"MoU contents will be divulged to nation" -UNF

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 February 2002, 19:22 GMT]
The United National Front Government said Tuesday that it would submit all details of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the government and the Liberation Tigers on a long-standing cease-fire to the nation and the parliament once the parties concerned reached an agreement. "We have not finalised the contents of the proposed MOU brokered by the Norwegian facilitation. It is premature to express opinion on the proposed MoU based on news reports appeared in media," said Professor G.L.Peiris, a senior minister in the UNF government Tuesday in parliament.
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UNF govt to reduce 2002 defence expenditure

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 February 2002, 18:19 GMT]
The United National Front government (UNF) said Monday that the country's defense expenditure would be reduced in the new budget, which is scheduled to be tabled in parliament on March 18. "The current cessation of hostilities would continue even if the government and the Liberation Tigers failed to sign the Memorandum of Understanding before February 24. Both the UNF government and the LTTE would have to sign a common programme of action to make the cessation of hostilities a permanent ceasefire," said the Defense Minister Mr.Tilak Marapone addressing a press briefing Monday.
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A9 opening

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 February 2002, 06:22 GMT]
(Photographs) The TamilNet correspondent for Vavuniya visited the Vanni after the A-9 highway was reopened on Friday, February 15 from Vavuniya up to Killinochchi, as part of ongoing efforts to de-escalate the conflict. The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) opened the A9 highway northwards from Omanthai and the Liberation Tigers opened the southern end of the section of the road which falls within their areas.
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JVP criticised for sabotaging peace efforts

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 February 2002, 19:44 GMT]
The Colombo based Sinhalese weekly 'Hiru' has criticised the Marxist Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) for its chauvinistic stance on the current peace initiatives by the United National Front government. "The JVP has violated all socialist norms by keeping silent on the political and economic rights of the Tamils in the Northeast province", the paper said in its political column Sunday.
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LTTE denies Maldives venue reports

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 February 2002, 16:24 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Sunday denied news reports in a popular Colombo-based Tamil daily that suggested that negotiations between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE would be held in the Maldives on the 16th of April. Mr. Anton Balasingham, the LTTE’s chief negotiator and political advisor, when queried by TamilNet over the report in the Virakesari said that there is no truth to the story.
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Tamil paramilitaries’ extortion under scrutiny

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 February 2002, 20:51 GMT]
The Vavuniya Magistrate, Mr.M.Ilancheliyan, Friday directed police to investigate several complaints made by civilians about cadres of a Tamil paramilitary group, working alongside the Army, which has been extorting money from villagers in suburbs of Vavuniya claiming they were representing Liberation Tigers, court sources said.
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LTTE prepared to open Kilinochchi-Jaffna highway

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 February 2002, 15:37 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said Friday that they are willing to open the remaining part of the A-9 highway from Kilinochchi to Jaffna in the near future, if the Sri Lankan Government responded favourably. This was stated by Mr.Thangan (Sutha), Political Administrative Secretary of the organisation when speaking at the ceremonial function of the opening of A-9 highway from Vavuniya to Killinochchi Friday morning.
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A9 highway reopens

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 February 2002, 11:14 GMT]
(News Feature) Sri Lanka's main A9 highway, the target of an abortive and bloody 18-month Army offensive in the mid nineties was reopened Friday morning from Vavuniya up to Killinochchi, as part of ongoing efforts to de-escalate the conflict. The move provides greater access for people and supplies to the Liberation Tigers held Vanni region on which successive government in Colombo clamped an economic embargo for more than a decade. Goods were scheduled to flow into the area Friday, while seven hundred people waiting on either side of the former separating line had been cleared to cross. "Civilians would be allowed to travel to and from LTTE held Vanni region through these roads after their identities are checked and only five days a week between 8 am and 5 pm," authoritative sources told TamilNet.
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AG to withdraw indictments under section 5 of PTA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 February 2002, 17:41 GMT]
The Attorney General has instructed all State Counsels who appear on behalf of the AG's department in High Courts to withdraw two categories of cases filed under Section 5 of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). Tamil youths who have been indicted for failing to provide information about the LTTE members in their respective areas and those who have been indicted on their own confession purported to have been made due to severe torture after the arrest are to be freed according to AG's instruction, legal sources said.
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Jaffna travel restriction relaxed -MoD

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 February 2002, 20:31 GMT]
The United National Front Government Monday announced that no approval from the Ministry of Defence will be required hereafter by Sri Lankan citizens to travelling to Jaffna. "However their identities should be proved at the point of embarking when they travel by air or ship at security force/check points established by the Government", the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said in a press statement released Monday.
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Tigers say ready to open A9 highway as scheduled

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 February 2002, 06:09 GMT]
In a statement issued in the Vanni Sunday, the political wing of the Liberation Tigers said that the A9 highway and the Uyilankulam road in Mannar would be opened on Friday 15 February. The two roads would be the only access arteries to the LTTE held Vanni region on which successive government in Colombo clamped a harsh economic embargo for more than a decade. The Vavuniya GA told TamilNet last week that the district secretariat was ready for opening the A9 on 15 February.
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Tamil festival for self-determination on 'pearl coast'

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 February 2002, 19:28 GMT]
More than twenty thousand, including Muslims, thronged the seaside village of Mutharipputhurai in Mannar Thursday for the 'Tamil is our Being' (Thamil Engal Uyir) celebration. The organisers of the event made a declaration that the homeland of the Tamils and their right to determination should be recognised; that the Liberation Tigers should be accepted as the sole representatives of the Tamils and that the ban on the LTTE should be removed; that the Prevention of Terrorism Act should be repealed and all Tamil political prisoners held under this draconian law should be released.
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"Vanni woes continue" -CTTU

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 February 2002, 14:23 GMT]
The Ceylon Tamil Teachers Union (CTTU) said Thursday that "the Vanni intelligentsia feel that the United National Front government has failed to take concrete steps in taking forward the peace initiative." Mr.T.Mahasivam, General Secretary of the CTTU told TamilNet that "the Vanni people still live in misery and are eagerly awaiting to enjoy the benefits of the humanitarian assistance programme which was announced by the United National Front government last month."
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Kumaratunga ally denounces UNF-LTTE peace talks

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 February 2002, 16:04 GMT]
The radical Sinhala nationalist - socialist Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), a key ally of President Chandrika Kumaratunga, vowed Wednesday to fight Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesighe's government if it "dared to lift the ban on the Liberation Tigers".
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LTTE rejects President's child-recruitment charge

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 February 2002, 19:58 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Tuesday categorically denied allegations by Sri Lanka's President Kumaratunga that the organisation is engaged in the forcible recruiting of children for war effort under the guise of ceasefire. When contacted by TamilNet regarding the President's statement issued Tuesday, the LTTE's political advisor and chief negotiator, Mr. Anton Balasingham, rejected the accusation and said Kumaratunga was attempting create controversy and apprehensions with the intention of undermining the ongoing Norwegian peace initiative.
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45,685 sick civilians treated by LTTE - radio

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 February 2002, 13:33 GMT]
Mobile medical units of the Liberation Tigers treated 45,685 civilians in the Vanni last year, according to a Voice of Tigers report this week. The civilians were mainly from the remote parts of the region, with little access to the mobile medical services of the ICRC. The largest percentage of these patients was treated for anaemia, the report said. Malnutrition and anaemia are rampant among children and adults in Vanni, induced by the decade long embargo clamped on the region by successive governments in Colombo and the acute shortage of food, medicines and drugs, including aspirin.
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Paramilitaries stirring communal tension through crimes - LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 February 2002, 16:09 GMT]
Agent provocateurs under the guise of being members of the Liberation Tigers are engaged in criminal activities in the Batticaloa district in a bid to provoke communal tension and undermine the ongoing Norwegian peace efforts, the LTTE's political section for the Batticaloa and Amparai districts said Sunday. In a Tamil-language statement issued in the eastern districts, the LTTE said paramilitary groups working with the Sri Lanka armed forces were responsible for a string of thefts, forcible removal of property from Muslim homes and businesses and extortion. The LTTE appealed to all Tamil speaking people in the region to be united against such efforts to spread alarm.
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Covert moves to scuttle peace in east – Karikalan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 February 2002, 21:51 GMT]
“Corrupts elements in the Sri Lanka army and paramilitary groups operating with it are making covert attempts in the east to scuttle the peace negotiations between the Tigers and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesighe’s government”, said the deputy leader of the political wing of the Liberation Tigers, Mr. Karikalan, addressing a press conference Sunday in Kokkaddicholai, 14 kilometres southwest of Batticaloa.
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'I'll don the stripes if UNF peace fails' -Chandranehru

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 February 2002, 21:43 GMT]
"A river of blood will flow in this island if the United National Front government fails to make every effort to bring about peace. Why? Even I, Chandranehru, will wear the LTTE uniform and go to the battlefield. This is the last chance for Sri Lanka to solve the Tamil problem politically. The three communities of this country yearn for peace today.
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