Boat massacre victims to be remembered in Nedunthivu

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 May 2005, 12:31 GMT]
Nedunthivu based National Resurgence Consortium is organizing a memorial event to remember the killing, 20 years ago on 15 May, of thirty eight Tamil passengers, including a two year old child, travelling in boat called ‘Kumudhini’ from the island of Delft to the Kurikkatuvan Jetty on the island of Punguduthivu were hacked to death at sea by armed persons suspected to be Sri Lanka Navy personnel, sources in Jaffna said.
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Akashi meets Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 May 2005, 10:01 GMT]
The Japanese special peace envoy Mr.Yasushi Akashi met with the Head of the Political Wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) S.P. Thamilchelvan at LTTE's Peace Secretariat building in Kilinochchi, Saturday.
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CPJ alarmed at death threats to Sri Lanka journalists

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 May 2005, 18:03 GMT]
"We are alarmed by the rising threats against our colleagues, and call on authorities to find those responsible for these crimes. All sides of this conflict must respect the rights of journalists and help safeguard the free flow of information in Sri Lanka," Executive Director of Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Ann Cooper said in a news alert issued at CPJ's website Thursday.
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Lack of normalcy eclipsed by joint mechanism debate - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 May 2005, 13:26 GMT]
The serious lack of normalcy in the Tamil areas due to continuing military occupation and restrictions on civilians’ livelihoods, even three years after the mutual ceasefire agreement was signed, is leading to severe frustrations amongst the people, the head of the Liberation Tiger’s political wing, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan told Norwegian diplomats Friday. The extraordinary focus on a post-tsunami aid management mechanism is masking the severity of the obstructions to rehabilitation work and the day-to-day difficulties faced by ordinary people, Mr. Thamilchelvan told Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Mr. Hans Brattskar, when they met in Kilinochchi.
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Sinhala Nation, refusing to share national wealth- Taraki

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 May 2005, 11:46 GMT]
Liberation Tigers' demand for an independent administrative arrangement and funds to rehabilitate and rebuild the infrastructure of the Tamil homeland is rooted on the fact that for the past 56 years the Sinhala Nation has resolutely exercised its monopoly power on island's national wealth and refused to accept Tamil's right to a fair share of the wealth, argues late Dharmeratnam Sivaram, in a column which appeared in Virakesari of 21 November 2004. This feature provides an English translation.
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BBC Tamil, Sinhala services face interruption

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 May 2005, 14:42 GMT]
The BBC’s Tamil and Sinhala services may not broadcast on May 23, May 31 and June 1 as staff may join colleagues across the Corporation in industrial action against proposed job cuts and plans to privatise some functions, sources said.


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Pro-peace groups receive death threats

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 May 2005, 13:46 GMT]
Leaders of civil society organisations calling for a peaceful solution to Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict have received death threats from an extreme Sinhala nationalist group calling itself ‘Theraputtabhaya force.’ The letter, which claimed responsibility for the murder of journalist Sivaram Dharmeratnam, says that all traitors should be ready to become "fertiliser for the motherland" if they continue to betray it.
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Muttur Tamils protest against SLA embargo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 May 2005, 16:58 GMT]
About five thousand Tamil civilians Wednesday held a protest march from Poonagar in the LTTE controlled Eachchilampathu division in the Muttur area to the Mahindapura Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camp demanding the removal of ban on the transportation of cement, building materials, petrol and diesel urgently needed for tsunami reconstruction work and agricultural purposes, sources said.
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Convincing donors, Kumaratunge's goal- Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 May 2005, 00:45 GMT]
Accusing Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunge for not taking constructive steps to establish the Joint Mechanism for post-tsunami reconstruction of NorthEast, Head of the Political Wing of Liberation Tigers (LTTE), S.P Thamilchelvan, in a recent interview with TamilNet, dismissed Ms Kumaratunge's positive statements on the Joint Mechanism as a mere tactic to influence the donors in the forthcoming aid conference to take decisions in her favor, and to attract international assistance.
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SL President to visit India

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 May 2005, 17:49 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge is expected to pay a two-day official visit to India from Saturday May 14th. She will hold talks with leaders of the Indian government on the proposed joint mechanism with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), government sources said.


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LTTE ‘no threat to India’ - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 May 2005, 16:34 GMT]
Any capability acquired by the Liberation Tigers is solely for the protection of the Tamil people and not a threat to India or any other country, the head of the LTTE’s political wing, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan, said this week in response to concern expressed by Indian officials over the movement’s naval force and reports it had acquired aircraft
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Vanni journalists protest Sivaram killing

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 May 2005, 12:32 GMT]
A large number of journalists and several Vavuniya residents took part in a demonstration Tuesday organised by Vanni Journalists Association, condemning the abduction and murder of Tamil political columnist and military analysts, Mr. Dharmeratnam Sivaram in Colombo on 29 April. Vanni District Parliamentarians Sivanathan Kishore, Sivasakthi Aananthan, Selvam Adikalanathan and Vino Nokarathalingam, also participated.
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Tamil scepticism mounts as aid deal drifts

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 May 2005, 18:20 GMT]
As the proposed joint mechanism for aid distribution urged by international donors between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers remains mired in Sinhala political manoeuvring, deep scepticism has replaced early optimism amongst the Tamils. More ominously, a belief is rapidly taking root that Colombo is playing for time and keeping the Northeast in the economic and social doldrums whilst developing the Sri Lankan military for a new war.
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SLA, LTTE discuss Trincomalee ground situation

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 May 2005, 16:30 GMT]
Officials of the Sri Lanka Government security forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the Trincomalee district met for discussions on the ground situation and to review complaints made by both parties to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) over recent firing incidents, sources said. The hour long meeting was held at the SLMM Trincomalee office in the presence of Mr.Jan Ledang, Trincomalee head of the SLMM.
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Joint mechanism mired in Sinhala politics

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 May 2005, 15:51 GMT]
The joint mechanism between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers called for by international aid donors has become the centre of political manoeuvres by the main Sinhala parties, in whose zero-sum calculations, international aid has a critical role to play.
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Troops fire on Valaichenai protestors, 1 killed

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 May 2005, 10:51 GMT]
A 65 year old man was killed and at least 15 other civilians were wounded when Sri Lankan security forces opened fire on large crowds of people protesting Monday, demanding removal of new Army checkpoints set up near a school in the Batticaloa district. Five women were among those wounded when soldiers and police fired assault rifles for over 10 minutes at Santhiveli, 27 km. north of Batticaloa on the Valaichenai road, sources said. International ceasefire monitors and reporters witnessed the incident, they said.
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German NGO to fund Anbu Illam rehabilitation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 May 2005, 16:21 GMT]
Malteser, a German non-governmental organization (NGO) has agreed to provide US $30K for the rehabilitation of "Anbu Illam (House of Love)," a children's home in Trincomalee that gives shelterto children who lost their parents in the war, sources in Trincomalee said.
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Trinco Children's Home receives 100 beds

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 May 2005, 14:58 GMT]
The Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA) in Sri Lanka supported by the American Refugee Committee (ARC) International has donated 100 beds for children affected by tsunami.
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SLA embargo on cement, fuel to Muttur east still continues -Elilan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 May 2005, 14:45 GMT]
"It is meaningless to speak of a negotiated political solution and the proposed joint mechanism at a time when the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) is still continuing the embargo on the transportation of cement, fuel and building materials to the LTTE held Muttur east in the Trincomalee district to rebuild tsunami destroyed coastal villages," said Mr.S.Elilan, Trincomalee district political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
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UNP to reveal its position after UPFA approves Joint Mechanism

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 May 2005, 14:23 GMT]
The main opposition United National Party (UNP) will make public its position on the Joint Mechanism proposal for a working arrangement with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for post-tsunami rehabilitation of northeast only after United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government approves it with one voice, said Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe, leader of the UNP and the former Prime Minister addressing a series of meetings in Sri Lanka's South Saturday, sources said. "The UNP will have to carefully study the final JM proposal before taking a public position," he added.
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