TNA delegation meets Helgessen, Wickremesinghe

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 May 2003, 00:06 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) delegation met with Norwegian deputy foreign minister Mr. Vidar Helgessen and the Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe separately Monday and held discussions regarding resumption of peace talks between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), political sources in Colombo said.
Full story >>

SLA bike patrols horrify Vadamaradchy residents

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 May 2003, 00:28 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has resumed its ' field bike group ' patrolling in several parts of the Vadamarachchi division in Jaffna district causing fear among Tamil people. The field bike group patrolling of the SLA was stopped with the signing of the ceasefire agreement between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), civil sources said.


Full story >>

Election alliances harmful to upcountry leadership - UPF

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 May 2003, 14:08 GMT]
"In other parts of the world, ruling governments fear the leaders of labor unions that determine the economic welfare of the country more than they do opposing politicians. In Sri Lanka, since the Upcountry leadership have traditionally worked in consort with the ruling parties upcountry people are denied the respect and power enjoyed by the Muslim or Northeast leadership," said M. Sivalingam, Secretary General of Upcountry Peoples Front (UPF), addressing the opening ceremony at Ragala Labor Union Building, upcountry press reports said.
Full story >>

Mallakam residents picket against new SLA camps

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 May 2003, 12:18 GMT]
Hundreds of residents of Mallakam area, north of Jaffna district Sunday held a two hour picketing campaign from 9 to 11in the morning protesting against the establishment of two new camps of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), one in the Mallakam court complex and the other in the abandoned railway station building. However, the construction work on the new camps is continuing, sources said.
Full story >>

Vesak Massacre remembered in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 May 2003, 18:19 GMT]
In Aayiththiyamalai, a village in the district’s interior, 16 kilometres west of the eastern town, a special service was held Saturday at the local church for ten orphans who were massacred by Sri Lanka army soldiers and Policemen during the Vesak festival in Batticaloa town three years ago on 17 May. Sri Lankan armed forces, however, celebrated Vesak, the annual Buddhist light festival as usual in Batticaloa this week.
Full story >>

LTTE, SLA hold discussions in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 May 2003, 17:10 GMT]
A three-hour discussion was held at the office of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in Jaffna Saturday afternoon between the representatives of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in the presence of the head of SMM Jaffna, sources said.


Full story >>

LTTE office escapes damage as grenade fails to explode

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 May 2003, 13:14 GMT]
A grenade was thrown at the main entrance to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) administrative office in Thamaraikerni in Batticaloa district at 2.10pm Saturday. The 15 year old, J.R type grenade, generally used by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), failed to explode and no one was injured, security sources said.


Full story >>

Helgessen on shuttle diplomacy to end talks impasse

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 May 2003, 12:46 GMT]
Norwegian delegation led by deputy foreign minister Mr. Vidar Helgessen held about two hour talks with the leadership of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Saturday afternoon at Killinochchi peace secretariat. He briefed the LTTE leaders on the outcome of the talks he had with the government peace negotiators about the requests by the LTTE leader Mr.V.Pirapaharan made during the discussion with the Norwegian foreign minister Mr.Jan Petersen, Vanni sources said.
Full story >>

Tamil Education Board opens branch in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 May 2003, 14:03 GMT]
The Jaffna district branch of the Thamileelam Educational Development Board (TEDB) was opened Friday morning at the Jaffna district zonal education office at an event presided over by Professor Shanmugathas of the University of Jaffna, who said that the opening of the TEDB branch was a timely step taken and it would give a boost to the educational development of the peninsula, sources said.
Full story >>

Colombo launches stopgap measure in north

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 May 2003, 12:34 GMT]
A military officer appointed by Colombo to assess the number of houses and properties occupied by the Sri Lanka army (SLA) in Jaffna began work Friday, according to SLA sources. The officer, Lt. Col. M. G. Ratnayake, who was appointed to the position Wednesday by Colombo, will receive applications from civilians in Jaffna whose homes and lands are still occupied by the military, the sources said. The stopgap measure to get the stalled peace talks back on track by Colombo got lukewarm reception in the northern town.
Full story >>

CPA holds peace-arts festival in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 May 2003, 11:43 GMT]
A three-day arts festival of the Centre for Performing Arts (CPA) inaugurated in Jaffna Wednesday is to conclude Friday evening. "The arts festival, the first event of its kind to take place in Jaffna, represents a bold, path-breaking move for CPA in its work for peace through creative arts," said a spokesman of the CPA.


Full story >>

Norwegian FM sees mine menace in Iyakkachchi

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 May 2003, 00:20 GMT]
Norwegian Foreign Minister Mr. Jan Peterson, who visited Kilinochchi Thursday to meet the leader of the Liberation Tigers, held discussions with senior officials of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) about issues hindering the restoration of normalcy in the war torn northeast. Following the brief meeting with TRO officials, the Norwegian FM and his deputy along with diplomats accompanying them visited places in Iyakkachchi a mine infested region in Jaffna’s southern sector held by the LTTE.
Full story >>

Pall of boat massacre memory hangs over islands

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 May 2003, 13:46 GMT]
Hundreds of Sinhala pilgrims now freely visit the Buddhist shrine in the island of Nainathivu, off Jaffna, after almost two decades. But the pall of Sri Lanka Navy presence continues to cast a shadow on Tamils who are still subjected to checks and regulations. Eighteen years ago, on 15 May, 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.
Full story >>

Peace snag said rooted in Sri Lanka's constitution

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 May 2003, 00:02 GMT]
Norwegian Foreign Minister Mr. Jan Peterson accompanied by his deputy Mr. Vidar Helgessen Wednesday morning arrived in Colombo to hold crucial talks with the leaders of the government and LTTE to in a bid to restart Sri Lanka’s stalled peace talks. Japan and Norway are keen that the LTTE take part in crucial aid conference next month in Tokyo. The Tigers, however, say Colombo should first establish legally operable bodies and procedures to ensure a direct say for Tamils over the utilization of funds pledged by donors for reconstructing the war torn northeast.
Full story >>

LTTE,TNA spell out basis for Tokyo meet participation

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 May 2003, 10:55 GMT]
“The LTTE is of the view that before it participates in the Tokyo Aid Conference currently fixed for 9th and 10th June, the administrative, financial and other structures with adequate powers need to be established in order to reconstruct the northeast and to rehabilitate and restore normal civilian life in the northeast province”, said the Tamil National Alliance in a press release issued Wednesday on the outcome of the talks its delegation had with the LTTE political leadership on Tuesday in Killinochchi.
Full story >>

HDU sounds alarm on removal of ‘safety fences’

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 May 2003, 10:01 GMT]
Humanitarian De-mining Unit (HDU) officials in Kilinochchi said Wednesday that an NGO operating in the Vanni had created a dangerous precedent when it recently removed fences demarcating areas infested with mines and unexploded ordnance in Sannaar, on the northern coastal sector of the Mannar district. “The NGO had apparently removed the demarcating fences to show that the Sannar area is safe for rehabilitation work”, the HDU officials said. The HDU is an arm of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO).
Full story >>

Tamil journalist receives death threat

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 May 2003, 00:02 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance (SLTMA) has brought to the notice of several world media organizations the death threat issued by an anonymous caller to a former president of SLMTA and senior journalist, Mr.V.Manikavasagam, and appealed for help in ensuring his safety, media sources said.


Full story >>

Eight PLOTE cadres injured in grenade attack

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 May 2003, 14:20 GMT]
Eight cadres of the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam, a Tamil paramilitary group, were wounded when unidentified persons lobbed a grenade at them in front of their office in Batticaloa town Tuesday around 6.20 p.m. Sri Lanka Police in the eastern town said.
Full story >>

Valvettiturai fishermen complain of harassment by SLA

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 May 2003, 02:58 GMT]
Jaffna fisheries federation (JFF) officials Monday accused the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) for concocting stories of recovering fishing boats with explosives in the Valvettithurai seacoast with the intention of harassing Tamil fishermen. Valvettiturai Fisheries Society officials further accused the SLA for launching a mischievous campaign to prevent fishermen from going to sea for their livelihood, security sources said.


Full story >>

News in brief

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 May 2003, 10:44 GMT]
Officials complain of school books replete with Spelling, Grammar, factual errors, more than 8,000 Sri Lanka Army soldiers desert their posts and Jaffna TRO contemplates filing rights case against Sri Lanka Government and security forces.


Full story >>