South African delegation to visit Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 December 1998, 11:32 GMT]
The multi-party Parliamentary delegation from South Africa which arrived in Colombo on Tuesday November 8 held discussions with the leader of the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) Douglas Devananda and Sri Lanka's minister for justice and constitutional affairs Prof.G.L Pieris this morning.
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News in Brief:

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 December 1998, 22:00 GMT]
Sri Lankan Army and Liberation Tigers agree to provide escort to transport exam papers in areas controlled by them, Paachchanoor refugees wait to receive Government's relief food, Court dismisses case against Sri Lankan Minister and Cigarettes prices go up in Jaffna.
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Schools in Northeast Neglected - MP

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 December 1998, 14:20 GMT]
Mr. R. Sambanthan, TULF parliamentarian for the Trincomalee district, said in parliament yesterday that Tamil medium schools in the Northeast province were being neglected and that Tamil medium teachers were discriminated against.
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Colombo Tamils face new regulations

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 December 1998, 22:10 GMT]
The Presidential Committee, set up to investigate the harassment and arrest of (Tamil) Civilians in Colombo, has been unable to prevent stringent new security regulations from coming into effect.
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Army presence leads to social problems - report

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 December 1998, 12:35 GMT]
The presence of the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) in the Sinhala border areas of the northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka has created massive social problems, said the commissioners of the Fact Finding Citizen's Commission on the Border Villages in the Northeast Affected by the War.
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EROS files nominations for PC elections

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 December 1998, 14:17 GMT]
The political party of the EROS, the Eelavar Democratic Front (EDF), filed nominations for the North-Western Provincial Council elections, scheduled to be held on January 24 in a surprise move today. Representatives of the EDF filed nominations at the Puttalam and Kurunagala Kachcheries (district secretariat).
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Movements of Jaffna councillors restricted

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 December 1998, 20:02 GMT]
All councillors of local government bodies in the Jaffna peninsula, except those representing the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) have been banned from entering the islands off the peninsula, the Sri Lankan Navy (SLN) said.
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PLOTE prisoner escapes

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 December 1998, 19:55 GMT]
Vasantharajah Suthaharan, 18, who was detained by the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), escaped from the group's camp at Pt. Pedro in the Jaffna peninsula, and surrendered at a near by Sri Lankan Army (SLA) camp.
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Explosion injures 3 PLOTE cadres

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 December 1998, 12:12 GMT]
Three members of the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) were wounded in an explosion which took place in one of their camps at Kovilkulam in Vavuniya this morning, the police said.
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PLOTE militiaman kills 7 family members

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 December 1998, 08:14 GMT]
An armed cadre of the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), a Tamil paramilitary group working with the Sri Lankan Army (SLA), shot seven members of his wife's family, including two children and an infant at Chenkalady, 18 kilometers north of Batticaloa, in the early hours of the morning today over a personal quarrel.
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Tiger suspect commits suicide

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 December 1998, 07:44 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Army (SLA) in Mannar town said that a youth wearing an explosives packed jacket committed suicide by taking biting his cyanide capsule yesterday afternoon around 1.30 during a search operation by the coast.
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Tamil medium education neglected

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 December 1998, 22:34 GMT]
Technical education in the Tamil medium has been relegated to the lowest priority and is completely neglected in Sri Lanka charged Mr. T.Mahasivam, general secretary of the Ceylon Tamil teachers Union today in a statement.
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Milk powder banned

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 December 1998, 14:40 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Army (SLA) yesterday banned milk powder to villages south of Nagar Kovil on Jaffna's south-eastern coast. Civilians living in this region face a lot restrictions by the SLA on the quantity and kind of essential items they can take with them.
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EU Ambassador visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 December 1998, 08:38 GMT]
Llkka Uusitalo, the European Union Ambassador for Sri Lanka told the Human Rights Commission in Jaffna that he understood that most of the persons arrested by the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) and the police in the peninsula are civilians. He said paramilitary Tamil groups operating with the SLA are also responsible for grave human rights abuses.
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Batticaloa council welcomes LTTE Statement

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 December 1998, 00:00 GMT]
Batticaloa Municipal Council unanimously adopted a resolution yesterday welcoming the peace offer made by the leader of the Liberation Tigers, Mr. Prabakaran, said Mr. Cheliyan Perinpanayakam, Mayor of Batticaloa.
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Site of Welikade Prison moved

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 December 1998, 23:49 GMT]
Welikade prison, where many Tamils political prisoners are detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and emergency regulations, is to be moved from Welikade to Athurugiriya and Wattal in the suburbs of Colombo, said sources.
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PA moves to push Devolution Package

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 December 1998, 22:05 GMT]
The Strategy Research Committee of the ministry of Justice, constitutional affairs and ethnic Reconciliation called all political parties, intellectuals and leading professionals to a discussion on Wednesday, December 3.
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Four villagers reported missing

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 December 1998, 16:56 GMT]
Four Tamil civilians were reported missing from the village of Koppaveli, about 26 kilometers north-west of Batticaloa this morning. A group of five civilians had gone into the jungle in the area to chop fire wood in the early hours of the morning today when they had been surrounded by well armed persons in commando fatigues.
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Navy fire kills 9 fishermen

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 November 1998, 10:50 GMT]
The nine fishermen who were reported missing early this morning after the Sri Lankan Navy (SLN) attacked a group of fishing boats in the sea off Mullaithivu, between Semmalai and Alampil were all migrant Sinhalese from the island's west coast said one of their colleagues who escaped the midsea carnage and swam ashore this afternoon.
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Prayers for the hungry in Vanni

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 November 1998, 20:56 GMT]
Special services were held today at St.Mary's church in Batticaloa town, and at St.Anne's church in the suburb of Veechchukkalmunai, for the people of the Vanni affected by the severe food restrictions.
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