Police refuse permission for Jaffna protest

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 May 2001, 17:36 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Police in Jaffna Tuesday refused permission for a demonstration by people who were displaced from the Thenmaradchi division of the peninsula last May due to fighting between the Liberation Tigers and the Sri Lanka army. Families displaced from Chavakachcheri sought permission this week to hold a demonstration on May 11 Friday to demand that they be resettled soon or be allowed to go to their homes and retrieve their belongings.
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Salli-sustaining the will to survive against odds

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 May 2001, 15:06 GMT]
Salli is an old coastal village on the northern side of the Trincomalee Bay. Like hundreds of other Tamil villages in Sri Lanka's north and east, Salli is a shadow of its former self. Last week the Sri Lanka Navy, which has ringed the village with four camps, ordered civilians here to stay indoors after 6 p.m.
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Tigers hand over 29 SLA bodies

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 May 2001, 11:01 GMT]
Twenty-nine bodies of the Sri Lanka Army soldiers killed in the Jaffna battle last week were handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) by the Liberation Tigers Friday, Mr.Thangan, the Head of the political administration of the LTTE handed over the bodies to the local ICRC representative at a meeting held at Kilinochchi at 9 a.m., according to an official statement from the LTTE head quarters in the northern Vanni.
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Fear rules Mannar

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 May 2001, 10:23 GMT]
"Human rights abuses are frequent and widespread in Mannar. The ordinary people here have experienced so much terror that they have got no idea now that they have the right to even live," said Selvam Adaikalanathan, MP for Vanni, describing situation in Mannar Wednesday.
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LTTE accuses Sri Lanka of undermining peace

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 May 2001, 09:33 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers in statement issued from their international headquarters in the Vanni Tuesday accused the Government of Sri Lanka of attempting to undermine the peace environment by its irrational and dangerous policy of war and military conquest. "By unleashing a major military offensive against the LTTE's positions in Jaffna, Kumaratunga government has seriously jeopardised the Norwegian peace initiative", the statement said.
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Canadian HC meets Thamil Chelvan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 May 2001, 04:21 GMT]
The Voice of Tigers said in its morning news broadcast Tuesday that the Canadian High Commissioner in Sri Lanka, Ms. Ruth Archibald, had discussions with the leader of the political wing of the Liberation Tigers, Mr. S.P Thamil Chelvan, last evening from 5.30 p.m. in the Vanni. "The Sri Lankan government and its army are now only keen on military action. This is harming Tamil civilians", Mr. Thamil Chelvan told the Canadian High Commissioner, the radio said. The VOT said that the long discussion between the Canadian High Commissioner and the LTTE's political wing leader was very "constructive".
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Offensive routed, over 2400 SLA casualties - LTTE

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 April 2001, 11:41 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers in statement issued from their international headquarters in the Vanni Saturday afternoon said that the Sri Lankan army was pushed back to its original position in the early hours of the morning today. The statement said that the SLA’s 55, 52 Divisions and the elite 53 special forces Division, suffered more than 2400 casualties in ferocious counter offensives by the combat formations of the Liberation Tigers. “LTTE commando units have started clearing the area, about 2 square kilometres, vacated by the army in the Eluthumadduval sector, in southern Jaffna. Decomposing bodies of soldiers and their weapons are scattered everywhere in the area, according to LTTE field commanders”, the statement said.
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LTTE hands over bodies of SLA to ICRC

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 April 2001, 11:27 GMT]
"Thirty bodies of SLA soldiers were handed over to the representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross by the Liberation Tigers in the Vanni region Saturday morning", ICRC spokesman Harasha Gunawardene told TamilNet.
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SLA artillery attack wounds eight in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 April 2001, 10:33 GMT]
Eight civilians, including a 3-month-old infant, were seriously wounded Saturday when the Sri Lanka army's 23-3 Brigade in Batticaloa town fired heavy artillery on villages across the lagoon in the district's western hinterland. The SLA opened up with heavy artillery fire on the villages of Mandapathadi and Kannankudah around 10.30 a.m.
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Vesak should be day of mourning - eastern students

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 April 2001, 12:52 GMT]
Eastern university undergraduates and teachers demonstrated Friday urging the people of Batticaloa to observe the Buddhist Vesak festival as a day of mourning. Thirteen people, including nine children from an orphanage, were shot dead by Sri Lanka army soldiers in Batticaloa town during the Vesak festival on 17 May last year following a blast. The SLA sought an apology for the massacre from the people of Batticaloa in January this year, blaming a drunken commanding officer for ordering troops to open fire on civilians. Meanwhile, the SLA warned civilians in Batticaloa Friday not to move about near its camps and positions in the district after dark. The army increased search operation in the eastern town this week.
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Tigers recover 30 SLA bodies -VOT

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 April 2001, 03:23 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers recovered the bodies of thirty Sri Lanka army soldiers from the battlefield in Jaffna south, the Voice of Tigers said in its morning news broadcast Friday. The radio denied a report by the Special Media Information Centre of the Sri Lankan government that the Sri Lanka Air Force bombed two busloads of its troopers behind the lines on Thursday. The VOT said that heavy fighting was raging in the southern parts of the peninsula for the third day.
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"Fierce fighting continues in southern Jaffna" - LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 April 2001, 16:12 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers said in press release issued from their headquarters in the Vanni Thursday evening that fierce fighting continues in southern Jaffna. "More than 300 Sri Lankan army soldiers were killed and over 1200 injured in the ferocious fighting that continues for the second day in the southern sector of the Jaffna peninsula. The Government troops have suffered massive casualties as the combat formations of the Liberation Tigers offered stiff and determined resistance to the offensive assault launched by the Sri Lankan army", the statement said.
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Thamil Chelvan, Bishops discuss peace prospects

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 April 2001, 19:03 GMT]
The leader of the political wing of the Liberation Tigers, Mr.S.P Thamil Chelvan Wednesday welcomed the delegation of Sri Lanka's catholic Bishops who are on a peace mission in the Vanni Wednesday, church sources said. Mr. Thamil Chelvan met the bishops for two hours in Mallavi, they added. The Catholic Bishops are on a mission to the Vanni to discuss prospects for bringing about a peaceful settlement to Sri Lankaís ethnic conflict.
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SLA offensive in Nagar Kovil, Eluthumadduval

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 April 2001, 04:21 GMT]
Heavy fighting erupted in Nagar Kovil and the Eluthumadduval area in Jaffna when Sri Lanka army troops attempted to push south along the coast around 11 p.m. Tuesday night, sources in the northern peninsula said. The SLA's thrust towards the coastal villages of Kudrappu and Maamunai and south of Eluthumadduval was met with heavy resistance from the Liberation Tigers, they added. Meanwhile, the army banned on all fishing in the Jaffna lagoon until further notice Tuesday evening.
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Tigers say Colombo bent on war, call off ceasefire

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 April 2001, 14:03 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), in an official statement issued from its headquarters in Vanni, northern Sri Lanka, stated that the organisation had decided not to extend its unilaterally declared cease-fire that expires at midnight on the 24th April 2001. "We are compelled to make this painful decision as a consequence of the hard-line, intransigent attitude of the Sri Lankan government which has not only refused to reciprocate positively to our peace gesture but intensified land, sea and air attacks causing heavy casualties on our side. It has become impossible to contain the military assaults of the enemy with our self-restrained defensive tactics without resorting to counter-offensive operations. Under such dangerous conditions we can no longer sustain our self-imposed truce which the enemy has been exploiting to its own military advantage", the LTTE's statement said.
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Colombo set on war path say Tamil parties

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 April 2001, 15:52 GMT]
Tamil party leaders Sunday strongly condemned statements made by Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayaka, that the war against the Liberation Tigers has begun and that his government will not declare a ceasefire again. “ The Prime minister’s pronouncement on Friday makes it amply clear that the Sri Lankan government is not interested in peace negotiations at all. The PM is a confidante of the President. His renewed belligerence shows that the government is on the war path again”, charged a spokesman for the alliance of ten Tamil parties.
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Little hope for resettling Tamil villages in Trinco

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 April 2001, 21:00 GMT]
"Wild animals are roaming in many abandoned Tamil villages in the Trincomalee district. Entire populations of these were forced to flee their homes due to military actions more than fifteen years ago. Around five thousand displaced are still living in fifteen welfare centers and the rest are living with their relatives in Trincomalee town. Several Tamil villages in the district, particularly in the Kuchchaveli division, are without basic facilities such as schools, and dispensaries. There is little hope that any funds for development would be allocated to such areas by the District Co-ordinating Committee because there aren't any Tamil MP's on it", said a senior Sri Lankan government official in Trincomalee Sunday.
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Tigers slam wounding of US journalist

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 April 2001, 13:43 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Thursday condemned the wounding Monday of an American journalist by Sri Lanka Army troops who opened fire on Marie Colvin's party as "an act of cowardice" and praised the correspondent's bravery in crossing into the Vanni to examine the situation there for herself. Ms. Colvin had crossed the lines back into government-held territory with the hope the SLA would honour its unilateral New-Year truce, the LTTE said in a statement issued in the Vanni.
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Batticaloa shuts down for 'Annai' Poopathi anniversary

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 April 2001, 12:00 GMT]
Shops, government offices and businesses were closed Thursday in the Batticaloa district to mark the 13th anniversary of Poopathy Kanapathipillai, the woman who fasted unto death on 19 April 1988 during a month long mass protest against atrocities committed by the Indian army in the northern and eastern parts of the island at the time. Few people and fewer vehicles were on the roads. Special Task Force (STF) commandos forced shops to open in Kaluwanchikudi, 24 kilometers north of Batticaloa, sources said.
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Third party 'crucial' in any peace talks- Balasingham

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 April 2001, 14:33 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers said this week that the involvement of a third party was crucial in any negotiations between them and the Sri Lankan government, and suggested that Norway might be fill that role as an extension of Oslo's present efforts to bring about talks between the two sides. In an interview to the Tamil Guardian weekly, the latest issue of which hit the newsstands in London Tuesday, the LTTE's chief negotiator, Anton Balasingham said "In our perspective the third party involvement is crucial even after the commencement of the negotiations."
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