'Negotiations cannot be held under conditions of war' - LTTE

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 December 2000, 14:19 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Saturday called on the international community to use its good offices “to persuade the Sri Lankan government to abandon its hardline militarist approach and to seek a negotiated political settlement in a climate of peace and goodwill”. A press release from the organisation’s London offices quoted a statement it released Saturday in the Vanni expressing the LTTE’s “deep disappointment” over the “categorical rejection” by Sri Lanka of its call for a process of de-escalation of the armed conflict prior to peace talks. The LTTE also welcomed the “positive” proposals for “mutually reciprocated confidence building goodwill measures” suggested by the Government of Norway to be undertaken on both sides.
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Peace efforts at impasse - paper

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 December 2000, 12:03 GMT]
(News Feature) The Sri Lankan government's refusal to lift its economic embargo on Tamil areas not held by its military and Colombo's imposition of fresh conditions for negotiations threaten to stall Norwegian efforts to bring about a peaceful resolution of the island's protracted conflict, the London-based Tamil Guardian said this week. "The Sri Lankan government is well aware that adopting this position effectively creates an impasse," the paper said in the editorial column of its latest issue, which hit news stands Friday.
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Inquest held into death of farmers

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 December 2000, 03:19 GMT]
Inquest into the deaths of seven Tamil farmers from Poonagar in the Mutur area, killed by Sinhala home guards on October 2nd of this year, were held last Tuesday in the presence of Muttur Magistrate and Additional District Judge Mr.R.M.Jayawardene.
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Two civilians killed in SLN ambush

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 December 2000, 17:19 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) personnel lying in ambush in Iqbal Nagar, north of Trincomalee shot and killed two Tamil civilians around 5 p.m. Wednesday. The victims, Shanmugaraja Swarnahasan and Mahalingam Thamiran, were returning to their village, Gopalapuram, on a motorbike from Trincomalee town when they shot at, sources said.
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Sri Lanka rejects self-determination for Tamils

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 December 2000, 11:42 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government Thursday criticised comments by a visiting British Minister last month that the international community will support self-determination for the island’s Tamil community as well as the territorial integrity of Sri Lanka. Foreign Minister Laxshman Kadirgamar was quoted in the state-owned Daily News as saying he “took strong exception” to comments three weeks ago to Britain's Junior Foreign Minister Peter Hain as they were an infringement on Sri Lanka’s affairs.
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Sri Lanka rejects de-escalation before talks

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 December 2000, 03:29 GMT]
(News Feature) The Sri Lankan government said Tuesday that it would not accept the Liberation Tigers' call for a de-escalation of the war prior to unconditional negotiations to end the island’s protracted conflict, as the call was “proposed almost as a precondition for talks.” The government instead said de-escalation must be accompanied by talks on a permanent solution, which must be preceded by the Liberation Tigers agreeing the core issues to be covered in any negotiations. The government also re-iterated that any talks must be completed within a definite time frame.
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Six TELO cadres arrested for murder

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 December 2000, 16:04 GMT]
The Batticaloa Additional District Judge on Tuesday remanded six members of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) in connection with the murder of Parameswaran Yugendran, a security guard at Insurance Co-operation who was severely assaulted by the suspects on 26 October at Aaraiyampathi, about 8 km. south of Batticaloa. Yugendran died in Colombo Hospital after 45 days in coma.
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Peace march marks Human Rights day

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 December 2000, 21:56 GMT]
At the end of the peace march held on Sunday in Trincomalee in connection with the International Human Rights Day, a memorandum addressed to the UN Secretary General was handed over to the UNHCR representative here by the organising committee comprised of nine non-governmental organisations.
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Bindunuwewa camp to be relocated to Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 December 2000, 01:43 GMT]
Prison authorities in Sri Lanka are planning to establish a new rehabilitation camp in Vavuniya to replace the camp at Bindunuwewa in Bandarawela which ceased to function following the brutal murder on the 25th October of this year of more than 24 Tamil prisoners housed in the camp, said sources.
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TELO cadre succumbs to injuries

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 December 2000, 20:03 GMT]
Parameswaran Ugendran, a member of Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO), who was severely beaten by fellow members on October 26th Deepavali day, died at the Colombo National Hospital at 4 pm today due to injuries suffered in the attack, hospital sources said.
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Hospital employees to stage demonstration

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 December 2000, 19:07 GMT]
Doctors, nurses and other employees of Batticaloa General Hospital have planned to stage a protest march in Batticaloa town tomorrow morning demanding that Security Forces engaged in battle in the North and East should not use civilians as human shields and that no armed personnel should travel in vehicles carrying civilian passengers, hospital sources said.
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SLA arrests, beats-up students

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 December 2000, 14:32 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers arrested four youths from Karuvakerni near Valaichenai in Batticaloa at 3 am today morning and severly beat the youths before releasing them, said village residents.
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Police say no to Jaffna Church peace march

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 December 2000, 20:13 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Police Thursday refused permission to the Catholic church in the north to go on a peace procession in Jaffna town. A Catholic church spokesman said that the Police denied permission for the procession on the grounds that the security situation in the Jaffna town did not permit it. He said the march had been organised as a remembrance of a saint of the church.
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Northern plight - Jaffna MP carts in protest

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 December 2000, 14:44 GMT]
United National Party MP for Jaffna Mr.A.Maheswaran led a protest Wednesday against the high price of goods in Jaffna and the government embargo on essentials to the Vanni by riding a bullock cart to the Sri Lankan Parliament. Six UNP Parliamentarians, including Dr.Jayalath Jayawardena and Mahinda Samarasekera joined him in the protest. Mr. Maheswaran told TamilNet that he was protesting over the exorbitant rates charged for taking goods to Jaffna by sea, adding that it is very much cheaper to ship things from Pakistan to Sri Lanka than from Colombo to Jaffna.
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Compensation sought for Mutur victims

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 December 2000, 14:41 GMT]
The majority of the Tamils who lost their houses and other properties during the violence in Mutur in 1985 and 1990 have not been paid any compensation by the State, states a memorandum sent to the Minister of Reconstruction, Reconstruction and Rural Housing, Ms Ferial Ashraff.
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CTTU requests lifting ban on school materials

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 December 2000, 18:41 GMT]
The Ceylon Tamil Teachers Union (CTTU) is to ask the new Education Minister Susil Premjayanth to take immediate steps to lift the ban imposed on the transportation of all materials needed for teaching to schools in the uncleared areas in the northeast province.
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Sri Lanka determined to continue war - Balasingham

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 December 2000, 22:38 GMT]
(News Feature) The Sri Lankan government's continued silence on Liberation Tigers' offer of unconditional peace talks last week cast doubt on Colombo's commitment to peacefully resolving the conflict, Anton Balasingham, the LTTE's theoretician and political advisor said Saturday. Sri Lanka's President Kumaratunge seemed determined to prosecute the war, he said in his Heroes' Day address in London. Nevertheless, the Liberation Tigers were seriously considering a Norwegian proposal for staggered and gradual de-escalation of the conflict, he said.
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4 killed in ambush

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 November 2000, 14:58 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers ambushed a truck of the Sri Lanka Navy, killing 4 personnel and injuring 4 others around 11.50 am on Thursday, security sources said.. The attack took place between Perkar and Kuchchaveli, about 30 km. north of Trincomalee town.
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Diplomats optimistic over Tiger peace call

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 November 2000, 21:51 GMT]
(CORRECTION) Officials representing Norway and India met Monday evening with Mr.Karl Inderfurth, US State Secretary with his officials, Donald Camp and Gary Usery, at the residence of the US Ambassador Mr.Ashely Wills in Colombo, source said. Officials representing Sri Lanka's government, main opposition and a local Tamil party were also present.
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Tigers call for "unconditional talks in conducive climate"

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 November 2000, 12:57 GMT]
In his annual Heroes Day speech, the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Mr.Velupillai Pirapaharan declared Monday that his organisation is prepared for unconditional peace talks with the Sri Lanka government but insisted on a process of de-escalation of war and the creation of a conducive climate of goodwill and normalcy in the Tamil homeland to facilitate such talks. A translation of Mr. Pirapahran's speech released by the LTTE from its London offices quoted him as saying that by normalcy he meant "the restoration of normal civilian life by removing the economic blockade and other restrictions imposed on the Tamil people".
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