Till the other side cracks

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Sri Lankan military's widespread and indiscriminate use of artillery and air power is arguably the major cause of civilian casualties in the ongoing conflict in Sri Lanka. In the past few years, the Sri Lankan military has repeatedly up-gunned its forces with ever larger caliber field guns, with more numerous aircraft that are capable of carrying heavier payloads and more heavily armed naval craft.
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Youths shot in Pulmoddai

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
One Tamil youth was killed and two Muslim youths were wounded when Sri Lankan Army troops opened fire in Pulmoddai, north of Trincomalee, Friday night, said sources.
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Trinco UC's deadline ignored

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Trincomalee Urban Council (UC) resolved at a special meeting on Saturday, to stage a token fast in front of the Council's office on May 20, protesting against the failure of the Regional Assistant Commissioner of Local Government to grant the UC permission to open the new general market in Trincomalee town, said sources there.
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New restrictions on Vadamaradchi East

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Army had imposed severe restrictions on taking notebooks, pens and other writing materials into Vadmaradchi east since May 6. Each person is allowed to take only two pens and one notebook through the SLA check point at Vallipuram.
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Detainee gives birth

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Mrs.Shyamalawathie Wijesundaram, 25, held in the Welikade prison gave birth to a boy on May 6 at the Colombo General Hospital. She was admitted to the hospital by the prison officials after labour pain started.
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VoT reports UN official's visit

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar's accusations that the Liberation Tigers have built up a military force by conscripting very young children is absurd, senior LTTE officials told Mr. Olara Otunnu, UN Special Representative on Children in Armed Conflict, last Thursday, according to the Voice of Tigers radio.
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Forced labour builds SLA defences

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) is using forced labour to strengthen the Sri Lanka Army - Police checkpoint at Ottamavadi Bridge 36 km north of Batticaloa, following an attack on the position by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) last Tuesday May 5, said sources in Batticaloa.
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It's the taking part

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The members of two Jaffna soccer teams, the Singing Fish Sports Club, Gurunagar and the Jaffna University team, are unhappy that only members of Nilmini Sports Club from Matara, in the Southern Province, which played two friendly soccer matches in Jaffna, were given certificates of participation while members of the two local teams were not, said sources in Jaffna.
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Another telecom exchange blasted

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
A bomb explosion around 7 a.m, this morning damaged Sri Lanka Telecom exchange in Kuliyapiti, north of Colombo. Adjoining Mobitel building was also damaged in the blast. Bomb is believed to have placed in an air conditioner.
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SLA short of troops - Commander

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Lieutenant General Rohan DeS Daluwatte, Commander of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), said at a press conference today, that there was a shortage of security forces personnel to open the road from Vavuniya to Kilinochchi. He said that it was due to this necessity that deserters were being recalled to service.
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Sinhala race 'being destroyed'

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
"None of the resources in this country can be preserved until the Sri Lankan Government declares the country as Buddhist", said Professor Nalin De Silva, while speaking at a meeting in Colombo, which was titled, "We will protect our race and resources," said sources.
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Mortar shells traded

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
A mortar shell fired from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled area of Paduvankarai in the outskirts of Batticaloa town, fell in the premises of the Batticaloa Airport which is across the lagoon from Paduvankarai, but caused no casualties nor damage, said sources in Batticaloa.
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Flu epidemic among refugees

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
S. Satchithanantham, head of Aalankerni Vipulananda Mahaviththiyalayam (school) told a school principles conference in Trincomalee this morning, that 35 families displaced from Upparu, 40 km south of Trincomalee, are camping in the school premises from March 18 without any facilities or a place to go to, said sources in Trincomalee.
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Spotters mark eight for arrest

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Around 700 persons from the villages of Vandaramoolai and Kaluvankerni, 15 km north of Batticaloa, were rounded up and marched to the Vishnu temple at Vandaramoolai during a cordon and search operation by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), which lasted from 5:00 a.m. till noon, said sources in Valaichenai.
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UN official calls for end to war

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The UN Special Representative on Children in Armed Conflict, Olara Otunnu, and the other speakers at the auditorium of the Medical Faculty of the University of Jaffna, all said that both sides of the armed conflict in Sri Lanka had to come together to find a solution to the war, said sources in Jaffna.
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SCF to study Vanni children's plight

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Ten thousand school children from a total of 66,000 living in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled areas, are unable go to school due to the war. These statistics were presented at a seminar in Trincomalee organised by the Ministry of Education, Cultural Affairs and Sports of the Northeast Provincial Council (NEPC), and sponsored by Save the Children Fund (SCF).
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Rumbled Tiger impersonators retaliate

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
A group of people returning home after poosai (worship) at a temple in Chulipuram, 15 km northwest of Jaffna, were accosted and asked to hand over the food they were carrying by soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) posing off as members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) around 8 p.m. on Monday, said sources in Jaffna.
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Senior MPs call for UN intervention

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Senior Members of Parliament (MPs) from six political parties who met Mr. Olara Otunnu, UN Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict, requested him to intervene in the Sri Lankan ethnic conflict to bring about a solution, despite the subject not coming strictly within his mandate, said sources in Colombo.
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Fishermen to share sea with fish

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Fishermen working near certain villages on the northern coast of Waligamam in the Jaffna peninsula, about 15 km north-west of Jaffna, are forced to stay in waist deep water for up to four hours, due to new security restrictions imposed by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on shallow water fishing, said sources in Jaffna.
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UN official in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Mr. Olara Otunnu, United Nations Special Representative on Children in Armed Conflict, visited Jaffna yesterday and had meetings with the Jaffna Government Agent said sources in the Jaffna Kachcheri. He also met Maj. Gen. Balagalle, at the Palaly SLA base yesterday said SLA sources in Jaffna.
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