Wickremesinghe and Balasingam to meet Sunday

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 November 2002, 01:43 GMT]
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Chief Negotiator of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Mr. Anton Balasingam, will meet for the first time at Holmenkollen Park Hotel in Oslo Sunday 24, said Royal ministry of Foreign Affairs of Government of Norway in a press release.
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Ranil leaves for Oslo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 November 2002, 08:39 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe Saturday morning left for Norway to attend the Oslo aid conference, which is scheduled to begin on November 25. The Prime Minister's party left around 3 a.m. Saturday from Katunayake international airport on its first leg of the tour to London. From London they will fly to Oslo, government sources said.
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PM's meeting with TNA, EPDP, and PLOTE fail to reach consensus

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 November 2002, 16:33 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe Friday evening held a one hour discussion with delegation of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the leaders of the para military Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) and the Peoples Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) to diffuse the tension now prevails in the Jaffna peninsula following picketing campaign against EPDP presence in Neduntheivu.
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TNA meets PM over EPDP cadres in Delft

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 November 2002, 19:41 GMT]
A Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentary delegation Monday brought to the notice of the Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe that members of Eelam Democratic party (EPDP) now in Delft island in Jaffna district are armed and are also moving about in naval uniform. The TNA delegation requested the Prime Minister to take stern steps to prevent incidents similar to those that had taken place at Kanchirankuda and Trincomalee last month, in the Delft Island.
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Multi-community sportsmeet in Kalutara

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 November 2002, 14:50 GMT]
Seven hundred sportsmen and women and officials from the North travelled to Kalutara to participate in a sportsmeet for peace being held in Matara starting from today. The participants departed from Vavuniya yesterday by a special train, sources said. Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremasinghe, will be the chief guest at the prize giving ceremony on the last day of the meet, sources said.


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PA slams international aid conference

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 November 2002, 12:03 GMT]
(News Feature) As Norway confirmed the participation of US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, British Secretary of State for International Development Claire Short and European Union Commissioner Margot Wallstrom at a high level aid conference for Sri Lanka to be held in Oslo on November 25, the main Sri Lankan opposition party Friday condemned the event as "rewarding terrorism."
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Parliament approves President votes without cut

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 November 2002, 21:33 GMT]
The parliament Friday evening approved the votes for the offices of the President and Prime Minister without cut. The committee stage budget debate, which began Friday morning, continued for about five hours. The votes were approved without division.
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NE Resettlement, Relief Oslo talk focus- Peiris

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 November 2002, 19:39 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government Thursday announced that it would submit a white paper regarding the issues that are to be taken up for discussion which is scheduled to be held on November 25 at Oslo, Norway. "Priority will be given to resettlement of displaced and relief to the people in the war torn northeast province in the island at the Oslo aid talks," said Minister G.L.Peiris at the weekly cabinet briefing held Thursday.
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Rebel Muslim MPs cut committee deal

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 November 2002, 15:08 GMT]
The Government of Sri Lanka Monday appointed a committee headed by its Interior secretary to look after the interests and concerns of Muslims in the island’s northeast in a bid to retain the crucial support of eight MPs of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, the main partner of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s ruling coalition, who have been boycotting Parliament amid allegations that the opposition was manipulating them to instigate communal tensions in the east to scuttle the peace talks for ending the island’s conflict and to topple the United National Front government.
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JVP lambasts peace talks

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 November 2002, 20:07 GMT]
“It is very foolish to believe that Norway, which is America’s quisling, would bring peace to our country. America is trying to oppress and rule over the people of the world. It is America that has unleashed terror on Iraq, Cuba, Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Eritrea,” said the Janata Vimukthi Permamuna (JVP), currently a powerful third force in Sinhala politics, in a pamphlet issued Saturday at the conclusion of a house-to-house campaign against the peace process.
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MP gives up boycott after meeting SLA commanders

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 November 2002, 14:22 GMT]
Mr. Gnanamuthu Krishnapillai, Member of Parliament (MP) of Batticaloa district agreed to give up his boycotting of parliament after meeting commanders of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Thursday morning. The MP met with Brigadier S.R. Balasuriya, commander of 23rd division in Minneriya and Colonel R. de Silva, commander of 23-3 Brigade in Batticalo at the MP's residence in Kaluwanchikudi on instructions from Joint Chief of Staff, Lionel Balagalle.
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Curfew re-imposed in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 31 October 2002, 18:12 GMT]
Colombo north and central areas were again placed under curfew to quell further violence between the Sinhalese and Muslims, which has left one killed and at least a dozen wounded, police sources said. Muslims who took part in the funeral of the Muslim person who was killed in Thursday's clashes, attacked a Buddhist monk Friday. Another Muslim man was wounded when the Police opened fire to disperse the crowd.
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Hakim meets with PM before leaving for Thailand

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 October 2002, 08:42 GMT]
Rauf Hakim, a member of the Sri Lankan Government's delegation participating in the second round of peace talks to be held in Thailand on 31 October, postponed his departure till the 30 October (today) to consult with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe this morning, sources in Colombo said.
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Special police team to investigate Trincomalee attack

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 October 2002, 10:35 GMT]
A special team comprising senior police officers will be sent to Trincomalee to conduct full scale investigation into the gun and grenade attack on Tamil civilians on October 11 that killed three Tamil civilians and injuring about fifty. Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe took this decision after meeting with Mr. Sampanthan, Tamil National Alliance (TNA)parliamentarian for the Trincomalee district, Tuesday, said sources. Interior Minister Mr. John Amaratunge also participated in the talks.
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Norwegian government team meets Opposition leader

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 October 2002, 16:51 GMT]
The Norwegian government delegation Monday morning held wide ranging discussions with the Leader of the Opposition Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse regarding the second round of peace talks between the United National Front (UNF) government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) which is scheduled to commence on October 31 at Sattahip in Thailand. In the afternoon the Norwegian team met with the leader of government's peace delegation, Professor G.L. Peiris, ruling party sources said.


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Sri Lanka Army recruits, eyes UN role

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 October 2002, 07:13 GMT]
(News Feature) Sri Lanka’s United National Front government is exploring plans to allow its armed forces to participate in United Nations peacekeeping missions, the Sunday Times newspaper reported this week. A new recruitment drive for the Army has also been launched.
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‘Unmask political forces behind staged abduction’- Nehru

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 October 2002, 16:22 GMT]
The Amparai district Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian Mr. A. Chandra Nehru asked the secretary to Sri Lanka’s Interior Ministry to take all possible steps unravel the mystery and identify the political forces behind the alleged ‘abduction’ of the Muslim youth who was found in his home Friday.


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'Douglas Devananda not questioned over journalist’s murder' - RSF

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 October 2002, 03:50 GMT]
The international media watchdog, Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) Friday slammed Police investigators inquiring into the murder of Jaffna journalist Mayilvaganam Nimalarajan for never questioning persons who might have been behind the murder. Gunmen suspected to be members of the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) murdered Nimalarajan at his residence on October 19 2000.
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Sri Lanka heads for elections – reports

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 October 2002, 12:49 GMT]
(News Feature) Sri Lanka’s cabinet Wednesday unanimously endorsed a proposal by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to go for a general election instead of a referendum on the 19th Amendment to the constitution that the Supreme Court is expected to demand, newspapers reported Thursday.
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Furuhovde calls for ‘patience, justice and courage’

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 October 2002, 11:34 GMT]
Whilst the recent violence in Ampara and Trincomalee has shown how "fragile and sensitive the situation is at this time in the peace process," the leadership of the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers "are are determined to promote the peaceful situation in Sri Lanka so that the peace talks can succeed," the head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), Major General Trond Furuhovde said Wednesday.
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