Over 4000 displaced families in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 May 1999, 18:14 GMT]
The total number of displaced families living in the Trincomalee district now stands at 4068, said a report prepared by the District Consortium of the non-governmental organisations.
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Muslim refugees plan hunger strike

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 May 1999, 08:27 GMT]
Over 200 Muslim refugees living in Love Lane Camp in the eastern district of Trincomalee have unanimously decided to go on hunger strike from May 10, in front of the office of the Divisional Secretary (DS), demanding that the Government authorities provide them with dry rations and other relief.
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STF accused of assaulting young widow

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 May 1999, 18:34 GMT]
The Forum for Human Dignity has complained to the Secretary of the Anti-Harassment Committee that a twenty eight year old young Tamil widow had been harassed by some members of the Special Task Force (STF) stationed at Karativu in the Batticaloa district on April 25.
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SLAF, LTTE clash in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 May 1999, 18:05 GMT]
The south-western outskirts of Batticaloa town were rocked by heavy gunfire around 10 p.m. today. A member of the Raazeek Group, a Tamil unit of the Sri Lanka Army said that a group of Liberation Tigers who had infiltrated through the high security zone near the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) base had opened fire on an Forward Defence Locality (FDL) near Vidaththalmunai, close to the lagoon.
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Jaffna paper condemns SLA recruitment

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 May 1999, 14:28 GMT]
Uthayan, the only daily published in Jaffna criticised in its editorial today the Sri Lanka Army's (SLA) attempt to recruit Tamil youth. It described the recruitment drive as an insidious a plot against the Tamils. The SLA advertised in the paper yesterday calling on the youth of Jaffna to join its ranks.
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SLA seeks Jaffna recruits

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 May 1999, 21:00 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army called on the youth of Jaffna to join its ranks today. The SLA advertised in today's issue of Jaffna's only daily news paper, the Uthayan for eligible youth who have passed grade eight in schools and who measure not less than 5 foot 2 inches.
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People's revolution has started - Karikalan

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 May 1999, 16:05 GMT]
Karikalan, the deputy Leader of the Political Wing of the LTTE said at a May day rally held at Mallavi Mahavidiyalayam in the Wanni area that the Tamil people were determined to continue the liberation struggle though they live under immense pressure due to economic embargo and other difficulties.
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War consumes much needed funds - President

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 May 1999, 04:33 GMT]
The increasing cost of prosecuting the war has made it difficult to allocate funds towards the welfare of the workers of this country, said the President in the People Alliance's May day meeting held at the Colombo Municipality grounds.
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Democratic rights of Tamils suppressed - EPRLF

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 May 1999, 23:29 GMT]
The Secretary General of the Eelam People Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), Suresh Premachandran addressing the May Day rally in Trincomalee, said today that the democratic rights of the Tamil people were being suppressed by the government.
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CWC meeting disrupted

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 May 1999, 16:42 GMT]
The Sinhala Veera Vidhaana, an extremist Sinhala Buddhist group disrupted the May day rally and meeting of the Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC) in Nuwara Eliya today said trade union sources in the hill country town.
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Missing person found in Hospital

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 May 1999, 09:53 GMT]
(Correction) The TamilNet's Vadamaradchi correspondent met one of the persons reported missing in the Jaffna Human Rights Commission's (HRC) report, Mr.Vanniyasingham Karthigesu today at the Manthikai hospital where he is under treatement for virus fever.
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Three reported missing in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 May 1999, 04:57 GMT]
The Human Rights Commission (HRC) in Jaffna has reported that three persons have gone missing in the peninsula in March and April this year. According to Gowri Suntharalingam, the official in charge of the commission's office in Jaffna, the Sri Lanka Army and Police have said that they did not arrest or detain any of these persons.
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Evidence shows detainee was tortured

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 April 1999, 16:53 GMT]
A surgeon attached to the Trincomalee base hospital told the Eastern High Court that scars found on the body of the accused Tamil youth were consistent with the history given by him that he had been tortured while in custody.
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News in Brief:

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 April 1999, 16:51 GMT]
Lung cancer increasing in the Vanni; New houses constructed in the Vanni and one LTTE casualty in Oddusudan.
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Pass system restricts freedom of movement

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 April 1999, 11:55 GMT]
The Forum for Human Dignity has brought to the attention of the Anti-Harassment Committee the problems faced by Tamils travelling between different areas of the country.
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Displaced refugees ask to go home

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 April 1999, 20:11 GMT]
(News Feature) Representatives of the Akkaraipattu south Citizen's Committee and several leaders of Tamil village committees from the hinterlands of Sri Lanka's south-eastern coast met Minister for Ports, Shipping, Rehabilitation, Mr. M.H.M Ashraff today in Kalmunai to urge him that more than 1200 Tamil families evacuated forcibly by the Special Task Force Commandos (STF) in 1990 be allowed to resettle in their traditional places of habitation.
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Tamil teachers meet World Bank delegation

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 April 1999, 22:06 GMT]
A two member team from the World Bank visiting Sri Lanka met with a delegation from the Ceylon Tamil Teachers Unioun (CTTU) today. The team is in Sri Lanka to asses the implementation of World Bank funded educational reforms.
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London conference 'backs Tamil independence'

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 April 1999, 21:53 GMT]
(News Feature) An estimated five thousand Tamil people living in Britain attended a rally and conference titled 'Tamil Eelam Towards Independence,' at Alexander Palace, London on April 25, 1999, said the organisers, the Federation of Tamil Associations (UK). However, widespread speculation about a 'unilateral declaration of independence' at the event proved unfounded.
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CTTU protests shortage of Tamil text books

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 April 1999, 13:33 GMT]
Although the second term of all government schools in the island begins on Monday, only about fifty percent of textbooks under the new education reforms have been supplied to Tamil medium schools in the country, claims twenty thousand member- strong Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Union [CTTU].
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Tigers shell SLAF base

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 April 1999, 10:21 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers fired long range mortar shells into the Sri Lanka Air Force in Batticaloa this afternoon around 3.40 p.m. Three shells fired by the Tigers from positions beyond the Batticaloa lagoon fell inside the camp and exploded.
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