Posters in Colombo denounce 'Norway-Ranil plot'

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 May 2002, 22:21 GMT]
Sinhala nationalist groups in Sri Lanka this week stepped up their campaign against Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's attempt to strike a peace deal with the Liberation Tigers. Thousands of posters put up all over the city by one group say, "Let's defeat the Norway-Ranil plan to hand over the country to the Tigers".
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Tamil mine-clearers struggle without equipment, funds

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 May 2002, 18:20 GMT]
(NEWS FEATURE) The estimated 1.4 million pieces of live ammunition, including 86,700 anti-personnel mines, remaining in territory formerly controlled by the Sri Lanka Army are taking a long time to clear due to the lack of equipment and funding, according to the official in charge of clearing the unexploded ordnance.
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Tamil teachers urge govt. to lift LTTE ban immediately

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 May 2002, 17:34 GMT]
The Ceylon Tamil Teachers Union Saturday decided to call its members for a one day token strike on May 24 demanding the government to lift the ban on the Liberation Tigers in Sri Lanka immediately, to take prompt steps directing the State armed forces to strictly observe the permanent ceasefire by vacating schools and places of worship and to expedite the peace efforts without further delay.
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Won't leave public buildings in Batticaloa - SLA

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 May 2002, 17:41 GMT]
"The Sri Lanka army will not leave public and private buildings and houses until permanent peace is established", said Lt. Col. Gunasekera, the civil affairs officer of the SLA's 23-3 Brigade in Batticaloa, Friday addressing government and municipal officials and more than a hundred locals whose homes are occupied by the military.
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'Peace saboteurs must be defeated' - SLMC

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 May 2002, 21:53 GMT]
"The Muslims will co-operate with the Liberation Tigers to annihilate the evil forces which are all out to sabotage the peace initiatives mooted by the present government with Norwegian facilitation," declared the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress parliamentarian of the Trincomalee district, Mr.K.M.Thowfeek, addressing the opening event of the Kuchchaveli Political Office of the LTTE at Nilaveli held Thursday evening.
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Sinhala opposition to peace deal gathers momentum

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 May 2002, 18:55 GMT]
More than five thousand protestors Thursday afternoon thronged the Virodhaya (oppose) campaign by Sri Lanka's main opposition alliance against the ruling United National Front's policy on peace talks, the economy and style of governance at Nugegoda Junction, a busy intersection in greater Colombo.
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Prisons check disappoints missing youths' parents

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 May 2002, 16:38 GMT]
The Missing Person's Guardian Association (MPGA) of Jaffna said Thursday after visiting Sri Lankan government prisons outside the northern peninsula that it would launch fresh protests to demand that Colombo investigate the fate of more than 600 youth who went missing after being arrested by the Sri Lanka army in Jaffna in 1997-96.
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TULF urges govt. to lift LTTE ban immediately

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 May 2002, 09:25 GMT]
Mr. Murugesu Sivasithambaram, President of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), the main constituent of the Tamil National Alliance Thursday issued a strong appeal to the United Front National Government to lift the ban on the Liberation Tigers immediately.
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Linganagar Tamils complain army harassment

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 May 2002, 05:08 GMT]
The residents of Linganagar, a crowded suburb of Trincomalee town have submitted a memorandum to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in the eastern port city that the Sri Lanka Army has not changed its routine checking and has not relaxed the ban on taking materials such as bricks, cement, tin sheets, poles and cadjans for repairing their houses even months after the permanent ceasefire came into effect.
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Proactive TNA role seen essential

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 May 2002, 19:20 GMT]
Nineteen civil society groups in Trincomalee Wednesday urged the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to play a proactive role in bringing to light continuing violations of the ceasefire by the Sri Lankan security forces and to take concerted steps to counter the efforts of Sinhala nationalists to discredit and scuttle the peace talks to end the conflict.
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SL armed forces said violating children's rights

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 May 2002, 17:38 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army and the Special Task Force haven't come up with a schedule for leaving more than eighty schools occupied by them in the districts of Jaffna, Mullaithivu, Vavuniya, Mannar, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Amparai although they should have started doing so soon after the ceasefire agreement between Colombo and the Liberation Tigers came into effect on 24 February 2002, Northeast Provincial Education Ministry officials said Wednesday.
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Support urged for LTTE’s political efforts

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 May 2002, 00:18 GMT]
The leader of Sri Lanka’s largest Muslim party Monday slammed opponents of the Norwegian peace initiative and urged support for the Liberation Tigers’ political efforts, the Thinakkuaral reported Tuesday. Speaking in the parliament, Mr. Rauf Hakeem, leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), urged political parties to support efforts by the LTTE leader, Vellupillai Pirapaharan, to end the island’s ethnic conflict, the Tamil language daily said.
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Sinhala nationalist MPs vow to fight peace deal

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 May 2002, 22:07 GMT]
A large gathering of Sinhala Parliamentarians Tuesday resolved before the statue of King Duttu Gemunu in the island's ancient capital of Anuradhapura to struggle against what they called a conspiracy to divide Sri Lanka through peace talks with the Liberation Tigers. Duttu Gemunu was an ancient warrior extolled in Sri Lankan Buddhist tradition for killing Ellalan, a Tamil king of the island in the 2nd century BC, and for unifying the island under Sinhala rule.
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Army refuses to quit Jaffna schools

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 May 2002, 15:02 GMT]
Sri Lanka military commanders in Jaffna Monday refused to move troops out of several schools as required under the terms of the ceasefire agreement, Tamil press reports said. Civil administration officials who met the military to discuss moving army units out of school premises were told that troops would not be moving out of 32 schools “for the foreseeable future.” Sri Lanka defence officials said that these schools were in ‘high security’ zones and reopening them to the public would pose security risks.
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Civilians complain STF harassment

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 May 2002, 01:14 GMT]
Civilians in the eastern province are complaining of increased harassment by the elite Special Task Force (STF), Tamil press reports said this week. Protests have been lodged with the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) over the incidents, the reports said.
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Air Force flights are "negating confidence" - LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 May 2002, 10:33 GMT]
In the wake of a series of low-level flights over the Vanni by Sri Lanka Air Force surveillance aircraft which have raised fears amongst residents, the Liberation Tigers Monday lodged a formal protest with the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM). The causing of panic amongst civilians by the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is "a negation of the confidence building exercise undertaken by the government of Sri Lanka," the LTTE said in a letter to the SLMM.
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Navy assaults fishermen at sea

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 May 2002, 10:13 GMT]
Sri Lankan gunboats surrounded Tamil fishing boats far from shore and forced the occupants to jump into the sea in continuing harrasment by the Navy, press reports said Monday. Thirty five fishermen were assaulted and ordered to jump overboard 15km from the Mullaitivu shore on May 9, the Jaffna based Tamil daily Uthayan reported.
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TNA delegation meet Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 May 2002, 22:07 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Saturday requested the Tamil National Alliance to pressurise the Sri Lankan government for the speedy implementation of the permanent cease-fire which came into effect on February 23.
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TRO office opened in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 May 2002, 07:16 GMT]
The Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) has commenced its activities in the Trincomalee district with the opening of its office in the east port town Friday. Dr.Dedo Geinitz, Team Leader of the German Technical Co-operation (GTZ) in Trincomalee declared open the TRO office.
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Ashraff slammed for opposing truce

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 May 2002, 19:27 GMT]
(News Feature) Reflecting increasing irritation amongst Sri Lanka’s Muslim community over ongoing opposition by some Muslim politicians to the permanent ceasefire between the government and the Liberation Tigers, another Muslim organisation this week hailed the truce and condemned those supporting Sinhala nationalist forces opposed to peace.
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