Boat building yard opened in Vadamaradchchi east

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 March 2005, 11:26 GMT]
Funded by the Norwegian and Malaysian branches of Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) and in collaboration with the Multi Marine Services (MMS) organization, the TRO Monday opened a boat-building yard in Nelliyan, Vadamaradchchi east division in the Jaffna district, sources said.


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Senior LTTE political official shot

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 February 2005, 13:54 GMT]
A senior political official and two of her colleagues were shot and seriously wounded around 6 p.m.Monday near Akkaraipattu by gunmen suspected to be from a paramilitary working with the Sri Lankan armed forces, LTTE sources in Batticaloa said. Ms. Kuveni, head of LTTE's political division (women) for Batticaloa-Amparai was traveling in a auto rickshaw with two of her colleagues in Thambattai, about six kilometres south of Akkaraipattu when gunmen riding a motorbike opened fire on them, LTTE sources said. "This could not have happened without the knowledge of the Sri Lankan armed forces in that area", charged an LTTE commander in Batticaloa.
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Solheim meets LTTE in east

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 February 2005, 14:16 GMT]
Norway’s special peace envoy for Sri Lanka, Mr. Eric Solheim Saturday met head of LTTE’s political division for Batticaloa-Amparai district, Mr. Irasaiah Ilanthirayan for discussions on post Tsunami work and the political-security situation in the region. On an invitation by Mr. Ilanthirayan, the Norwegian peace envoy and his team visited the Tsunami devastated coastal areas of Paandiruppu, a densely populated Tamil village, 38 kilometres south of Batticaloa. Mr. Ilanthirayan and other regional LTTE officers accompanied Mr. Solheim.
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Kumaratunga says no paramilitaries with Sri Lanka army

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 February 2005, 07:17 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunga told Norwegian special peace envoy Mr. Eric Solheim that there aren’t any paramilitaries working with the Sri Lankan armed forces, according to a press release by the Presidential Secretariat Friday. The Liberation Tigers say that Colombo had committed to disarm paramilitaries working with the Sri Lankan armed forces in the island’s northeast under the terms of the cease fire agreement (CFA) it signed with them three years ago. The statement said that Mr. Solheim conveyed to Ms Kumaratunge LTTE’s concern regarding the implementation of Article 1.8 of the CFA in relation to disarming of paramilitary groups when he met her Thursday in Colombo.
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Lankan soldiers violate CFA by attempting to intrude into FDLs - LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 February 2005, 14:01 GMT]
The Political Division of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has said in a statement on Thursday that the attempt by the Sri Lankan military soldiers near Kilali lagoon in the Jaffna peninsula to intrude with fire-arms well into the Forward Defence Lines (FDLs) of the LTTE was a clear violation of the Ceasefire Agreement and the attack on them was only a defensive action. According to the LTTE statement, LTTE took defensive action against the Sri Lankan military personnel when they were seen moving with weapons and telescopes towards the LTTE FDLs.
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JVP demands UPFA Government to withdraw statement on interim administration

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 February 2005, 12:53 GMT]
The radical Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), a major coalition partner of the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) on Thursday demanded the government to withdraw immediately its statement - that it was ready to resume peace talks with the LTTE firstly to set up an interim administrative structure in the NorthEast region - as it goes against the stance of the coalition government. The government Information Department said in a statement on Wednesday that the government was prepared to resume talks to set up first an interim arrangement to handle the urgent humanitarian needs of the people and then proceed to discuss the final solution to the prolonged ethnic crisis.
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North preschool teachers killed in Tsunami remembered

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 February 2005, 16:34 GMT]
Sixtieth day remembrance of pre-school teachers and children died in the tsunami disaster in the coastal areas of Vadamaradchchi east division in the districts of Jaffna and Mullaitivu and the distribution of bicycles to tsunami affected pre-school teachers were held in the Mullaitivu district office of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) sponsored by the TRO and funded by Norway TRO under the auspices of the North East Pre-School Development Centre (NEPSDC) Wednesday morning, sources said.
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SLA troopers shot in Kilali no go zone

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 February 2005, 15:26 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army (SLA) trooper was reported killed and another was injured when the Liberation Tigers fired on them in the no man's zone when the SLA soldiers had advanced to within 40 meters of the LTTE Forward Defence line in the lagoon between the SLA held Kilali, Jaffna and the LTTE controlled mainland around 5 p.m. Wednesday. LTTE women cadres in the forward defence line opened fire when they spotted SLA soldiers taking aim at them, sources in Kilinochchi said. A similar incident took place at the same location in February 2003.
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Asian Football Federation officials visit Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 February 2005, 03:36 GMT]
Officials of the Asian Football (Soccer) Federation led by its Vice President Manilal Fernando visited Kilinochchi Monday and had an hour long discussions with Head of the Liberation Tigers Sports Wing, K. Pappa at the Planning and Development Secretariat (PDS) offices Monday, LTTE sources from Kilinochchi said.
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Thambattai showcases model resettlement village

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 February 2005, 20:52 GMT]
A model village in Thambattai in Amparai district, providing temporary accomodation for the families displaced by the tsunami, built by the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), an NGO registered with Government of Sri Lanka and working exclusively in the NorthEast, was ceremonially opened Monday by the President of consortium of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Mr Manickavasagam, sources in Amparai said.


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CFA has failed to foster trust – Batticaloa VC

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 February 2005, 17:41 GMT]
“What has the cease fire agreement achieved if it has not been able to foster enough trust to form a joint body to deliver aid to the Tsunami hit people of the northeast? We can asses the status of the cease fire agreement from the simple fact that the Sri Lankan government is protesting to the UN over a condolence message for Kousalyan. Why should anyone protest over an expression of condolence? This is the situation in which we Tamils find ourselves today even after three years of cease fire”, said Dr. S. Raveendranath, Vice Chancellor designate of the Eastern University speaking at a seminar to mark third year of the cease fire agreement in Batticaloa Tuesday.
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UPF commends Norwegian role in Sri Lank's peace process

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 February 2005, 16:28 GMT]
Mr.Periyasamy Chandrasekaran, leader of the Upcountry Peoples Front (UPF) and an elected member of Sri Lanka parliament, appealed to the Norwegian government, in a statement issued Tuesday, to continue its facilitator role in the peace process in Sri Lanka without succumbing to pressures by "chauvinistic elements" attempting to derail the peace process.


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Colombo should stop covert war - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 February 2005, 16:27 GMT]
"The Sri Lankan military has formed new paramilitaries to wage a covert war on the Liberation Tigers and our people. This covert war should be stopped immediately. We pointed out during the discussion that the cease fire and peace would fall apart if this covert war against us continues. The cease fire agreement (CFA) can be sustained if the Sri Lankan government abides by the provisions it promised to honour by signing the CFA with us", said Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan, head of the LTTE’s political division, speaking to the press after meeting Norway’s special peace envoy, Mr. Eric Solheim in Kilinochchi Tuesday. The Liberation Tigers and Colombo signed a CFA on 22 February 2002.
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Foreign education officials visit tsunami hit Jaffna, Mullaitivu

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 February 2005, 15:48 GMT]
Mr.Fred van Leeuwen, General Secretary of the Education International (EI) and Mr.Aloysius Mathews, Chief Co-ordinator of the EI, Asia Pacific region accompanied by Mr.T.Mahasivam, General Secretary of the Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Union (CTTU) Monday visited the tsunami hit coastal areas in the districts of Jaffna and Mullaitivu, sources said.


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US Tamils call for an end to East violence

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 February 2005, 12:00 GMT]
Condemning the recent killing of LTTE's Political Head of Batticaloa-Amparai Mr Kausalyan and others in the East, a group of expatriate Tamil organizations in the US called upon Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga "to suspend immediately the military officers who were in charge of Welikanda and Punnai, where this inhuman act took place...[and to take] swift actions and measures to prevent similar atrocities in the future," in a press release issued Tuesday.
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Stalled Peace talks strains Ceasefire, says SLMM chief

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 February 2005, 08:44 GMT]
The Scandinavian truce monitors, monitoring the ceasefire agreement between the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) since the day it came into operation on Feb 22, 2002, cautioned on Tuesday that the prolonging stalemate in the peace talks causes serious strain on the very existence of the ceasefire.
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Ranil calls for unity to safeguard ceasefire

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 February 2005, 08:31 GMT]
"Parties with vested interest would like to go back to war. But the reality is, this country cannot face another war. We will all be destroyed by the fight", leader of the opposition and former Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, on Tuesday said noting that the Ceasefire Agreement, which is entering into the fourth year, "is under threat" and called for unity to safeguard the ceasefire agreement and to achieve a lasting peace in Sri Lanka. Mr. Wickremesinghe has made these observations this morning while making a statement before the electronic media on the third anniversary of entering into ceasefire agreement with the LTTE, which brought to an end the two-decade long war.
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Solheim in Sri Lanka, 3rd anniversary of CFA

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 February 2005, 06:25 GMT]
Norwegian Special Peace Envoy Mr. Erik Solheim and Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka Mr. Hans Brattskar arrived in Kilinochchi Tuesday morning to meet with the LTTE's Head of Political Division, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan. The LTTE and the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) signed the Oslo-facilitated Cease-Fire Agreement (CFA) 3 years ago, on 22 Feb. 2002.
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TNA meets with German Minister

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 February 2005, 17:34 GMT]
A delegation of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) compring TNA Parliamentary Group Leader, Mr. R.Sampathan, and parliamentarians Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham, Mr. Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, and Mrs. Padmini Sithambaranathan, met with German Economic Cooperation and Development Minister Ms. Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul at the German Embassy in Colombo, Monday, political sources in Colombo said.
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Clinton expresses hope on joint mechanism for Tsunami reconstruction

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 February 2005, 10:37 GMT]
Expressing hope on a joint mechanism for reconstruction of Sri Lanka's tsunami-shattered coastal areas, US ex-president Bill Clinton Monday said that he was informed Sunday night that the Liberation Tigers (LTTE) and the Sri Lanka Government were working together to create such a mechanism for tsunami relief. "My experience is, whether it is Middle East or Northern Ireland, whenever people work together on specific issues, it helps to resolve the differences," media sources said Clinton as saying. The ex-US presidents met with Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunga Sunday night.
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