GA urged to relocate displaced fisher families

[TamilNet, Sunday, 31 August 2003, 19:33 GMT]
Palaly Fisheries Society Sunday asked the Jaffna District Government Agent (GA) to take immediate steps to relocate the displaced fisher families from the Palaly high security zone in the coastal areas between Thondamanaru and Valalai who now live in private lands of others in several other villages. The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has barred them from resettling in their own lands and houses, fisheries officials said.


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SLA stops resettlement in Swamimalai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 August 2003, 16:06 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Saturday stopped a group of internally displaced persons making arrangements to resettle in their abandoned Tamil village Kachchakodi Swamimalai in the Pattipalai division in Batticaloa district, civil group sources said. The Kachchakodi Swamimalai village is located on the border of Batticaloa and Amparai districts in the eastern province about 25 km off southwest of Batticaloa town.
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Karainagar IDPs complain of harassment by SLN soldiers

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 August 2003, 14:13 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) has tightened check on internally displaced people who return to resettle in Karainagar village in Jaffna district. The Sri Lanka Navy soldiers manning the entry point of Karainagar subject the the newly returning IDPs to body checks and extensive questioning, civil group sources said.


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Jaffna IDPs to seek Supreme Court assistance

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 August 2003, 17:49 GMT]
Internally displaced families from Manthuvil village in Thenmaradchchi division in Jaffna district have taken preliminary steps to file suit in the Supreme Court seeking permission to resettle in the their houses and lands which have been occupied by the Sri Lanka Army outside the high security zones, legal sources said Friday.


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SLA blocks resettlement within 600 m radius of Palaly HSZ

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 August 2003, 19:43 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army has declared that the internally displaced families will not be allowed to resettle within a 600 meter radius of the Palaly high security zone in Jaffna district, and SLA authorities have asked those already resettled within 600 meters of the HSZ in Kuppilan north to vacate immediately from the area, civil groups in Jaffna said.
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Sampanthan spotlights Trinco IDPs’ plight

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 August 2003, 16:27 GMT]
Trincomalee district parliamentarian, Mr.R.Sampanthan, has informed the Sri Lankan government that the internally displaced families residing in several villages in the north of Trincomalee are not issued with dry ration monthly but only once in several months, sometimes as many as six months.
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American NGO to assist IDPs in Jaffna district

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 August 2003, 19:09 GMT]
A US based non-governmental organization called C.A.S. Farm is reported to have come forward to provide assistance to maintain at least ten refugee camps which give accommodation to thousands of internally displaced people and who are unable to resettle in their lands which come under the high security zones of the Sri Lanka Army in Jaffna district, civil group sources said.
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'Eastern Tamils losing confidence in SLMM'

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 August 2003, 14:09 GMT]
Representatives of the Batticaloa District Non-Governmental Organizations' Consortium Thursday told the Norwegian special peace envoy, Mr. Erik Solheim, that Tamils were losing confidence in the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission as it had failed to take into account the mounting problems of the displaced Tamil people in the eastern province, NGO sources said.
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3350 persons await resettlement in Trincomalee district

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 August 2003, 19:18 GMT]
Around 3350 people from 920 displaced families have been staying in thirteen refugee and welfare camps in the Trincomalee district awaiting resettlement in their own villages, said the North East Community Restoration Development (NECORD) Deputy Project Director, Mr.N.Puhendran, addressing a gathering at the opening of a new building at Mahavelipura Vidiyalaya in Kantalai, Trincomalee district, Tuesday.
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Deputy Foreign Minister of Japan visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 August 2003, 14:51 GMT]
The Japanese Senior Vice Foreign Minister, Mr.Tetsura Yano, visited Jaffna Sunday morning and inspected the conditions of a refugee camp at Inuvil where hundreds of internally displaced people from Valigamam north, deprived of their homes by the Sri Lanka Army’s High Security Zones, are staying, sources said.
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Trincomalee resettlement problems spotlighted

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 July 2003, 00:23 GMT]
The delay in demining abandoned villages and resettling the landless among internally displaced families in the Trincomalee district were spotlighted at a meeting of the Eastern Forum of the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies held in Trincomalee Thursday, sources said.
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HRC requests SLA to submit report on HSZ issue

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 July 2003, 18:20 GMT]
The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka has asked the Sri Lanka Army to furnish a report regarding complaints made by several internally displaced people of the Jaffna district that they are unable to resettle in their homes and do cultivation in their agricultural lands as they have been occupied by the SLA in the name of high security zones (HSZ), sources in Colombo said.
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92,000 IDPs yet to return to Valigamam north HSZ

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 June 2003, 02:46 GMT]
Of more than one hundred thousand internally displaced (IDP) Tamil people from Valigamam north since 1987, only about 8,838 persons from four hundred and sixteen families were allowed to return to their homes. Around ninety two thousand IDPs are yet to return to Valigamam north, which is designated as HSZ, Jaffna district secretariat sources said.


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Trinco Rotary Club selects new president

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 June 2003, 16:13 GMT]
A business executive in the east port town Mr.Ramanathapillai Rajarammohan was selected as the twenty- fifth President of the Trincomalee Rotary Club Saturday night at a function held at Hotel Club Oceanic in Uppuveli. Speaking at the function Mr. Rajarammohan said that "The Rotary club played a major role in setting up refugee camps to people in distress due to violence in 1983 and also has helped the displaced families to resettle in Trincomalee district by building houses with the support of international agencies."
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Colombo has failed to bring normalcy to Northeast - FJDMA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 June 2003, 11:08 GMT]
The Federation of the Jaffna District Minibus Association (FJDMA) Sunday told the United National Front (UNF) government that it has failed to create a conducive situation in the northeast province enabling the internally displaced families to return to their villages. "Instead the government is insisting on maintaining the high security zones in residential areas according to the agenda of its military," the Federation said in a statement, Jaffna sources said.


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Economic progress in Northeast lacking - EU's Wilton

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 May 2003, 12:38 GMT]
European Union (EU) resident representative in Sri Lanka Mr.Wouter Wilton concluding his two-day fact finding tour in the Jaffna district announced at a press conference held Saturday that "although in overall the security situation of the country is improved considerably no visible progress is seen in the economic situation of the northeast as in the south."


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LTTE seeks premier's response on interim administration proposal

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 May 2003, 06:53 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) today called upon the Sri Lankan Prime Minister, Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe, to formally respond to proposals by its leader, Mr. Vellupillai Pirapaharan, for an interim administrative set-up in the Northeast. The LTTE’s comments were made in a letter by its chief negotiator, Mr. Anton Balasingham, to the Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister, Mr. Vidar Helgesen.
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Valikamam north IDPs picket demanding resettlement

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 May 2003, 14:24 GMT]
Hundreds of internally displaced families of Valikamam north Tuesday held a two hour picketing campaign in front of the Jaffna district secretariat, demanding that they should be allowed to resettle in their lands occupied by the Sri Lanka Army.
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Norwegian FM sees mine menace in Iyakkachchi

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 May 2003, 00:20 GMT]
Norwegian Foreign Minister Mr. Jan Peterson, who visited Kilinochchi Thursday to meet the leader of the Liberation Tigers, held discussions with senior officials of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) about issues hindering the restoration of normalcy in the war torn northeast. Following the brief meeting with TRO officials, the Norwegian FM and his deputy along with diplomats accompanying them visited places in Iyakkachchi a mine infested region in Jaffna’s southern sector held by the LTTE.
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HDU sounds alarm on removal of ‘safety fences’

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 May 2003, 10:01 GMT]
Humanitarian De-mining Unit (HDU) officials in Kilinochchi said Wednesday that an NGO operating in the Vanni had created a dangerous precedent when it recently removed fences demarcating areas infested with mines and unexploded ordnance in Sannaar, on the northern coastal sector of the Mannar district. “The NGO had apparently removed the demarcating fences to show that the Sannar area is safe for rehabilitation work”, the HDU officials said. The HDU is an arm of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO).
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