Sri Lanka rejects LTTE's "goodwill" ceasefire

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 December 2000, 20:13 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government Saturday rejected the Liberation Tigers offer Thursday of a month-long "goodwill" cease-fire, asserting that military operations by the armed forces will continue. A statement issued by the Presidential Secretariat also said that "further gestures of goodwill are unnecessary [before negotiations]," rejecting the LTTE's call to de- escalate the conflict for negotiations to take place in conditions of normalcy.
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"Offensive against Tigers will continue" - P.M

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 December 2000, 14:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister, Mr.Ratnasiri Wickremanayaka, told reporters in Colombo Friday that military offensives against the Liberation Tigers will continue and that a response to the month long cease-fire declared by them unilaterally Thursday night could be considered only after President Kumaratunga returns to the island. Meanwhile the massive three pronged offensive launched Friday by the SLA barely 8 hours after the cease-fire offer by the Tigers faced fierce opposition south west of Madduvil but another prong from Nunavil has advanced close to the Kaithady bridge east of Jaffna town sources said.
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Britain welcomes LTTE ceasefire

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 December 2000, 10:23 GMT]
Britain’s Foreign Office Minister Peter Hain Friday welcomed the Liberation Tigers announcement Thursday of a month-long unilateral ceasefire as “a first step” in de-escalating the conflict and urged the Sri Lankan government to follow suit.
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Tigers declare "goodwill" month-long ceasefire

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 December 2000, 11:47 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers declared Thursday a month-long unilateral ceasefire "as a goodwill measure to facilitate the peace process." A press release from the organisation's London offices quoted a statement released by its headquarters in the Vanni said it would cease hostile military actions against the Sri Lankan armed forces from midnight 24 December.
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Tigers shell eastern naval detachment

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 December 2000, 11:32 GMT]
Five Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) personnel were killed and two others were wounded when the Liberation Tigers launched a mortar attack on a naval detachment at Salaiparu in the Kuchchaveli Division. around 9 a.m. Thursday, security sources in Trincomalee said.
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Amnesty fears for safety of Tamil villagers

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 December 2000, 02:32 GMT]
Amnesty International in a statement published yesterday said that it fears for safety of villagers of Gopalapuram in Trincomalee district from Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) personnel. The statement was issued following the torture and murder, allegedly by the navy, of two young Tamil men, Mahalingam Thamiran and Shanmugarajan Sornahasan, who were previously threatened after the villagers protested against the killing of several villagers by the navy.
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Sinhala nationalists protest against talks

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 December 2000, 14:34 GMT]
The militant Sinhala Buddhist nationalist group, the National Movement Against Terrorism (NMAT), urged the Sri Lanka army to continue the war until the Liberation Tigers are defeated when they met the SLA commander Lt.Gen. Lionel Balagalle Wednesday and gave him a memorandum against peace talks to end the ethnic conflict in the island. The NMAT held a protest in downtown Colombo against peace talks Wednesday afternoon. Protesters burnt an effigy of LTTE leader Velupillai Pirapaharan and poked fun at two persons dressed up as Norwegian peace emissary Eric Soleheim and British Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Peter Hain.
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EU urges easing of embargo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 December 2000, 08:46 GMT]
The European Union, whilst discussing financial assistance for the Sri Lankan government Monday, urged negotiations to end the protracted conflict in Sri Lanka and called for a lasting solution which would take "substantial account of the aspirations" of the Tamils within Sri Lanka's territorial integrity and unity. A declaration by the Presidency on behalf of the European Union on Sri Lanka at the World Bank Development Forum, also urged the Sri Lankan government to ease the hardships of the displaced people in the north-east and welcomed the Norwegian peace initiative, whilst expressing concern at defence expenditure. The EU also said "the ethnic conflict and shortcomings in government are hampering" Sri Lanka's development.
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Tigers attack SLN-SLA detachment in east

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 December 2000, 02:48 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Navy sailor was killed and three Sri Lanka army soldiers were injured when the Liberation Tigers attacked the Saththurukkondaan SLA-SLN camp by the Batticaloa lagoon, about five kilometers north of the eastern town around 1 a.m. Tuesday.
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'Negotiations cannot be held under conditions of war' - LTTE

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 December 2000, 14:19 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Saturday called on the international community to use its good offices “to persuade the Sri Lankan government to abandon its hardline militarist approach and to seek a negotiated political settlement in a climate of peace and goodwill”. A press release from the organisation’s London offices quoted a statement it released Saturday in the Vanni expressing the LTTE’s “deep disappointment” over the “categorical rejection” by Sri Lanka of its call for a process of de-escalation of the armed conflict prior to peace talks. The LTTE also welcomed the “positive” proposals for “mutually reciprocated confidence building goodwill measures” suggested by the Government of Norway to be undertaken on both sides.
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Fresh SLA operation in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 December 2000, 11:38 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army launched a fresh operation towards areas held by the Liberation Tigers in t Nunavil-Kaithady sector in Thenmaradchi in the early hours of Saturday. SLA sources in Jaffna said 12 soldiers including an officer were killed and 31 were wounded in the fighting.
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Peace efforts at impasse - paper

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 December 2000, 12:03 GMT]
(News Feature) The Sri Lankan government's refusal to lift its economic embargo on Tamil areas not held by its military and Colombo's imposition of fresh conditions for negotiations threaten to stall Norwegian efforts to bring about a peaceful resolution of the island's protracted conflict, the London-based Tamil Guardian said this week. "The Sri Lankan government is well aware that adopting this position effectively creates an impasse," the paper said in the editorial column of its latest issue, which hit news stands Friday.
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SLA soldier killed

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 December 2000, 11:59 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army soldier was killed in a claymore blast near Valaichenai, 32 km. north of Batticaloa around 8 a.m. Friday, security sources said. The blast occurred near Usan Etram SLA camp.
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Two hunters shot dead by SLAF

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 December 2000, 23:15 GMT]
Pampaimadhu residents, Arulanantham Kamalanathan (29), and Sinnathamby Sivakumar (30) who went hunting in Poovarasankulam, Vavuniya were shot and killed by Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) personnel on Monday evening, said sources. SLAF claimed that the men were LTTE members and that they had recovered two grenades and a pistol from the dead men.
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UNP queries Chandrika's sojourn in west

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 December 2000, 14:04 GMT]
Sri Lanka's main opposition, The United National Party (UNP) Thursday challenged President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge to reveal what she did during her long stay in Europe. "What is hilarious or incomprehensible rather is that the president is out of the country while the country is facing misfortune from all fronts", the party said in a press communiqué issued by its Assistant Leader of the UNP Mr.Gamini Atukorale.
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Sri Lanka rejects de-escalation before talks

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 December 2000, 03:29 GMT]
(News Feature) The Sri Lankan government said Tuesday that it would not accept the Liberation Tigers' call for a de-escalation of the war prior to unconditional negotiations to end the island’s protracted conflict, as the call was “proposed almost as a precondition for talks.” The government instead said de-escalation must be accompanied by talks on a permanent solution, which must be preceded by the Liberation Tigers agreeing the core issues to be covered in any negotiations. The government also re-iterated that any talks must be completed within a definite time frame.
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Police discover hand bombs in Wellawatte

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 December 2000, 15:46 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police discovered and diffused four hand bombs hidden buried in an unused landsite in W De Silva Mawatte, Wellawatte today morning, sources in Colombo said.
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Northern plight - Jaffna MP carts in protest

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 December 2000, 14:44 GMT]
United National Party MP for Jaffna Mr.A.Maheswaran led a protest Wednesday against the high price of goods in Jaffna and the government embargo on essentials to the Vanni by riding a bullock cart to the Sri Lankan Parliament. Six UNP Parliamentarians, including Dr.Jayalath Jayawardena and Mahinda Samarasekera joined him in the protest. Mr. Maheswaran told TamilNet that he was protesting over the exorbitant rates charged for taking goods to Jaffna by sea, adding that it is very much cheaper to ship things from Pakistan to Sri Lanka than from Colombo to Jaffna.
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SLA starts another operation for Jaffna road

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 December 2000, 07:36 GMT]
The Sri Lankan army launched an operation towards areas held by the Liberation Tigers west of Chavakachcheri in Jaffna Tuesday morning. SLA troops backed by artillery and armour are attempting to advance on the A9 highway in the direction of Navatkuli sources said. The LTTE held areas between Jaffna and Chavakachcheri were bombed heavily by the Sri Lanka Air Force since Saturday.
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Tigers attack Thoppur police station

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 December 2000, 05:17 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers attacked and overran the Police Station at Thoppur in the Mutur area, 25 km. south of Trincomalee around 5.30 Tuesday morning. Local residents said the Liberation Tigers remained in control of the police station, and removed arms and other military equipment from the Police station.
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