LTTE prepared to open Kilinochchi-Jaffna highway

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 February 2002, 15:37 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said Friday that they are willing to open the remaining part of the A-9 highway from Kilinochchi to Jaffna in the near future, if the Sri Lankan Government responded favourably. This was stated by Mr.Thangan (Sutha), Political Administrative Secretary of the organisation when speaking at the ceremonial function of the opening of A-9 highway from Vavuniya to Killinochchi Friday morning.
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A9 highway reopens

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 February 2002, 11:14 GMT]
(News Feature) Sri Lanka's main A9 highway, the target of an abortive and bloody 18-month Army offensive in the mid nineties was reopened Friday morning from Vavuniya up to Killinochchi, as part of ongoing efforts to de-escalate the conflict. The move provides greater access for people and supplies to the Liberation Tigers held Vanni region on which successive government in Colombo clamped an economic embargo for more than a decade. Goods were scheduled to flow into the area Friday, while seven hundred people waiting on either side of the former separating line had been cleared to cross. "Civilians would be allowed to travel to and from LTTE held Vanni region through these roads after their identities are checked and only five days a week between 8 am and 5 pm," authoritative sources told TamilNet.
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'Poverty is prevalent in northeast'- ADB Director

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 February 2002, 17:38 GMT]
The Asian Development Bank's Country Director Mr.John R.Cooney said Thursday that about seventy percent of the people in the war torn northeast province in Sri Lanka are below poverty line and their average monthly income is less than one thousand rupees. "This is very much high compared to other provinces in the island". Mr.Cooney made this observation Thursday morning at the inaugural event of the Project Management Office of the North East Community Restoration and Development Project (NECORD) in Trincomalee.
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Tigers say ready to open A9 highway as scheduled

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 February 2002, 06:09 GMT]
In a statement issued in the Vanni Sunday, the political wing of the Liberation Tigers said that the A9 highway and the Uyilankulam road in Mannar would be opened on Friday 15 February. The two roads would be the only access arteries to the LTTE held Vanni region on which successive government in Colombo clamped a harsh economic embargo for more than a decade. The Vavuniya GA told TamilNet last week that the district secretariat was ready for opening the A9 on 15 February.
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Jaffna supply snag despite A9 euphoria

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 February 2002, 18:49 GMT]
The Pt. Pedro jetty in Jaffna will now operate till 10 p.m. Sri Lankan government officials in the north told TamilNet Sunday. The move would increase the quantum of supplies that can be unloaded from ships, they said. But shippers are reluctant to hire additional vessels to increase supplies to the peninsula as the A9, the main highway to Jaffna, is expected to reopen after the Liberation Tigers and Colombo sign the Memorandum of Understanding on a ceasefire, according to a senior official. An entry point on the highway for civilian traffic into the Vanni is scheduled to open on 15 February at Vilakkuvaiththa Kulam, 18 kilometres north of Vavuniya.
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Vavuniya-Trinco road opens after a decade

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 February 2002, 19:11 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government re-opened the highway from Vavuniya to Trincomalee through Horawapotana Monday. The Sri Lanka army closed the road ten years ago. The highway is the shortest route- 96 kilometres - from Vavuniya to the eastern port town. A bus service to Trincomalee was started on the road Monday.
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Tamil political prisoners fast for 'trial or release'

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 February 2002, 14:05 GMT]
Tamil political prisoners in scores of jails and detention centres across Sri Lanka began a protest fast Friday demanding that they be acquitted or be released as they are being held for extended periods without any legal proceedings being instituted against them in courts by the Attorney General's Department.
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Moragoda hears Trincomalee fishermen's plight

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 January 2002, 16:14 GMT]
Officials of Trincomalee District Fisheries Co-operative Societies told Tamilnet Monday that they have informed the United National Front (UNF) government that Fishermen in the eastern district are not seeking any relief from the State but only want it to lift the restrictions and ban imposed on fishing in the region.
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Kilinochchi struggles to limp back to life (photos)

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 January 2002, 01:16 GMT]
The TamilNet correspondent for Vavuniya visited the Vanni recently after the Sri Lankan government eased the ban on local and foreign journalists visiting the LTTE held region. The following are a glimpse of the war-devastated land and its battle scarred life.
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Two Tamil journalists receive Governor's award

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 January 2002, 19:47 GMT]
The three day Tamil Literary Festival of the North-East Provincial Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs Sunday evening came to a close with the presentation of Governor's Award to forty seven recipients, including two Tamil journalists whose names were struck off earlier from the original list and later included by the Provincial Governor.
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Judge rejects skewed reports on torture victims

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 January 2002, 20:03 GMT]
The Trincomalee Magistrate Tuesday ordered that two Tamil youths, allegedly tortured in detention by the Sri Lankan security forces, should be examined by the Colombo Judicial Medical Officer, when it transpired during the proceedings that the District Medical Officers who had examined the young men had stated in their reports that there were no fresh wounds on the two suspects who have been arrested and detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA)
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Vanni ban relaxed, rules limit flow

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 January 2002, 14:47 GMT]
Six hundred civilians would be permitted to travel from the LTTE held Vanni region through the Sri Lanka armyís entry point at Piramanaalankulam from Monday to Friday under new regulations by the Sri Lankan government which came into effect Tuesday as part of a move to ease the 12 year old embargo and travel restrictions in the war torn northern parts of the island.
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Vanni flooding misery continues without relief

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 January 2002, 20:22 GMT]
(News Feature) The effects of heavy flooding two weeks ago in the Mullaitivu and Kilinocchi districts of the Vanni are still being felt across the regions, with roads rendered impassable, schools and settlements flooded out and residents suffering a lack of support from the government and Non Government Organisations (NGOs) based in the area, Tamil press reports this week said. Hundreds of thousands of people have been affected, with many being displaced from their homes and refugee camps as a result of the deluge. Vital supply routes have been cut, aid workers said.
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CJ directs AG to expedite PTA cases

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 January 2002, 11:45 GMT]
More than six hundred Tamil youths arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) are languishing in prisons at Boosa, Kalutara, Welikada, Bogambara and Anuradhapura without being brought to trial. " I direct the Attorney General to take immediate steps to clear this backlog of cases", said the Chief Justice Sarath N.Silva Thursday when a fundamental rights application was taken up for inquiry.
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Vanni voters file FR applications

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 January 2002, 17:13 GMT]
Three Tamil voters from Vanni region held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam Wednesday filed fundamental rights applications in the Supreme Court praying to declare that the poll held on December 5 in the Vanni electoral district is null and void, and to order repoll as they with several other voters were prevented from voting by the Sri Lanka Army.
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SC orders compensation for tortured youth

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 December 2001, 04:40 GMT]
The Supreme Court Friday upheld the Fundamental Rights (FR) application filed by a Tamil youth of Vavuniya that he was subjected to severe torture when he was in Police custody. A three-member bench of the SC comprising Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva, Justices Shiranee Bandaranaike and Hector S.Yapa after inquiry ordered the State to pay 12,500 rupees as compensation to the petitioner Sivalingam Konesalingam of Koolankulam, Vavuniya.
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SC orders compensation to torture victims

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 December 2001, 19:41 GMT]
The Supreme Court Monday directed the State to pay 500,000 rupees as compensation to a Vavuniya Tamil youth, stating that his fundamental rights (FR) had been violated by the security forces when he being detained at Vavuniya army camp.
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US, EU endorse Sri Lanka polls as 'free and fair'

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 December 2001, 12:00 GMT]
The United States Friday condemned the violence during the Sri Lankan elections Wednesday, and called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice. The State Department said however, the result of the polls, in which the main opposition United National Party swept the former ruling People's Alliance from power, was "basically free and fair."
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Rigging feared in 'clustered' polling centres

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 December 2001, 13:24 GMT]
Journalists, civil society leaders and politicians in the north and eastern regions of Sri Lanka island told independent and European Union polls observers to pay special attention to 'clustered' polling booths where thousands of Tamil voters in areas held by the Liberation Tigers will have to cast their ballots Wednesday.
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General shut in NE against EPDP atrocity

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 November 2001, 08:32 GMT]
Schools, shops, government offices and banks were closed in the districts of Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Vavuniya, Mannar and Jaffna in response to a call by the Tamil National Alliance for a general shut down in the north and east to protest against the Eelam People's Democratic Party, a major coalition partner of President Chandrika Kumaratunga's regime, for killing two civilians and attacking and grievously wounding four TNA candidates in Kayts, an island off the northern peninsula.
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