Peace draws 400,000 to forest shrine festival

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 August 2002, 16:38 GMT]
More than four hundred thousand Sinhala and Tamil devotees from all parts of Sri Lanka thronged the Madhu feast this year, which concluded Thursday. "The number of devotees is unprecedented. After a gap of nineteen years the devotees of the Madhu Maatha (Ave Maria) poured out their suppressed devotion. The hundreds of thousand faithful who flocked to the shrine have expressed their love for peace. Everyone who gathered here have shown that they are against war," Rt. Rev. Rayappu Joseph, the Bishop of Mannar told TamilNet. The forest shrine of Ave Maria is in his diocese.
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Mylanthanai massacre commemorated

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 August 2002, 00:08 GMT]
The tenth anniversary of the massacre by Sri Lankan troops of thirty nine men, women and children in the eastern village of Mylanthanai was marked Thursday by survivors who have been living in Kalmadu refugee camp. Meanwhile the Sri Lanka Army held a remembrance ceremony for the Army and Navy officers, whose deaths in a landmine attack on August 8, 1992, triggered the retaliatory massacre.
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Japanese Ambassador meets Tamilselvan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 August 2002, 18:48 GMT]
The Japanese Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Mr. Sciichiro 0tsuka, met the head of the Liberation Tigers' political section, Mr. S. P. Tamilselvan, in the Vanni on Tuesday. Mr. Seiichiro Otsuka was accompanied by Ms. Noriko Iseki, First Secretary for Economic Cooperation and Mr. S.A.S. Devotta, Senior Assistant for Political Affairs.
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Six arrested entering Vanni

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 August 2002, 17:09 GMT]
The Tamil Eelam police arrested six people who entered LTTE-held Vanni without permission in two separate incidents on August 4, Tamil press reports said Monday. Among those arrested were three weapon-carrying Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers who attempted to infiltrate into LTTE-held areas.
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TNA to meet Ranil before Vanni visit

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 July 2002, 16:44 GMT]
The Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe has invited Tamil National Alliance parliamentarians for an important discussion about the current state of the peace process. The meeting comes a day ahead of the last deadline mentioned in the Cease-fire Agreement (CFA) between the Liberation Tigers and Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe's government.
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T. E, S. L Police investigate Madhu murder

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 July 2002, 12:21 GMT]
The Tamileelam Police service Sunday afternoon handed over to the Sri Lanka Police the bodies of three persons from Kandy, suspected to have been murdered in the Madhu region last week. The Government Agent for Vavuniya arranged the transfer, officials said. Mr. Manikavasakar Ilancheliyan, the Vavuniya district judge who inspected the bodies Sunday at the Vavuniya hospital, directed the Police to seek, through the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, evidence, productions, witnesses and suspects arrested in connection with the murder in the LTTE controlled Vanni region.
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Kanniya resettlement begins after 12 years

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 July 2002, 10:11 GMT]
Displaced Tamil families from the predominantly Tamil village Kanniya, 7 km north of Trincomalee town are returning to their own land. More than one thousand families had been displaced since 1990 from Kanniya due to violence by the State armed forces. "Under the first stage, about one hundred displaced families are to be resettled ,"said Mr.Iynkaran, the Head of the LTTE’s Political Division for the Trincomalee district Sunday.
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EU delegation meets LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 July 2002, 10:22 GMT]
Ambassadors and Deputy Heads of Mission of six European Union countries visited the Vanni Wednesday, and held discussions with the head of the Liberation Tigers’ political section, Mr. S. P. Tamilselvan. The delegation was headed by Mr. Salvatore Zotta, Ambassador of Italy and Chairman of the EU Heads of Mission in Colombo.
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President to take on Premier - report

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 July 2002, 10:43 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President Chandrika Kumaratunga has decided to take the battle to the administration of Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe before it moves to present an impeachment motion against her in Parliament next month, the Daily Mirror reported Wednesday, quoting sources close to the President. The government, meanwhile, is this week expected to publish a report into alleged financial malpractices by the President, weekend press reports said.
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A5 reopens after seven years

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 July 2002, 06:55 GMT]
The forty-kilometre stretch of road on the A5 highway from Chenkaladi to Maha Oya which goes through territory controlled by the Liberation Tigers has been opened to the public after seven years. The opening ceremony was held near Karuththapalam Monday morning around 10.30, attended by senior LTTE officials and Sri Lanka Army officers.
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Controversy after Navy attacks LTTE trawler

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 July 2002, 01:39 GMT]
(News Feature) Following the Sri Lanka Navy’s (SLN) attack on an LTTE fishing trawler Saturday, the movement registered a strong protest with international monitors Sunday , describing the incident as a ‘serious violation’ of the ceasefire agreement. The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) meanwhile protested that two of its monitors who boarded the trawler had not been allowed to embark before the crew took the damaged vessel to shore and said this was a violation of the ceasefire. The LTTE however said the monitors - who had checked and cleared the trawler - had been assured of their safety and that the vessel was being rammed by SLN gunboats during its travel to shore.
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President fears cabinet ambush

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 July 2002, 00:57 GMT]
The war of words between Sri Lanka’s President Chandrika Kumaratunga and the Parliamentary government of Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe escalated this week with the President telling a meeting of her Sri Lanka Freedom Party that attending cabinet meetings posed a threat to her life, the Sunday Leader reported.
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State paper protests President’s pressure

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 July 2002, 11:59 GMT]
Embroiled in a financial scandal regarding imports of foreign cars, President Chandrika Kumaratunga ordered a government-owned newspaper to publish her official statement as its lead story on Thursday, the publication’s editor protested Friday. The state-owned Daily News followed Kumaratunga’s instructions but insisted it had been subjected to unwarranted pressure though the President’s spokesman said ‘a request’ had merely been made.
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Pathuman expresses serious concern to SLMM

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 July 2002, 21:11 GMT]
The commander of the Liberation Tigers in Trincomalee, Mr.Pathuman, Thursday expressed his serious concern over the arrests of unarmed members of the organisation by the Sri Lankan security forces, to the Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission. The LTTE commander held discussions, lasting two and half hours, at his office in Sampoor in the Mutur-east with the head of the SLMM head, (retd) Major General Trond Furuhovde Thursday morning.
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Karuna reiterates commitment to peace

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 July 2002, 12:35 GMT]
"There were insidious forces behind the recent troubles in the east. These forces should not be allowed to disrupt the peace process," said Col. V.Karuna, the commander of the Liberation Tigers for the districts of Batticaloa and Ampara, during a discussion with the head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) and representatives of the Sri Lankan government in Kokkaddicholai, southwest of the eastern town Wednesday.
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Village rejects SLA school offer

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 July 2002, 04:55 GMT]
The people of Morakkoddanchenai, 26 kilometres north of Batticaloa, Monday rejected an offer by the Sri Lanka army to construct a new building for the village children's education instead of vacating the local school under the terms of Colombo's cease-fire agreement with the Liberation Tigers in February this year. The SLA has been occupying the Morakkoddanchenai Government Tamil Mixed School, public market, post office, library, village council, the local temple and scores of private homes in the heart of the village for more than 12 years.
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Black Tiger day marked at site of first attack

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 July 2002, 01:40 GMT]
Over five thousand people gathered in Nelliady in the Jaffna peninsula Friday to mark Black Tigers day - the first time the event had been held here since 1995. July 5 is the anniversary of the death of the first Black Tiger, Captain Miller, who was killed destroying a Sri Lanka Army base located in the Nelliady Madhya Maha Vidiyalyam - the site of the commemoration this Friday. His mother was amongst those who paid their respects to fallen Black Tigers.
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'Military testing our patience' -Trinco LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 July 2002, 12:42 GMT]
"The Sri Lankan security forces test our patience frequently. But we won't violate the cease-fire agreement signed by our leader with the Sri Lankan government. At the same time we will not do anything that will derail the ceasefire agreement," said Ms Krishna, Trincomalee district women wing secretary of the Liberation Tigers presiding over the events to mark Black Tigers Day in Trincomalee town Friday evening.
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Trinco arrests violate ceasefire agreement - TNA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 July 2002, 20:37 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Thursday expressed its strong disapproval of a tendency on the part of some sections of the Armed Forces, to take in custody unarmed members of the Liberation Tigers, who are entitled to freedom of movement in the north and east under the provisions of 1.13 of the cease-fire agreement. "The arrests of five unarmed members of Liberation Tigers Wednesday in Trincomalee by the security forces are a violation of the said provision of the cease-fire agreement," said Mr. Mr.Sampanthan, parliamentary group leader of the TNA and the Trincomalee district parliamentarian in a statement issued Thursday.
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Military arrests unarmed Tigers

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 July 2002, 10:15 GMT]
The Sri Lankan military took five unarmed members of the Liberation Tigers into custody in two separate incidents Wednesday, triggering tensions and anger amongst Tamils in Trincomalee, residents said. The LTTE’s political section in the eastern district strongly condemned the military’s actions as a breach of the ceasefire agreement.
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