Jaffna hospital a human shield - doctors

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 June 2001, 21:31 GMT]
"The Jaffna hospital has been a human shield since 1996. As such the use of some of its buildings and passages is still prohibited. Our reasonable request to remove the Sri Lanka army camp near the Jaffna hospital in consideration of the safety of its patients and staff and to declare it and its environs as a demilitarised zone under the supervision of the ICRC has not been heeded until this day", said Medical officers in Jaffna who went on a protest strike along with their colleagues in the north and east of Sri Lanka Monday.
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LTTE "displeasure" over "unilateral" changes in facilitator's role

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 June 2001, 08:15 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam Sunday expressed its "displeasure" over what it said was Sri Lanka's "unilateral initiative to change the role and function of the Norwegian peace envoy, Erik Solheim." The LTTE said the government had sought to remove Solheim because of his "impeccable neutrality, a rare quality that was viewed with suspicion and apprehension in Sri Lankan political discourse." In a strongly worded statement from its Vanni headquarters, the movement also said "the facilitatory process in peace making is not an exercise in inter-governmental relations; it involves tripartite relations between the facilitator and the parties in conflict," and observed that "[Norway's] bi-lateral decision with the government of Sri Lanka, circumventing the other party in conflict entails a breach of protocol and neutrality."
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Two SLA troops, policeman killed

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 June 2001, 12:03 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka Army soldiers and a policeman were killed and a security assistant (Home guard) was wounded in two separate attacks by the Liberation Tigers on Friday in the northern Vavuniya region, local police sources said.
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Vavuniya quota fuels less vehicles, more corruption

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 June 2001, 10:24 GMT]
The restrictions on the issue of fuel to the public in the Sri Lanka army controlled areas of the Vavuniya region is contradictory to the principles of governance and therefore should be removed forthwith, said the Union of Christian Churches in Vavuniya in a letter addressed to Major General S.H.Shantha Kottegoda, Commander of the Security Forces in Vanni this week.
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MP slams Sri Lanka's judicial system

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 June 2001, 21:31 GMT]
"In Sri Lanka the Tamil people are denied the exercise of their sovereignty through the judicial system because fundamentally it is made to work against them. The security forces and the laws of the land are meant to protect the people. But in Sri Lanka the law is harnessed only to protect the security forces. .
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SLA bid to relocate Trinco IDPs opposed

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 June 2001, 06:07 GMT]
Sri Lankan security forces told government officials in Trincomalee to transfer over 1500 internally displaced Tamil persons from Alles Garden refugee camp to Kuchchaveli, 38 kilometres north of Trincomalee town. "The security forces in Trincomalee have taken this step to ensure the security of army and navy camps in the area", a government official said.
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Light work of necessity in Vanni

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 June 2001, 06:54 GMT]
An improvised tin-lamp using waste plastics to produce light is one of the 72 new inventions of the students in the northeast province displayed at the two-day exhibition inaugurated Sunday morning in Trincomalee St.Mary's College. The improvised lamp is one of the inventions by students of Vanni region held by Liberation Tigers, which is under an economic blockade by the Sri Lankan government.
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Sri Lanka's decision seriously threatens peace talks: LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 May 2001, 09:13 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Monday criticised the Sri Lankan government's refusal Saturday to lift the proscription of their organisation and said this had "seriously jeopardised" the prospects for peace talks. Expressing regret and dismay over Sri Lanka's decision in a statement issued from its Vanni headquarters, the LTTE leadership called upon the government to reconsider its position for the sake of peace and ethnic reconciliation. "If the Government adopts a hard-line position and refuses to review its decision on proscription, then it should bear full and total responsibility for the collapse of the peace efforts and the serious consequences that might arise from its decision," the Tigers warned.
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Program to curb child malnutrition in Vanni

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 May 2001, 07:56 GMT]
Three infants who were in a critical stage of acute malnutrition were found and handed over to the Nutrition and Rehabilitation Centre in Puthukkudiyiruppu in the Mullaithivu district Thursday, according to the Voice of Tigers. The Socio-economic Development Organisation (SEDO) is currently engaged in identifying infants and children afflicted by acute malnutrition in the Vanni due to the economic embargo by the Sri Lankan government on the region, the radio said. The children and infants would be handed over to the care of Nutrition and Rehabilitation Centres until they completely recover, the VOT added, quoting Mr. Jude, the co-ordinator of the SEDO.
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More SLA mine fields destroyed in Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 May 2001, 10:59 GMT]
A large number of anti-personnel landmine fields left behind by the Sri Lanka army were located and de-mined in twelve villages in the southern sector of the Vanni Western aid agency sources said Tuesday. They said that caches of mortar and artillery shells and explosives were also located and destroyed from these villages to ensure the safety of civilians who have begun to gradually resettle in this sector. The SLA was camped in the villages of the Vanni's southern sector from 1997 to November 1999.
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New ICRC technology helps Jaffna amputees

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 May 2001, 05:33 GMT]
Mr. Serge Marme, Head of ICRC Sub-delegation in Jaffna addressing a press conference in Jaffna about the organisation's activities in the peninsula Saturday afternoon said
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Ban "major hurdle" to talks - LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 May 2001, 09:24 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers said in a statement from Friday that Sri Lanka's ban on their organisation "has become the major hurdle for the initiation of peace talks" out of three factors as pre-requisite necessary steps, the other two being "removing the economic blockade in the Tamil homeland [and] declaring of an indefinite cease-fire". Giving details of the discussions between the Norwegian delegation and members of the LTTE's Central committee, the movement said in a statement from the Vanni Secreterait that "The international community should understand that we cannot participate in peace talks as an illegal, criminal entity with a distorted false label as 'terrorists'."
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Lifting of proscription essential for talks ñ Thamil Chelvan

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 May 2001, 03:20 GMT]
"The removal of the proscription of the Liberation Tigers is an essential pre-requisite for talks", Mr. S. P Thamil Chelvan, the leader of the political wing of the LTTE told Norwegian Peace envoy Eric Solheim during discussions Thursday in Mallavi in the Vanni, according to the morning news broadcast of the Voice of Tigers Friday. The radio said that the Tigers had categorically told the Norwegian team that the LTTE would never take part in the talks as 'a proscribed terrorist organisation'. No final decision was reached during the five-hour meeting Thursday, according to the VOT. The Norwegian delegation and the Tigers also discussed the Memorandum of Understanding and a bilateral ceasefire, the radio said.
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Thamil Chelvan's convoy hit by SLA claymore

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 May 2001, 08:53 GMT]
A convoy of the Liberation Tigers in which Mr. S.P Thamil Chelvan, the leader of the political wing of the LTTE, was travelling towards Mallavi where he was scheduled to meet Norwegian Peace envoy Mr. Eric Solheim was hit near Kokkavil by a claymore blast set off by a deep penetration team of the Sri Lanka army Tuesday afternoon, sources in Vanni said. A LTTE trooper was killed and two were wounded in the blast. They were travelling in a Mitsubishi Pajero that was providing security to Mr. Thamil Chelvan's vehicle, the sources added.
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Necessity for indefinite ceasefire to be stressed –paper

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 May 2001, 11:15 GMT]
The Norwegian peace envoy Mr. Eric Solheim will have meetings with Mr. Thamil Chelvan, head of the LTTE’s political section on 16 and 17 May in the Vanni. The meetings are expected to “focus on steps to bring about a suitable atmosphere for productive negotiations to be held between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government”. Meanwhile in its latest issue, the Tamil Guardian, the expatriate paper published from London, quoted sources in the Liberation Tigers, as saying “further discussions and clarifications on certain matters” had to be completed before the scheduling of peace talks could be considered. The LTTE sources, according to the paper, had dismissed as speculation reports in the Sri Lankan press that talks were imminent.
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'ER and PTA can only create a closed society'

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 May 2001, 23:00 GMT]
"There is a great divide between the Sinhala and Tamil media today. Both are totally alienated from each other. The government is confused about public information and official information. The state run media give only official information.
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Kadirgamar's move said linked to no confidence motion

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 May 2001, 19:34 GMT]
"The Sri Lankan government announced that it had reached an agreement with the Liberation Tigers not because of a genuine commitment to peace but to deftly pre-empt the support of minority parties for the opposition's impending no confidence motion against the government", a spokesperson for the ten party Tamil alliance told TamilNet in Colombo Friday evening. "The government is alarmed now that it might lose the support of at least a section of its main coalition partner, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress over the Mawanella pogrom. This is has created a serious crisis for the People's Alliance. Why should the Sri Lankan government, which consistently rejected the LTTE's ceasefire and refused to even partially lift the embargo on the Vanni despite facing greater military defeats than Agni Khiela I last year, jump the gun at this juncture to falsely declare that it had reached an understanding with the Tigers to begin peace talks?" the Tamil politician in Colombo asked.
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12 SLA soldiers killed at Sungawil -VoT

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 May 2001, 18:50 GMT]
Twelve Sri Lanka Army soldiers were killed in an ambush by the Liberation Tigers at Sungawil in the Polonnaruwa district around 6.40 a.m Thursday. The LTTE ambush unit recovered 3 bodies of the SLA soldiers killed in the attack, the Voice of Tigers (VoT) radio said Friday evening.
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Tigers say discussing Norway ceasefire proposals

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 May 2001, 09:30 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers, in an official statement released in the Vanni Friday, slammed Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister for claiming that an agreement had been reached between the two sides. “It is premature and irresponsible on the part of the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry to falsely project to the world media that an agreement has been reached,” the Tigers said. However the movement also said “substantial progress” had been made on the Norwegian Memorundum of Understanding (MOU) after intense discussions for a considerable time with the Norwegian facilitators. The LTTE said Norway had Wednesday suggested a programme for bilateral cessation of hostilities which the movement said was “constructive” proposal, but which requires “further clarifications and discussions before final agreement.”
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Emergency and PTA promote torture - Adaikalanathan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 May 2001, 20:50 GMT]
"No self respecting Tamil will vote for the extension of the Emergency and its regulations. The Tamil people have been denied their fundamental right of freedom from torture for more than 25 years. The Sri Lankan security forces behave as though no Tamil has this fundamental right which is guaranteed to every citizen of this country in the constitution. Can you tell me how many Tamils were not subjected to torture in custody? The most pernicious methods of torture are practiced on the Tamils by the security forces today. Therefore I ask: are the Tamils citizens of this country or should they determine their own citizenship?" asked 'Selvam' A. Adaikalanathan, MP for the Vanni and the leader of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO), speaking in Parliament Thursday on the vote to extend the state of Emergency.
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