Tamil Eelam Resurgence Federation opens office in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 December 2003, 05:38 GMT]
The Tamil Eelam Resurgence Federation (TERF) opened an office at Potpathy in the Jaffna district Friday. The Head of the TERF, Mr. K. Sanjay, declared open the office, sources said.
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Tamil owners under pressure to sell their homes to STF

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 December 2003, 01:49 GMT]
Tamil owners of 18 houses in Oorani, Poththuvil division, currently occupied by the Special Task Force (STF) and used as their camps, are being pressured to sell the houses to the STF, the LTTE peace secretariat web site reported. The STF are refusing to pay rent to the home owners as part of their pressure tactic, the website added.
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LTTE urges Tamil-Muslim harmony in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 December 2003, 18:12 GMT]
“Tamils and Muslims live peacefully in this region. But some evil forces are bent on disrupting the peace between the two communities. Our commander, Col. Karuna, is firm that nothing should be allowed to harm the amity that prevails between the Tamils and Muslims here” said Mr. S. Senathirajah, the head of the LTTE’s political office in Batticaloa town, addressing a meeting of Tamil and Muslim civil society leaders convened Friday to resolve friction over the stoning of passenger buses in the Muslim town of Kattaankudy on Thursday.
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HDU to hire more deminers next year

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 December 2003, 15:57 GMT]
The Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) said Friday that in order to expedite the demining in the Vellaveli division in Batticaloa, it would support the hiring of 50 more deminers by the Humanitarian Demining Unit (HDU).
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LTTE meets Swiss Foreign Ministry Official in Geneva

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 December 2003, 13:17 GMT]
The Deputy Head of the Political Section of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the Jaffna District, Mr. S. Ilamparithi, who is currently visiting European cities, met with Swiss Foreign Ministry Director in-charge of Sri Lanka Affairs, Mr. Markus Heiniger, on Wednesday at 1.00 pm for 90 minutes, at the Swiss Foreign Office in Geneva, Switzerland, Tamil expatriate sources in Switzerland said.
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Polish TRO donates school supplies to Batticaloa children

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 December 2003, 12:38 GMT]
Director of Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) of Poland, M.Pulendran, who is on a fact finding visit to Batticaloa district, presented parcels containing school supplies to children living in Children Homes run by the TRO, in a meeting held Thursday, sources said.
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Trinco students receive Samurdhi Scholarships

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 December 2003, 00:07 GMT]
One hundred ten students who come from Samurdhi (poverty alleviation scheme) families in the Trincomalee district were awarded scholarships under the Samurdhi Social Development Trust Fund (SSDTF) at an event held Thursday at the Trincomalee Sinhala Madya Maha Vidiyalayam, education officials in Trincomalee said.
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ADB project to study northern coastal resources

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 December 2003, 16:37 GMT]
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded Eastern Coastal Community Development Project (ECCDEP) has now been renamed, as the North East Coastal Community Development Project (NECCDEP) and the project will undertake a study on the coastal resource management issues in the northern province during the early part of next year, said its Project Director Mr.S.M.Croos.
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Sri Lanka's parliament adopts UNF budget

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 December 2003, 16:23 GMT]
Sri Lanka's parliament Thursday evening passed the 2004 draft budget of the United National Front (UNF) government with a majority of thirty-two votes. 112 parliamentarians voted for and eighty voted against, parliamentary sources said.
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Islamic group shuts down Muslim towns in Batti-Amparai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 December 2003, 15:41 GMT]
Shops and businesses were closed and few people were on the roads in several Muslim towns in the Batticaloa and Amparai districts Thursday in response to a call by a shadowy Islamic militant body in the east calling itself ‘Muslim Resurgence Group’. The Islamic militants called the shut down in protest against the inaction of Muslim politicians whom they described as “venal opportunists”. Unidentified members of the group stoned and damaged four long distance buses that were passing Kattaankudy, a large Muslim town 5 kilometres south of Batticaloa.
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PA media spokesman meets Jaffna journalists

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 December 2003, 16:44 GMT]
The media spokesman of the main opposition People's Alliance, Dr.Sarath Amunugama, Wednesday met with a group of Jaffna-based journalists at the parliamentary complex and answered several questions posed to him on the current political situation.
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USAID opens new office in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 December 2003, 16:09 GMT]
"We do not want a naval base in Trincomalee. We have come to Trincomalee to respond to the needs of all three communities in the Trincomalee district and to assist them in support of the current peace process," said the U.S. Ambassador in Sri Lanka, Mr. Jeffrey J.Lunstead, addressing the opening event of the Trincomalee office of the USAID's Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) held Wednesday morning.
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"Don't miss this opportunity for peace" - Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 December 2003, 12:35 GMT]
"We call upon the Sri Lankan State to put its house in order and the bring the current constitutional impasse to an end and commence negotiations on the interim self-governing authority on the basis of proposals submitted by the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam," the parliamentary group leader of the Tamil National Alliance Mr.Rajavarothayam Sampanthan said participating in the committee stage debate on the Votes of Defense Ministry in Parliament Wednesday afternoon.


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Court issues temporary order against TULF meetings

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 December 2003, 11:25 GMT]
Colombo district court today issued an interim injunction against the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) holding Central Committee meetings until the 31 December, legal sources in Colombo said.
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TNA votes against Sri Lanka's defense budget

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 December 2003, 09:20 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance voted against the Sri Lankan government’s 2004 budget allocation for defense and interior when it came up for voting at the committee stage in Parliament Wednesday afternoon. Mr. Selvam Adaikalanathan, TNA MP for the Vanni, told TamilNet the alliance opposed the 80 billion-rupee allocation “to register a strong protest against the increase in defense spending in peace time and against President Kumaratunga for jeopardizing the peace process by her precipitate actions”.
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Jaffna court sentences man to death in absentia

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 December 2003, 17:29 GMT]
A man accused of a murder committed twenty-two years ago was sentenced to death by the Jaffna High court last week on 10 December 2003. This is the first time in 25 years that a person from Jaffna has been sentenced to death, legal sources in the northern town told TamilNet. Sri Lanka’s judicial system became defunct in Jaffna in 1984.
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SLA recruits, readying for closer ties with India

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 December 2003, 14:09 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army has begun another recruitment drive for its commando regiment in the Sinhala majority districts of the island, promising good pay and attractive perks, sources in Colombo said Tuesday. The recruitment drive comes amidst indications that India would provide greater training facilities for Sri Lankan armed forces under a defence cooperation treaty which Colombo and New Delhi are expected to sign soon.
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Tamil Eelam bank operates without SL Govt. approval - Minister

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 December 2003, 12:02 GMT]
"Neither the Central Bank of Sri Lanka nor the Ministry of Finance of Government of Sri Lanka has given approval for the functioning of the Tamil Eelam Bank, several branches of which are located in the Liberation Tigers controlled areas," said United National Front government’s Finance Minister, Mr.K.N.Choksy, during discussions in Sri Lanka parliament today, political sources from Colombo said.


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Muttur farmers form company to promote commercial production

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 December 2003, 17:43 GMT]
The newly formed Kottiayarapattu People's (Farmers') Company Limited in the Trincomalee district was officially inaugurated Monday at a special event held at the provincial guesthouse auditorium in Uppuveli, a suburb of Trincomalee town. The Kottiayarapattu Farmers' Company has been established with the support of the Department of Agriculture and the Integrated Food Security Programme (IFSP) of the Agency for German Technical Co-operation (GTZ), a development agency of the German government.
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Amban yet to benefit from hospital returned by SLA

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 December 2003, 17:31 GMT]
The Amban hospital and agrarian services centre in southeast Jaffna, which the Sri Lanka army handed back to the public last month, continue to remain derelict inside the military’s high security zone in the area, residents said. Mr. R. Rajathurai, the President of the Kudathanai Farmers’ Association told TamilNet that the SLA in Amban is refusing to let the agrarian services centre be renovated.
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