Sri Lanka backs Korea’s candidate for UN secretary general

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 October 2006, 04:21 GMT]
Having pulled its own candidate, Jayantha Dhanapala, out of the race to succeed Kofi Annan as UN secretary general, Sri Lanka is backing has thrown its backing behind South Korea's Ban Ki-Moon, AFP reported this weekend. Annan has served two five-year terms and his successor is widely expected to come from Asia under an unwritten rule of regional rotation. Apart from Mr. Ban, other Asian candidates are India's Shashi Tharoor, Annan's under secretary general for communications and Surakiart Sathirathai, a deputy prime minister of the recently ousted Thai regime.
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Sri Lanka sets new conditions for talks - reports

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 September 2006, 22:40 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s government has imposed new conditions for talks with the Liberation Tigers, Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, chief spokesman on defence matters told the Sunday Times. The paper says the conditions are: “a specific time frame should be provided by the LTTE to resume and conclude peace talks; the LTTE should give an assurance to the international community and Donor Co-chairs of the peace process that it will not use sea routes to smuggle into Sri Lanka any military hardware and the LTTE should make a commitment that it would not resort to any violence during the period of the talks.”
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SLA ban on building materials to Vaharai stays- Basil Rajapakse

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 September 2006, 17:00 GMT]
Basil Rajapakse, brother and Senior Advisor to Sri Lanka's President Mr Mahinda Rajapakse, informed a delegation of Batticaloa District Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians that no building materials can be transported into LTTE-held Vaharai area north of Batticaloa until further notice, during a meeting held at the office the Srilankan President Friday at 11.00 a.m., sources in Colombo said.
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3 men abducted in Colombo, killed in Valaichchenai, 1 decapitated

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 September 2006, 12:49 GMT]
Three Tamil men who were abducted in Colombo Wednesday, were found shot and knifed to death in Valaichchenai, 30 km north of Batticaloa, Thursday night. One of the victims was decapitated, two shot and killed Thursday night around 11:30 p.m. The decapitated man, a former cadre of the paramilitary group EPDP, had left the group two years ago, opposing the activities of the group. A white-van squad had visited the families of the victims earlier in the day.
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131 individuals slain in Jaffna in 2 months

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 September 2006, 15:02 GMT]
Jaffna office of the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission (SLHRC), in a report submitted to it's Colombo Head office this week said 131 individuals have fallen victims for individual killings apart from the deaths caused by shelling and other acts of war. The SLHRC report listed, 87 residents as forcibly disappeared in the months of August and September, 50 in August and 37 until Monday this week. 44 Tamil civilians have been reported missing after arrest by the Sri Lankan armed forces in the months of August and September in Jaffna district.
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"White Van Squad" abducts two Tamils in Chilaw

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 September 2006, 05:43 GMT]
Unidentified armed men came in a "White Van" abducted two Tamil civilians on Tuesday night around 11:10 p.m. in Ward No.6 area opposite Udappu Tamil Vidiyalayam, according to a complaint made by the abductees' relatives with the Munthal police.
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TNA "reassured" by India’s thinking on Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 September 2006, 09:50 GMT]
Following its first official visit to India last week, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is "reassured" by Delhi’s thinking on the Tamil question in Sri Lanka, party sources said Sunday. A delegation led Parliamentary Group leader R. Sampanthan held "cordial, comprehensive and productive" meetings with top Indian officials, including National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan, Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamed and Foreign Secretary-designate Shivshankar Menon, the sources said. The TNA leadership hoped to meet with India’s Premier in future, but was pleased Dr. Manmohan Singh "is taking a personal interest in the Tamil question," a member of the TNA delegation said.
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Jaffna terrorized, held hostage by fear- TNA

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 September 2006, 18:22 GMT]
150,000 school children, 7,000 University students and 3,000 Technical College students remain unable to attend schools, campuses for more than 40 days in the Jaffna peninsula where the residents are "terrorized and held hostage by fear," said Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian of Jaffna District, N. Raviraj, at a press conference held in Renuka Hotel Colombo at 10:30 a.m. Saturday. TNA MPs from five districts addressed the press.
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SLFP, UNP hold second round of talks on common agenda

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 September 2006, 12:01 GMT]
The second round of talks between the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), main constituent of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and the main opposition United National Party (UNP) were held Tuesday in the parliamentary complex. It began around 9:30 a.m. The objective of the talks is to formulate a common agenda giving top priority to reach a consensus to resolve ethnic conflict.
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Muslim leaders condemn Pottuvil massacre

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 September 2006, 04:37 GMT]
Rauff Hakeem, the Leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) in a statement issued Monday condemned the massacre of 10 Muslims in Pottuvil in Amparai district and . "The perpetrators of this horrendous act, whoever they are, should be punished severely and a thorough investigation should be held to bring the murderers to light" Mr. Hakeem said in his statement.
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Rajapakse wants protests postponed, Tamil doctor abducted in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 September 2006, 01:49 GMT]
A protest shut-down, scheduled to be held Tuesday against the recent abductions of Tamil civilians and businessmen in Colombo, organised by representatives from seven political parties, was called off Monday following Rajapakse government's "requests", during the weekend, urging the organisors to postpone the shut-down, informed political circles in Colomb said. Meanwhile, a Tamil medical doctor and owner of three medical businesses in Colombo, was allegedly abducted in his car in Maradana in Colombo Monday.
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India opposes NE de-merger, wants truce, talks - report

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 September 2006, 21:21 GMT]
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday told Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse that only negotiations can resolve the island dragging ethnic conflict. “A political, and not military, solution is what Sri Lanka should aim at - this was India's message,” IANS reported from the Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Cuba. The Indian leadership had also pressed that the island's Tamil-majority Northeastern province should not be de-merged without a referendum and that such a referendum would only be possible when there was a 'conducive atmosphere,' IANS reported.
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Civilian killings soaring under Rajapakse - LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 September 2006, 19:26 GMT]
Pointing out that the killings of Tamil civilians by Sri Lankan security forces and Army-backed paramilitary groups have shot up since President Mahinda Rajapakse assumed power last year, the Liberation Tigers said this week that in keeping with the agenda of Sinhala extremist forces, Rajapakse is determined to pursue the military option to the ethnic conflict. “All attempts by the LTTE to value, abide by and protect the CFA have been undermined by the military option pursued by the Rajapakse regime,” the LTTE said in a statement Monday.
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Rajapakse: LTTE is a ‘dictatorial terrorist group’

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 September 2006, 16:36 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse, under pressure from the international community to negotiate peace with the Liberation Tigers, launched a blistering attack on the movement during his address to Summit of the Non Aligned Movement (NAM) in Havana, Cuba. Without referring to his adversary by name, he described the LTTE as “a dictatorial terrorist group” and said that “all efforts that have been taken by successive governments, including mine, to enter into dialogue with this group, have so far failed.”
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SL Prime Minister lays conditions for peace talks

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 September 2006, 00:18 GMT]
Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, Prime Minister and acting Minister of Defence, laid conditions for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to take part in future peace talks with the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL). "LTTE must first lay down their arms if they want to start peace negotiation with our government. There will not be any place for peace talks in our agenda if this condition is not met," said Mr. Wickremanayake addressing the 25th anniversary of the Land Reform and Development Organization held at Sethsiripaya in Colombo Thursday, political sources in Colombo said.
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SLFP, UNP committees meet to work out common agenda

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 September 2006, 12:56 GMT]
The first meeting of the two committees appointed by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), main constituent of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government and the main opposition United National Party (UNP) was held Friday morning at the parliamentary complex located in Jayawardhanapura in Colombo to work out a common national agenda on seven prioritized areas with the ethnic conflict being the most important, political sources said.
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International community must ensure Sri Lanka honours CFA and paves way for talks- LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 September 2006, 00:03 GMT]
Welcoming the call by the Co-Chairs of Sri Lanka’s donor community for the Colombo government to abide by the February 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) and implement the pledges it made in Geneva, the Liberation Tigers said Wednesday it is the responsibility of the Norwegian facilitators and international community to ensure the Rajapakse government adheres to the territorial demarcations, terms and conditions of the CFA and thereby creates a conducive atmosphere for talks.
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Co-chairs say want talks in early October

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 September 2006, 14:59 GMT]
Representatives of Co-Chairs of Sri Lanka’s donors said Tuesday they had received “signals” from the Liberation Tigers and the Colombo government that they were ready for talks “without preconditions,” and urged both parties to meet “urgently” in Oslo in early October, saying the Co-chairs would review the progress of the talks later that month. “The international community insisted that the two parties sit immediately and also stop the violence,” Norwegian International Development Minister Erik Solheim told the BBC’s Sinhala service.
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Sri Lanka pushing island to "full scale war" - LTTE

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 September 2006, 09:33 GMT]
Continuing offensives by the Sri Lankan military will compel the Liberation Tigers to switch from defensive operations to launching their own offensives, the LTTE said Wednesday. In an exclusive interview with Reuters, the head of the LTTE’s Political Wing, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan said the Sri Lankan military’s offensives and continuing forcible occupation of Tamil areas had rendered the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) "meaningless" but "since the facilitators and the international community are eager to strengthen peace efforts, the LTTE is also continuing to examine options for strengthening the CFA."
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Rajapakse, Wickremasinghe meet to find national consensus

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 September 2006, 08:01 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse and Ranil Wickremasinghe, Leader of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) Monday held a one hour discussion at Temple Trees residence in Colombo regarding the invitation to reach a southern consensus on peace process.
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