De-mining in Jaffna said big business, as mines claim more

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 January 2003, 22:04 GMT]
A woodcutter, Sinnathambi Sinnathurai, 50, was seriously injured Tuesday while chopping fire wood with a relative in Mayilankoodal, Erlalai South, Jaffna, when his axe struck a landmine. He was admitted to the Jaffna hospital. Landmines continue to claim lives and limbs of civilians in Jaffna despite much publicised de-mining programs by international NGOs in the war torn northern peninsula.
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Victims of Mahiladi village massacre remembered

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 January 2003, 15:50 GMT]
A memorial commemorating the 86 Tamil people killed in a massacre by the Sri Lankan Special Task Force (STF) on January 28, 1987, in Mahiladitheevu, 25 km southwest of Batticaloa town in the Kokkadicholai area, was declared open yesterday in a ceremony organized by the Mahiladi village development council, sources in Batticaloa said.
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'LTTE, IRA have political goals' - British Minister

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 January 2003, 15:39 GMT]
British Foreign Office Minister Mike O'Brien said Wednesday that the global war against terrorism may be long drawn out because the Al Qaeda has an agenda with which there cannot be negotiations, unlike the LTTE and the IRA who have political goals. He was speaking on 'New Threats to International Security' at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) in Colombo Wednesday.
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ICRC ready to support 24-hour A9 opening

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 January 2003, 12:34 GMT]
If requested by the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) is willing to support the opening of the A9 highway for 24 hours a day, Danique Lugi, ICRC Director of Communications, said today.
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SLMM chief holds talks with LTTE political head

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 January 2003, 18:00 GMT]
The Norwegian head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission Major General (retd) Trond Furuhovde Monday held discussions with the political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam Mr.S.P.Thamilselvan, and said that the LTTE has fully co-operated with the mission in its tasks.
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LTTE rejects Indian General's terms on HSZs

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 January 2003, 08:33 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) will not accept recommendations from international military experts that link the "critical humanitarian issue" of resettling internally displaced persons and refugees in Jaffna to disarming of its cadres and de-commissioning of its weapons, the movement's chief negotiator and political strategist, Mr Anton Balasingham, told the Tamil Guardian newspaper Monday. The Tigers "will fiercely oppose and reject any proposal that makes resettlement of refugees conditional upon de-commissioning of LTTE weapons," he said further.


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LTTE hands over underage youths to parents through UNICEF

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 January 2003, 17:32 GMT]
The UNICEF Monday played a facilitator role accepting three underage youths from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and handing them back to their parents. Three boys who came on their own to join Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were handed over to the UNICEF in Trincomalee by the LTTE Monday evening, sources said
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Indian trawlers damage Jaffna fishermen's gear

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 January 2003, 17:28 GMT]
Incidents of Indian fishing trawlers entering Sri Lankan water in northern sea and damaging fishing gear belongs to Jaffna fishermen are once again on the increase, said Jaffna Fisheries Co-operative Sources said Monday.
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SLN assaults Tamil fishermen in Vadamarachchi Sea

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 January 2003, 17:26 GMT]
Four Tamil fishermen identified as Venkatasalam Arumaichelvan, Gunam Chandrakumar, Joseph Premadas and Sinnathurai Rajendran were severely assaulted by the Sri Lanka navy (SLN) personnel in Vadamarachchi Sea Monday. They were later admitted to Valvettithurai hospital in Jaffna district, human rights sources said.
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'Peace process will continue uninterrupted'- Minister

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 January 2003, 19:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Interior Minister Mr.John Amaratunge, while addressing a seminar held in Trincomalee Town Hall Sunday morning, said that it is very difficult to find solutions to all contradictions created during the twenty year old war within a year. The seminar was held to mobilize the support of the people for the peace process now being taken forward by the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), sources said.
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Exclusive use of Sinhala in Trinco Courts must stop - Lawyers

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 January 2003, 12:28 GMT]
The Trincomalee Bar Association has complained to the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission (SLMM) that complaints made by Tamil speaking people in the Trincomalee are recorded only in Sinhala and the police file plaints in law courts only in Sinhala language causing immense hardships to Tamil speaking litigants and lawyers, sources in Trincomalee said.
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STF intimidation in Amparai village

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 January 2003, 12:19 GMT]
"Some officers in the Special Task Force (STF) haven't yet come to terms with the reality that Tamils are not their abject slaves- even after one year of peace," said Mr. Ariyanayagam Chandranehru, Tamil National Alliance MP for the Amparai district, referring to instances of assault and intimidation of civilians by commandos of STF, the elite counter insurgency arm of the Sri Lankan armed forces, deployed mostly on the island's Southeastern coast.


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'Decommissioning of arms after finding political solution'- PM

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 January 2003, 17:09 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe said this is not opportune time, before finding a lasting political solution, to demand decommissing of arms from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), when addressing the annual convention of the pro-government Sri Lanka Estate Workers Union at Sri Kotha, United National Party headquarters, in Colombo Saturday.
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Undergrads protest leads to postponement of VC election

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 January 2003, 14:46 GMT]
The election of new Vice Chancellor (VC) to the Jaffna University was not held as scheduled Saturday when undergraduates prevented a member from attending the Senate meeting. The university authorities had to postpone the Senate meeting for January 29, sources in the University campus said.
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New SLA camp in Chavakchcheri displaces resettlers

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 January 2003, 14:42 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Chavakachcheri, Jaffna, is building a new camp in an outer suburb of the war ravaged town where refugee families that fled the war more than two years resettled recently, residents said. Three families, which resettled in their homes by the Kandy Road two months ago, vacated their houses Friday as ordered by the SLA. Four resettled families here left Saturday out of fear, sources in Chavakachcheri said.


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SLA intelligence said bullying Mannar farmers

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 January 2003, 16:16 GMT]
The Mannar Farmers' Federation said Friday that soldiers from the Sri Lanka army's intelligence unit in the district were harassing and threatening local cultivators and agrarian officials to dissuade them from attending public functions in which representatives of the political and development divisions of the Liberation Tigers take part.
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Fifth Session of Talks in Berlin

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 January 2003, 11:02 GMT]
The fifth session of peace negotiations between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) will be held on 7 – 8 February at the Norwegian Embassy in Berlin, the Norwegian government said in a statement Friday.
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New SLMM head appointed

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 January 2003, 10:47 GMT]
The head of the international cease-fire monitors in Sri Lanka, Norwegian Army Major General (retired) Trond Furuhovde, will be succeeded by Norwegian Army Major General (retired) Tryggve Tellefsen in late February or March, the Norwegian government said in a statement Friday. Maj. Gen. Furuhovde will hand over leadership of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) to Maj. Gen. Tellefsen, and continue as an advisor on cease-fire related matters to the Norwegian government afterwards, the statement said.
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Record inquiry in Tamil, MPGA demands

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 January 2003, 02:03 GMT]
Investigations into the disappearance of more than 600 Tamil youths in Jaffna during 1996 and 1997 due to begin on 24 January in the Jaffna premises of the Human Rights Commision (HRC), must be recorded in Tamil, demanded the Missing Persons Guardian Association (MPGA) in a decision taken at a recent meeting and conveyed to the HRC, said sources in Jaffna.
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GA requests data on SLA occupied private properties

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 January 2003, 01:33 GMT]
The Government Agent (GA) of Jaffna, Mr. S. Pathmanathan, ordered the Assistant Government Agents (AGAs) in Jaffna district to obtain details on civilian residences and private lands occupied by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in the peninsula, sources in the Northern town said.
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