SLMM, SLA officials to meet to discuss LTTE ultimatum

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 July 2005, 12:10 GMT]
Mr.Hagrup Haukland, Norwegian Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) and top officials of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and the Sri Lanka Navy will meet in Colombo Wednesday to discuss the ultimatum issued by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) demanding the government to ensure safety passage for LTTE cadres by road through army controlled areas, security sources in Colombo said.
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Sri Lanka's Security Council to discuss LTTE ultimatum

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 July 2005, 17:11 GMT]
Following the discussion held Friday between Mr.Hagrup Haukland, Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) and Dr.Jayantha Dhanapala, Secretary General of the Government Peace Secretariat, Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge has arranged to meet the National Security Council to take a decision regarding the ultimatum issued by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to ensure security of the LTTE cadres when travelling through the government controlled area as mandated by the Cease Fire Agreement, political sources in Colombo said.
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LTTE issues 2 weeks ultimatum for ensuring travel safety

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 June 2005, 09:05 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Thursday in a crucial meeting with members of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) demanded that the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) should provide a clear response on procedures to ensure safety of travel for LTTE cadres in the east. Head of LTTE Political Wing told Scandinavian delegation that Tigers will resume their own armed escort if the GoSL fails to provide satisfactory response within two weeks, sources from Vanni said.
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Welikande attack raises questions on Colombo's bona fides- paper

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 June 2005, 05:36 GMT]
Pointing out the Welikanda attack on the LTTE convoy in the presence of SLMM members as a qualitative change for the worse in the shadow war in the East, Eelanaatham, the popular daily published in Vanni, said in its editorial Wednesday that the attack has shattered hopes of peace after the signing of the aid deal and has further endangered the survival of the fragile Cease Fire Agreement.
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Colombo tense, Norwegian Ambassador to visit Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 June 2005, 02:44 GMT]
Security has been tightened in Colombo as the city remained tensed amidst anticipated signing of aid deal Friday, sources in Colombo said. While Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunge kept the details of Friday's planned events private, informed sources said, Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Mr Hans Brattskar, is expected to travel to Kilinochchi to meet Mr S P Thamilchelvan, Political Head of the Liberation Tigers at 12.45 pm, indicating that signing of the aid deal is imminent. The sources in Colombo added that a "Deputy-level" official in the Ministry of Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconciliation will sign the agreement on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka.
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"SL President bears responsibility for worsening situation"- Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 June 2005, 08:52 GMT]
"Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge has the executive power to establish the Joint Mechanism. But she is using the aid deal as an instrument to advance her fortunes in the political chess game and has created a political storm opposing the Joint Mechanism in the South. Even for today's meeting Norwegian delegation has only brought verbal assurances from Colombo. The meeting has failed to make any concrete steps towards the establishment of a Joint Mechanism," said LTTE's Head of Political Wing, S P Thamilchelvan briefing the press at the LTTE peace secretariat after meeting Mr Vidar Helgesen in Kilinochchi Wednesday.
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Helgesen arrives in Sri Lanka for talks on aid deal

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 June 2005, 10:55 GMT]
Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Mr Vidar Helgesen arrived in Colombo at 3.45pm today at the Bandaranayake International Air port and was received by the Norwegian Ambassador Hans Braksttar at the airport, sources from Colombo said. His flight arrived two hours late.
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New UNICEF chief meets Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 June 2005, 13:14 GMT]
The new executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Ann Veneman, on her first official visit to Sri Lanka Saturday met with Head of Liberation Tigers Political Wing, S.P Thamilchelvan at the LTTE Peace Secretariat building in Kilinochchi at 10.45am, sources in Kilinochchi said.
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Civil group plans agitation in NorthEast over Buddha statue

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 June 2005, 11:49 GMT]
Mr.V.Vigneswaran, President of the Trincomalee District Tamil Peoples Forum (TDTPF) Saturday said in a press conference that his organization will begin non-violent direct action after July 10 through out NorthEast if the Sri Lanka government fails to remove the controversial Buddhist statue which was erected close to the Trincomalee central bus stand on 15 May, sources in Trincomalee said.
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SLAF helicopter takes LTTE commanders to Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 June 2005, 13:11 GMT]
Batticaloa-Amparai LTTE military commanders and Head of LTTE's Batticaloa-Amparai Political Wing, Mr. Ilanthirayan, returned to Batticaloa from Kilinochchi in a Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) Helicopter Friday morning, sources in Batticaloa said. LTTE's Batticaloa-Amparai Special Commander Col. Banu, Batticaloa-Amparai Commander Ram, Commander Janarathan of LTTE's armed forces in Amparai and Commander Shanthan of the Jeyanthan Regiment were held up in Kilinochchi for some weeks as Colombo earlier refused to provide transport arrangements.
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Fasting campaign held in Chavakachcheri

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 June 2005, 11:10 GMT]
First of the series of fasting campaign demanding the establishment of Joint Mechanism structure to rehabilitate and reconstruct the tsunami destroyed coastal areas in the northeast province without further delay was held in Chavakachcheri bus stand Wednesday. Thenmaradchchi Traders' Association organized the event, sources said.
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LTTE's Trincomalee commander returns

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 June 2005, 06:12 GMT]
Commander of the Liberation Tigers' forces in Trincomalee, Col. Sornam, arrived in Sampur in Trincomalee Wednesday at 10.30 AM in a in a SLAF Helicopter facilitated by the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), LTTE officials said.
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Colombo's transport refusal endangers CFA- Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 June 2005, 08:52 GMT]
"Serious crisis has developed over Sri Lanka Government's continuing refusal to provide travel security to our military commanders across Government controlled areas forcing us to plan our own armed escort. We have pointed out to the Norwegian facilitators to urgently seek the response from Colombo on this matter. Failure to resolve this issue will call into question the continued observation of the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA)," said Thamilchelvan in a press briefing to reporters in Kilinochchi, after meeting with Norwegian Ambassador Hans Brattskar and Mr. Wagn Winkel, acting Head of the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in Kilinochchi Tuesday morning.
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Profile of a shadow war veteran

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 June 2005, 01:02 GMT]
The veteran intelligence officer, Lieutenant Colonel Nizam Muthaliff, was a central figure in the atrocity-punctuated paramilitary aspects of the counter-insurgency campaign against the LTTE in the early nineties then had a critical role in the deep penetration attacks on LTTE commanders and officials, the Tamil Guardian reported Wednesday.
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Colombo holds key to restore normalcy, says LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 June 2005, 14:51 GMT]
Government of Sri Lanka has a moral responsibility to demonstrate its serious commitment to the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) and its will to maintain the integrity of the CFA by delivering on it in terms of its obligation to restore normalcy, Mr. Thamilchelvan, LTTE's Head of Political Division, told Swiss Ambassador Mr.Bernadino Reggazzoni on Thursday in a meeting in Kilinochchi. LTTE's Political Head expressed fear over the state of the CFA in the context of "fanatical elements" trying to cash in on a volatile situation in Trincomalee and Vavuniya, the LTTE Peace Secretariat website reported.


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LTTE invites donors to Kilinochchi - paper

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 June 2005, 06:24 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers have invited the four major donor agencies - World Bank, ADB JBIC and IMF - to Kilinochchi to discuss the outcome of the international aid conference held in Kandy last month and how future tsunami reconstruction and rehabilitation work could be carried out, the Daily Mirror reported Thursday.
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UNICEF says underage recruitment "very low"

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 May 2005, 13:43 GMT]
Saying UNICEF had seen a "very low level" of underage recruitment by the Liberation Tigers in recent months, the organisation’s outgoing top official in Sri Lanka, Ted Chaiban, Sunday welcomed the development and urged the continuation of "this positive trend." Mr. Chaiban met Sunday LTTE's Head of Political Division, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan, his deputy, Mr. S. Thangan and the Director General of the Peace Secretariat, Mr. S. Pulidevan at LTTE's Peace Secretariat in Kilinochchi and discussed the improvement of the lives of people, particularly children, in Sri Lanka's former warzones.
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‘Joint mechanism, trust fund part of peace process’

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 May 2005, 20:37 GMT]
The proposed Joint Mechanism and the Trust Fund for post-tsunami management are part of efforts to resume the Sri Lankan peace process, the European Union’s Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Mr. Wouter Wilton, said Wednesday when he met with the Liberation Tigers in Kilinochi.
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LTTE urges UNHCR over refugees in India

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 May 2005, 20:31 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Wednesday urged the UN's Refugee Agency to take steps to ensure the safe passage of Tamil refugees in India seeking repatriation to their homes in Sri Lanka. The matter was discussed when the Head of the LTTE Political Wing, Mr.S.P.Thamilchelvan, met with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) representative in Sri Lanka, Mr. Rajiv Kapur, in Kilinochchi on Wednesday.
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Sri Lanka's future in peril, Jaffna editorials say

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 May 2005, 13:32 GMT]
Saturday editorials in Jaffna's popular dailies, Uthayan, Namathu Eelanaadu and Valamapuri, carried ominious messages reflecting an unpredictable and potentially explosive future facing the Tamil people as well as Sri Lanka. Quoting LTTE Head of Political Wing, Thamilchelvan who said recently, "If Sinhala leadership continues to impose majoritarian hegemony on Tamil people without pursuing peaceful solutions to satsify Tamil aspirations, there will soon be an end to this state of affairs," Eelanaadu editorial Saturday said.
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