SLMM rules Sea Tiger convoy did not breach truce

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 May 2002, 17:01 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission has informed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leadership that it does not consider the sailing of a Sea Tiger convoy which was intercepted and challenged by Sri Lankan navy gunboats near Trincomalee seas Wednesday last week as a breach of the indefinite ceasefire agreement.
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Navy fire sinks fishing boats

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 May 2002, 12:49 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Navy Wednesday fired on fishing boats of the coast of Vaakarai, destroying at least two vessels and killing several fishermen, residents in the coastal village said. The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission has been sent a strongly worded protest by the Liberation Tigers, sources in Kilinochchi said Thursday. Reporting the incident Wednesday the Sri Lanka military claimed the boats were LTTE craft and that one had blown itself up.
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"Settlement sans traditional homeland concept" - PM

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 May 2002, 20:04 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe said that a system of devolution of power must be found at the negotiating table without dividing the country and without accepting the concept of a traditional Tamil homeland. He was addressing the first May Day rally of the United National Front (UNF) government held Wednesday at Colombo Municipal Council grounds.
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NDF urges govt to lift LTTE ban

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 May 2002, 19:50 GMT]
The New Democratic Front Wednesday appealed to the United National Front government to lift the ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and hand over the administration of the interim administration of the northeast province to a council headed by the LTTE.
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"Muslims will join LTTE's struggle" - SLMC organiser

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 May 2002, 19:48 GMT]
"The leader of the Liberation Tigers has recognised that the Muslims also have a right to this land. We, the Muslims, have a right to live on this soil. Therefore, we too shall join the struggle if the war starts again," said the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress's chief organiser for the Vavuniya district, Mr. Aariff, speaking at the May Day rally in Vavuniya Wednesday evening.
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Thousands at May Day rallies in Northeastern province

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 May 2002, 19:05 GMT]
More than ten thousand people took part in the May Day rally in Kumarapuram in southern Trincomalee Wednesday afternoon. Thousands also gathered for May Day rallies in Batticaloa, Vavuniya, Mannar, Mullaithivu, Kilinochchi and Jaffna. Mr. Karikalan hoisted the flag of the Liberation Tigers at the rally of more than fifteen thousand in Palugamam, 30 kilometres southwest of Batticaloa.
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Tamil journalists still face danger - RSF

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 May 2002, 19:02 GMT]
The Reporters Sans Frontiers, the French media watchdog, said in its annual report on press freedom released Wednesday that working conditions for Tamil journalists remain very dangerous in Sri Lanka, especially when they report on human rights violations. "They are easily accused of supporting the Tamil Tigers guerrilla movement. The 1998 Emergency Law allows security forces to arrest anyone suspected of maintaining relations with this banned separatist organisation. But how can anyone work in the north and east of the country without having contacts with the Tamil Tigers, who are everywhere?" the RSF report said.
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Civilians wounded in navy fire

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 April 2002, 23:41 GMT]
Two Tamil civilians were wounded in gunfire blamed on Sri Lanka Navy personnel lying in ambush in Nilaveli in the Trincomalee district, at 9.30 p.m. Monday night. Complaints have been lodged with the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), in the eastern town. The Norwegian head of the SLMM in Trincomalee, Ms Victoria Lund, told TamilNet that steps have been taken to investigate into the complaint.
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Tigers object to COMNORTH declaration

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 April 2002, 05:45 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers have objected to the Northern Navy Commander declaring the islands off the Jaffna peninsula as military zones. The LTTE has sent its objection in writing to the Sri Lanka Peace Monitoring Mission's (SLMM) office in Kilinochchi, sources in the Vanni said Tuesday.
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Tigers open political office in VVT

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 April 2002, 18:40 GMT]
"The interim administration is a necessary condition for restoring normal life in our homeland that has been destroyed by more than eighteen years of war waged on us by the Sri Lankan state. Therefore it is also an absolutely necessary condition for sustaining our people's faith in this peace process, said Mr. M. K Sivajilingam, Tamil National Alliance MP for Jaffna, addressing the function at the opening of the political office of the Liberation Tigers for the Vadamaradchi division of the northern peninsula Monday morning.
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Soldiers-Tamil youths clash in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 April 2002, 21:22 GMT]
A clash between Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and Tamil youths in Trincomalee town Sunday evening left three soldiers and a police constable in hospital and four youths under arrest. One of the arrested Tamil youths was later admitted to Trincomalee base hospital, with injuries sustained after a severe assault whilst in police custody according to sources.
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SLA re-imposes fishing restriction in Manalkadu

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 April 2002, 11:33 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army Sunday barred fifty fishermen of Manalkaadu, on the southeastern coast of Jaffna, from setting out to sea for fishing in the early hours of the morning. The fishermen's national identity cards were sized by the military. They were then taken to the SLA camp at Kudathanai.
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PM meets prelates

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 April 2002, 16:02 GMT]
The Prime Minister Saturday told the prelates of the Malwatte and Asgiriya Chapters in Kandy that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam cannot open political offices outside the North-east province. "It will be a violation of the cease-fire agreement signed by the government and the LTTE if the latter decided to open its offices in other parts of the country," Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe said in reply to Mahanayake Theras when they questioned him about the news reports that LTTE is to open its office in Wellawatte, Colombo on Monday.
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SLMC condemns Ashraff over ‘collaboration’

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 April 2002, 02:19 GMT]
A section of Sri Lanka’s largest Muslim party Friday condemned the leader of a breakaway faction for siding with Sinhala chauvinists by speaking at an anti-peace rally organised to condemn the indefinite ceasefire between the government and the Liberation Tigers, press reports said. The Eravur sections of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) criticised Mrs Farial Ashraff, the widow of its former leader, for siding with Sinhala chauvinists and addressing the event in Colombo in her capacity as leader of the National United Alliance.
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Navy commander declares islands ‘military zones’

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 April 2002, 02:01 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Navy is defending its denial of access to the Liberation Tigers’ political cadres from the islets around the Jaffna peninsula, press reports said Saturday. In a letter to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), a senior SLN commander declared the islets, which are home to many Tamil civilians, as military zones and hence off limits to the LTTE’s political cadres, the Virakesari newspaper reported.
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'Thanthai Chelva' remembered

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 April 2002, 18:56 GMT]
The twenty fifth-death anniversary of the late Tamil leader 'Thanthai' Chelvanayakam was observed throughout the Northeast province Friday with religious observances and memorial meetings. In Trincomalee, a the statue of 'Thanthai Chelva' at Sivankoviladi veethi was garlanded Friday morning by a leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Mr.K.Thurairetnasingham. Sivankoviladi Development Association organised the event.
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Indians bid for Trincomalee oil storage facility

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 April 2002, 18:53 GMT]
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has submitted a bid to acquire oil storage facilities at Chinabay in the eastern port town of Trincomalee, Mr.Arjun Mahendran, Chairman of the Sri Lanka's Board of Investment (BoI) said Friday. The Public Enterprises Reform Commission (PERC) is now in the process of structuring the deal, he added.
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Sinhala nationalists plan more protests

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 April 2002, 14:21 GMT]
(News Feature) Efforts by Sinhala nationalists to mobilise public opposition to the Norwegian peace initiative are continuing with three opposition parties planning a joint protest campaign against Oslo's efforts and the division of the country, press reports said Thursday.
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Jaffna SLMM discusses complaints over military action

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 April 2002, 13:26 GMT]
The head of the international peace-monitoring mission promised Wednesday to bring the tension prevailing in the islets around Jaffna to the attention of the Sri Lankan government, press reports in the northern peninsula said Thursday. Norwegian General (Retd) Trond Fuhrhovde made his comments at a meeting of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) officials in Jaffna, the Uthayan reported.
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JVP anti-peace protests kick off

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 April 2002, 19:18 GMT]
The Marxist Janata Vimukti Peramuna (JVP) held a demonstration at Lipton Square in down town Colombo Tuesday afternoon against the government's peace move. An estimated five-thousand JVP members and activists participated in the protest, led by the Sinhala nationalist party's general secretary, Mr.Tilvin Silva, which later travelled in a procession and ended with a protest meeting at Hyde Park.
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