NECORD's ambulance gift boosts NE Health services

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 April 2003, 12:09 GMT]
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded North East Community Restoration and Community Development Project (NECORD) Saturday handed sixteen ambulances to the provincial ministry of health to upgrade the health services in the war-torn northeast province.
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A9 opens for traffic on Sundays

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 April 2003, 11:58 GMT]
The A9 highway to Jaffna will be open for public traffic on Sundays, starting today, Sri Lanka military sources said. The road was opened last year following the cease fire agreement between the LTTE and Colombo. But it remained closed on Sundays despite pleas by the Tigers to keep it open 7 days of the week. The road to the Vanni in Mannar through the Uyilankulam entry point was also opened to public traffic on Sundays from today.
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Cultural festival begins Tuesday in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 April 2003, 02:30 GMT]
The five-day music, dance and drama festival of the Association of Art and Culture is to begin Tuesday at the Trincomalee Orr's Hill Vivekananda College auditorium. More than four hundred and eighty Tamil and Sinhala artistes are expected to participate in the festival, Poet Puthuvai Ratnathurai, head of the Art and Cultural Department of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said Saturday.
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Swiss group awards certificates to de-mining personnel

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 April 2003, 08:35 GMT]
Forty persons who underwent a training program in de-mining organised by Swiss based Foundation for Mine Action (FSD) were awarded with certificates at a function held in Vavuniya Friday. Mr.Christoph Hebeisen, the Project Leader for Foundation for Mine Action (FSD) in Vavuniya, speaking at function said the repatriation and resettlement of all internally displaced people is the primary objective, and added that the training of Sri Lankan personnel had been very thorough and extensive.
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Swiss group de-mines in Talaimannar, Periyamadhu

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 April 2003, 16:48 GMT]
A Swiss de-mining organisation operating in the north said Thursday that it is expanding its team to clear more areas afflicted by land mines and unexploded ordnance. A spokesperson for the organisation, FSD, said that it has trained a new batch forty persons in mine clearing techniques, including twenty from the Humanitarian De-mining Unit (HDU) in Kilinochchi.


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Vanni MP lends moral support to protesting teachers

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 April 2003, 01:52 GMT]
Mr.Selvam Adaikalanathan, Vanni district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian wearing black band participated in the one month old sit-in-protest by the North East Tamil Medium Volunteer Teachers Monday morning now being held in front of the provincial ministry education office in Trincomalee, sources said.


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Mannar HSZs discussed as re-settler loses arm

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 March 2003, 19:12 GMT]
The Bishop of Mannar said Saturday that High Security Zones (HSZs) are necessary only during war and that displaced people should return to their homes as there is peace now. The armed forces should understand this and leave the HSZs at least in stages, Rt. Rev. Rayappu Joseph said, speaking at a seminar in Mannar Saturday.
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'Tamil voters' fundamental rights violated' -- Supreme Court

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 March 2003, 20:15 GMT]
The Supreme Court Tuesday held that the Commander of the Sri Lanka Army and the Commissioner of Elections had violated the fundamental rights of the voters in the LTTE held areas of the North-East province by preventing them from casting their votes at the last general elections held in December 2001, legal sources said.
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Development Board formed in Vavuniya to further education

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 March 2003, 12:00 GMT]
An Education Development Board to work towards improving the general standard of education in Vauniya district, to establish means of providing educational assistance to poor children and to raise the level of technical education, has been formed in Vavuniya, sources said.


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Vavuniya hartal condemns SLA sinking of merchant vessel

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 March 2003, 12:44 GMT]
Shops were closed, transportation came to a stand still and black flags were seen flying across the town as Vavuniya district observed hartal (general shut down) Thursday to mourn the eleven cadres of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam who died when a merchant vessel belonging to LTTE was sunk by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) and to express protest against the SLN's action, sources in Vavuniya said.
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Minister addresses Security forces in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 March 2003, 13:54 GMT]
"Our government is committed to and working hard to finding a political solution through peace talks. Every citizen of this country should be able to live with dignity and freedom and enjoy equality of status. Based on this premise, we are engaged in talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, to find a solution that provides extensive devolution of political powers within a united Sri Lanka," said Prof. G.L.Peiris, Minister of Political Affairs, Government of SriLanka, while addressing security forces in Vavuniya, Sunday, sources said.
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Vavuniya Hospital to provide expanded health services

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 March 2003, 13:05 GMT]
Vavuniya Government Hospital is to be upgraded to a General Public Hospital by the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) said H.A.P. Gajantha Liyanage Health Services Commissioner. Dr. Arumugam Ketheeswaran, the Vavuniya district assistant Commissioner of Health services, confirmed that the facilities and additional medical equipment required for the upgrade will be implemented immediately, said health sources in Vavuniya.


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Modern equipment assists Swiss Organization to demine NE

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 March 2003, 12:41 GMT]
The Swiss Demining Federation (FSD) is currently clearing mines in Thallaimannar and in Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled areas surrounding villages of Pallamadu, Paapamoddai, and Periya Madhu, with a view of preparing these areas ready for resettlement, said a spokesperson for FSD, a Switzerland-based organization currently involved in demining operations in different war affected areas of NorthEast.
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Foundation stone laid for Kilinochchi hospital building

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 March 2003, 05:39 GMT]
Mr. Tadoa Chino, the president of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), laid the foundation stone for a new hospital building in Kilinochchi Friday during a ceremony organized by the Government Agent (GA) of Kilinochchi, T. Rasanayagam and the Sub-Committee on Immediate Humanitarian and Rehabilitation Needs in the North and East (SIHRN), sources said.
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Resettlement to begin in Omanthai-Thandikulam HSZ

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 March 2003, 16:44 GMT]
In a meeting at the Government Secretariat presided by the Vavuniya Government Agent (GA), K. Ganesh, it was decided to resettle former residents of selected areas within the High Security Zone (HSZ) between Thandikulam and Omanthai centered around the A9 highway in Vavuniya district, starting from coming Monday, sources in Vavuniya said.


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ADB President visits Killinochchi, holds talks with LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 March 2003, 18:21 GMT]
The President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Mr.Tadao Chino, Friday reaffirmed ADB's commitment to supporting the peace process with rehabilitation and reconstruction assistance, during a meeting with representatives of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Killinochchi, northern Sri Lanka, a press release issued by the Sri Lanka Resident Mission of the ADB said.
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NE Music, Dance, Drama festival to be held in Trinco

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 March 2003, 16:56 GMT]
A five day North East Tamil Music, Dance and Drama festival is to commence on March 20 in Trincomalee. Around four hundred artists are expected to participate in the festival.
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IDI team visits Trincomalee to identify district development needs

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 March 2003, 00:51 GMT]
The nine-member team of the Infrastructure Development Institute (IDI) of Japan, which is on a fact-finding mission in the northeast province since February 28, visited Trincomalee Monday. The IDI team held wide ranging discussions with central and provincial level officials in the Trincomalee district at the North East Health Ministry Auditorium Monday morning, sources said.


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MSF to wind up operations in NorthEast

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 March 2003, 00:40 GMT]
MEDICINS SANS FRONTIERS (MSF), an international non-governmental medical and humanitarian organisation which is providing medical assistance to people in the northeast province Monday expressed confidence that the ceasefire agreement between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) will lead to permanent peace in the island and that their permanent presence is not required beyond 2003, sources in Jaffna said.
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Army occupation still prevails after a year of peace - Ramesh

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 March 2003, 14:02 GMT]
"Twelve months have passed after the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), but vast numbers of Tamil people are still living under Sri Lanka Army (SLA) occupation. Army camps are still being maintained in Tamils' homes and public buildings creating a sense of mistrust and skepticism on the strength of the MoU in Tamil peoples' mind. Only by the SLA fully complying with the provisions of the MoU can the faith on MoU be restored," said Ramesh, Batticaloa-Ampara special commander of the LTTE, addressing a meeting in Batticaloa Sunday, sources said.
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