SLA silence stymies UNHCR effort

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 May 2000, 15:32 GMT]
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a press release issued in Colombo Sunday that it did not receive a response to a request it had made to the Sri Lankan government on May 6 that "military actions be suspended for the period of the LTTE declared cease-fire" on May 27 Saturday, "in the interest of the civilians, who may be moving during that time". The UNHCR had also asked the Sri Lankan government to indicate a safe route to areas held by the army but had got no reply from the Ministry of Defence according to the press release.
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Shell kills one

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 May 2000, 17:42 GMT]
A civilian was killed and another wounded when the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) shelled Madduvil South, a village northwest of Chavakachcheri, this evening around 6.30 p.m., according to the Voice of Tigers radio.
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Ranil criticises gagging of press

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 May 2000, 14:44 GMT]
Sri Lanka's opposition leader Mr.Ranil Wickremesinghe Thursday lambasted the government in Parliament for suppressing the freedom of expression. He pointed out that the appeal procedure available to the papers that have been shut down by the Sri Lankan government is specious. He called on the government to immediately withdraw the regulation that gives sweeping powers to the government to shut down papers and printing presses.
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Call in Vanni against military intervention

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 May 2000, 06:37 GMT]
The voice of Tigers (VoT) said in its morning news broadcast today that a mass rally and meeting were held in Mallavi Monday evening to protest against the Sri Lankan government's embargo on food and medicine to the Vanni and against international military intervention in the Sri Lankan conflict.
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Tiger manoeuvres pressure SLA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 May 2000, 11:46 GMT]
The special forces of the Liberation Tigers which on Saturday overran the Sri Lankan army garrison and other defensive positions in Chavakachcheri and its environs, fifteen kilometers south of Jaffna, are attacking the Kilali base and the remaining Sri Lanka army positions in the peninsula's Thenmaradchi division said the special noon news broadcast of the Voice of Tigers today.
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Offensive exposes Jaffna's 'soft underbelly'

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 May 2000, 16:02 GMT]
Sri Lankan Air Force jets continued bombing raids on the positions of the Tiger troops holding the Ariyalai and Thanangkilappu sectors to the south east of Jaffna town. However, the situation report put out by the Sri Lankan government's Media Centre today indicated that the Tigers are active in these sectors despite the heavy bombing.
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Tigers prepare final assault

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 May 2000, 17:11 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers said Friday they were preparing for "the final push" into Jaffna city. Heavily armed LTTE troops have moved from the Vanni into the newly captured areas for this purpose amid panic and confusion amongst the defending Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops, the Tigers said in a statement from their London offices, adding that civilians were leaving the northern city despite an SLA-imposed curfew.
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Heavy fighting in Jaffna - MoD

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 May 2000, 10:07 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence (MoD) said Wednesday that the Liberation Tigers had launched a "major attack" on Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops manning defences at Ariyalai and Tanankillappu in Jaffna, using " heavy volume of artillery and mortars".
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Fighting erupts again in Kilali

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 May 2000, 17:07 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army base in Kilali is being attacked by the Liberation Tigers from 5.30 a.m. this morning Tamil media reports in Europe quoting Voice of Tigers radio said Tuesday. The Tigers in Jaffna have announced that Operation Unceasing Waves III has resumed the reports said. Meanwhile a statement by the Sri Lankan government's Media Centre said that there was a heavy assault this morning on SLA positions north of Pallai.
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UNICEF ambulances for Vanni can't go

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 May 2000, 16:59 GMT]
Three ambulances donated by the UNICEF to the Mallavi, Kilinochchi, and Mullaithivu hospitals in the Vanni cannot be sent there because Sri Lanka's Ministry of Defence is continuing to to delay permission, health department officials in Vavuniya said today.
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Surgery and dispensaries close down in Vanni

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 May 2000, 18:43 GMT]
The surgery of the Mallavi hospital and two branches of the Mullaithivu hospital were closed down today due to a severe shortage of medical supplies in the Vanni aid agency sources in the north said.
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SLA vacates camps north of Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 May 2000, 13:17 GMT]
The Sri Lankan army vacated two key camps north of Batticaloa on Friday. The pull out was acknowledged in the situation report put out today the Special Media Information Centre set up under the regulations of the Public Security Act.
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Sri Lanka promulgates draconian measures

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 May 2000, 06:07 GMT]
The Sri Lankan President promulgated draconian measures under the public security ordinance banning all activities perceived as a threat to national security last night. Under these regulations, the government can take possession of ships, planes and vehicles and other assets from the public for national security purposes and for the maintenance of the essential services. The regulations also provide for the government to ban any publication and seize printing presses.
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Tigers to return 14 bodies

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 May 2000, 20:45 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers have contacted today the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) delegation in the Vanni, regarding handing over of 14 more bodies of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers killed in the fighting in Pallai on Sunday, said Harsha Gunawardene, the Spokesman for the organisation.
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SLA bodies transfer tomorrow -ICRC

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 May 2000, 16:01 GMT]
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that the Liberation Tigers had got in touch with its delegation in the Vanni this evening about handing over the bodies of the Sri Lanka army soldiers who were killed in the fighting yesterday in Pallai and its environs.
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SLA builds bulwark as Tigers advance

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 May 2000, 12:24 GMT]
The Operational headquarters of Sri Lanka's Ministry of Defence (MoD) acknowledged that the Sri Lanka army was pushed out of Pallai, Pulopalai and Iththaavil by the Liberation Tigers yesterday in a press release issued Monday afternoon. The SLA, according to the release, was forced to withdraw with heavy casualties. Sources in Jaffna, meanwhile, said that the SLA is constructing a massive bulwark to stall the advancing Tigers.
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Tigers cremate SLA dead -radio

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 April 2000, 11:53 GMT]
The decomposed bodies of a large number of Sri Lanka army soldiers in Elephant Pass, Iyakkachchi and Kurinchathivu were cremated there with due military honours by the Tigers said the Thamil Eela Vaanoli, the commercial broadcast of the Voice of Tigers in its evening news bulletin today.
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Norwegian delegation to meet LTTE leader -paper

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 April 2000, 19:02 GMT]
Following an invitation by the leadership of the Liberation Tigers, a Norwegian diplomatic team is to visit the Vanni region of northern Sri Lanka on a fact-finding mission in the near future, reported Tamil Guardian, a London based newspaper, this week.
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ICRC medical supplies blocked

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 April 2000, 12:25 GMT]
Sri Lankan troops this week prevented the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from taking its MoD authorised medical supplies for its mobile and primary health clinics in the Vanni, the ICRC spokesman Harsha Gunawardena told TamilNet Thursday. He expressed concern for the civilians in the Vanni who relied on the ICRC facilities.
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SLA blocking essential medical supplies - MSF

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 April 2000, 12:51 GMT]
Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF), the international aid agency said Monday Sri Lankan security forces were preventing it from taking urgently needed medical supplies into the Vanni region. The shortage of essential drugs in the region had become "critical" MSF said in a statement.
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