"Tamil people will resist SLA takeover of Welfare Centers" -Colonel Soosai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 January 2005, 19:32 GMT]
''Our people will not accept the directive issued by Sri Lanka's President to hand over the management of Tsunami welfare centres in the government controlled areas in the northeast to the Sri Lanka Army,'' a defiant Colonel Soosai, Special Commander of the Sea Tigers, said at a conference held Thursday at the relief co-ordination office at Puththukattu junction area, sources said.


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Kofi Annan to visit Mullaitivu and other affected areas

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 January 2005, 10:58 GMT]
United Nation's Secretary General Koffi Annan will visit 'some of the hardest hit areas' in Sri Lanka when he visits the country on Friday, UN sources said Wednesday. Foreign ministry sources said Koffi Annan will visit Ampara, Galle, Hambantatota and Mullaitivu, areas worst hit by the tsunami waves on December 26.
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PDS gears for phase two & three of tsunami relief in Northeast

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 January 2005, 16:45 GMT]
"The LTTE with its quick deployment ability and the Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) with generous assistance from the Tamil Diaspora and the international NGOs, are tackling the immediate Tsunami relief needs, the first phase of the relief efforts. The Liberation Tigers are calling for international assistance to meet phase two and three of the relief effort", LTTE's Political Head Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan told TamilNet following a conference with Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Mr Hans Brattskar, in Killinochchi where they discussed the proper channeling of aid to northeast for phase two and three of Tsunami relief as being planned by PDS.
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Thamilchelvan calls for end to fraudulent reports

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 January 2005, 13:47 GMT]
Denying rumours that the LTTE had burnt refuges or that aid had been stolen or incorrectly distributed, the head of the Liberation Tigers political wing, Mr S.P. Thamilchelvan, called on all media organisations to visit the affected areas and verify the fact for themselves before publishing unverified stories.
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Thamilchelvan receives first consignment of Italian relief

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 January 2005, 09:02 GMT]
Italian Foreign Ministry Tuesday handed over a consignment of medical equipments, medicines and tents for temporary shelters to Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan to be distributed through the rescue and relief mechanism that have been set up in Tamil areas. Thanking the Italian government and the Italian people for the kind gesture of humanitarian at a time of distress, Thamilchelvan explained to the officials how the rescue and relief operations are being conducted.
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PDS sets in motion the needs assessment for tsunami relief

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 January 2005, 06:39 GMT]
The Planning and Development Secretariat (PDS) of the Liberation Tigers has already set in motion the needs assessment process for Tsunami Relief in the northeast, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan, Head of the LTTE's Political Wing told TamilNet Tuesday.
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LTTE should handle relief operation in its territory - Ranil

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 January 2005, 05:54 GMT]
Leader of the Main Opposition United National Front (UNF), Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe, has said that the Liberation Tigers should handle the tsunami relief operation in the LTTE-held areas as they were the ones who handled the immediate rescue operation in those areas. Mr. Wickremesinghe, who is scheduled to visit the tsunami-wrecked areas in the Northern province Wednesday, has made these comments Monday in an exclusive interview with the Colombo-based Tamil daily, Sudar Oli.
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UNICEF official meets TRO, children in Mullaitivu

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 January 2005, 10:35 GMT]
Ms Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), travelled to Kilinochchi Monday morning around 8.30 a.m., where she met with children from Senthalir Illam who had escaped death and Mr. Reggie, Executive Director of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO).
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TNA to brief international community on northeast devastation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 January 2005, 15:49 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) will soon brief the international community about the massive needs of the north-east that suffered the worst in December 26 Tsunami disaster, TNA sources said Sunday.
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LTTE stepping up relief ops in Batticaloa-Amparai - Col. Bhanu

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 January 2005, 07:36 GMT]
“Our leader has instructed me to involve all our fighters, medical corps, vehicles, engineering units and other resources in relief and rescue operations in the Batticaloa- Amparai district. He has sent a large number of troops from the north with supplies for this work. The Malathy Infantry Regiment has also arrived along with head of our women’s wing, Ms. Thamilini, and deputy head of political division for Jaffna, Mr. Semmanan, to help Tsunami affected people in this region and alleviate their suffering”, said Col. Bhanu, a senior military officer of the Liberation Tigers who is the overall commander for Batticaloa-Amparai District, in an exclusive interview to TamilNet.
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Advisory issued against seafood consumption in NorthEast

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 January 2005, 13:21 GMT]
The Thamileelam Health Services Department Saturday advised the people of the North East province not to eat seafood until further notice as the sea is highly polluted after Tsunami, which hit the coastal areas of the island from northeast and south. Tsunami killed about thirty thousand people and about six thousand are still missing.
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Sri Lanka mourns

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 January 2005, 08:37 GMT]
Sri Lanka observed Friday as a national mourning day to express shock and grief to the deaths due to Sunday's Tsunami that hit the coastal areas in the northeast and the south killing about 30, 000 and rendering around one million homeless. Sri Lanka's National Flag was flown half-mast on government buildings and Thamileelam National Flag was flown half-mast on all political secretariat offices of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the North East, sources said.
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Cut red tape to deliver urgent aid- LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 December 2004, 18:28 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Thursday said that red tape should not impede or delay delivery of urgent international aid to the Tsunami hit areas of the northeast. Addressing representatives of international aid agencies and donor community in Kilinochchi Thursday, Mr. Thamilchelvan emphasised that the international community has a "moral responsibility" to ensure that humanitarian aid to Sri Lanka is "equitably distributed to the North-East". LTTE's Political Head stated clearly that the immediate relief measures would be best undertaken by the Task Force mechanism already set up at district level by the LTTE in coordination with the Government Agents of the affected districts.
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Thamilchelvan stresses urgent needs to Norway, international NGOs

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 December 2004, 10:38 GMT]
Mr. Thamilchelvan, Head of the LTTE Political Wing, met with representatives of more than 60 international and UN aid agencies in Kilinochchi at 11.30 am Thursday. The urgent needs of the NorthEast, caused by the tsunami which struck the coast on Sunday, were explained to the representatives. He stated both the immediate needs of those affected by the tsunami and their more intermediate needs. He explained that whatever little infrastructure has been built up was damaged or destroyed by the tsunami, sources in Kilinochchi told TamilNet. Further details of the meeting are yet to be disclosed.
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Harim Peiris, UPFA Minister visit Jaffna to view damages

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 December 2004, 12:18 GMT]
Mr.Harim Peiris, Presidential Advisor, accompanied by Mr.D.E.W.Gunasekara, Constitutional Affairs and National Integration Minister in the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government, arrived in Jaffna Wednesday to see the devastation of the Jaffna peninsula after Sunday's Tsunami, political sources in Jaffna said.
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First Taskforce Unit meets in Puthukkadu

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 December 2004, 14:00 GMT]
One of the units of the Disaster Management Taskforce setup by the Head of the Political Wing of the LTTE, S.P.Thamilchelvan, met Tuesaday at 9.15am at its new offices in Puthukkadu juncion on A9 near Thalaiyady, Vadamaradchy East, Sudar, an official with the LTTE Peace Secretariat told TamilNet. S.Thangan, Deputy Head of LTTE Political Wing, presided the meeting.
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Dispute over power sharing must not impede the relief efforts - NPC

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 December 2004, 01:45 GMT]
Noting that there is an immense human tragedy with villages swept away without trace and thousands of deaths in LTTE-controlled areas, the National Peace Council (NPC), a Colombo based Sri Lankan peace group, in a media release issued in Colombo Tuesday said that it is important that the LTTE be brought in as a major actor if any major relief effort is meant to cover all affected areas in the north east. NPC appealed to the government and the LTTE to trust and respect each other's commitment to the best interests of the people they both seek to serve.
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Disaster Management Task Force Units setup in Northeast

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 December 2004, 18:09 GMT]
Mr.S.P.Thamilchelvan, Head of the LTTE Political Wing in an urgent meeting with the International NGOs, District Secretaries, TRO officials and local NGOs requested to set up a North-East Disaster Management Steering Committee and Special Task Force Units consisting of the District Secretaries, INGO’s, TRO,local NGO’s and representatives of the Planning and Development Secretariat of the LTTE. Similar mechanisms for the districts of Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Amparai have also been planned and details would be worked out in the respective districts soon, an LTTE news release said.
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LTTE to declare National Emergency

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 December 2004, 14:34 GMT]
To cope with the unprecedented destruction of life and property in the coastal areas of NorthEast brought about by the tsunamic waves that hit the coastal towns Sunday, the Liberation Tigers are planning to declare National Emergency to set up procedures in motion to obtain relief assistance from International Agencies, sources close to the LTTE in Vanni said.
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Jaffna IDPs appeal to LTTE for their resettlement

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 December 2004, 14:25 GMT]
A group of representatives representing hundreds of thousands of internally displaced families (IDP) due to the occupation of their houses and agricultural lands in Jaffna district by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Wednesday met with Mr.S.P.Thamilchelvan, political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Killinochchi and explained their plight for the last fifteen years, sources in Kilinochchi said.
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