 1990 violence by Sri Lanka’s armed forces after entire villagers fled and sought refuge in the Vanni and other areas including in India, civil sources said.
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Getting tough on the Tigers

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 November 2003, 00:31 GMT]
President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s strategy for holding fast to the reins of power in Colombo is fundamentally in conflict with sustaining the peace process in Sri Lanka, Tamil politicians and commentators say. The President and her allies assert that the Sri Lankan state should get tough on the Liberation Tigers to safeguard Sinhala national interests. As her standoff with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe took a new turn Sunday, it appeared inevitable that she might match her words with deeds in tune with the sentiments of her increasingly hawkish Sinhala constituency.
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Solar power brightens Vanni villages

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 November 2003, 01:24 GMT]
Privately owned small scale diesel generators produce the only electric power available in key towns in the Vanni region. While a new 20MW thermal power plant in Jaffna was recently reactivated by the Sri Lanka Government officials, it is doubtful that Vanni towns and villages will enjoy grid supplied electric power for many years to come. With the region enjoying copious supply of solar energy and buoyed by success of early experiments, planners in Kilinochchi are exploring the use of photo-voltaic systems for domestic applications.
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Committee for advancement of education formed in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 November 2003, 16:23 GMT]
The importance of forming a committee for the advancement of education in the Vanni district was stressed by the Liberation Tigers’ educational and political divisions' leaders, at a meeting of education officials held at the Saiva Prakasa Ladies College in Vavuniya Thursday, sources said.
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"No solution other than the devolution of power is possible" - Batty Weerakoon

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 November 2003, 00:01 GMT]
"LSSP shares the realist approach that given the nature of constitutional amendment no solution other than the devolution of power is possible. As to how comprehensive it can be is subject to negotiation," said Batty Weerakoon, General Secretary of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP), in a wide ranging interview with TamilNet when TamilNet caught up with him on his private visit to the United States before the LTTE submitted its proposals for the Interim Self-Governing Authority (ISGA) for the NorthEast.
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LTTE cadre strangled to death in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 November 2003, 15:37 GMT]
The body of a youth found at the Trincomalee beach Tuesday morning close to Fort Frederick had been identified as that of an LTTE cadre, Mr. Nanthan, who was on leave from the Vanni recently. The postmortem examination held at the Trincomalee general hospital revealed that he had been strangled to death, medical sources said.
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Sri Lanka crisis draws global media attention

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 November 2003, 00:10 GMT]
Tuesday’s sacking of key ministers of defense, interior and information by Sri Lanka’s President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga, and her prorogation of parliament and subsequent declaration of emergency have elicited concerns from several Western governments and prompted global coverage in leading newspapers.
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Struggle to take Sri Lanka Parliament gathers pace

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 November 2003, 06:02 GMT]
Tamil and Muslim MPs and the Sinhala nationalist Janata Vimukthi Peramuna are set to play a key role as frantic efforts by President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s People Alliance and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s United National Front to cobble together a majority in Parliament before 19 November gathered momentum in Colombo Wednesday. Mr. Selvam Adaikalanathan, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP for Vanni told TamilNet: “We won’t go for horse deals. The TNA will take a principled stand in the interests of peace”.
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Future of Sri Lanka’s peace hangs in balance

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 November 2003, 12:10 GMT]
Prospects for ending the island’s two-decade-old conflict dimmed fast Tuesday as the status of the cease-fire agreement (CFA), which was signed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in February 2002, became uncertain after President Kumaratunga snatched the ministry of defence from his government Tuesday. “We are carefully monitoring and studying the developments. Based on this, our leadership will decide what to do," Mr. Daya Master, the Media Co-ordinator of the LTTE told TamilNet.
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Rotary housing project for IDP's opened in Varothia Nagar

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 November 2003, 08:26 GMT]
A housing project comprising thirty-five houses constructed at a cost of about 3.46 million rupees for the returnees of internally displaced Tamil families implemented by the Trincomalee Rotary Club with the financial assistance of German Technical Co-operation (GTZ) was declared open Saturday at Varothyanagar, a suburb in Trincomalee town by the Rotary Governor Mr. Gamini Jayawardene.
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Documentary Video on Women Tigers released

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 November 2003, 00:04 GMT]
A documentary video production labelled Akkini Paravaikal ('Volcanic Birds') depicting the evolutionary growth of the women tiger movement, including the early experiences in the battle field, training methods used and social difficulties faced by fighters within the conservative Tamil society, was released in Kilinochchi at 5pm Saturday, LTTE sources in Vanni said.


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Counselling Home for mentally ill celebrates anniversary

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 November 2003, 09:45 GMT]
Vettimanai ("Victory Home"), a counselling aid center for mentally ill women, located in the village of Akkarayan, Kilinochchi district, celebrated its twelfth anniversay on Friday afternoon, sources in Vanni said. Victory Home is one of several rehabilitation centers run by the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO).
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HRC to conduct workshop for Thamil Eelam judiciary

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 October 2003, 16:33 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission (HRC) is to conduct a workshop Friday on international human rights law for judges of the Thamil Eelam judiciary in the Liberation Tigers-held Kilinochchi, Jaffna regional HRC sources said.
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LTTE restores Heroes cemeteries for November ceremony

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 October 2003, 12:37 GMT]
Heroes cemeteries in Tharavai in Batticaloa district and Vakarai Kandaladi are being renovated in preparation for the Heroes day ('Maaveerar Naal') celebrations to take place on the 27th November. Work on the heroes day memorials in other parts of Vanni, Jaffna and Trincomalee are also in progress, according to sources.
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Thamil Eelam judiciary said a basis for rebuilding northeast

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 October 2003, 01:05 GMT]
“The purpose of the LTTE’s legal system is to create a crime free environment where adjudication of civil and commercial disputes is fair and expeditious. This is the essential foundation on which one can rebuild Tamil society to achieve economic development and prosperity," said Mr. E. Pararajasingham (Para), head of the Judicial Division of the Liberation Tigers, in an in depth interview with TamilNet this week about the LTTE’s legal system. “The very instruments designed to subvert the Rule of Law in the northeast were eventually turned on the Sinhala people too," he points out.
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‘Proud to shed blood to protect Tamils’

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 October 2003, 18:36 GMT]
“We are really proud as Singhalese today because we shed blood to protect our Tamil brethren from the racist thugs”, said Mr. Rohitha Bashana, the main organiser of the Sinhala/Tamil arts festival that was attacked by Sinhala nationalist mobs at the New Town Hall in Colombo Wednesday. Five Singhalese, including two journalists, were injured in the attack. Police officers said that Sinhala nationalists were planning massive, hostile demonstrations against the Sinhala/Tamil arts festival Thursday.
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Sinhala,Tamil scholars explain joint festival

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 October 2003, 18:29 GMT]
“There is an unfortunate stereotyping of Tamils in the minds of the Singhalese and vice versa. This literary/cultural festival will enable artistes from both sides to discover developments over the last twenty years. This would foster an understanding where it matters”, said Prof. Sucharitha Gamlath, a distinguished and leading Sinhala scholar, addressing a press conference in downtown Colombo Monday on the Tamil/Sinhala cultural festival to be held in Sri Lanka’s capital this week.
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Balagalle is Sri Lanka's Defense Chief of Staff

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 October 2003, 18:12 GMT]
Lieutenant General Lionel Balagalle, Commander of the Sri Lanka Army, Monday assumed duties as the Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) in Sri Lanka, the post that has remained vacant since June last year. Balagalle is the first serving SLA commander to hold the new office, defense ministry sources said.
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Salinity endangers Northwest Vanni farmland

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 October 2003, 00:10 GMT]
Vast tracks of farmlands in impoverished villages close to the northern and western coast of Vanni face imminent danger from ocean waters penetrating inland making the arable land unsuitable for cultivation. Civil Engineering staff in Kilinochchi involved in development planning say that although plans are available to convert the areas in northwest coast including Jaffna peninsula resistant to creeping salinity, they are awaiting financial resources to be earmarked for such activity as part of Northeast rehabilitation.
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