EU ban will impact the Peace Process - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 May 2006, 05:21 GMT]
Pointing out that the Liberation Tigers never pulled out from the Geneva-II talks and that it was the obstacles that the Government of Sri Lanka introduced after willfully changing the procedures for the inter-theater transfer of LTTE's military commanders that derailed Geneva-II, S.P. Thamilchelvan, Head of LTTE's Political Wing, said in an interview with TamilNet on Saturday that EU's ban will impact the functioning of the monitors from EU countries, and the "decommissioning or abdication of arms is non-negotiable."
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Vehicle blast in Wilpattu national park, 8 feared dead

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 May 2006, 16:51 GMT]
A tourist vehicle with eight persons on board was feared blown in a bomb blast Saturday noon, northwest of Willpattu national park, fellow tourists from Colombo have complained to Nochchiyagama Police. Wilpattu, the largest national park and a refuge for elephants and leopards, was re-opened after the 2002 Ceasefire agreement. Sri Lanka Army sources in Colombo, confirmed the blast, and said casualty details were not known.
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LTTE to reconsider CFA if EU bans the movement

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 May 2006, 10:18 GMT]
Liberation Tigers will be forced to reconsider the relevance of the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) to the peace process, and LTTE's committment and adherence to the CFA, if the European Union carries out its threat of proscribing the LTTE, S.P. Thamilchelvan, Head of LTTE's Political Wing, told TamilNet after meeting Norwegian Special Peace Envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer in Kilinochchi on Saturday.
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Colombo imposes embargo on cement, steel, limits fuel supply to North

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 May 2006, 09:44 GMT]
Sri Lankan defense authorities, on Friday, banned the transportation of cement and steel to North. Government Agents (GAs) in Jaffna and Vavuniya have been informed of the decision by the Defense Ministry in contravention of the provisions in the February 2002 Ceasefire Agreement, political sources said. More than 20 lorries loaded with cement have been stopped at Omanthai checkpost Friday and are being held at the checkpost awaiting instructions from Defense Ministry, sources said.
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Solheim meets SL President Rajapakse

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 May 2006, 18:34 GMT]
Mr. Erik Solheim, Norwegian International Development Minister, arrived at Katunayake International Airport Friday 6. a.m and met with Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse at 11:00 a.m,. Mr. Solheim proceeded to India Friday around 6 p.m, where he will be meeting the Secretary of the Foreign Ministry, sources in Colombo.
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Sri Lanka gambles on EU ban taming Tigers

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 May 2006, 16:02 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse this week hailed the expected proscription of the Liberation Tigers by the European Union next week, saying it would compel the LTTE to the negotiating table and Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera called on Middle Eastern countries to also proscribe the LTTE. But the LTTE warns that further proscriptions will precipitate the objective conditions for renewed war.
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Peace sacrificed for counter insurgency by Colombo - Col. Jeyam

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 May 2006, 17:42 GMT]
“The Sri Lankan government and its forces, obsessed with the idea of destroying our movement, has, without realising the strategic advantages of making peace, used various counter insurgency tactics throughout the peace process to kill our cadres,” said Colonel Jeyam, a top commander of the LTTE, addressing crowds gathered in Mullaitivu to pay their respects to Colonel Ramanan, who was assassinated Sunday by a Sri Lanka Army sniper.
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US funded Anti-corruption training for SL officials begins

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 May 2006, 13:27 GMT]
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is funding a training program for Sri Lankan officials and civil society directors to strengthen measures to combat corruption and monitor the spending of tsunami-related assistance, a press release from the US Embassy in Colombo said Wednesday. The program opened officially today at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall at a ceremony attended by USAID Mission Director Dr. Carol Becker.
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Kohona: paramilitary link with "lowest rank" of SL forces

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 May 2006, 16:50 GMT]
Amidst increasing accusations against Colombo of Sri Lankan troopers alleged involvement in extra-judicial killings and the terror-campaign let loose on Jaffna islets, Dr. Palitha Kohona, the Head of Sri Lanka Peace Secretariat, on Tuesday said that he suspects there might be contacts with the paramilitary cadres and the lower rank Sri Lankan troops.
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Armed men abduct four Batticaloa students, release three

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 May 2006, 16:37 GMT]
Unidentified armed men in a white van abducted a student riding a bicycle near Vantharumoolai University Tuesday around 4.10 p.m. At around 4.50 p.m the van tried to abduct five students standing near the Pethalai Sivan Temple in Valaichenai, but two of the students managed to escape, said sources in Batticaloa. The van with four abducted students sped away in the direction of Welikanda along the Colombo trunk road, in Batticaloa district, sources further said.
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Tamil schools receive circulars, official communications in Sinhala

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 May 2006, 14:08 GMT]
Tamil medium schools in Sri Lanka have been receiving circulars and other official documents from the Central Ministry of Education in Colombo in Sinhalese language only. No translation is provided because 99% of clerks in all eighteen branches of the Ministry of Education are Sinhalese, a senior ministry official said.


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Sri Lanka Inner Wheel District Chairman appointed

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 May 2006, 00:04 GMT]
Mrs. Mangales Pathmanathan took office as the District Chairman of the Inner Wheel District 322 - Sri Lanka for the current year 2006-2007 at the 22nd District Assembly held at Galadari Hotel in Colombo Sunday. Mrs. Vinitha Gunaratne, outgoing District Chairman installed the new District Chairman.
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UN, US condemn attacks on humanitarian workers

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 May 2006, 14:07 GMT]
United Nations Resident Co-ordinator Colombo, and the Embassy of the United States in separate press releases issued Monday, condemned the grenade attack on international non-governmental organizations in Muttur, Trincomalee that resulted in injuries to local and international staffers.
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Sri Lanka government can still avert new war - LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 May 2006, 11:39 GMT]
"The objective conditions for an outbreak of war are developing. Yet, there is still a space in which meaningful steps could be taken by the Sri Lankan Government to contain the violence of the paramilitaries and the excesses of the armed forces and create a congenial environment for de-escalation,” the Liberation Tigers’ theoretician and chief negotiator, Mr. Anton Balasingham said this week in an extensive interview with the Sunday Times newspaper.
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Durban Tamils demonstrate against Sri Lanka's rights violations

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 May 2006, 00:23 GMT]
More than 500 Tamil activists participated in a demonstration held Sunday in Durban, South Africa organized by the Tamil Co-ordinating Committee of South Africa, protesting against the killings of Tamil civilians in the NorthEast of Sri Lanka, sources in Durban said. Placards carried by the protesters accused the Government of Sri Lanka for the complicity of Sri Lanka security forces and paramilitaries in several killings, including the recent murders of eight residents of Allaipiddy in Jaffna islets, sources added.
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Tamil civilian shot dead in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 May 2006, 17:15 GMT]
Unidentified men shot dead a Tamil trader Mr.Gopal Balasubramaniam at Mullipottanai in Thampalakamam division in Trincomalee district Sunday afternoon around 12.15 p.m. when he was coming out of shop, Thampalakamam Police sources said.
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Local election results strengthen SLMC- Rauff Hakeem

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 May 2006, 10:45 GMT]
"Every time moves are made to weaken us, we emerge stronger. This time too the election results prove that the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) is the undisputed representative of the Muslims in Sri Lanka. In the local elections held Saturday for twenty council the SLMC consolidated its position as the principal Muslim party in Sri Lanka by capturing power in six out of the 20 local councils," said Mr.Rauff Hakeem, leader of the SLMC Sunday in a press release.
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UNP-backed group wins Colombo Municipal Council

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 May 2006, 02:42 GMT]
United National Party (UNP) contesting under the symbol of eye-glasses as an Independence group obtained the majority in the Colombo Municipal Council election obtaining 23 seats polling 82,850 votes, election office announced. The polling concluded at 4:00 p.m., Saturday.
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EU bans LTTE as terrorists - Times

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 May 2006, 06:53 GMT]
The European Union has agreed to blacklist the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as a terrorist group, despite warnings that this could lead to full-blown civil war in Sri Lanka, the Times newspaper reported Saturday. Quoting EU diplomats, the London daily said Britain and other countries persuaded Sweden, Denmark and Finland to overcome their reservations and that pressure from the United States was also a factor.
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20 local authorities go to polls Saturday

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 May 2006, 19:02 GMT]
Four Municipal Councils, Colombo and Gampaha in the Western Province, Galle in Southern Province and Kalmunai in the Eastern Province along with three urban councils and thirteen Pradesiya Saba in the country, altogether twenty local government institutions, will go to polls Saturday. About 1.1 million voters are qualified to cast their franchise in this poll to elect 312 councilors, election department sources said.
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