Tamil man found dead with cut injuries in Kalmunai

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 February 2006, 09:24 GMT]
The body of a young Tamil man was found with cut injuries at Periyakulakkaddu, Paandiruppu in Kalmunai, 40 km. south of Batticoloa, around 8 a.m., Monday, police in the south eastern town said.
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Paramilitary operatives: ultimate victims of covert warfare?

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 February 2006, 22:41 GMT]
Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) met in Geneva Wednesday and Thursday and reconfirmed their commitment to honour and uphold the February 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA). The issue of paramilitary groups figured prominently in the discussions and the GoSL delegation undertook a commitment: that no armed group or person other than its security forces will carry arms or conduct armed operations in GoSL controlled territory.
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ZOA funded computer centre opens in Muttur east

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 February 2006, 18:14 GMT]
A Computer Training Centre built by the Thamileelam Students Organization with the funding of ZOA, an international non-governmental organization, was opened during the weekend in Sampoor, a village in the LTTE held Muttur east territory, sources said.
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SL President expresses satisfaction over Geneva peace talks

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 February 2006, 12:38 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse Sunday met with the government delegation, which attended the Geneva peace talks with Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at Temple Trees in Colombo and discussed the outcome of talks in Geneva. Mr Rajapakse was satisfied with the decisions reached at the talks, Presidential Secretariat sources said, according government controlled Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) in its Sunday evening news bulletin.
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Colombo accepts CFA in toto, Balasingham tells Sunday Leader

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 February 2006, 21:39 GMT]
LTTE's Chief Negotiator and Political Strategist, Anton Balasingham, in an exclusive interview with Sunday Leader, said that although the talks were difficult and tough, the Sri Lanka Government has "accepted the meaning and content of this document [Cease Fire Agreement]," and on the issue of paramilitaries he said: "we have told the government, you better start disarming these groups and put an end to their armed military operations so that we could send our cadres to the north and east.We are ready to do that.And if anything happens to them, it will constitue a very very serious violation of the joint statement issued by both the parties."
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LTTE leaders meet Swiss officials, attend expat event

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 February 2006, 20:02 GMT]
Swiss foreign ministry officials met with the Liberation Tigers delegation led by Chief Negotiator and Political Strategist, Anton Balasingham on Friday at Chataeu De Bossey, Geneva where talks between the LTTE and the Government of Sri Lanka was held. On Saturday the delegation attended a large gathering of Tamil-Swiss expatriates in the Convention Hall in Frieberg, Switzerland, sources in Geneva said.
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Trincomalee Lord Konesar procession to be held Monday

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 February 2006, 17:34 GMT]
Three-day procession of Lord Konesar with his consort Mathumai Ambal annually held after Maha Sivarathiri Day is scheduled to begin on Monday afternoon city of Trincomalee. Devotees carry the chief deity from Koneswaram Temple from the Swami Rock inside the Fort Frederick to the entrance of the Fort. From there deities will be kept on a decorated chariot and will be taken in a procession.
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SLN attacks fishermen in Vadamaradchy seas

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 February 2006, 13:18 GMT]
Three fishermen from Sakkottai, Vadamaradchy were attacked and their fishing accessories including nets were damaged by Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) soldiers from a patrolling Dvora speed boat Point Pedro seas Friday 9.30 a.m., Sooriyakumaran, president of Vadamaradchy North fisheries consortium, told TamilNet. He added that even while the talks between Libertion Tigers and the Government of Sri Lanka are in progress, there are no indications that harassment of fishemen by SLN in the northern seas will decrease.
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Building Tamil Eelam State: Kristian Stokke

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 February 2006, 10:54 GMT]
"Sri Lanka’s third Eelam War created a political-territorial division of the island with a resultant dual state structure in the North-East. In the context of the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement and based on earlier institutional experiments, the LTTE is currently engaged in a comprehensive process of state building within the areas they control," says Prof Stokke of Department of Sociology and Human Geography, University of Oslo, in an article which examines the emerging new Tamileelam state structure. He adds that only the "facilitation and dynamics of pro-democracy forces within the LTTE," will determine the transformation from "the"strong and centralized state," that currently exists.
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Maha Sivarathiri to be observed in historic Sivan Temples

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 February 2006, 02:43 GMT]
Maha Sivarathiri Day religious observance is to be held in the historic Trincomalee Koneswaram Temple, Thiruketheeswaram Temple in Mannar and Kantalai Choleeswaram (Siva) Temple, about 20 km southwest off Trincomalee town on February 26th Sunday night . Arrangements are being made by the temple societies and Hindu Affairs Department , sources said.


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Swiss Government welcomes positive outcome of Geneva talks

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 February 2006, 11:33 GMT]
Welcoming the positive outcome of the talks in Geneva between the Liberation Tigers and the Government of Sri Lanka, Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Government of Switzerland in a press release issued from Berne Thursday said, that it "voices the expectation that the parties to the conflict will respect the agreement they have concluded."


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Tamil women given self-defense training

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 February 2006, 00:05 GMT]
Liberation Tigers have organized a self-defence training program for rural Tamil women in selected areas under their control in the east. Such training facility was recently inaugurated in Vakarai division in the Batticaloa district, sources said.
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GoSL to disarm armed groups

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 February 2006, 18:09 GMT]
Norwegian Minister of International Development released a statement on behalf of the parties to the Sri Lanka conflict, the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Thursday evening in Geneva. The GOSL is committed to taking all necessary measures in accordance with the Ceasefire Agreement to ensure that no armed group or person other than Government security forces will carry arms or conduct armed operations. The LTTE is committed to taking all necessary measures to ensure that there will be no acts of violence against the Sri Lankan forces and the police. The parties are to meet again in Geneva on April 19th for a second round of talks.
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Auxilliary force training camp opening ceremony held in Thalaiyadi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 February 2006, 12:52 GMT]
Opening event of training camp for Sea Tigers' auxilliary force at the Lt.Col.Maravan camp in Thalaiyady, Vadamaradchy east was held at 8 a.m. Wednesday morning, sources from Vadamaradchy said. More than one hundred auxilliary forces cadres from Thalaiyadi area are enrolled in this phase of training, according to officials of the Sea Tigers.
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Sri Lanka Government's opening statement at Geneva

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 February 2006, 12:21 GMT]
"Ceasefire Agreement entered into between the then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Mr. V. Prabhakaran, the leader of the LTTE on the 22nd February 2002 is contrary to our Constitution and law," declared Nimal Sripala De Silva, Head of the Sri Lankan delegation at the opening session of the talks between the Liberation Tigers and the Government of Sri Lanka.
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Armed men beat MAG staffers in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 February 2006, 11:49 GMT]
Armed men in civilian clothes claiming to be belonging to paramilitary Karuna Group entered the offices of MAG (Mines Advisory Group) in Batticaloa at 2.55 p.m. Wednesday and beat a local staffer working at the office, and threatened the British national heading the Batticaloa office of MAG, sources in Batticaloa said.
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Switzerland assures impartial support to resolve SL conflict

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 February 2006, 10:41 GMT]
Pointing out that the decision to hold talks itself has "substantially decreased" violence in Sri Lanka, Urs Ziswiler, Political Affairs Director, Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, said in his opening remarks that "Switzerland aims at providing impartial support for conflict transformation in Sri Lanka," and the crucial goal of the teams is to "jointly ensure the human security of ordinary Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim people in Sri Lanka."


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Grenade attack damages house in Pesalai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 February 2006, 10:36 GMT]
Unidentified persons hurled a grenade at a house belonging to a Tamil civilian along Jude's Road in Ward No:01 of Pesalai town in Mannar district Wednesday afternoon 12.45 p.m. The front portion of the house was badly damaged due to explosion. No one was hurt in the incident, Talaimannar Police said.
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Ceasefire Agreement is foundation of peace and must be implemented - Balasingham

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 February 2006, 10:19 GMT]
Describing the February 2002 ceasefire agreement (CFA) as the “most constructive achievement” of the Norwegian peace process and “the foundation upon which the process has to be built,” the Liberation Tigers’ Chief Negotiator and Political Strategist, Anton Balasingham said Wednesday the CFA had been agreed upon by both the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE after “careful and meticulous scrutiny” and crafted with the skilled assistance of the Norwegian facilitators.
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LTTE Auxiliary Force cadre killed in East

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 February 2006, 05:44 GMT]
Six gunmen who entered the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled area in Pulipaynthakal, 500 meters beyond the no-go zone from Kiran, 25 km north of Batticaloa, shot and killed an LTTE National Auxiliary Force cadre around 10:15 a.m. Wednesday, LTTE's Batticaloa Political Head Daya Mohan told media. The attackers, wearing military fatigues, had come from the Kiran SLA base, he added. The attack was reported three hours before the commencement of talks in Geneva aimed at implmenting the Cease Fire Agreement between the parties to the conflict, the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the LTTE.
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