TRO starts housing project for Thiriyai resettlers

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 March 2003, 01:55 GMT]
Trincomalee district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Mr.R.Sampanthan, at twelve noon Thursday, laid the first foundation stone for the first house for resettled families at Kaddukulam in Thiriyai village, forty-two km north of Trincomalee town. Trincomalee district office of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) is building five hundred houses as part of this housing project, sources said.
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LTTE, Muslim parley on key issue

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 March 2003, 17:42 GMT]
“Muslims enjoy the same rights as Tamils in areas under our control. There is no need for them to ask us for their fields because we did not take any. They could not cultivate their lands because of the war. Now they are free to come here and engage in agriculture”, said Mr. T. Ramesh, the LTTE’s special commander for the Batticaloa-Amparai District, speaking to the press Thursday afternoon at the conclusion of a meeting with a delegation of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress.


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Sri Lanka Police quibble over spent ordnance

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 March 2003, 16:57 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Police Thursday produced in the district court of Mannar a person arrested allegedly for transporting empty casings of artillery shells. Police told court that they had found six empty casings, each two feet long, in a lorry bringing scrap metal from the Vanni at the Uyilankulam entry point in Mannar. Legal sources in the Mannar courts, however, said expended ordnance was not illegal.


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Sinhala settlements in Batticaloa Tamil villages

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 March 2003, 16:22 GMT]
Tamil people from Mayilankarachchi and Thiyavaddavan, near Ottamavadi in the Batticaloa district, who lost their belongings and their lands in past riots between Muslims and Tamils, have complained of attempts to create Sinhalese settlements in their village, and the construction of a Buddhist temple (Vihare) while they were displaced.
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Muslim MPs meet Norwegian envoy

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 March 2003, 01:38 GMT]
A delegation of Muslim parliamentarians met Norwegian ambassador to Sri Lanka, Mr. Jon Westborg, at the Norwegian embassy on Wednesday and requested that Muslims of the North-East be allowed to have separate representation in the peace talks currently being conducted between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), sources said.
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TRO launches housing scheme for Thiriyai resettlers

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 March 2003, 19:37 GMT]
The Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) is to lay foundation Thursday for a housing scheme in Thiriyai village, a traditional Tamil village, about forty-two km north of Trincomalee town. The proposed housing scheme is to facilitate refugees to return to their own land after about twenty years, sources said.


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'Tamil voters' fundamental rights violated' -- Supreme Court

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 March 2003, 20:15 GMT]
The Supreme Court Tuesday held that the Commander of the Sri Lanka Army and the Commissioner of Elections had violated the fundamental rights of the voters in the LTTE held areas of the North-East province by preventing them from casting their votes at the last general elections held in December 2001, legal sources said.
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Economic development, TEEDOR's main focus - Ramesh

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 March 2003, 11:28 GMT]
Farmers and officials associated with agriculture should co-operate with the Tamil Eelam Economic Development Organization (TEEDOR) to build the economic sector of the Northeast which has been badly affected by war, said Ramesh, Batticaloa-Amparai Special commander of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), speaking as the chief guest in the Farmer' day event held at the Ampalanthurai Sports ground, Batticaloa, Sunday, sources said.


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Compulsory transfer for NE teachers to serve in difficult areas

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 March 2003, 14:26 GMT]
North East Provincial Ministry has instructed its twenty-four zonal directors of education to formulate a transfer scheme for teachers to serve in schools in difficult rural areas in the province for at least three years, sources said.
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SLMM chief meets Trinco LTTE commander Pathuman

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 March 2003, 15:45 GMT]
The new head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), Major General Triggve Teleffsen, Friday afternoon held discussions with the Trincomalee area commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Colonel Pathuman, and Trincomalee district political head, Mr.Tilak. The discussion centred regarding the movement of LTTE cadres in the Trincomalee district, sources said.
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Batticaloa, Jaffna residents pay respect to Sea Tigers killed

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 March 2003, 13:22 GMT]
Several memorial events were conducted Friday in Batticaloa district and Jaffna peninsula to pay respect to the eleven Sea Tigers of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) killed on 10 March when their merchant vessel in international waters off the coast of Trincomalee was sunk by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) craft, sources said.


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Officers criticized on inactive youth resource centers

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 March 2003, 05:07 GMT]
The regional youth resource centers constructed in twelve divisional secretariat regions in the Batticaloa district are not helping the youths in any meaningful way to meet the education and employment expectations of the youths, and the main reason for this is the negligence of senior youth service officers, Batticaloa residents have alleged.
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Trinco pays homage to 11 LTTE cadres died in sea

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 March 2003, 13:26 GMT]
A day of mourning was observed Friday morning in Trincomalee for the deaths of eleven senior cadres of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at a function organized at the LTTE town political office. Photographs of eleven LTTE cadres were kept in specially erected hall, sources said.
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Hakone talks focus on federalism, security concerns at sea

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 March 2003, 12:02 GMT]
The Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) delegations in their sixth session of peace talks agreed to have their senior naval and political personnel meet to 'workout effective arrangements for the operation of naval units.' The parties also agreed to present a complete plan at the seventh session on the steps to be taken towards negotiating a federal solution for Sri Lanka.


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Sea Tigers deny involvement in trawler sinking

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 March 2003, 11:09 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Friday denied accusations by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) that they were involved in the sinking of a Taiwanese trawler about 40km off the Mullaitivu coast. International monitors were investigating the incident in which seventeen Taiwanese sailors are said to have died. The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) said information was sketchy and investigations were continuing.
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Akashi hosts Tiger delegation to traditional meal

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 March 2003, 10:57 GMT]
Japan’s Special Peace Envoy to Sri Lanka, Mr. Yasushi Akashi, Thursday hosted a lunch for the Liberation Tigers’ delegation at the sixth round of direct talks between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government, officials said. Japanese diplomats and LTTE officials sat down to a traditional Japanese meal at a top restaurant in the hot spring resort of Hakone where the talks are being held.
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Annai Poopathi anniversary celebrated in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 March 2003, 04:03 GMT]
"Today represents a historic day in our freedom struggle. The fifteenth year anniversay of the day Annai (mother) Poopathi sacrificed her life waging non-violent struggle against the might of the Indian Army. She demonstrated that no force can suppress the determination of the Tamils to fight for their rights," said Batticaloa-Amparai special commander of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), T. Ramesh, addressing the anniversary celebrations held in Navalady, Batticaloa, sources said.


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Names of Sea tigers killed in merchant vessel announced

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 March 2003, 01:18 GMT]
The names of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) sea tigers killed in international waters 220 miles from Trincomalee shores when the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) fired on their merchant vessel on March 10 were announced by the LTTE Wednesday, sources in Vanni said.
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Japan deepens Sri Lanka peace role

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 March 2003, 11:55 GMT]
Along with hosting the sixth round of direct talks between the Liberation Tigers and the Sri Lankan government, Japan this week signaled its determination to play a leading role in bringing peace to the strife-torn island when one of its top diplomats joined Norwegian officials at the negotiating table. Japan’s deepening involvement in the peace process was this week welcomed by the Liberation Tigers.
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Monitors says no evidence sunk ship carried weapons

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 March 2003, 09:42 GMT]
Concluding an investigation into the sinking last week of an LTTE-owned vessel by the Sri Lanka Navy, international ceasefire monitors Monday confirmed the ship was a merchant vessel and said there was no evidence it was carrying weapons as claimed by the Navy. The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) said it had not been informed in time of the interception of the vessel by the Navy and could not rule on the incident as it occurred almost 200 miles from Sri Lanka’s shore, in area where the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea applied.
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