"Back to war"

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 January 2006, 21:06 GMT]
"Unlike Indonesia Sri Lanka has failed to usher in peace. Every opportunity for rapprochement has been squandered after the Tsunami...The Sri Lankan government and the LTTE are steeped in mutual suspicion and contempt and will not arrive at any resolution on their own. A new heavy weight mediator must join Norway's Herculean but waning peacemaking efforts, one whom both parties can respect as an honest broker," said an independent analysis that appeared in the Sunday online edition of "The News" of Jang Group.
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More than 200 families flee Jaffna Sunday

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 January 2006, 19:06 GMT]
Forthcoming talks between Norwegian facilitators and top leadership of Liberation Tigers early next week notwithstanding, Tamil families continued to flee Jaffna district to safety within LTTE controlled areas of Vanni, civil society groups in Jaffna said. More than 200 families crossed Muhamalai checkpoint into Vanni between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Sunday, according to reports.
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Balasingham to arrive in Kilinochchi on Monday

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 January 2006, 15:13 GMT]
Mr. Anton Balasingham, the chief negotiator and political strategist of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and his wife Adele Balasingham will arrive in Kilinochchi Monday morning between 9 a.m. and 9.30 a.m. and will be received by Head of LTTE Political Wing, S.P Thamilchelvan, LTTE officials in Kilinochchi said. A Norwegian Embassy official will accompany the Balasinghams in a Norwegian Embassy facilitated transport in a Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) helicopter, LTTE sources said.
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Mannar Keeri village residents face displacement

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 January 2006, 11:10 GMT]
More than 350 Tamil families living in Keeri village along Mannar-Thalvupadu road are facing displacement any time following intimidation by state armed forces and as the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) soldiers are extending the front defense line of SLN's Sunny Village main camp located on the border of Keeri village, civil sources said.


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Muttur Tamils flee to LTTE areas seeking safety

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 January 2006, 00:29 GMT]
Families from Tamil villages in the divisions of Muttur and Seruvila in the government controlled areas in the Trincomalee district continued to flee to LTTE controlled areas seeking safety and to escape harassment from Sri Lanka Government troops, civil society sources said. About one thousand three hundred familes have relocated in the last two weeks, NGO sources said.


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Speech damages credibility of US role in SL peace, say Tamil Americans

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 January 2006, 15:34 GMT]
Tamil Americans in a letter to United States Ambassador in Sri Lanka, Jeffrey Lunstead, commenting on the Ambassador's speech on 9 January, and his subsequent clarification of 17 January, expressed concern that "his partisan message has done immense damage to the peace process and to the credibility of US role in it."
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Transport operator shot dead in Thenmaradchy

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 January 2006, 15:01 GMT]
Unknown gunmen shot dead a Tamil businessman and seriously injured his relative near Puttur junction along A9 road between Kodikamam and Chavakachcheri in Thenmaradchy around 4.30 p.m. Saturday, sources in Jaffna said. Gunmen entered his business in Puttur junction and escaped after shooting at close range.
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LTTE confers Maamanithar award to stalwart at Niedharsanam

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 January 2006, 13:41 GMT]
Leader of Liberation Tigers, V Pirapaharan conferred Maamanithar (Great Humanbeing) award to Mr V Satchithananthasivam (also known as Gnanatharan) a tamil activist, jounalist, political thinker, and later the key force behind the LTTE's visual media division Niedharsanam. He was 65-years old when he died on Wednesday after a prolonged illness. Gnanatharan, who began his literary career as a novelist in 70s, directed the first short film in 1992 and the first full length film of Niedharsanam, LTTE media sources said. Gnanatharan was the Chief Advisor of the National Television of Tamileelam (NTT).
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Tamil MPs telecom link to Kilinochchi severed

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 January 2006, 13:19 GMT]
Charging that disconnection by the Sri Lanka Telecom authorities of the telephone connection between the Tamil MPs' parliamentary complex offices to Kilinochchi region was politically motivated, Jaffna district parliamentarian, S Gajendran, demanded in a letter to Speaker Mr M J M Lokkubandara that he should take immediate steps to restore the lines, parliamentary sources said.
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Retired Navy Chief of Staff appointed NorthEast Governor

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 January 2006, 12:18 GMT]
Retired Rear Admiral Mohan Wijeyawickrema Friday assumed duties as the sixth Governor of the NorthEast Province at the sub-office of the Governor's Secretariat in Colombo. Mr Wijewickrema retired as the Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) prematurely as his seniority was overlooked when Ms Kumaratunge appointed Rear Admiral Vasantha Karanagoda as the Commander of the SLN in 2005. The new Governor is scheduled to pay his first official visit to the Secretariat located in Trincomalee facing the Trincomalee harbor next week, officials of the Secretariat said.
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Sri Lanka continues to violate state obligations towards Tamils, say Tamil parties

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 January 2006, 00:20 GMT]
The Government of Sri Lanka not only failed to carry out proper investigations into the assasinations of reputed Tamil leaders, parliamentarians, journalists and activists, but it has also failed to take appropriate actions to prevent the recurrence of such crimes against the ordinary Tamil civilians, all four Tamil parties in the Lankan parliament charged in a joint memorandum sent to SL President Mahinda Rajapakse Friday. The joint statement was issued by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), Upcountry Peoples' Front (UPF) and Western Province Peoples' Front (WPPF) that jointly staged a protest campaign within the chambers of the Sri Lankan Parliament.
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SLMM re-opens Trinco office, resumes monitoring

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 January 2006, 19:28 GMT]
Monitors of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission in Trincomalee district Friday morning returned to their office, which is located along the Inner Harbor Road in the east port town. The office was closed on the orders of the SLMM headquarters since Tuesday evening following a cycle- bomb attack on a convoy of the Sri Lanka Navy injuring about eleven sailors and government troops killed two Tamil civilians and injuring six others in retaliation.
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SLA trooper killed civilian in close range, says NESOHR

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 January 2006, 13:11 GMT]
North East Secretariat on Human Rights (NESHOR) in a case report released Friday, said it had uncovered evidence that Mr Murugesu, 68, was killed by shots fired from close range. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) had claimed earlier that gun had gone off accidentally killing the victim.
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"The Tamils are getting a lesson in realpolitik"

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 January 2006, 11:35 GMT]
The United States’ singling out of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for the spiral of violence in Sri Lanka has undermined the neutrality of the Co-Chairs of the peace process and will fuel the military repression from which thousands of Tamils are fleeing, the Tamil Guardian newspaper said this week. In an editorial titled ‘Interests, not values’ the expatriate newspaper also criticised the US for not supporting efforts to get investment and reconstruction assistance to the war-devastated northeast, whilst blaming the LTTE for the continuing dearth of funding for the region.


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Tamil businessman abducted in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 January 2006, 10:17 GMT]
A Mannar businessman involved in dried fish trade was abducted by an unknown group who came in a white van Friday morning at 8 a.m. in Crow Island Modara, Colombo, sources in Colombo said.
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EU condemns attack on SLMM Batticaloa office

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 January 2006, 09:55 GMT]
The European Union on Friday condemned the attack on Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) Batticaloa office Last Friday. A press release issued by the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Sri Lanka in its capacity as local representative of the EU presidency, said the attack was a deliberate attempt to undermine the Ceasefire Agreement. The EU renewed its commitment to the SLMM and commended the contributing countries Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden for their engagement.
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Canadian Conservative Party calls for increased participation in peace process

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 January 2006, 08:12 GMT]
The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) Thursday announced that it has prioritized Canada's role in the Sri Lankan Peace process. The CPC leaderhsip said the party also wanted to increase assistance spending to further build the conditions for a negotiated peace in Sri Lanka.
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Funeral of two Trinco civilians killed by SLA held

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 January 2006, 17:02 GMT]
The funeral of the two Tamil civilians killed in retaliation by security forces in Uppuveli area, about two km off north of Trincomalee town following a claymore mine attack on a Sri Lanka Navy (SLN)convoy was held Thursday afternoon. Several hundred Tamil people participated in the funeral procession and the burial at Allesgarden cemetary in Uppuveli, about 3 km off north of east port town, civil sources said.
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Journalists complain to SL Defense Ministry about harassment

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 January 2006, 16:28 GMT]
The official media accreditation issued by the Government Information Department has been disregarded, under Emergency Regulations, not only when detaining Tamil media journalists but also when they carry out their official duties, five media organisations said in a joint memorandum urging the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry's Secretary, Gothapaya Rajapakse, the brother of the SL President Mahinda Rajapakse, to provide an opportunity to meet him and place before him the harassment meted out to Tamil media journalists under the Emergency Regulations, media sources said.
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10 civilians, 3 SLA soldiers, policeman wounded in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 January 2006, 15:23 GMT]
Ten civilians were wounded in a bomb attack on a Sri Lanka Navy Jeep and the retaliatory fire and assault on civilians by the troopers Thursday evening in Trincomalee district between Gandhinagar and Anuradhapura junction along the Trincomalee - Kandy Highway, 3 km southwest of east port town. SLA soldiers opened fire wounding civilians following the explosion. The bomb exploded Thursday around 4 p.m., according to the Police. Tension prevailed in the area.
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