India opposes NE de-merger, wants truce, talks - report

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 September 2006, 21:21 GMT]
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday told Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse that only negotiations can resolve the island dragging ethnic conflict. “A political, and not military, solution is what Sri Lanka should aim at - this was India's message,” IANS reported from the Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Cuba. The Indian leadership had also pressed that the island's Tamil-majority Northeastern province should not be de-merged without a referendum and that such a referendum would only be possible when there was a 'conducive atmosphere,' IANS reported.
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Uncertainty haunts Vaharai IDPs, two children die of diarrhea

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 September 2006, 15:54 GMT]
A one-year-old baby girl and a 7-year-old girl, both children of Internally Displaced families from Muthur East, have died of diarrhea at Vaharai hospital. A displaced medical doctor from Eachilampattu, M. Varathan, working at Vaharai hospital says the IDPs in Vaharai are facing health hazards. A displaced person, Thangarajah, says that the IDPs were however not prepared to return home, "at least until a situation that prevailed prior to April 25, is returned to our areas."


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Tigers blame Sri Lanka for Pottuvil killings

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 September 2006, 07:22 GMT]
Liberation Tigers Amparai District Political Head, Mr. Jeya, has blamed Sri Lankan military for "indulging in sabotage activities." In a statement issued in Tamil Monday, the Tigers charged that the Sri Lankan counter-insurgency Special Task Force (STF) was behind the slayings and "sabotage activities" aimed at creating tension between the Tamil and Muslim communities in Amparai district. Conveying condolences to the Muslim victims in Pottuvil and expressing sympathies to their families, Mr. Jeya, urged the civilians "not to fall prey to the calculated propaganda of the Sri Lankan military till the truth behind the slayings is uncovered."
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Bodies of two slain aid workers exhumed

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 September 2006, 22:04 GMT]
Investigators began exhumation of bodies of seventeen aid workers of the Action Contre La Faim (ACF-Action against Hunger) who were killed in execution-style in Muttur. Two bodies were exhumed on the first day in the Trincomalee Hindu Cemetery in the presence of the Anuradhapura Additional Magistrate. ACF officials and relatives of those killed, legal sources said.
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Civilians brave Mannar seas to reach Jaffna by boat

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 September 2006, 01:07 GMT]
Thirteen Jaffna residents, stranded in Vavuniya due to the closure of the A9, took the perilous sea voyage in a hired boat from Thalai Mannar and reached the island of Delft on Thursday 14th night, civil sources in Jaffna said. The Delft police took the civilians into custody and transferred them to the Kayts police station on Friday, sources in Kayts said.
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SL Prime Minister lays conditions for peace talks

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 September 2006, 00:18 GMT]
Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, Prime Minister and acting Minister of Defence, laid conditions for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to take part in future peace talks with the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL). "LTTE must first lay down their arms if they want to start peace negotiation with our government. There will not be any place for peace talks in our agenda if this condition is not met," said Mr. Wickremanayake addressing the 25th anniversary of the Land Reform and Development Organization held at Sethsiripaya in Colombo Thursday, political sources in Colombo said.
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Mannar fishermen woes spotlighted

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 September 2006, 13:17 GMT]
Fishermen of Mannar district are finding difficult to market their produce to Colombo due to stringent checks carried out by the Sri Lanka Army at every checkpoint along the route. Checks are carried out first in Mannar town before being loaded in lorries and there after boxes of fish are unloaded again in check points in Madawachchi and others along the route.
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SLFP, UNP committees meet to work out common agenda

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 September 2006, 12:56 GMT]
The first meeting of the two committees appointed by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), main constituent of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government and the main opposition United National Party (UNP) was held Friday morning at the parliamentary complex located in Jayawardhanapura in Colombo to work out a common national agenda on seven prioritized areas with the ethnic conflict being the most important, political sources said.
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Sri Lanka spells out conditions for talks to Norway- reports

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 September 2006, 01:30 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s government (GoSL) is demanding a written assurance from LTTE leader Velupillai Pirapaharan that the LTTE would end its violence before GoSL will agree to hold talks with the Tigers, newspapers reported Friday. The GoSL demand was spelled out to Norwegian facilitators by Sri Lankan officials who met Norwegian Ambassador Hans Brattskar on Thursday, they said. Meanwhile the government’s Defence Spokesman, Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, told the Daily Mirror that Norway was informed that “a single bullet fired by the LTTE after agreeing for talks would compel the government to withdraw from the Ceasefire.”


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Terrorised Tamil traders flee to India - report

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 September 2006, 12:20 GMT]
Several Tamil traders and businessmen have fled Sri Lanka following a spate of killings and abductions, IANS reported Thursday quoting officials and refugees. Sinhalese gangs in Trincomalee are targeting prominent Tamils and many ordinary Tamils in the capital were gripped by a "fear psychosis" the agency reported, quoting activists as saying the recent violence has led to one of the most traumatic periods for the island's Tamil community.
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International community must ensure Sri Lanka honours CFA and paves way for talks- LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 September 2006, 00:03 GMT]
Welcoming the call by the Co-Chairs of Sri Lanka’s donor community for the Colombo government to abide by the February 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) and implement the pledges it made in Geneva, the Liberation Tigers said Wednesday it is the responsibility of the Norwegian facilitators and international community to ensure the Rajapakse government adheres to the territorial demarcations, terms and conditions of the CFA and thereby creates a conducive atmosphere for talks.
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Resolute backing for Norwegian facilitation, says Erik Solheim

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 September 2006, 13:40 GMT]
Erik Solheim, the Norwegian International Development Minister, Wednesday told Norwegian state radio NRK that Norway had International Community's resolute backing and the mandate of the parties to the conflict for resuming the talks, after attending a cruicial meeting of the Co-Chairs in Brussels Tuesday. The radio, in its "World Today," programme said experts on the Sri Lankan issue were of the opinion that the EU proscription of the Tamil Tigers was a "big mistake." The EU ban contributed to the worsening of the already fragile situation into bloody confrontations this summer, the Radio said.
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Co-chairs say want talks in early October

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 September 2006, 14:59 GMT]
Representatives of Co-Chairs of Sri Lanka’s donors said Tuesday they had received “signals” from the Liberation Tigers and the Colombo government that they were ready for talks “without preconditions,” and urged both parties to meet “urgently” in Oslo in early October, saying the Co-chairs would review the progress of the talks later that month. “The international community insisted that the two parties sit immediately and also stop the violence,” Norwegian International Development Minister Erik Solheim told the BBC’s Sinhala service.
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Sri Lanka pushing island to "full scale war" - LTTE

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 September 2006, 09:33 GMT]
Continuing offensives by the Sri Lankan military will compel the Liberation Tigers to switch from defensive operations to launching their own offensives, the LTTE said Wednesday. In an exclusive interview with Reuters, the head of the LTTE’s Political Wing, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan said the Sri Lankan military’s offensives and continuing forcible occupation of Tamil areas had rendered the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) "meaningless" but "since the facilitators and the international community are eager to strengthen peace efforts, the LTTE is also continuing to examine options for strengthening the CFA."
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Rajapakse, Wickremasinghe meet to find national consensus

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 September 2006, 08:01 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse and Ranil Wickremasinghe, Leader of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) Monday held a one hour discussion at Temple Trees residence in Colombo regarding the invitation to reach a southern consensus on peace process.
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MI attempts assassination of Uthayan editors in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 September 2006, 18:24 GMT]
Two armed Sri Lankan Military Intelligence (MI) operatives in civil dress Sunday midnight entered the Uthayan News paper editorial office in Jaffna allegedly to assassinate any senior members of the editorial team who may be working there, said civil sources in Jaffna.


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Military chartered vessel with civilian passengers reaches Trinco harbour

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 September 2006, 17:59 GMT]
Sri Lanka military chartered vessel arrived Trincomalee harbour Saturday evening around 6 p.m. with about 795 civilian passengers who had been stranded in Jaffna district since the fresh fight between the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) broke out since August 11.
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SLA sustains heavy losses in fresh offensive

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 September 2006, 12:48 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s military launched a ground offensive Saturday against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) territory in the northern Jaffna peninsula, after bombarding the area for two days. At least 25 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed and around 125 wounded, informed military sources said. Wounded soldiers in more than five busses were rushed to Palaly and airlifted elsewhere for treatment. The artillery attacks ceased around noon as SLA forces were evacuating the wounded troopers.
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JVP meets SLFP to decide on joining UPFA government

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 September 2006, 17:35 GMT]
Final phase of talks between Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse's Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the main constituent of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and the Sinhala ultra nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), aimed at finding ways to join JVP with the ruling government, took place Friday evening in Colombo.
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UNP to nominate team for talks with Rajapakse Government

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 September 2006, 11:28 GMT]
The main opposition United National Party (UNP) is likely to nominate a five-member delegation for talks with the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the main constituent of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), on the written request of Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse in a bid to reach consensus on the ethnic conflict, political sources in Colombo said.
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