Canadian Tamils provide education support to Trinco villages

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 February 2005, 04:32 GMT]
Socio-Economic Development Organization of Trincomalee (SEDOT) with financial help from Trincomalee Welfare Association (TWA) in Canada has embarked on a scheme to assist students and teachers in resettled Tamil villages of Thiriyai, Nochchikulam and Adambodai in the Trincomalee district to uplift the standard of education, civil sources in Trincomalee said. The scheme supports salaries to additional volunteer and pre-school teachers in the three villages.


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Second model village opened in Amparai

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 February 2005, 01:00 GMT]
A second model village in Kavadapaddi, a village located in Aalaiyadivembu Division, Amparai district, containing 51 houses, a preschool, a small health office and amenities for establishing small scale businesses was ceremonially opened Saturday 4.30 pm presided by Director of Amparai district Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), an NGO registered with Government of Sri Lanka and working exclusively in the NorthEast, sources said.
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US Church, TRO pay $7,000 taxes to clear water purifiers from Sri Lanka Customs

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 February 2005, 00:10 GMT]
Five water purifiers donated by the Holy Redeemer Church in Baltimore Maryland, USA, to the people of NorthEast and addressed to Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO)-Colombo were held by Colombo customs from 27 January due to officials demanding payment of import taxes recently introduced by the Finance Ministry of Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) on relief supplies. TRO sources in Colombo said that the purifiers were finally cleared Saturday after a payment of $7,000 to the Government of Sri Lanka Customs.
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Tsunami victims remembered in Vadamaradchchi

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 February 2005, 17:01 GMT]
Special prayer remembering the dead in tsunami disaster in the coastal areas in Vadamaradchchi division in Jaffna district was held Sunday evening at Thumpalai Nesaham Methodist Church in Point Pedro division. Rev.Fr V.Alagarajah, Parish Priest of Kaddaiveli Methodist Church presided, sources said.
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NE Governor affirms language rights

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 February 2005, 15:56 GMT]
"I agree that every citizen of the country should be given the right to communicate with the government institutions in their mother tongue," said Mr.Tyronne Fernando, Governor of the North East Province at a discussion held with the members of the Trincomalee District Bar Association in the Trincomalee Court Complex during the weekend. He made this remark in response to the speech by Mr.K.Sivapalan, President of the TDBA that most of the problems would not have arisen if the constitutional amendments in regard to the language rights of minorities were implemented.
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SLN rescues twelve Tamil refugees from midsea

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 February 2005, 15:23 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) rescued 12 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees, five children, three women and four men men, returning from South India from a sandbank in the midsea between Thanushkodi and Rameswaram Thursday, and handed them over to Talaimannar Police, security sources said.
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Solheim meets LTTE in east

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 February 2005, 14:16 GMT]
Norway’s special peace envoy for Sri Lanka, Mr. Eric Solheim Saturday met head of LTTE’s political division for Batticaloa-Amparai district, Mr. Irasaiah Ilanthirayan for discussions on post Tsunami work and the political-security situation in the region. On an invitation by Mr. Ilanthirayan, the Norwegian peace envoy and his team visited the Tsunami devastated coastal areas of Paandiruppu, a densely populated Tamil village, 38 kilometres south of Batticaloa. Mr. Ilanthirayan and other regional LTTE officers accompanied Mr. Solheim.
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Oxfam, EI to reconstruct tsunami hit schools

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 February 2005, 17:59 GMT]
Education International (EI) and Oxfam-Netherlands Thursday signed Memorandum of Understanding with the Central Ministry of Education for reconstructing fourteen schools which were destroyed in December 26 tsunami in the northeast and south of Sri Lanka. Mr.Fred van Leeuwen, General Secretary of the Education International, Ms Sylvia Borren, General Director of the Oxfam-Netherlands and Dr Ms. Tara De Mel, Secretary to the Ministry of Education signed the MoU, education Ministry sources said
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Two Tamil ministers of Kumaratunga govt. submit resignations

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 February 2005, 15:07 GMT]
A minister and a deputy minister of President Kumaratunga's coalition government submitted their resignations Thursday. The ministers, Mr. Muthu Sivalingam MP and Mr. M. S Sellasamy belong to the Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC), a key coalition partner of President Kumaratunga's government which represents workers in Sri Lanka's large plantation sector.
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Lankan soldiers violate CFA by attempting to intrude into FDLs - LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 February 2005, 14:01 GMT]
The Political Division of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has said in a statement on Thursday that the attempt by the Sri Lankan military soldiers near Kilali lagoon in the Jaffna peninsula to intrude with fire-arms well into the Forward Defence Lines (FDLs) of the LTTE was a clear violation of the Ceasefire Agreement and the attack on them was only a defensive action. According to the LTTE statement, LTTE took defensive action against the Sri Lankan military personnel when they were seen moving with weapons and telescopes towards the LTTE FDLs.
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Tamil MPs protest march in Sri Lanka Parliament

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 February 2005, 08:26 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance MP marched on the driveway to the Sri Lankan Parliament carrying placards condemning Colombo for failing to avail itself of the cease fire with the Liberation Tigers signed three years ago. “Do not buy weapons with Tsunami aid”, “Disarm the paramilitaries”, “Don’t divide the Muslims and Tamils”, read some of the placards. The march and demo were led by senior Tamil Parliamentarians Mr. R. Sampanthan, Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham, Mr. Mavai Senathirajah and Mr. Selvam Adaikalanathan.


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SC quashes death sentence, Tamil youth released after 15 years

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 February 2005, 16:57 GMT]
Mr.Shanmugam Ragupathi, a Tamil youth of Jaffna was released Monday after fifteen years in Welikada jail when the Supreme Court quashed the death sentence imposed on him by the Colombo High Court in a case in which he was indicted by the Attorney General for causing deaths of several soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in an attack on the Karainagar army base in the year 1990, legal sources said.
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North preschool teachers killed in Tsunami remembered

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 February 2005, 16:34 GMT]
Sixtieth day remembrance of pre-school teachers and children died in the tsunami disaster in the coastal areas of Vadamaradchchi east division in the districts of Jaffna and Mullaitivu and the distribution of bicycles to tsunami affected pre-school teachers were held in the Mullaitivu district office of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) sponsored by the TRO and funded by Norway TRO under the auspices of the North East Pre-School Development Centre (NEPSDC) Wednesday morning, sources said.
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German Minister meets with TRO officials

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 February 2005, 06:15 GMT]
German Economic Cooperation and Development Minister Ms. Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul who is currently in Sri Lanka on a fact finding visit to see the tsunami damages met with Director of Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) Colombo office, Mr Chandru Pararajasingham, at the Pan Asia Hotel, Monday, TRO officials in Colombo said. TRO is an NGO registered with Government of Sri Lanka and works exclusively in the NorthEast.
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No Tamil Unit in Central Education Ministry

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 February 2005, 03:59 GMT]
Tamil and Muslim educationists have expressed serious concern that despite assurances given by Education Ministry Secretary, Dr.Tara de Mel, a separate Tamil Administration Unit has not been established in the Central Ministry of Education. Development of Tamil medium education has been severely hampered by the absence of this unit, the educationists complained.
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Chemmani medical reports with Attorney General

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 February 2005, 03:10 GMT]
Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Sri Lanka Police has informed the Colombo Chief Magistrate Ms. Sarojini Kusala Jayawardene that forensic reports about the twenty-one human skeletons exhumed from Chemmani graveyard in Jaffna with the Attorney General, legal sources said.
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Thambattai showcases model resettlement village

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 February 2005, 20:52 GMT]
A model village in Thambattai in Amparai district, providing temporary accomodation for the families displaced by the tsunami, built by the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), an NGO registered with Government of Sri Lanka and working exclusively in the NorthEast, was ceremonially opened Monday by the President of consortium of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Mr Manickavasagam, sources in Amparai said.


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CFA has failed to foster trust – Batticaloa VC

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 February 2005, 17:41 GMT]
“What has the cease fire agreement achieved if it has not been able to foster enough trust to form a joint body to deliver aid to the Tsunami hit people of the northeast? We can asses the status of the cease fire agreement from the simple fact that the Sri Lankan government is protesting to the UN over a condolence message for Kousalyan. Why should anyone protest over an expression of condolence? This is the situation in which we Tamils find ourselves today even after three years of cease fire”, said Dr. S. Raveendranath, Vice Chancellor designate of the Eastern University speaking at a seminar to mark third year of the cease fire agreement in Batticaloa Tuesday.
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UPF commends Norwegian role in Sri Lank's peace process

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 February 2005, 16:28 GMT]
Mr.Periyasamy Chandrasekaran, leader of the Upcountry Peoples Front (UPF) and an elected member of Sri Lanka parliament, appealed to the Norwegian government, in a statement issued Tuesday, to continue its facilitator role in the peace process in Sri Lanka without succumbing to pressures by "chauvinistic elements" attempting to derail the peace process.


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Foreign education officials visit tsunami hit Jaffna, Mullaitivu

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 February 2005, 15:48 GMT]
Mr.Fred van Leeuwen, General Secretary of the Education International (EI) and Mr.Aloysius Mathews, Chief Co-ordinator of the EI, Asia Pacific region accompanied by Mr.T.Mahasivam, General Secretary of the Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Union (CTTU) Monday visited the tsunami hit coastal areas in the districts of Jaffna and Mullaitivu, sources said.


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