Maj.Gen. Neil Dias' term extended

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 April 2001, 13:10 GMT]
The Sri Lankan President extended the service of the Sri Lanka army's Chief of Staff, Major General Neil Dias, who was due to retire Thursday before she left to an undisclosed destination abroad. Maj. Gen. Neil Dias is one of the most battle experienced commanders of the SLA. Sources in the SLA headquarters in Colombo ventured to speculate that he might succeed Lt. Gen.Lionel Balagalle who is due to retire this year as the commander of the SLA. The extension of the battle hardened commander's service was seen by analysts as an indication of Colombo's determination to give optimum priority to prosecuting the war against the Liberation Tigers.
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Tamil parties protest in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 April 2001, 15:12 GMT]
More than four hundred Tamils demonstrated against sexual violence by the Sri Lankan security forces in the heart of downtown Colombo Tuesday. The protest was led by an alliance of eleven Tamil political parties, including the Tamil United Liberation Front. " We are not, through this demonstration, making an appeal to the government. We believe that there is no point in appealing to this government about atrocities committed by the security forces against the Tamils. We doing this to impress upon the world our predicament" said the chief organizer of the demonstration, Mr. Mano Ganeshan who is the leader of the Democratic Workers' Congress.
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SLA op. scares civilians from Batticaloa interior

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 April 2001, 12:31 GMT]
People from the interior of the northwestern hinterland of Batticaloa began moving out of their hamlets from early morning Tuesday fearing an operation by the Sri Lanka army against the positions of the Liberation Tigers in Thoppikkal and Tharavai. Families in Miyankalkulam and Tharavai abandoned their homesteads and began arriving Tuesday morning in Thihilivettai, a village close to the SLA controlled main coastal road, 25 kilometers north of Batticaloa with their personal belongings and cattle.
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LTTE releases four POWs

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 April 2001, 17:45 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers on Saturday released four prisoners of war who had been held by them for many years. They were handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross in the northern Vanni main land ICRC spokesman Harasha Gunawardene told TamilNet. LTTE sources said the POWs were released to show organisastion's support for the Norwegian facilitated peace talks and as a demonstration of its commitment to future peace talks.
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Tamil women have no faith in President - MP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 April 2001, 11:30 GMT]
"The Tamil women of this country have no faith in the President or the government because there is no justice when wrongs are perpetrated on them by the armed forces. The recent actions of the President are encouraging the army to further indulge in sexual atrocities against Tamil women. Although she is a woman the President does not bother to take even minimal action against the perpetrators of murder and rape. The President applauds the security forces and does what she can to cover up their heinous activities against the Tamil people. Sexual atrocities have been committed on Tamil women in Mannar many times in the past. But only the 19 March incident has come to light", said Mr. Selvam Adaikkalanathan Member of Parliament for the Vanni, speaking Saturday at the protest fast at the St. MaryÌs Church in Mannar town. More than three thousand people from many parts of the Mannar district took part in the fast to protest against the brutal rape and torture of two Tamil women in custody by the Sri Lanka Navy and the Counter Subversive Unit of the Police on 19 March.
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Tigers urge de-proscription and ceasefire for talks

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 April 2001, 10:20 GMT]
Mr. S.P.Tamil Chelvan, the Head of the Political Wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), has called upon the government of Sri Lanka to lift the ban on his organisation and reciprocate positively to the LTTE's unilateral cease-fire as essential pre-requisites for the commencement of political negotiations. This message was conveyed through the Norwegian Ambassador in Colombo Mr. Jon Westborg when he had lengthy discussions with the political leaders of the LTTE in Mallavi, Vanni, northern Sri Lanka yesterday and today morning, the organisation said in a press release Saturday.
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Norway Ambassador, Thamil Chelvan hold talks

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 April 2001, 16:17 GMT]
Norway’s Ambassador in Sri Lanka Jan Westborg and an official of the Norwegian embassy in Colombo, Mr. Tomas Strangland held discussions with Mr. S. Thamil Chelvan, the leader of the Political Wing of the Liberation Tigers, at Pallamadu in the Vanni this afternoon from 4 p.m., Voice of Tigers said in its night news broadcast Friday. The radio did not comment on the content or nature of the discussions between Norway’s Ambassador and Mr. Thamil Chelvan.
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LTTE refutes "child soldiers" accusations

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 April 2001, 20:03 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Monday refuted allegations by Amnesty International that they had recruited young children as combatants, describing the accusations as "malicious". The LTTE does not recruit combatants under the age of seventeen, sources close to the Tigers quoting senior LTTE officials as saying Monday.
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Tamil teachers urge Colombo to recognise self-determination

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 March 2001, 13:56 GMT]
"We urge the Sri Lankan Government to find a permanent political solution to the ethnic problem by having peace talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam with Norwegian facilitation. We also urge the Sri Lankan government to recognise the Tamils of Sri Lanka as a nation, the existence of an identified Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka and the self-determination of the Tamil people with the right to secede in order to prevent the division of the island" states a resolution unanimously passed at 27th annual convention of the Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Union held Saturday morning in the Trincomalee St.Mary's College auditorium.
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Proscription list passes "all or none" debates

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 March 2001, 10:16 GMT]
(NEWS FEATURE) Britain's Home office Wednesday formally introduced the list of organisations proscribed under Britain's new Terrorism Act after the list was approved by the House of Lords. Some of the members, as in the House of Commons earlier this month, protested that they were not allowed to oppose the inclusion of individual organisation but could only support or oppose the entire list. Others said the list, which was debated for only an hour or two in each house had not been sufficiently discussed in depth.
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Mannar CSU rapes pregnant woman

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 March 2001, 18:07 GMT]
"Wijikala was screaming inside the building. I heard her pleading 'I have nothing to do with the Tigers. I am a family woman. Please do not do this to me'. Then some CSU men came out and told me that they were forcing Wijikala to have sex with them and threatened to rape me as well. One of the men tried to strip my clothes. When they saw that my son was asleep on my lap, a Policeman dragged him away into one of the buildings in the CSU compound as I begged them not to hurt him. Two men then pinned me down on the van's floor while another stripped me and raped me. I was screaming and pleading when a Policeman put his foot on my mouth to stifle me. Inside the building they forced Wijikala, who was standing naked, to strip my underwear. I was hung upside down in a knot from a pole placed between two tables, with my hands and feet tied. Then the men in the room poked our genitals and tortured us until dawn", said Sivamani Sinnathamby Weerakon, the young mother of three who was arrested by the Counter Subversive Unit (CSU) of the Police in Mannar on 13 March. Wijikala Nanthan, 22, of Alavetty in Jaffna who was arrested with Sivamani, is pregnant.
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SLA warns of more air strikes in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 March 2001, 13:51 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army warned civilians Tuesday to stay at least four kilometres away from the military positions of the Liberation Tigers in the Batticaloa district. In a leaflet issued in Batticaloa town Tuesday, the SLA said that it intends to attack areas in which Tiger bases are located with new Air Force jets and modern weapons. The leaflet also warned the people of Batticaloa to sever all their links with the Liberation Tigers.
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CTTU speaks up for predicament of Vanni education

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 March 2001, 14:22 GMT]
An acute dearth for teachers, textbooks and furniture prevails in the schools of the Vanni region, irreparable damaging the educational development of the childrenî, Mr. T. Mahasivam, General Secretary of the Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Union (CTTU) told Tamilnet Saturday, commenting on his official visit to the north last week. The majority of the students in Vanni schools sit on mats supplied by the UNICEF. Most of the teachers do not have chairs to sit and teach. They have to be on their feet from morning till closing time, according to him. Mr. Mahasivam was in the Vanni for a week to attend meetings of his trade union branches in the Liberation Tigers controlled region. He returned Friday.
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Tigers extend cease-fire, warn Sri Lanka over attacks

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 March 2001, 11:44 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Thursday extended their unilateral cease-fire for another month, till April 24, but warned they would resume armed operations if the Sri Lankan government refused to reciprocate and continued military operations against the LTTE. Pointing out that it has not launched any offensive operations either in the north-east or the southern provinces or capital, Colombo, during the three months of its unilateral cease-fire, the LTTE said in a statement that 133 of its fighters had been killed in attacks by the Sri Lankan military in the same period.
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Young mother stripped, tortured by Mannar CSU

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 March 2001, 18:12 GMT]
A young mother arrested by the Counter Subversive Unit (CSU) of the Mannar Police Monday night was stripped naked, assaulted and tortured by five men in her cell, sources said. The woman's five-year-old child is also detained with her at the CSU. The young woman, Sivamani Weerakon, was arrested from the Aasika Lodge in Uppukkulam, a suburb of the Mannar town. Her husband was away in Vavuniya at the time of her arrest, the sources said. Policemen from the CSU had arrested her and her child around 11 p.m. Monday night. They had also arrested Wijayakala Nanthan, another young woman who was at the lodge. Both are being held at the CSU in Mannar town.
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Want of food said afflicting war traumatised children

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 March 2001, 18:58 GMT]
"How can a traumatized child be rehabilitated psychologically when there is bombing and shelling daily in the war zone?" asked Mr.S.Subramaniam, Director of Education North East Provincial Council speaking Sunday at a meeting in Trincomalee town for officials of the Provincial Department of Social Services trained under a counseling program sponsored by Save the Children Norway (SCN) to rehabilitate children traumatized by war in the northeast. " We do not know how traumatized children in the war torn areas of the northeast are fed. Ninety percent of the children here would be psychologically sound if they are properly fed before they reach the age of 5. If they aren't fed properly before 5 they cannot be rehabilitated psychologically", said Mr. S.M Croos North East Provincial Director of Social Services in his address.
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SLAF bombs Vanni villages

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 March 2001, 18:03 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force jets bombed several villages in the Vanni this afternoon. A refugee was wounded when bombs hit the village of Kombavil in the Puthukudiyiruppu area, according to reports reaching Vavuniya Friday evening. The jets flew four sorties over the area, as civilians in the villages which they bombed fled their homes for shelter, the reports said.
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Tigers release four Sinhala farmers

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 March 2001, 12:38 GMT]
Four Sinhala farmers from Padaviya, a region lying close to the Mullaithivu district, were released by the Liberation Tigers in the Vanni Thursday, Harasha Gunawardena, press officer of the International Committee of the Red Cross, told Tamilnet. He said they would be handed over to their families in Padaviya tomorrow. Meanwhile, the chief incumbent of the Buddhist temple in Vavuniya Ven. Siyambalagaswewa Wimalasara Thero told Tamilnet that the release comes in the wake of a promise made to him by the Liberation Tigers when he met them in the Vanni on 19 February as a member of an inter-religious delegation.
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Nedunkerni OPD reopens, residents resettle

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 March 2001, 17:36 GMT]
The OPD of the Nedunkerni hospital reopened Wednesday after more than three years, according to reports reaching Vavuniya. The peripheral hospital was mostly destroyed and thousands of families in this Vanni town were rendered refugees overnight when the Sri Lanka army captured the general area of Nedunkerni from the Liberation Tigers in May 1997, during the first phase of Jaya Sikurui, the biggest military operation ever attempted by Colombo. The Tigers retook Nedunkerni, 42 kilometres northeast of Vavuniya, in November 1999. More than a thousand families have been resettled here since January this year after extensive clearing of anti personnel mines (APLM) in the town and its hinterland, government officials in Vavuniya said.
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Official apathy, malnutrition plague Trinco refugees

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 March 2001, 21:30 GMT]
(NEWS FEATURE) Over 75 percent of refugee children under five living in conflict zones of the northeastern province suffer from malnutrition, according to preliminary surveys by government and NGO officials presented at a three-day workshop inaugurated Wednesday morning at Trincomalee Town Hall under the auspices of Sri Lanka's Ministry of Planning and Implementation. The surveys indicate that the majority of mothers among the displaced in these regions suffer from malnutrition during pregnancy and after childbirth.
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