TNA awaits action despite assurances

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 May 2002, 14:30 GMT]
(News Feature) An alliance of four Tamil parties said Friday that Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremasinghe, had “responded positively” to the three key issues they had raised: the deproscription of the Liberation Tigers, setting up of an interim administration in the northeast province and the full implementation of the cease-fire agreement before the commencement of the direct peace talks. Despite the Premier’s assurances the Tamil delegation said they remained concerned about his government’s ability to meet the promises.
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Conditions "not conducive for refugees’ return" - UNHCR

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 May 2002, 02:37 GMT]
Despite the voluntary return of 71,000 internally displaced people [IDP] to their homes this year, the United Nations’ leading refugee agency maintains that “conditions in Sri Lanka are not yet conducive to promote or facilitate large-scale, organised [displaced people’s] return or repatriation of refugees,” a UN working group said this week. The report said that major concerns remain regarding the risk of landmines and unexploded ordinance in both actual and potential areas of return.
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SL armed forces said violating children's rights

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 May 2002, 17:38 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army and the Special Task Force haven't come up with a schedule for leaving more than eighty schools occupied by them in the districts of Jaffna, Mullaithivu, Vavuniya, Mannar, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Amparai although they should have started doing so soon after the ceasefire agreement between Colombo and the Liberation Tigers came into effect on 24 February 2002, Northeast Provincial Education Ministry officials said Wednesday.
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Air Force flights are "negating confidence" - LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 May 2002, 10:33 GMT]
In the wake of a series of low-level flights over the Vanni by Sri Lanka Air Force surveillance aircraft which have raised fears amongst residents, the Liberation Tigers Monday lodged a formal protest with the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM). The causing of panic amongst civilians by the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is "a negation of the confidence building exercise undertaken by the government of Sri Lanka," the LTTE said in a letter to the SLMM.
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Navy assaults fishermen at sea

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 May 2002, 10:13 GMT]
Sri Lankan gunboats surrounded Tamil fishing boats far from shore and forced the occupants to jump into the sea in continuing harrasment by the Navy, press reports said Monday. Thirty five fishermen were assaulted and ordered to jump overboard 15km from the Mullaitivu shore on May 9, the Jaffna based Tamil daily Uthayan reported.
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Muslims hail SLMC-LTTE agreement

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 April 2002, 22:31 GMT]
(News Feature) Sri Lanka’s Muslim community this week welcomed the landmark agreement signed between the largest Muslim party, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and the Liberation Tigers. Mr Vellupillai Pirapaharan, leader of the LTTE, met with Mr Rauf Hakeem, leader of the SLMC last weekend and the two leaders agreed to cooperate closely on affairs related to Sri Lanka's Muslim community.
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Shortcomings in Vanni schools to be addressed

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 April 2002, 17:42 GMT]
"During the past last ten years no school development work had taken place in Vanni region. No permanent buildings have been provided to majority of the schools. Many schools in the region are understaffed, and acute shortage for furniture prevails in these schools," said Provincial Director of Education Mr.I.M.Issadeen who returned after a four-day visit to the Vanni region, Friday.
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Pirapaharan to meet Muslim leaders

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 April 2002, 08:29 GMT]
Mr Velupillai Pirapaharan, the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) assisted by Mr Anton Balasingham, the organisation’s political strategist and advisor will meet the Muslim leaders soon in Vanni to discuss various issues affecting the Muslim community in the northeast.
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Mullaitivu incident no obstruction to cease-fire agreement -Minister

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 February 2002, 12:00 GMT]
Media spokesman and a senior minister of the United National Front Government Professor G.L.Peiris told a press conference this morning that clashes between the Sri Lanka Navy and the Liberation Tigers, Thursday morning would in no way obstruct the signing of the cease-fire agreement between the government and the LTTE. Defence Ministry sources in Colombo said a Sri Lanka Navy officer was killed in the clashes that took place off the northeastern coast of Mullaithivu. The clashes erupted when navy patrol boats intercepted a flotilla of LTTE boats. Sri Lanka Air Force jets were called in to assist the navy, the sources said.
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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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Tigers say Colombo bent on war, call off ceasefire

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 April 2001, 14:03 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), in an official statement issued from its headquarters in Vanni, northern Sri Lanka, stated that the organisation had decided not to extend its unilaterally declared cease-fire that expires at midnight on the 24th April 2001. "We are compelled to make this painful decision as a consequence of the hard-line, intransigent attitude of the Sri Lankan government which has not only refused to reciprocate positively to our peace gesture but intensified land, sea and air attacks causing heavy casualties on our side. It has become impossible to contain the military assaults of the enemy with our self-restrained defensive tactics without resorting to counter-offensive operations. Under such dangerous conditions we can no longer sustain our self-imposed truce which the enemy has been exploiting to its own military advantage", the LTTE's statement said.
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Four LTTE boats sunk - Navy

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 April 2001, 10:37 GMT]
Gunboats of the Sri Lanka Navy intercepted and attacked a Sea Tiger supply convoy of the Mullaitivu coast Friday morning and a fierce battle ensued in which four LTTE boats were sunk, military officials said.
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CTTU speaks up for predicament of Vanni education

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 March 2001, 14:22 GMT]
An acute dearth for teachers, textbooks and furniture prevails in the schools of the Vanni region, irreparable damaging the educational development of the childrenî, Mr. T. Mahasivam, General Secretary of the Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Union (CTTU) told Tamilnet Saturday, commenting on his official visit to the north last week. The majority of the students in Vanni schools sit on mats supplied by the UNICEF. Most of the teachers do not have chairs to sit and teach. They have to be on their feet from morning till closing time, according to him. Mr. Mahasivam was in the Vanni for a week to attend meetings of his trade union branches in the Liberation Tigers controlled region. He returned Friday.
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Tigers extend cease-fire, warn Sri Lanka over attacks

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 March 2001, 11:44 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Thursday extended their unilateral cease-fire for another month, till April 24, but warned they would resume armed operations if the Sri Lankan government refused to reciprocate and continued military operations against the LTTE. Pointing out that it has not launched any offensive operations either in the north-east or the southern provinces or capital, Colombo, during the three months of its unilateral cease-fire, the LTTE said in a statement that 133 of its fighters had been killed in attacks by the Sri Lankan military in the same period.
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PTA detainee released - confessed under torture

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 November 2000, 19:27 GMT]
The Vavuniya High Court acquitted Balasingham Illakanakanthan, who had been charged under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), on the basis that the confession of the accused was obtained under duress whilst in Sri Lanka Army custody. The accused had been in remand for about eighteen months.
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Shortage of Medical supplies in Vanni Hospitals

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 June 2000, 14:38 GMT]
Hospital authorities in Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi districts have made urgent appeals to the Health Department of the Northern Province to send basic medical supplies to Vanni hospitals.
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'City of Trinco' trip cancelled

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 June 2000, 08:29 GMT]
Due to a confrontation between the Sri Lanka Navy and the Liberation Tigers in the seas of Mullaitivu, in the north-east of the island, the naval authorities suspended the sailing of the vessel 'City of Trinco' to Jaffna from Trincomalee Thursday morning. Informed sources said a SLN gunboat was damaged in the confrontation that took place on Wednesday night.
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Two super-dvora gun boats sunk

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 June 2000, 15:25 GMT]
Two Israeli made super-dvora fast attack gun boats were sunk and 15 naval personnel were killed when the Liberation Tigers attacked a convoy of Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) off the coast of Vadamarachchi this morning, the LTTE said in a press release this evening. The Tigers said two other gun boats were seriously damaged in the sea battle.
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ICRC discusses body handover

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 April 2000, 15:26 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers have approached the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) regarding the handing over of the bodies of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops killed in the fighting at Yakachchi-Elephant Pass, an ICRC spokesman told TamilNet Monday.
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SLA blocking essential medical supplies - MSF

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 April 2000, 12:51 GMT]
Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF), the international aid agency said Monday Sri Lankan security forces were preventing it from taking urgently needed medical supplies into the Vanni region. The shortage of essential drugs in the region had become "critical" MSF said in a statement.
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