Sri Lanka Government team arrives for Jaffna garrison talks

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 April 2003, 12:12 GMT]
Commander of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), Lieutenant General Lionel Balagalle, and Additional Secretary to Ministry of Defence, Karaliyadde, are arriving in Jaffna Wednesday afternoon for discussions with Tamil Officials related to identifying a suitable location to move the existing SLA garrison, sources in Jaffna said.
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Fasting Sri Lankan soldiers demand fair treatment

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 April 2003, 07:23 GMT]
Sri Lankan armed force soldiers who are on a hunger strike in front of the Fort Railway Station in downtown Colombo in protest against their dismissal from service said Wednesday they would fast unto death in batches of four until their grievance is addressed by the Ministry of Defence. This is the first time that soldiers of the Sri Lankan armed forces have aired grievance in a public protest.
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Workshop for Primary Teachers held in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 April 2003, 19:45 GMT]
A resource guide workshop for primary teachers in the Batticaloa district commenced Monday at the Sarvodaya Training Center in Sathurukondan. Forty primary teachers from the Batticaloa zonal district are participating at the workshop, which will continue on Tuesday and Wednesday, sources said.
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LTTE holds arts festival in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 April 2003, 19:08 GMT]
"We are not against the Sinhalese and we are not for violence; we do not use the word 'peace' as a mere slogan. Our future depends on the success of peace," said Jaffna district political head of the LTTE, Mr.C.Ilamparuthi, delivering the keynote address at the five-day music, dance and drama festival inaugurated Tuesday at the Orr's Hill Vivekananda College Auditorium in Trincomalee, sources said.
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SLMM head meets LTTE’s Trinco leaders

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 April 2003, 18:53 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam Tuesday agreed to hold a meeting with the local heads of Sri Lankan Government armed forces on April 21 at the no-man zone in the Mutur area, south of Trincomalee town, to sort out the problem that has arisen over the question of LTTE members crossing through the army controlled areas to LTTE controlled areas, sources said.
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Tamils march in Geneva on Human Rights day

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 April 2003, 11:52 GMT]
Thousands of expatriate tamils from United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, France and other European countries, Monday, joined a march to the United Nations (UN) building in Geneva where sessions on Human Rights issues are being held at the UN, Tamil daily Uthayan from Jaffna reported.


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HRC inquires into police assault on LTTE cadre

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 April 2003, 00:05 GMT]
The Jaffna regional office of the Human Rights Commission (HRC) of Sri Lanka Monday held an inquiry into a complaint of Police assault on a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadre, Mr. Iyaivaanan on March 29, sources said.
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Body washed ashore in Mullaitivu awaits identification

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 April 2003, 11:22 GMT]
The body discovered in Mullaitivu shores Monday last week and sent to Colombo for identification was not of one of chinese fishermen killed in a recent incident at Trincomalee seas according to Chinese Embassy officials, sources in Colombo said.
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A9 opens for traffic on Sundays

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 April 2003, 11:58 GMT]
The A9 highway to Jaffna will be open for public traffic on Sundays, starting today, Sri Lanka military sources said. The road was opened last year following the cease fire agreement between the LTTE and Colombo. But it remained closed on Sundays despite pleas by the Tigers to keep it open 7 days of the week. The road to the Vanni in Mannar through the Uyilankulam entry point was also opened to public traffic on Sundays from today.
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LTTE delegation completes Norway, Sweden visits

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 April 2003, 07:15 GMT]
Members of the Liberation Tigers’ Political Affairs Committee Sunday completed the first week of a tour to several Scandinavian countries to study federal structures and good governance, by boarding a ferry to the Aaland islands in northern Europe. The intensive tour, which began with an opening welcome by Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Vidar Helgesen, was this weekend hailed as a success by the LTTE delegates as well as Foreign Ministry officials from Norway, Sweden and Finland.
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Cultural festival begins Tuesday in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 April 2003, 02:30 GMT]
The five-day music, dance and drama festival of the Association of Art and Culture is to begin Tuesday at the Trincomalee Orr's Hill Vivekananda College auditorium. More than four hundred and eighty Tamil and Sinhala artistes are expected to participate in the festival, Poet Puthuvai Ratnathurai, head of the Art and Cultural Department of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said Saturday.
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Second SGI meeting held in Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 April 2003, 00:05 GMT]
The Sub-Committee on Gender Issues (SGI), established during the third round of negotiations between the LTTE and the Government of Sri Lanka in December 2002, held its second meeting in Kilinochchi on April 4 and 5. The delegates decided to work towards achieving equal representation of women in politics, eliminate gender biases in education, and to take up issues related to violence and sexual harassment of women, said a press release by the Sub-Committee.
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Colombo wants to create illusion of a political settlement– Karuna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 April 2003, 16:29 GMT]
“We should be mindful that we are living in the information age. Information technology has grown tremendously. Our information skills should be on par with this growth. The information revolution can be put to wrong uses too. It can be used to wage psychological warfare against us subtly through TV and other popular media,” said Col. Karuna, senior commander of the Liberation Tigers, addressing the opening of the offices and press of the ‘Thamil Alai’ (Tamil Wave) newspaper in Kokkaddicholai, 12 kilometres southwest of Batticaloa, Saturday.
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Reconstruction of Chavakachcheri town discussed

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 April 2003, 01:17 GMT]
Proposals to reconstruct the Chavakachcheri town in Thenmaradchchi division in Jaffna district were tabled Friday at a conference attended by the Regional Director General of the Planning and Operation unit of the Urban Development Authority (UDA) Mr.K.V. Dharmasiri. Multi-barrel artillery attacks by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) to halt LTTE advances flattened Chavakachcheri town and its suburbs in 2000.
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Exclusion from donor conference undermines peace process - LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 April 2003, 10:08 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Friday protested its exclusion from an international donor conference to be hosted by the United States in Washington on April 14 to back reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts in the Tamil north and east of Sri Lanka. In a press release issued from its Political Headquarters in Kilinochchi, the LTTE expressed its ‘disappointment’ at the move, saying this would undermine confidence in the ongoing peace process.
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LTTE opposed to referendum

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 April 2003, 10:04 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam Friday dismissed as “illogical, impractical and unnecessary” Sri Lankan government suggestions for an island-wide referendum on the ongoing peace initiative. Pointing out that the government had already got a resounding mandate from the people of Sri Lanka for peace, the LTTE’s Chief Negotiator, Mr. Anton Balasingham, said that his movement was totally opposed to a plebiscite at this stage to reaffirm public endorsement.
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Swiss organization opens health clinic in Ayathiyamalai

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 April 2003, 03:59 GMT]
International voluntary organization, Terre des homme (Tdh) which has its head quarters in Switzerland, Thursday, opened a Medical and Health Clinic in Ayathiyamalai, a village located 52km southwest of Batticaloa town, health officials in Batticaloa said.


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New LTTE cadres pass out from training camp

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 April 2003, 03:10 GMT]
A ceremony to mark the passing out of 400 men fighters from the 55th training camp and 300 women fighters from the 30th training camp in Batticaloa was held Thursday at the Tharavai central training camp in the LTTE controlled area of Batticaloa, sources said.
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Thamilchelvan meets Nobel Peace laureate

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 April 2003, 16:29 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers believe that people’s support for the peace process could be obtained if the cease fire agreement is implemented fully, the head of the LTTE’s political division Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan told Nobel Peace Price winner Mr. John Hume, during discussions between the two in Kilinochchi Thursday, sources said. Mr. Hume was accompanied by Britain’s High Commissioner in Colombo and two senior officials from the British foreign office.
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SLMM releases report on recent incidents at sea

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 April 2003, 11:51 GMT]
"The recent attacks on the Chinese trawler off Mullaittivu and the troops transport ship off Trincomalee are not only attacks against Chinese civilians and the Sri Lanka armed forces, but attacks aimed at destabilizing the Ceasefire and the Peace Process in Sri Lanka. Neither the Sri Lankan Government nor the leadership of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) benefit from such attacks taking place since they are undermining their credibility and endangering the progress the parties have made so far," said Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in a press release published today.
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