Jaffna fishing production increases amid poaching, security restriction

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 July 2004, 19:13 GMT]
Jaffna district last year recorded a fish production of about 21,206 metric tones amid poaching and restrictions imposed by the Sri Lanka security forces on fishing by local population. Currently about 14,515 fishermen from 14,780 families are engaged in fishing in the peninsula, fisheries sources said.
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US military assistance weakening peace process -TNA

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 July 2004, 15:52 GMT]
Jaffna district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians told Ms Cody Taylor, political officer of the United States (US) embassy, that the progress made during the peace talks in affording equal status to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) with the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) has been weakened by the military training and assistance given by the U.S. Government to the Sri Lanka armed forces. Ms Taylor arrived in Jaffna Friday afternoon and met with the TNA parliamentarians at the office of the Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) in Jaffna town, sources in Jaffna said.
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SL President committed to peace despite Batticaloa fears - Dhanapala

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 July 2004, 12:54 GMT]
The delay in restarting peace talks between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers is due the preparation of the agenda, said Dr. Jayantha Dhanapala, chairman of the GOSL peace secretariat, speaking to journalists at the conclusion of his visit to Batticaloa Friday. Speaking in Sinhala, he said the situation in the east is bad after Karuna split from the LTTE and that there is a concern that this could adversely affect the peace. President Kumaratunga, however, remains committed to taking forward the peace process, Dr. Dhanapala said.
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GOSL Peace Secretariat head to visit Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 July 2004, 16:40 GMT]
Mr.Jayantha Dhanapala, Secretary General of the Peace Secretariat of the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) is scheduled to visit Batticaloa Friday to hold talks with the local heads of State armed forces and Police and representatives of civil organizations to study the ground situation of the volatile Batticaloa district, sources said.
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Government bent on creating war-phobia - Elilan

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 July 2004, 17:53 GMT]
''Statements made by the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and chauvinist political parties on the question of finding a political solution to the Tamil national question are aimed to create disharmony among communities and to unleash violence in Sri Lanka,'' said Mr.S.Elilan, Trincomalee district political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) addressing a meeting held at Eachchilampathu Sri Shenabaga Maha Vidiyalayam in the Muttur east division Tuesday. The meeting was organized by the Thamileelam National Resurgence Forum, sources said.
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Peace process in great crisis- Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 July 2004, 11:12 GMT]
"The peace process is in great crisis. The Sri Lankan government should take constructive steps to stabilize the cease fire. But a cabinet minister in the government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) is openly aiding 'Karuna' to attack us. The manner in which the GOSL and its armed forces are backing Karuna is jeopardising peace," said Mr. S.P Thamilchelvan, speaking to the press after meeting Norway's ambassador to Sri Lanka Tuesday in Kilinochchi.
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The cease-fire’s weakest link: Tamil paramilitaries

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 June 2004, 17:50 GMT]
When Norwegian Special Envoy Erik Solheim flew into Sri Lanka this week, he was well aware that the problems that have bedeviled his government’s peace process thus far have now been eclipsed by new and far more severe one: a weak link in the formal ceasefire between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers has finally snapped.
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Business Development Centre opened in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 June 2004, 17:27 GMT]
The office of the Business Development Centre (BDC) for eastern region was declared open in Trincomalee Tuesday. The BDC Network supports capacity building for the business development services market serving the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector in Sri Lanka. Trincomalee district Government Agent Mr. Gamini Rodrigo, Business Services Support Facility (BSSF) Executive Director Mr. Mark Van Steenwyk and Mr.Shakila Wijewardene, Managing Director of the Sarvodhaya Economic Enterprise Development Services (GTE) Ltd (SEEDS) jointly declared open the BDC office.
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Thamilchelvan conveys LTTE’s stand on CFA, talks to Solheim

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 June 2004, 08:37 GMT]
“If the Sri Lankan President and government are serious about the cease-fire agreement and peace talks they should stop sheltering Karuna and backing the murder and mayhem in which some of his henchmen are indulging Batticaloa. This is what we told the Norwegian facilitators today”, said Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan, head of the LTTE’s political division, speaking to the press after meeting Norway’s special peace envoy Mr. Erik Solheim Wednesday in Kilinochchi.
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SL Government admits SLA complicity in Karuna affair

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 June 2004, 10:39 GMT]
Contradicting Defense Secretary Cyril Herath who denied Monday that Sri Lanka Army (SLA) gave shelter to renegade commander Muralitharan (alias Karuna), Information Minister of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government, Mangala Samaraweera, admitted to the press today that the SLA helped Karuna "escape and wage a covert war of attrition against the Tamil Tigers" according to a BBC report from Colombo today.
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UNP said investigating Moulana

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 June 2004, 14:21 GMT]
The main opposition United National Party (UNP) in a press release Wednesday reiterated its policy of non-interference in the internal matters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The UNP leadership Wednesday clarified its stand amid revelation that one of its national list parliamentarian Mr.Ali Zahir Moulana Seyed helped LTTE renegade commander Karuna safe passage to Colombo from east on April 11 following the outbreak of Karuna revolt, sources said.


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Details of Karuna's whereabouts emerge

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 June 2004, 01:15 GMT]
Revelation by four Senior LTTE women commanders who escaped from Colombo and rejoined the LTTE Friday, that Karuna is working with the Sri Lanka Security Forces in Colombo, is likely to raise serious doubts on the bona fides of the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and has introduced a potentially explosive component to prospects for peace, political sources in Colombo said.
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No ISGA outside parliamentary procedure - UPFA govt.

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 June 2004, 16:08 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Media Minister and United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government's new cabinet spokesman Mr. Mangala Samaraweera, Friday rejected reports in a section of the media that the President was exploring the possibility of establishing Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) in the northeast province outside parliamentary procedure as baseless. '' There is absolutely no truth in such reports,'' Mr. Mangala Samaraweera said at the cabinet press briefing.
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Establish ISGA, appeals Jaffna Peoples Forum

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 June 2004, 00:40 GMT]
Tamil Speaking Peoples Forum for Human Rights and Development based in Jaffna Wednesday appealed to the President Ms.Chandrika Kumaratunge to initiate bold step of recommencing negotiations with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to establish the Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) which could handle all development and reconstruction projects in the northeast province.
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Danish Refugee Council assists resettled Swamimalai villagers

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 June 2004, 00:02 GMT]
The Trincomalee District Development Association (TDDA) under its Integrated Rehabilitation Programme (IRP) with the funding of the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) has provided infrastructure facilities to the resettled Tamil village, Swamimalai, in Thampalakamam Divisional Secretariat division. Swamimalai is located along Trincomalee-Kandy highway, about 24 km northwest off east port town.


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FMM urges government to arrest killers of Nadesan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 June 2004, 17:33 GMT]
"The Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) should take prompt action to bring the culprits who had been responsible for the brutal killing of a senior Tamil journalist Mr. Iyathurai Nadesan to book", Mr.Sunanda Desapriya, leading activist of the Free Media Movement (FMM) in Colombo Thursday appealed when delivering funeral oration on behalf of the Southern journalists Thursday at Nelliyady Madhya Maha Vidiyalayam where remains of Mr.Nadesan were kept for last respects before being removed to Alankattai cemetery for cremation, sources said.
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SLA, LTTE agree on establishing security measures in the East

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 June 2004, 12:23 GMT]
At a meeting organized by the Sri lanka Monitoring Mission in the Batticaloa district Wednesday, Col. Ramesh, the special commander of the Liberation Tigers for the Batticaloa-Amparai region, pointed out to Major General Shantha Kottegoda, the Overall Operational Commander of the Sri Lanka Army for the Eastern Province, that elements of the SLA were involved in the recent killings in Batticaloa and that the SLA was associating closely with the renegade Karuna group. Col. Ramesh also agreed to immediately establish direct liaison with the SLA and Police, LTTE and SLMM sources said.
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Kalutara Tamil prisoners put off fasting campaign

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 May 2004, 22:04 GMT]
Mr. Sivanathan Kishore, the Tamil National Alliance Member of Parliament from the Vanni, who visited the Kalutara prison Thursday, said that the Tamil youths at the prison have put off their planned fasting campaign, following assurances that the TNA would take up their plight with Sri Lanka’s Attorney General and the Minister of Justice. Arrested under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), many youths have been languishing in jails for several years without their cases being brought to court.
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International community's role in Sri Lanka's peace discussed in Berlin

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 May 2004, 00:05 GMT]
Representatives of the Sri Lankan Government, the Liberation Tigers and the International Donor Community participated in a conference titled, 'New perspectives in the Sri Lankan Peace Process - the current political situation and the role of the International community,' organised by the Berghof Foundation for Conflict Studies and Transformation in Berlin Wednesday, sources said.
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SLMM urged to assist IDPs to resettle in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 May 2004, 03:25 GMT]
The Jaffna District Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies (JDCHA) Monday handed over a memorandum to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in Jaffna with copies of complaints made by two internally displaced families who have not been allowed by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) to resettle in their houses. The JDCHA urged the SLMM to take urgent steps to assist the IDPs to resettle in their houses and lands which are located outside restricted areas, sources said.


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