LTTE responds to US Ambassador

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 April 2003, 16:25 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Friday denied they had walked away from negotiations with the Sri Lankan government and said they were temporarily suspending talks “to provide time and space for the government to implement crucial decisions.” Responding to comments by the United States Ambassador, Mr. Ashley Wills, the LTTE’s Chief Negotiator and Political Advisor, Mr. Anton Balasingham told TamilNet Friday “As the representatives of our people we reserve the right to express our displeasure if decisions at the talks are not implemented and bi-lateral agreements are not fulfilled.”


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Speedy relief essential for success of talks - TNA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 April 2003, 11:26 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Wednesday requested the United National Front (UNF) government to formulate and implement a new approach that could provide speedy relief to the grievances of several thousands displaced Tamils without further delay fulfilling the justifiable expectations of Tamils since the signing of the ceasefire agreement, sources said.


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SLA tightening its grip on Northeast - Para

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 April 2003, 19:57 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army is strengthening its foothold where civilians live in the North-East even after the signing of the ceasefire agreement between the United National Front government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, said Mr. Pararajasingham (Para), Head of the Judicial Division of the LTTE, addressing a meeting in Jaffna town Wednesday.
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LTTE condemns attack on Muslims in Allai Nagar

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 April 2003, 16:54 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Tuesday said it strongly condemns the attack on a group of Muslim people at Allai Nagar in Thoppur in the Muttur division Tuesday morning. "We believe that it is the work of forces working against peace," said the LTTE’s Trincomalee district military commander, Colonel Pathuman, in a press release Tuesday, sources said.
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LTTE suspends negotiations with Sri Lanka pending implementation of agreements reached

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 April 2003, 12:51 GMT]
Expressing deep displeasure over certain critical issues relating to the ongoing peace process, the LTTE leadership Monday informed the Sri Lankan government that it has decided to suspend its participation in the negotiations for the time being.
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Church farm helps dispossessed, poor

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 April 2003, 03:30 GMT]
The Methodist Church’s Jeevothayam Farm in Pariyaarikkandal, 28 kilometres southeast of Mannar town, has been a refuge for the dispossessed and the meek for more than quarter of a century. Tamils driven out of their homes in the island’s tea producing hills by Sinhala Buddhist nationalists in 1977, 81 and 83 found succour here before they went forth to settle and multiply in the inhospitable jungles of the Vanni.
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LTTE condemns Kattaiparichchan attack on Tamils

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 April 2003, 17:27 GMT]
The Trincomalee district political secretariat of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Saturday issued a statement condemning the grenade attack and firing by a Muslim group and Sri Lanka Army (SLA) that killed two Tamil civilians on Friday close to Kattaiparichchan army camp. The camp separates army controlled area and LTTE controlled area in the Muttur east.


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Tamil civilian killed in SLA fire

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 April 2003, 18:38 GMT]
A Tamil civilian identified as Maheswaran Ravishankar (32) of Chenaiyoor was killed in firing from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) detachment based at Kattaiparichchan Friday afternoon increasing the death toll on Friday incidents in Muttur area to two. The firing incident took place soon the after the Defence Minister Mr.Tilak Marapone left Muttur after attending a conference at Kattaiparichchan SLA camp, police said.
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Curfew reimposed after grenade attack kills civilian

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 April 2003, 16:06 GMT]
A Tamil civilian was killed and seven others were injured in a grenade attack on Friday afternoon near Kattaiparichchan bridge which separates army controlled and Liberation Tigers controlled area in Muttur east, police sources said. The curfew lifted Friday has been reimposed Friday afternoon immediately after the grenade attack.


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Undeterred by controls, Pt. Pedro celebrates tradition

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 April 2003, 13:40 GMT]
Pt. Pedro is the oldest harbour town on the Jaffna peninsula’s sea coast. The Portuguese called the town Puntas das Padras (rocky point) on account of the reefs that line its coast. Tamils, however, still refer to it by its old name Paruththithurai (cotton port in Tamil). This week the townspeople celebrated the annual chariot and water cutting festivals of one of their old temples that have lain long and neglected inside the SLA’s high security zone in Pt. Pedro.
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SLA relocates Sarasalai camp

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 April 2003, 15:35 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army on Monday relocated its camp from Sarasalai area in Thenmaradchchi to another site in a coconut grove near Kanagan Puliady junction, sources said.


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TNA opposes locating SLA camps in populated areas

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 April 2003, 17:02 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Thursday reiterated its stand to the Prime Minister that the Sri Lanka Army should not be allowed to establish or relocate its camps and main bases in densely populated places in the Northeast province, TNA parliamentary group leader, Mr.R.Sampanthan, said in a press release issued Thursday evening.
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Workshop on welfare of war affected children held

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 April 2003, 00:30 GMT]
A workshop on the welfare of war-affected children, organized with the assistance of the UNICEF, is being held Thursday and Friday at the Tamil Eelam Economic Development Organization's (TEEDOR's) Conference Hall in Kilinochchi. Representatives of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Peace Secretariat of the Sri Lankan government, Government agents, Education Officials and Medical Officers of the North-East, representatives of NGOs are participating at the conference, sources said.
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Sri Lanka Government team arrives for Jaffna garrison talks

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 April 2003, 12:12 GMT]
Commander of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), Lieutenant General Lionel Balagalle, and Additional Secretary to Ministry of Defence, Karaliyadde, are arriving in Jaffna Wednesday afternoon for discussions with Tamil Officials related to identifying a suitable location to move the existing SLA garrison, sources in Jaffna said.
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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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SLMM releases report on recent incidents at sea

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 April 2003, 11:51 GMT]
"The recent attacks on the Chinese trawler off Mullaittivu and the troops transport ship off Trincomalee are not only attacks against Chinese civilians and the Sri Lanka armed forces, but attacks aimed at destabilizing the Ceasefire and the Peace Process in Sri Lanka. Neither the Sri Lankan Government nor the leadership of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) benefit from such attacks taking place since they are undermining their credibility and endangering the progress the parties have made so far," said Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in a press release published today.
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IG visits Jaffna, promises to tackle Police graft

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 April 2003, 14:34 GMT]
“There aren’t good relations between the people of Jaffna and the Police as a consequence of twenty years of war”, said Sri Lanka’s Inspector general of Police, Mr. T. E Anandarajah, speaking to presspersons in the northern town Wednesday. He said his visit is part of the effort to rectify the situation while acknowledging that there is a shortage of Tamils in the Police.
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SLA drops garrison move

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 April 2003, 14:17 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Wednesday agreed to drop its plans to build a permanent garrison in Jaffna municipal lands close to Jaffna Fort and Library in the face of protests by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and several civil groups in the peninsula, sources said.


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Paramilitary leader shot dead

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 April 2003, 10:48 GMT]
An unidentified gunman shot dead the leader of a paramilitary group working with the Sri Lanka army (SLA) and the Special Task Force (STF), Wednesday around 11.15 a.m. in Aariyampathi, 8 kilometres south of Batticaloa, Police said.
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Civilians injured in grenade attack

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 April 2003, 10:27 GMT]
K.Velupillai (47) and his wife V. Nagaludchumi (36) in Thimilaithivu, Batticaloa district, were injured in a grenade attack by two unknown assailants at 10.15pm Saturday night and are admitted to the Batticaloa teaching hospital, sources in Batticaloa said.


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