Norway condemns latest violence in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 April 2006, 15:52 GMT]
The Norwegian Foreign Ministry, in a press statement issued on Tuesday condemned the latest acts of violence in Sri Lanka. Noting the heavy loss of life in Tuesday's Claymore attack in Trincomalee, the statement said that the assassination of the prominent Tamil civil society representative in Trincomalee, Mr V. Vigneswaran, and other serious incidents are adding to the vortex of violence that could eventually create a situation similar to that in December 2005 and January this year.
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SL Army and Karuna can defeat LTTE – Defence Secy

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 April 2006, 23:03 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa told the head of the international ceasefire monitors that the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) could easily defeat the Liberation Tigers with the assistance of the Karuna Group paramilitaries, the Daily Mirror reported Tuesday. Paradoxically, Mr. Rajapakse, appointed to his post by President Mahinda Rajapakse, his brother, had two weeks ago also told the then head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) that paramilitaries were not operating in government-controlled areas.
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Civilian injured, houses damaged in SLA shelling -Elilan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 April 2006, 07:22 GMT]
A civilian was injured and several houses were damaged when Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers fired artillery from Kaddaiparichan army camp towards Ganeshapuram in Muttur east, around 8.20 a.m., Saturday, LTTE sources in the eastern town said.
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Colombo's transport refusal to Eastern LTTE commanders jeopardise Geneva preparations

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 April 2006, 16:03 GMT]
Liberation Tigers Political Head S.P. Thamilchelvan Friday requested the Norwegian facilitators to arrange sea transport, with truce monitors on board, to facilitate Eastern field commanders of the LTTE to attend a preparatory central committee meeting before the next session of the Geneva Talks. Blaming Colombo for adopting a hardline stance in providing air transport, a routine arrangement facilitated by the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) during the ceasefire, the LTTE Political Head warned that the Tigers would be forced to adopt their own sea transport, aware of the risks involving possible confrontations with the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN).
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Course correction by International Community urged

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 April 2006, 22:51 GMT]
Blaming the International Community for aiding a State that failed to adopt a political formula embodying shared sovereignty, and which demonstrated its incapacity to persecute a successful war against LTTE, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian, in a paper presented at a symposium in Tufts University, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, USA, Thursday, said, the International Community should make clear to the Sri Lankan State that "its commitment to territorial integrity is conditional on the Tamil Nation’s legitimate aspirations being met."
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Batticaloa students hoist Tamileelam flag in Annai Poopathy event

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 April 2006, 11:32 GMT]
Students and the staff of Manchanthoduvai Technical College in Batticaloa Thursday 9 a.m. hoisted Tamileelam flag at the college premises at the memorial event for Annai Poopathy, sources in Batticaloa said. Sri Lankan policemen rushed to the College and removed the flag around 11:30 a.m. The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), informed of the police action, arrived immediately to defuse the tension, and the commemoration continued till 1:00 p.m., sources said.


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Sri Lanka's mine related injuries decrease by half, say UN agencies

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 April 2006, 11:11 GMT]
"Sri Lanka will have a lot to be proud of when the country celebrates the first International Mine Action Day on April 4 Tuesday- mine related causalities have dropped by 60 percent since the ceasefire agreement. But while this achievement is commendable, work still needs to be done to ensure that the country is totally free of landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXOs)," UNICEF and UNDP said in a press release Tuesday.
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Australia provides Rs.128m for demining projects

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 April 2006, 10:48 GMT]
Announcing that Australian Government will provide AUS$1.7m for demining efforts in Sri Lanka, the Australian High Commissioner said in a press release issued Monday, "Clearing mines is a key factor in assisting the resettlement of people displaced during the conflict. As I have witnessed in Mannar, clearing mines opens schools for children, enables rural communities to access their fields and earn a living, and provides safe land for resettlement. It also demonstrates the concrete benefits that are flowing to ordinary people in the conflict-affected areas through maintaining the cease-fire."
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SLN, SLA violate ceasefire, Elilan tells SLMM

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 April 2006, 12:06 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) and Sri Lanka Army (SLA) collaborating with paramilitaries had violated the ceasefire agreement in the LTTE controlled Muttur east and Vakarai area said Mr.S.Elilan, Trincomalee district political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Saturday. He lodged three separate complaints with the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), sources said.


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Norway island attack by SLN draws warning from LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 March 2006, 20:04 GMT]
Mr.Elilan, LTTE Trincomalee district political head, informed the Trincomalee head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) Mr.Ove Thursday evening in Sampoor that LTTE has the right to movement in seas adjoining LTTE controlled coastal areas and this right does not violate the ceasefire agreement, LTTE sources said.
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SLA violates ceasefire agreement in Muttur-LTTE

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 March 2006, 02:05 GMT]
The Trincomalee district political secretariat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Tuesday lodged a complaint with the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) that a group of soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in connivance with paramilitaries had unlawfully entered the area and attacked the LTTE camp located in Athiamankerni village in Seruvila division on March 27 night around 7 p.m. SLA soldiers and paramilitaries had fled from the scene when the LTTE cadres successfully retaliated their attack, the complaint said.
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Expel Norway, demands JVP

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 March 2006, 01:39 GMT]
"If Norway is not sacked immediately from the peace process, we will amass more than two hundred thousand people in a protest demonstration in front of the Norweigian Embassy," warned Wimal Weerawanse, parliamentarian and propaganda Secretary of marxist Jathika Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), at a meeting in Colombo Tuesday evening, sources said. Patriotic National Movement (PNM), an alliance of extreme Sinhala nationalists, organized the meeting at Mahaveli Centre Colombo.


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SLA, constant threat to security of Jaffna residents– Ilamparithy

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 March 2006, 20:49 GMT]
"Residents from 26% of land area of Jaffna peninsula remain driven out of their homes; Fishermen, trying to recover from the tsunami devastation, are unable to freely pursue their occupation; and the entire student community in Jaffna district is continuously being targetted and victimised by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers," LTTE's Political Head C. Ilamparithy told media Tuesday after meeting the new Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) Mr. Ulf Henricsson at the LTTE Jaffna district political secretariat located in Pallai.
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Jaffna students protest against SLA intervention on Annai Poopathy event

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 March 2006, 09:23 GMT]
Educational activities in Jaffna peninsula came to stansdstill Monday in a boycott called by Student oragnisations in protest against the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) intervention inside the Advanced Technological Institute (ATI) and the attack on the students of the ATI last Friday. Around fifteen students were wounded when SLA troopers who entered the ATI premises in Buffel APC vehicle and attacked the students smashing the garlanded picture frame of Annai Poopathy and forcefully removing the Tamileelam flag on Friday. Students organisations in Jaffna has called for protests following the SLA intervention.
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SLN Muttur attacks endanger livelihood of fisher families

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 March 2006, 18:42 GMT]
Muttur Divisional Fishermen's Co-operative Societies Union (MDFCSU) said a statement released Sunday in Trincomalee that more than two thousand fisher families have seriously affected economically following attacks by Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) on the coastal villages in the Muttur east.
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SLMM condemns Kalpitti attack, raises paramilitary issue

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 March 2006, 11:50 GMT]
Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in a press release issued in Colombo Sunday condemned the attack on Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) in Kalpitti, and said that the SLMM is conducting inquiries to establish the details of the attack. While appealing to both parties to "refrain from provocative acts," the SLMM urged the Government of Sri Lanka to "take the [paramilitary] matter seriously and not close their eyes to armed elements that to our knowledge still operating in Government controlled areas."
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Fonseka claims credit for successful ‘retaliations’

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 March 2006, 01:46 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Army commander, Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka, has claimed credit for a number of killings and disappearances of Tamil political activists in during the heightened violence in December and January. The Sunday Times quoted him as telling troops: “we bravely faced the situation and retaliated on those who attacked us. Thereafter we took a proactive role by looking for those who attacked us and retaliated in places like Jaffna and Batticaloa.”
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New SLMM Head meets Elilan in Sampoor

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 March 2006, 17:39 GMT]
Swedish Brigadier, Ulf Henricsson, who is to assume duties on 1st April as the new head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), met with Mr.S.Elilan, Trincomalee district political head for the first time Saturday evening, sources in Trincomalee said. The discussions centered on the current ceasefire agreement, Geneva peace talks and future activities related to peace process, sources said.
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Students hoist Tamileelam flag, continue Poopathy celebrations

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 March 2006, 12:39 GMT]
Students at the Kokuvil Technical College located 3 km north of Jaffna town hoisted the Tamileelam flag as part of the Annai Poopathy memorial celebrations Saturday 10.30 a.m., student sources said. Students replaced the picture frame Annai Poopathi that was destroyed by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers who forcefully entered the compound and attacked the students Friday.
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Blast in seas off Kalpitti, 14 feared dead

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 March 2006, 11:22 GMT]
Six persons, on board a boat which was being intercepted by a Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) vessel, have blown themselves sinking their boat and causing extensive damage to the approaching Dvora Fast Attack Craft with 19 SLN troopers on board, Sri Lanka military sources in Colombo said. At least eight Sri Lanka Navy sailors are reported missing. The blast occured 17 nautical miles off Kuthiraimalai in Kalpitti, 145 km north of Colombo Saturday afternoon, the sources added. A press statement issued by the Government of Sri Lanka said that the "magnitude of the expolsion and the damage it caused to the approaching Navy vessel indicated that the trawler was transporting a large quantity of explosives."
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