EU ban gave Sri Lanka Carte Blanche - SLMM Head

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 August 2006, 12:42 GMT]
Major General Ulf Henricsson, the Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), in an interview to AFP, Thursday, criticised the European Union for having ignored a "seven-point memo" sent by the SLMM before banning the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The EU ruling meant the Sri Lankan government thought it had "carte blanche" to take on the Tigers, the outgoing Head of Mission said adding that he had become "more convinced than other" that there would be no military solution to the Sri Lankan crisis.
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Tigers compelled to defend against Sri Lanka’s aggression - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 August 2006, 17:20 GMT]
Responding to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse’s call for the LTTE to declare its commitment to the ceasefire, the head of the LTTE’s Political Wing, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan said that it was the Colombo government which launched a major military offensive in Trincomalee against the Tigers and thereby triggered defensive measures by the Tigers resulting in an escalation of hostilities. "The Norwegian facilitators and the SLMM monitors are witness to the fact that Colombo deliberately chose to launch an offensive in Maavilaru despite the civil dispute being resolved peacefully," Mr. Thamilchelvan said.
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Civilians cross open lines-ICRC

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 August 2006, 13:21 GMT]
Since Monday, the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) facilitated a convoy of civilians going from Killinochchi to Vavuniya. The convoy consisted 243 persons, including 61 foreign citizens and 182 Sri Lankan nationals, said the press release of the ICRC Tuesday
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Sampoor threatens Trinco Harbour - Rajapakse

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 August 2006, 09:20 GMT]
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse on Monday told the representatives of the Co-Chairs of Tokyo Donors’ Conference for the Sri Lankan Peace Process, that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled Sampoor posed a threat to Trincomalee Harbour and justified the Sri Lankan armed forces offensive as "preventing" or "responding" to Tigers. However, informed sources in Colombo said the humanitarian crisis escalated by the Maavilaru offensive, initiated by Colombo and the targeting of civilians in air-strikes and the slaying of NGO workers in Muthur, were discussed at the meeting between the Sri Lankan President and the diplomats representing the Co-Chairs.
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SLMM regroups in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 August 2006, 07:07 GMT]
The Norwegian Foreign Ministry Monday announced that the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) overseeing the Ceasefire between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was regrouping it's Scandinavian monitors in Colombo temporarily. 39 of SLMM's 57 members, from Nordic EU Member States, Sweden, Finland and Denmark, were being called home as the Tigers viewed the EU proscription affecting impartiality required from the CFA monitors from the formal engagement of Ceasefire Monitoring between them and the GoSL.
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Former Norwegian Army Chief to head SLMM

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 August 2006, 09:55 GMT]
The next head of the international ceasefire monitors in Sri Lanka is former Norwegian Army chief, Maj. Gen. Lars Johan Sølvberg, diplomatic sources said Monday. Maj. Gen. Sølvberg will take over as head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) from Swedish Maj. Gen. Ulf Henricsson at the end of the month.
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EU ban on LTTE hurt peace efforts – Hanssen-Bauer

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 August 2006, 22:15 GMT]
Norwegian Special Envoy John Hanssen-Bauer has questioned the European Union's decision, taken last May, to classify Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers as terrorists, the BBC reported Sunday. Mr. Hanssen-Bauer told the BBC that the EU move had damaged the chances of renewed talks, aimed at ending the recent upsurge in violence.
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GoSL's aid delivery, inequitable - Rev. Dr. Jeyanesan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 August 2006, 13:34 GMT]
Sri Lankan government does not treat alike the people of all communities, affected in war and Tsunami, in connection with relief distribution, and the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) is deliberately creating barriers to effective functioning of Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in delivering relief to the affected, said Rev. Dr. Jeyanesan, the Coordinator of South Indian Missionary for Batticaloa District.
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March for Peace campaign to be held in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 August 2006, 19:21 GMT]
A broad coalition of people against violence and war is to participate in a "March for Peace," organized by the National Anti-war Front (NAWF), that will begin at Hyde Park in Colombo at 2:00 p.m. Thursday, culminating in a peace rally at the Viharamahadevi open Air Theatre at 3.00 p.m, said a press release issued by the NAWF Chairman, Dr Kumar Rupesinghe.
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SL Military had 'precise coordinates' of bombed peace zone

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 August 2006, 11:32 GMT]
The site bombed by Sri Lankan jets on Monday had been designated a humanitarian zone and the LTTE had passed its coordinates on to the military via the UN children’s agency, UNICEF, and the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC), NGO sources said Tuesday.
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Day of mourning for teenagers killed in airstrike

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 August 2006, 09:50 GMT]
Tamils in the Vanni Tuesday mourned the 61 teenage schoolgirls killed in Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombing Monday. Urging the international community to condemn the attack, the Tamileelam Students Association (TSA) said “there are no words strong enough to condemn the Sri Lankan government’s pre-meditated massacre of innocent school girls in a peaceful learning environment”
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Bombed site ‘not military installation’ - SLMM

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 August 2006, 16:15 GMT]
International ceasefire monitors who visited the site of the Sri Lankan airstrike Monday which killed 61 school girls and wounded 129 said they couldn’t find “any evidence of military installations or weapons.” Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), Ulf Henricsson, said monitors who visited Chencholai Valaham after the airstrike said they found at least 10 bomb craters and an unexploded bomb. “It was not a military installation, we can see [that],” Mr. Henricsson told Sri Lanka’s MTV television.
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61 schoolgirls killed, 129 wounded in airstrike

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 August 2006, 04:15 GMT]
At least 61 schoolgirls were killed and 129 were wounded when Sri Lankan Kfir jets bombed a children's home compound in Mullaithivu district Monday morning where schoolgirls were attending a residential course on first aid, LTTE officials at the Peace Secretariat in Kilinochchi said. Ambulances were rushing the wounded, many of whom are bleeding badly, to hospitals, sources said. Officials of the LTTE, briefing reporters in Kilinochchi, described the attack as “a horrible act of terror” by the Sri Lankan armed forces. UN’s child agency, UNICEF, and international truce monitors have visited the scene of the carnage.
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Co-chairs call for immediate cessation of hostilities, international investigation

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 August 2006, 06:49 GMT]
The Co-Chairs of the Tokyo Donor Conference for Sri Lanka Peace Process, the United States, the European Union, Japan, and Norway, Saturday called on the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to cease hostilities immediately and return to the negotiation table. The statement has called for independant, international investigations of serious human rights abuses, including the massacre of 16 Tamil and a Muslim NGO workers of the French NGO Action Faim and the alleged killing of Muslims. "Both parties should take immediate action to allow relief agencies to assist victims from all three ethnic groups and to grant access to disputed areas."
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Civilians flee SLA offensive in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 August 2006, 12:10 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Army (SLA) launched heavy artillery bombardment against LTTE-held Elephant Pass area Friday and at 5.40 p.m. troops began moving towards LTTE frontlines at Muhamalai. The Tigers said they are rushing reinforcements to their northern Vanni defences to confront the SLA advance. Civilians have begun fleeing the southern Jaffna area and the town of Pallai is emptying amid hundreds of SLA shells. Meanwhile LTTE artillery counterfire is hitting SLA positions in Nagerkoil, Jaffna sources said.
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JVP: ‘wipe out LTTE and its supporters’

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 August 2006, 14:20 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s ultra-nationalist JVP party has called for the government to “wipe out not ony LTTE but its supporters as well” in a heated debate Thursday over the Trincomalee crisis. Jayantha Wijesekara, JVP MP from Trincomalee district made his comments in support of JVP Propaganda Secretary Wimal Weerawansa, who said that the LTTE areas of Sampur and Maavilaru must be captured by the Sri Lankan military. The Trincomalee situation dominated Thursday’s deliberations in Parliament.
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Tigers checkmate

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 August 2006, 10:05 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers' announcement that they would regard continued ground and air attacks by the Sri Lanka armed forces as declaration of war by Colombo, is an ominous development in Sri Lanka's continuing undeclared war. In addition to forcing the Government of Sri Lanka to choose between war and peace, Tigers have demonstrated their readiness to open multiple battlefronts in other strategic locations of the island to effectively counter the objectives of Sri Lankan military signified by the Trincomalee offensive.


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Norway, Iceland to continue Monitoring Mission - Bauer

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 August 2006, 12:08 GMT]
"Norway and Iceland are prepared to continue to secure the existence of SLMM after the 1st of September," said Norwegian Special Envoy Jon-Hanssen Bauer, addressing media in Kilinochchi, after meeting the Liberation Tigers Political Head S. P. Thamilchelvan Sunday. Mr. Jon-Hanssen Bauer expressed appreciation to the Liberation Tigers for accepting Norwegian call for re-opening the sluice gate tp de-escalate hostilities. "We hope that the violence will be stopped as soon as absolutely possible. It is paramount now to restore the situation and to try to get out of this violence and escalation of the situation," he told reporters in Kilinochchi after his meeting with the LTTE political head.
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UNP accuses Rajapakse Govt for acting on JHU, JVP advice

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 August 2006, 17:38 GMT]
The main opposition United National Party (UNP) in a statement issued Friday accused the Rajapakse government in Colombo for acting on the advice of the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) in ordering a military operation to capture LTTE controlled Maavil Aaru area "within 24 hours," disregarding the views of veteran military officers. After six days of fighting and suffering heavy casualties, the army has not yet reached the area, the UNP said. The UNP did not participate in the 6th All Parties Conference (APC) held Friday evening. Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse also holds the military portfolio as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces of Sri Lanka.
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"Objective accomplished, forces returned to CFA positions" - LTTE

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 August 2006, 11:04 GMT]
The militay spokesman of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Irasaiah Ilanthiayan, told TamilNet that the LTTE troops, by midnight Friday, returned to their original positions as per February 22, 2002 Ceasefire Agreement. 32 LTTE fighters, including a Lieutinent Colonel and another senior cadre of the Tigers were killed in the operation that excerted a military pressure to Colombo's military offensive to resolve a civilian dispute, Mr. Ilanthirayan said. Two SLN Dvora Fast Attack Crafts (FACs) were destroyed and sunk, 3 boats were damaged. Mortars, Light Machine Guns and ammunitions were seized.
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