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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SLA artillery attacks on Eachchilampattu villages continue

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 July 2006, 16:46 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Chief of Staff Major General Nanda Mallawarachchi, remains at Kallaru army camp in the Serunuwara police division directing the military operation to capture Mavilaru area amid announcement by SL Defence Ministry spokesman and Minister Keheliya Rambukwella in Colombo Sunday that Sri Lankan troops are now about one km away from Mavilaru. Sources in Serunuwara said that there is a likelihood of troop movement from Kallaru to Mavilaru area early Monday morning.
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Fifth UNP parliamentarian to join UPFA government

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 July 2006, 12:44 GMT]
Mr.Neomal Perera, a parliamentarian of main opposition United National Party (UNP) from Puttalam district is set to cross over to the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) led by President Mahinda Rajapakse, media sources in Colombo said.
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Jaffna Bishop's silver jublee commemorated

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 July 2006, 12:19 GMT]
Special prayers were conducted at the Jaffna Holy Mother Mary Church to celebrated the 25 years of service to the Catholic Community and to the Jaffna residents by Jaffna Bishop Rev Father Thomas Saundaranayagam at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, sources from Jaffna said.
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Police Constable injured, troops recover claymore in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 July 2006, 10:23 GMT]
A Sri Lankan police constable was injured when unidentified persons fired at a sentry post located between Valaichchenai bus terminal and the office of the Assistant Superintendent of Police in Batticaloa district, around 7 p.m., Saturday, police said.
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Sri Lanka masses troops, bombardment continues

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 July 2006, 16:50 GMT]
As thousands of Sri Lankan troops were moved to Kallaru junction ahead of a threatened offensive, Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Kfir jets Saturday flew three bombing sorties over the Mavilaru area in Eachchilampathu division south of Trincomalee district. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) continued shelling of the area as Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Army, Major General Nanda Mallawarachchi, visited Kallaru area.
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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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WPPF quits All Party Conference

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 July 2006, 12:09 GMT]
Western Province People's Front (WPPF) leader, Mano Ganeshan, said Friday that his party is quitting the All Party Representatives group, political sources in Colombo said. "We joined the APC on the basis of exploring ways for the communities in Sri Lanka to live together. We now realize that the APC is an elaborate drama to fool the International Community," Mr Ganesan said.
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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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SLA move towards Mavilaru defeated - LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 July 2006, 08:05 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army (SLA) operation launched from Welikande towards Mavilaru in Vaharai region Friday morning was defeated by the Tigers at Thonithandamadu, 15 km off the reservoir, said I. Ilanthirayan, the military spokesman of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Shells were fired by the withdrawing SLA forces, he further said.
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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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SLAF Kfir jets bomb Vaakarai, 2 civilians wounded

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 July 2006, 14:15 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Kfir jets bombed thrice Mavilaru in Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled Vaakarai region in Trincomalee district Wednesday between 4:30 and 5:30 p.m. Two civilians, wounded in the bombing were rushed to Eachilampattu hospital, medical sources said. The wounded civilians were from Thonithandamadu, located close to Mavilaru, located in Serunuwara division. Two houses were destroyed in SLAF bombing, according to S. Elilan, LTTE's Trincomalee District Political Head. Colombo has chosen, according to SLAF spokesperson, to bomb the area following a dispute over water supply from Verukal river.
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UN High Commissioner visits Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 July 2006, 09:06 GMT]
António Guterres, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), on Wednesday visited Kilinochchi, the de facto administration centre of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) administered Tamil territories and met with LTTE's Political Head, S. P. Thamilchelvan and M. Pavarasan, the Director of UN and NGO affairs of the Tamil administration, LTTE officials in Kilnochchi said.
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UNHCR High Commissioner visits Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 July 2006, 08:03 GMT]
Mr. Antonio Guterres, the head of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees began a three-day visit Sri Lanka, Tuesday. The visit will be the first by a head of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to the country, where it has been working with conflict-displaced people since 1987, according to UN news centre.
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"Death Won't Deter Us," - Diaspora Tamils mark 83 Black July Genocide

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 July 2006, 09:28 GMT]
The 1983 Black July anti-Tamil pogroms in which more than 3000 Tamils were killed and billions of rupees worth of property were destroyed by Sinhala thugs, sections of Sri Lankan armed forces, and ruling UNP party cadres, fuelled the Tamil armed struggle towards a defensible Tamil homeland. Thousands of Tamils fled the island to Tamil Nadu state in India, Europe and elsewhere. The recent extra-judicial killings in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) controlled areas in the NorthEast, during the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA), have added significance to the widespread observance by the Tamil diaspora of the 23rd year remembrance of the anti-Tamil pogroms.
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Senior EPDP member shot dead in Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 July 2006, 02:47 GMT]
Unidentified men shot and killed Maha Kanapathipillai, a Senior member of the paramilitary Eelam Peoples Democractic Party (EPDP), an ally of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, around 6:45 a.m. Monday, in Wellawatte, Colombo. Maha Kanapathipillai was responsible for Public Relations of EPDP leader Douglas Devananda who is the Sri Lankan Minister of Social Services and Social Welfare.
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Indian PM wants Tamil grievances addressed – Sunday Leader

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 July 2006, 16:12 GMT]
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has expressed serious concern at the lack of progress on the peace front in Colombo and called for the legitimate grievances of the Tamil people to be addressed urgently, the Sunday Leader reported this week. Meanwhile a Sri Lankan delegation has rushed to China on security-related matters, the paper added.
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Tamil youths detained in MI operated Secret Detention Centres in south - UNP MP

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 July 2006, 08:33 GMT]
Sri Lankan Military Intelligence (MI) is operating secret detention centres in Dematagoda, Kiribathgoda and in several other secret locations elsewhere, charged T. Maheswaran a Tamil parliamentarian from the opposition United National Party (UNP) in Parliament on Friday when an adjournment motion to censure the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government for failing to arrest the killers of the Sinhala investigative journalist Sampath Lakmal, tabled by Kalutura District UNP MP Rajitha Seneratne, was taken up in the Sri Lanka’s Parliament.
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Colombo Muslims protest against Gaza, Lebanon attacks

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 July 2006, 01:24 GMT]
Hundreds of Muslim demonstrators and their supporters protested in Colombo expressing support to the Palestinian government and Hezbolla organization of Lebanon, and shouting slogans against a US and Israel, along Galle Road between Bambalapiitya and Colpetty Friday, sources in Colombo said.


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