SLMC accuses SL Army of shelling Muttur civilians

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 August 2006, 00:33 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s largest Muslim party Thursday accused Sri Lankan security forces of shelling Muslim civilians in embattled Muttur town, killing dozens of people and wounding scores more. As Sri Lanka’s military blamed the Tamil Tigers, Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) leader, Rauf Hakeem told AFP: “the people were killed in attacks carried out by the security forces.”
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Norway urges ‘cessation of hostilities’ and return to prior positions

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 August 2006, 17:32 GMT]
Peace facilitator Norway Wednesday said that the intensive military operations by the LTTE and the government of Sri Lanka had resulted in ‘deadlock’ and could easily escalate the armed conflict. The first statement issued by Oslo comes one week after Sri Lanka’s military began to advance into LTTE controlled areas and on the day the LTTE launched a major counter-offensive. It calls on both sides cease hostilities and withdraw to their prior positions. Norwegian Special Envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer is to make a pre-scheduled visit to Sri Lanka Thursday despite the outbreak of hostilities, International Development Erik Solheim said.


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Tamil exclusion from ADB project triggered dispute - LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 July 2006, 12:56 GMT]
The ‘water’ dispute cited by the government of Sri Lanka as justification for its military offensive this week began two weeks ago due to a refusal by Colombo to implement that part of an ADB-funded project which would supply drinking water to Tamils in LTTE-controlled areas and to go ahead with supply to Sinhala colonies in government-controlled areas, the LTTE said in a statement. The intention of the Sri Lankan airstrikes last week was to prevent international ceasefire monitors from meeting local Tamils protesting their exclusion from the ADB project, the LTTE Peace Secretariat said.
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Three pronged SLA offensive thwarted - LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 July 2006, 07:05 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) began moving ground troops through three fronts from two SLA bases towards Mavil Aaru sluice gate Monday morning, supported by Multi - Barrel Rocket Launchers, artillery fire and aerial bombardment from Kfir and MIG jets towards Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled area in Mavil Aaru. The SLA advance was thwarted by the Tigers, according to Ilanthirayan, the military spokesman of the Tigers. Three LTTE cadres were killed and two wounded, Mr. Ilanthirayan said. Meanwhile, informed defence sources in Colombo said 12 SLA troopers including two SLA officials were kiled and many wounded. The SLA initiated operation has threatened the Ceasefire Agreement.
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Recognize Tamil rights, or risk CFA collapse- NZ MP

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 July 2006, 20:21 GMT]
Tamil NewZealanders marked the Remembrance of Black July with a series of events including blood donation drives, prayer offerings, and a Peace March that culminated in an event at the Auckland Normal Intermediate School, July 29, 2006, Kiwi sources said. Member of Parliament, Keith Locke, Secretary of the Refugee Council of New Zealand (RCNZ) Heval Hylan, Human Rights Activist from Global Peace and Justice, Mike Treen, and about 200 Tamils participated in the event which also featured a cultural show.
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SLAF, SLA attacks tantamount to declaration of war by Colombo, Elilan tells SLMM

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 July 2006, 16:49 GMT]
Liberation Tigers Trincomalee District Political Head S. Elilan, in an urgent letter to the Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) Major General Ulf Henricsson Saturday evening said that artillery attacks by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and air strikes by the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) in the Liberation Tigers controlled territories in the Northeast, tantamounted to Declaration of War by the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) against the LTTE. "It is now appropriate for the SLMM to declare publicly that the ceasefire agreement is not holding anymore on the ground," Mr. Elilan told media.
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Finland to withdraw truce monitors from Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 July 2006, 09:27 GMT]
Finland has decided to withdraw it's members of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) from Sri Lanka. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), recently reiterated their stand that the formal process of ceasefire monitoring required a scrupulous commitment to neutrality in Sri Lanka's conflict, which was compromised by the EU ban and responded to Norway's initial request of 6 months to replace monitors within a shorter time frame, and later extended the time frame for two months, till September 01. The Norwegian Special Envoy Jon-Hanssen Bauer is sheduled to visit Sri Lanka to discuss the process forward.
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Colombo caused Mavilaru crisis - Elilan

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 July 2006, 15:48 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Kfir jets, on Wednesday evening, bombed Mavilaru site in Vakarai, where protesting Tamil civilians had closed water supply running through LTTE controlled area towards the GoSL controlled area. The protesters were demanding Colombo not to abandon the project to supply drinking water to Tamil areas, according to S. Elilan, LTTE Trincomalee District political head. Truce monitors intervened and mediated between the Tigers and Colombo to a solution. In the meantime, the SLAF has bombed the area, making the crisis worse, charged Elilan Wednesday night. He said that LTTE has decided to reconsider the decision of lifting the water blockade.
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TNA accuses SL Armed Forces for attack on MP's residence

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 July 2006, 12:25 GMT]
Condemning in "strongest possible terms this cowardly act on a democratically elected Member of Parliament," the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in a press release issued Sunday said it has not the slightest doubt that this has been carried out by the "Government Paramilitary Groups and the Government Armed Forces in direct contravention of the Ceasefire Agreement and the agreements reached in Geneva in February 2006." The release added: "It is the refusal of the Sri Lankan Government to deal with its Paramilitary Groups and its Armed Forces as per the Ceasefire Agreement and the Geneva agreements that has been the single most destabilizing factor of the Peace Process."
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EU special envoy to visit Killinochchi

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 July 2006, 00:03 GMT]
Mr.Andres Oljelund, special envoy of the European Union (EU), will fly to Killinochchi in LTTE held Wanni region Friday, and hold discussion with the LTTE political leadership over the question of monitors of the EU member countries serving in the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), sources said. LTTE has given Royal Government of Norway until 1st September to replace the monitors from the Nordic countries Sweden, Denmark and Finland which are also members of the EU.
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Rajapakse's new agenda, a tactic to derail progress towards Geneva II- Kaviyalahan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 July 2006, 15:26 GMT]
The Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, upon failing to meet the committments given by Sri Lanka delegation at Geneva I, has adopted a "choking tactic" to stifle current trajectory towards peace by launching a one-sided expert panel, to waylay the International Community, and to avoid Geneva II, said K. Kaviyalahan, the Head of Tamileelam Political Research Centre (TEPRC), the emerging Think Tank of the Liberation Tigers, in the weekly political analysis programme, Nilavaram, aired by the National Television of Tamileelam (NTT) Sunday night. Rajapaskse's new agenda circumvents the existing paradigm of the four and a half years old peace process, he argued.
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Rajapakse initiative, an elaborate theatre to appease international community - paper

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 July 2006, 14:16 GMT]
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse’s initiative this week to come up with power-sharing proposal is “elaborate theatre to appease international demands, particularly India’s,” the Tamil Guardian said in its editorial this week. Arguing the ‘outbidding’ which undermined previous initiatives was “guaranteed” to happen again, given the lack of support from the UNP and the vehement opposition of the JVP and JHU, the paper said: “Rajapakse’s immediate priority is not to come up with a serious proposal to offer the Tamils, but to destroy his ruling party's main rival and consolidate his grip on parliament.”
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LTTE accuses Rajapakse of political duplicity

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 July 2006, 11:37 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Political Head, S.P. Thamilchlevan ruled out negotiations on devolution of powers based on the Sri Lankan unitary constitution, Wednesday and charged Mahinda Rajapakse, the Sri Lankan president, for adopting a duplicitous approach, when asked to comment Colombo's move on setting up a committee to examine devolution of powers. "Colombo's call for talks based on Sri Lankan constitution, rejected by Tamils decades ago, is a deliberate act of deceivig the International Community while failing to implement practical steps to implement the fundamental terms of Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) as agreed in Geneva I."
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Rajapakse will disarm Karuna if LTTE accepts direct peace deal- paper

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 June 2006, 12:50 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse has intimated to the editor of Jaffna daily Uthayan, N. Vithyatharan, to exchange messages with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to strike a deal for starting direct talks with the LTTE, with the intention of bypassing the facilitation of Royal Government of Norway, a leading broadsheet in Colombo, Sunday Leader said in its latest edition. Mr Rajapakse had said that he will disarm Karuna Group if his proposed two week peace-deal is accepted by the LTTE, the paper said.
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War unavoidable if Norway suspends monitoring function - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 June 2006, 10:52 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Political Head S.P.Thamilchelvan, when asked what LTTE's reaction would be, if Norway, on 29 June, chose to suspend the monitoring role, responded that a such decision would signal an end to the already fragile ceasefire and plunge the island into war. Mr. Thamilchelvan further said that the Tigers responding to the questions posed by the facilitator Norway, had replied that they were fully prepared to continue providing diplomatic immunity to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) as a mission coordinated, facilitated and led by the Royal Norwegian Government.
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Nordic countries to discuss SLMM's future role

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 June 2006, 11:15 GMT]
Embassy of Norway in Colombo, in a press release issued today said that according to LTTE, "European Union ban on the LTTE has seriously disturbed the neutrality of these countries," and LTTE has "repeated its demand that SLMM monitors from EU countries (Denmark, Finland, and Sweden) be replaced." The release added that this demand is "deeply regrettable and will weaken the SLMM in a critical period," and that Norway has invited the other Nordic countries to a meeting in Oslo on 29 June to discuss the safety and future role and function of the SLMM."
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Aerial bombardment tantamounts to undeclared war, says Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 June 2006, 10:17 GMT]
S. P. Thamilchelvan, the political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on Wednesday said the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) was yet to respond to LTTE's warning that the provocative air attacks, if continued, would be retaliated. "Aerial bombardment is interpreted as undeclared war on the Tamil nation," he told media after concluding a meeting with the Norwegian Ambassador Hans Brattskar, clarifying the LTTE's response to Norway's five questions. "Colombo, obsessed with going to war with the Tamil Nation, has already begun to impose economic blockade on the Tamil homeland," LTTE's Political Head told media.
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Norway, Nordic countries to respond on 29 June - Brattskar in Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 June 2006, 07:00 GMT]
The Norwegian Ambassador Hans Brattskar, on Wednesday, discussed with Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Political Head S. P. Thamilchelvan on LTTE's response to Norway's request of clarifications, issued on 08 June, from the parties to the Ceasefire Agreement. Confirming that the parties to the CFA, the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the LTTE, have submitted their responses to the five questions posed by Norway, Mr. Hans Brattskar told media that Norway, as facilitator, has to take note of LTTE's point of view, although Norway regretted the LTTE's stand to the continued engagement of EU Member States from Nordic countries in the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM).
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LTTE will be forced to retaliate, Thamilchelvan warns Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 June 2006, 09:54 GMT]
The LTTE has requested the Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) and the peace facilitor Norway's Ambassador to Sri Lanka to convey a strong warning to Colombo of possible retaliation following the provocative aerial bombing by the Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) in Mullaithivu, Kilinochchi, Batticaloa, and artillery fire towards LTTE territory from Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camps carried out during the last 2 days in violation of the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA), LTTE Head of Political Wing, S.P. Thamilchelvan said in Kilinochchi Saturday.
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Sri Lankan attacks violate CFA, SLMM officials agree with LTTE in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 June 2006, 04:15 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) officials in Trincomalee have explained to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) officials in the district that the aerial bombing and artillery fire, carried out by the Sri Lankan armed forces towards the LTTE controlled territory were considered "clear violations" of the ceasefire agreement, S.Elilan, Trincomalee district political head of the LTTE, told media Friday after concluding a meeting with Ove Jensen, Trincomalee district head of the SLMM.
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