Second day events of Women's Conference

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 March 2003, 19:34 GMT]
Batticaloa-Amparai Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) women's wing political head, Bhanuka, presided the second day events of the National conference on Tamil Eelam Women’s development, organized with the support of the Organization for the upliftment of women in Batticaloa-Ampara, Friday at the Kallady Vipulanantha School for music and dance in Batticaloa.
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Bullock cart 'buses' Mullaitivu school children

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 March 2003, 16:09 GMT]
Students in Meelivanam village located 5km from the Karipattamurippu Government mixed school in Mullaitivu district will use an improvised bullock drawn carriage as transportation to and from their school, sources in Mullaitivu said.
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Opening of Pooneryn causeway urged

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 March 2003, 13:28 GMT]
“The Sri Lankan government should take steps to re-open the Kerathivu- Sangupiddy causeway to ease the burden of the civilians living in western parts of Vanni region," said that the President of the Kilinochchi branch of the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society (SLRC), Mr. P. Karthigesu, speaking to Tamilnet about recent moves to further improve transport facilities between Jaffna and the mainland.


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Vakaneri fields cleared for paddy cultivation

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 March 2003, 13:21 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Saturday 29 March, permitted paddy cultivation in more than 90% of arable land owned by Muslim farmers in the Vakaneri irrigation scheme located in Kalkuda, 34 km northwest of Batticaloa district, LTTE sources in Batticaloa said.


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‘Normalcy in NE only when displaced are resettled’ - Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 March 2003, 17:14 GMT]
Normalcy will return to the North East province only after thousands of displaced people now languishing in refugee camps and welfare centers are resettled in their own lands, said Mr.R. Sampanthan, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA)parliamentary group leader, at a function to open the office of the Socio Economic Development Committee (SEDC) in Thiriyai, a traditional Tamil village forty-two kilometers north of Trincomalee, sources said.
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PA-JVP said closer to formula for capturing power

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 March 2003, 16:44 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s main opposition parties said Friday they were closer to striking a deal on forming an alliance to bring down Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s government. The People’s Alliance and the Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) had discussions on formulating the crucial clauses of a memorandum of understanding to cement the alliance at the President’s House in Colombo Friday.
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Tamil Eelam national conference on women’s development held

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 March 2003, 15:47 GMT]
A national conference on Tamil Eelam Women’s development, organized with the support of the organization for the upliftment of women in Batticaloa-Ampara, started at 9:00 am on Thursday at the Kallady Vipulanantha School for music and dance in Batticaloa.
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TRO, UNICEF work to build management capacity in Northeast

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 March 2003, 11:55 GMT]
An intensive 40 day course, organized by the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) in partnership with UNICEF, on building the management capacity of Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) working throughout the Northeastern Province, commenced earlier this week at Puthukuddyrippu, sources in Vanni said.
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New camps will damage peace process - JDCHA

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 March 2003, 02:38 GMT]
The Jaffna District Consortium of Human Agencies (JDCHA) Thursday sought intervention of Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe to stop moves by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) to establish new army camps in Jaffna Municipal grounds, said sources in Jaffna.
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TRO starts housing project for Thiriyai resettlers

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 March 2003, 01:55 GMT]
Trincomalee district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Mr.R.Sampanthan, at twelve noon Thursday, laid the first foundation stone for the first house for resettled families at Kaddukulam in Thiriyai village, forty-two km north of Trincomalee town. Trincomalee district office of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) is building five hundred houses as part of this housing project, sources said.
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Court orders arrest of key suspect in Nimalarajan murder

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 March 2003, 17:44 GMT]
The Jaffna Magistrate Mr.R.T.Viknarajah Thursday afternoon ordered the Police to arrest and produce a key suspect Napoleon in court in connection with the murder of journalist Mylvaganam Nimalarajan. Earlier the same day the Magistrate ordered the release of Napoleon when he was present in court in connection with the Naranthanai murder and assault case, legal sources said.


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LTTE, Muslim parley on key issue

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 March 2003, 17:42 GMT]
“Muslims enjoy the same rights as Tamils in areas under our control. There is no need for them to ask us for their fields because we did not take any. They could not cultivate their lands because of the war. Now they are free to come here and engage in agriculture”, said Mr. T. Ramesh, the LTTE’s special commander for the Batticaloa-Amparai District, speaking to the press Thursday afternoon at the conclusion of a meeting with a delegation of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress.


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Sinhala settlements in Batticaloa Tamil villages

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 March 2003, 16:22 GMT]
Tamil people from Mayilankarachchi and Thiyavaddavan, near Ottamavadi in the Batticaloa district, who lost their belongings and their lands in past riots between Muslims and Tamils, have complained of attempts to create Sinhalese settlements in their village, and the construction of a Buddhist temple (Vihare) while they were displaced.
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Muslim MPs meet Norwegian envoy

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 March 2003, 01:38 GMT]
A delegation of Muslim parliamentarians met Norwegian ambassador to Sri Lanka, Mr. Jon Westborg, at the Norwegian embassy on Wednesday and requested that Muslims of the North-East be allowed to have separate representation in the peace talks currently being conducted between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), sources said.
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CAET appeals to PM in support of volunteer teachers

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 March 2003, 01:34 GMT]
The Council for Advancement of Education of Tamils (CAET) which has its headquarters at Paravipanchan in Killinochchi Thursday appealed to the Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe to take meaningful action to give permanent appointment to the volunteer teachers who are carrying out a protest supported by teachers from many districts of Northeast. .
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Killinochchi, Mullaitivu teachers join Trincomalee protest

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 March 2003, 01:19 GMT]
Volunteer teachers from Killinochchi and Mullaitivu Wednesday joined their counter parts in the east in the sit-in-protest campaign now being held in front of the North East Provincial Ministry of Education for the twenty fourth day demanding that all the thousand volunteer teachers in the northeast be made permanent without delay and as promised by the government earlier, sources said.


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TRO launches housing scheme for Thiriyai resettlers

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 March 2003, 19:37 GMT]
The Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) is to lay foundation Thursday for a housing scheme in Thiriyai village, a traditional Tamil village, about forty-two km north of Trincomalee town. The proposed housing scheme is to facilitate refugees to return to their own land after about twenty years, sources said.


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Farmers’ protest brings civil admin to standstill in Mannar

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 March 2003, 13:38 GMT]
More than 1500 farmers in Mannar demanding fair prices for their rice harvest and the removal of Sri Lankan armed forces units which continue to occupy fields and buildings in the region blockaded the District Secretariat Wednesday and brought all government administration in the Northwestern island town to a standstill.
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Commonwealth Secretariat delegation visits Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 March 2003, 11:53 GMT]
A four-member delegation of the Commonwealth Secretariat (CS) is now on a visit to Sri Lanka from March 16 to March 29 for discussions with representatives of local, national and international level non-governmental organizations and government agencies to promote the peace process. The Commonwealth Secretariat has proposed a national consultation meeting on 'Women, Men and Young People in Partnership for Sustainable Peace' to be held in two parts in Trincomalee and Kandy in June 2003, sources said.


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CTTU to picket education offices in support of volunteer teachers

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 March 2003, 21:10 GMT]
The Ceylon Tamil Teachers Union (CTTU) Tuesday announced that its members would picket the offices of North East Provincial Department of Education and the Provincial Ministry of Education in Trincomalee from April 1st if the authorities concerned failed to grant permanent appointments to one thousand Tamil medium volunteer teachers according to the Cabinet approval by the then Peoples Alliance government and the present United National Front government on or before March 31st, sources said.
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