LTTE leader calls for Norwegian engagement

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 January 2002, 12:08 GMT]
Mr Velupillai Pirapaharan, the leader of the Liberation Tigers has written to the Norwegian Prime Minister Mr Kjell Magne Bondevik, calling for Norway’s continuous engagement as the facilitator between the LTTE and the new Sri Lanka government to find a peaceful settlement to the ethnic conflict. In a press release, the LTTE said Wednesday that Mr. Pirapaharan also complimented the Royal Norwegian Government for its impartial and neutral approach in the facilitatory process. The statement also said a Norwegian delegation headed by Mr Helgeson, the Deputy Foreign Minister, will meet Mr Anton Balasingham, the official spokesman and chief negotiator for the LTTE in London on 4 January.
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LTTE removes 132,328 APLMs, booby traps

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 January 2002, 16:19 GMT]
The de-mining division of the Liberation Tigers has removed 132,328 anti-personnel land mines (APLM) and booby traps left behind by the Sri Lanka army in the villages and towns of the Vanni region in northern Sri Lanka according to the Voice of Tigers news broadcast Tuesday.
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Army tightens security in Mutur

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 January 2002, 09:26 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army and Police have tightened security at sentry points at Kaddaiparichchan and Mahindapura and civilians were thoroughly searched before they were being allowed to enter government held region in the Trincomalee district, said sources.
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Ex MP files for annulment of elections in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 December 2001, 19:28 GMT]
A former United National Party parliamentarian Friday filed an election petition in the Court of Appeal, praying that the court declare the poll held on 5th December this year in the Batticaloa electoral district null and void, and to direct the Commissioner of Elections to take action to hold a re-poll as voters from areas held by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were prevented from voting.
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Mutur East denied medical services

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 December 2001, 19:56 GMT]
No proper medical and health service has been provided to Tamil villages in Mutur east areas which are not controlled by Sri Lankan troops in the Trincomalee district, said a report issued Thursday by the Trincomalee regional office of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCS).
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PM officially requests Norway's assistance

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 December 2001, 19:53 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe Thursday officially requested the government of Norway to recommence its facilitator role with regards to bringing about negotiations with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Mr. Wickremasinghe made his request in a telephone conversation with the Norwegian Prime Minister Thursday morning, a press communiqué released by the Prime Minister's office in Colombo said.
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LTTE official visits SLA held areas in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 December 2001, 13:05 GMT]
An official of the Liberation Tigers visited areas held by the Sri Lankan security forces in Batticaloa south Wednesday. 'Thurai', the official in charge of the LTTE's dissemination division for the Batticaloa and Ampara districts had discussions with an officer of the Special Task Force (STF) at the Paddiruppu Bridge, a main entry point 24 kilometres south of the eastern town, around 10 a.m. Wednesday morning before proceeding to visit Kaluwanchikudy town and the villages to its north with a group of fighters.
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Trincomalee Tamils appeal to Kofi Annan

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 December 2001, 13:40 GMT]
“ Successive Sri Lankan governments have repeatedly disregarded the request for peace talks put forward by the LTTE by adducing various motives while it continued the pernicious war against the Tamils by using all state resources. At the last parliamentary general elections, the entire Tamil community in the northeast province overwhelmingly supported the Tamil National Alliance which stood for accepting the LTTE as the sole representative of the Tamils in Sri Lanka”, states a memorandum sent Monday by community leaders, civil society groups NGOs and trade unions in Trincomalee to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan with copies the United States of America, United Kingdom, India, Norway, Canada, Australia and member states of the European Union.
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No security relaxation in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 December 2001, 20:39 GMT]
Until the modalities of a proper cease-fire between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are worked out, there will be no relaxation in checking at roadblocks and sentry points in the Trincomalee district. Roadblocks and sentry points would not be removed immediately, police sources said.
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Canada refugee “at grave risk of torture” - Amnesty

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 December 2001, 01:48 GMT]
Amnesty International, the human rights group, Friday urged its members to appeal to the Canadian government not to deport a recognised refugee, Manickavasagam Suresh, back to Sri Lanka as “he would be at grave risk of torture.” Noting that Suresh is alleged to be a member of the Liberation Tigers, Amnesty said it “has documented numerous incidences of the Sri Lankan security forces torturing people in their custody, particularly suspected LTTE members.”
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TNA urges Prime Minister to respect Tamils' verdict

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 December 2001, 20:17 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance Friday appealed to the Prime Minister to respect the verdict of the Tamil voters in the Northeast province at the last parliamentary election. A TNA delegation Friday evening told the Prime Minister that "the Tamil voters in the Northeast have very substantially endorsed the policy enunciated in the election manifesto of the TNA, despite the numerous hardships, restrictions and denial imposed upon them even in respect of the exercise of their franchise. The TNA looks forward to the early commencement of the visible implementation of the policy envisaged in its manifesto".
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Colombo announces month long ceasefire

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 December 2001, 12:38 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government Friday responded to the ceasefire unilaterally declared by the Liberation Tigers by announcing a ceasefire from midnight 24 December to 24 January. The month long ceasefire declared by the LTTE also comes into effect from the midnight of 24 December. The United National Front government sources said that the ceasefire announcement was initially expected to be made Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s return from Delhi.
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SLA arrests three from LTTE held region

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 December 2001, 03:16 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army Wednesday arrested three officials of a rural development society in the LTTE held region north of Batticaloa. Relatives who came to see them in detention Friday said that the officials were taking money for work on a World Bank funded road project in the village of Kaddumurivu, 62 kilometres north of Batticaloa, when the army intelligence unit at Oddamavadi arrested and detained them for interrogation. The SLA later handed over the three to the Valaichenai police, accusing them of carrying money for the Liberation Tigers. Government officials in the eastern town, however, said that the money was for the road project in Kaddumurivu under the North East Irrigation Agriculture Project (NEIAP) funded by the World Bank.
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PTA regulations not conducive for talks - Selvam

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 December 2001, 14:14 GMT]
“The United National Front government should take steps remove the Prevention of Terrorism Act and to release Tamil political prisoners if it wants to positively and constructively respond to the ceasefire unilaterally declared by the Liberation Tigers and restore normalcy in the north and east”, Selvam Adaikalanathan MP in a statement Thursday welcoming the LTTE’s truce announcement. “We see the PTA as a serious obstacle to the peace process because the armed forces would remain empowered under its provisions to arrest and detain members of the LTTE even during the period of mutual truce”, he told Tamilnet. The Liberation Tigers were banned under the PTA after the Emergency lapsed in October when the People’s Alliance lost its majority in Parliament.
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LTTE declares month-long ceasefire

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 December 2001, 10:40 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in an official statement issued Wednesday from its headquarters in Vanni, northern Sri Lanka, announced the declaration of a month long “unilateral cessation of hostilities” as a goodwill measure during the festive season “to facilitate and promote initiatives towards a peace process.” The LTTE’s observation of cease-fire begins at midnight on Christmas Eve, 24 December 2001, the organisation said in a press release. The LTTE said if the Sri Lankan government "reciprocates positively to our goodwill gesture and ceases armed hostilities against our forces and takes immediate steps to remove the economic embargo and other restrictions," it will favourably consider extending the period of cease-fire.
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EPDP abandons PA for UNF

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 December 2001, 00:41 GMT]
The paramilitary Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), a key Parliamentary ally of the former People's Alliance (PA) government of President Chandrika Kumaratunga is offering to switch sides and support the newly elected United National Front (UNF), press reports said. The Gulf News reported Wednesday that the EPDP, widely accused of violence and intimidation in support of the former administration before and during the December 5 polls is now offering to assist the UNF's ìefforts at forming a government of national government.î Last week The Island newspaper reported that the EPDP was offering its military support to the new government against the Liberation Tigers, arguing that it had always done so with successive Sri Lankan governments.
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Amnesty urges human rights agenda for new PM

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 December 2001, 00:34 GMT]
Ahead of the first sitting this week by Sri Lanka’s new Parliament, Amnesty International, the human rights watchdog Tuesday wrote to recently-elected Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe about human rights concerns in the country, and called for an end to impunity for violators, faster investigations of cases and sought assurances executions would not be resumed. Amnesty also called for a review of Sri Lanka’s notorious Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and “an investigative body fully independent of the police.”
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Tamil Parties Alliance reiterates its commitment

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 December 2001, 14:49 GMT]
The parliamentary group of the Tamil Parties Alliance (TNA) at its first meeting held Tuesday strongly reiterated that "it has come together and obtained the mandate of the Tamil people in the Northeast to pursue the policies enunciated in its election manifesto, in relation to the resolution of the Tamil national question, which primarily requires the immediate commencement of negotiations with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam with international third party involvement, and to facilitate the commencement of such negotiations, the lifting of the proscription imposed on the LTTE in Sri Lanka."
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UNF MPs endorse peace talks, India’s role

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 December 2001, 15:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s new Prime Minister Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe is scheduled to visit Delhi on 23 December on a three-day official visit to hold discussions with Indian leaders, United National Party sources said Thursday. Preparations for starting peace negotiations with the Liberation Tigers would be a central issue in Mr. Wickremesinghe’s discussions with the Indian Prime Minister and senior ministers in Delhi, according to the sources. The Parliamentary group of the United National Front, which met Thursday, resolved unanimously to do the needful to start the peace process soon. Sri Lanka’s new Foreign Minister Mr. Tyronne Fernando said Thursday’s attack on the Parliament in Delhi wouldn’t change India’s stand on the peace negotiations between the Liberation Tigers and his government. The LTTE and the Tamil National Alliance say that there should be Norwegian mediation in peace talks with Colombo.
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Sampanthan, Sangaree meet Indian HC

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 December 2001, 11:39 GMT]
Senior Tamil National Alliance MPs Mr. R. Sampanthan and Mr. V. Anandasangaree Wednesday appealed to India to impress upon the new Sri Lankan government to lift the ban on the Liberation Tigers. “The ban on the Liberation Tigers in Sri Lanka should be revoked first enabling them to participate in peace talks as the sole representative of Tamils and such talks should be held only with the LTTE with the international third party mediation”, a two MPs told the Indian High Commissioner Mr. Gopalkrishna Gandhi Wednesday morning during a discussion held in Colombo. “The TNAs manifesto been endorsed overwhelmingly by the Tamils of the northeast province at the general election held last week. Hence the new Sri Lankan government should fulfil the demands defined in our manifesto”, the MPs told the envoy. The Indian High Commissioner said he would convey the TNA’s position to his government.
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