UNICEF's indifference to Children's killings, regrettable- Sithamparanathan

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 May 2006, 03:06 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian for Jaffna district, Ms Pathmini Sithamparanathan Friday accused the UNICEF Colombo office for issuing a irresponsibly crafted, perfunctory press release that avoided even mentioning the names of the child victims of Allapiddy extrajudicial killings, said sources in Jaffna. Amnesty International had said it received credible reports that Sri Lanka Navy personnel and armed cadres affiliated with Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), were present at the massacre site on Kayts islet.
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Stop violence, enter talks, Anti-war group tells GoSL, LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 May 2006, 11:29 GMT]
Condemning the increasing levels of violence committed by Liberation Tigers and by the "armed groups and forces within and outside" Sri Lanka's Military, Kumar Rupesinghe, chairman of National Anti War Front, in a press release issued Thursday in Colombo urged the LTTE and the Government of Sri Lanka to "implement the agreements reached in the High Table in Geneva," and to "immediately resume the talks which were initiated in Geneva."
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GTZ training will benefit 400 NE Administrators

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 May 2006, 10:56 GMT]
German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) has initiated a modern training program for developing English Language and professional skills in governance and development for public servants attached to the NorthEast Provinicial council, a press release issued by the GTZ Thursday said.
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‘EU proscription will seriously damage peace process’ - Balasingham

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 May 2006, 08:34 GMT]
Further international proscriptions of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) will seriously impact negatively on the already weakened peace process in Sri Lanka, the LTTE’s Chief Negotiator and Political Strategist Anton Balasingham said Thursday. Asked by TamilNet for his comments to press reports that the European Union (EU) would ban the LTTE this week, Mr. Balasingham warned that “the hardliners in the south are urgently seeking the international isolation of the LTTE as a prelude to taking up the military option in earnest.”
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Grenade explosion kills Tamil woman in Thampalakamam

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 May 2006, 03:55 GMT]
Ms Jeyamalar Sakthikumar, 31, of Thamplakamam was killed Wednesday early morning around 1 a.m. when unidentified persons lobbed a grenade into their house located at Kovilady near the historic Aathi Koneswaram Temple, said Thampalakamam police sources.


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Vavuniya UC, PS elections postponed

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 May 2006, 17:38 GMT]
The Commissioner of Elections Tuesday at a conference announced that elections to two local bodies, Vavuniya Urban Council (UC) and Vavuniya South Pradesiya Sabah (PS-Sinhala division) have been postponed for a period of four months, as the current security situation in the Vavuniya district is not conducive to hold such poll, sources said.
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Claymore explosion in Trinco injures SLA soldier

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 May 2006, 10:43 GMT]
One soldier of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) lost one of his legs in a claymore explosion that took place Tuesday morning around 8.30 a.m. in Puliyankulam area in Uppuveli Police division in Trincomalee district. This incident took place when a group of SLA soldiers were engaged in road clearing patrol, according to Uppuveli Police.
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International silence is encouraging killings - paper

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 May 2006, 06:38 GMT]
The international community's continuing reluctance to criticise Sri Lanka’s leadership is encouraging atrocities against Tamil civilians, the Tamil Guardian newspaper said this week. “Emboldened by the manifest reluctance of international ceasefire monitors, leading members of the international community and southern liberals to condemn its actions, Sri Lanka’s military is now readily killing Tamil civilians with abandon,” the expatriate newspaper said in its editorial.
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Home guards, Tamil woman injured

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 May 2006, 05:04 GMT]
At least three home guards were injured in a claymore mine explosion on the Trincomalee-Colombo main road, around 7 a.m, Tuesday, police sources said. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers who rushed to the blast site fired at random, injuring a 48 year old Tamil woman in Potkerni, a resettled Tamil hamlet in Thampalakamam division, civil sources said.
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American Mission Jaffna Dictionary 1842, released in Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 May 2006, 16:38 GMT]
"The republishing of the 'Jaffna Dictionary' published 163 years ago by the American Mission Press in 1842 is a welcome gesture at a time when even books published in 1950 are no more to be seen," said Professor K. Sivathamby at the Book release event held at the Sangarapillai Hall in Colombo Tamil Sangam (CTS) in Rudra Mawatte, Sunday around 4. 30 p.m, presided by Mr. Kumaraswamy Somasundaram, President of CTS, said sources in Colombo.
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Paramilitary cadres shot at Batticaloa Hospital, one dead

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 May 2006, 13:09 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen who entered the Batticaloa Hospital at 4:40 p.m. Monday shot two paramilitary Karuna Group cadres, one of them undergoing treatment for his wounds sustained on April 30 in the Tiger commando attack in Welikanda. A paramilitary cadre guarding the wounded cadre, was killed and the wounded cadre was seriously injured in the gunfire and transferred to Colombo Hospital, medial sources said. Liberation Tigers elite commando unit launched an attack on paramilitary camps located in Sri Lanka Army protected Kasankulam, close to Thibulana, located 7 km east of Welikanda in Polannaruwa - Batticaloa border.
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Senior US Official visits Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 May 2006, 10:48 GMT]
U.S. State Department's Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs, Mr. Donald Camp, is currently on a two-day visit to Sri Lanka, May 15 and 16, 2006, a press release issued by the US Embassy in Colombo Monday said.
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Colombo lacks strategic objective for conflict transformation- Saravanamuttu

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 May 2006, 17:29 GMT]
Pointing out "disturbing aspects" in the institutionalization of good practices in governance in Sri Lanka, Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, Executive Director of Center for Policy Alternatives (CPA), a Colombo-based think-tank, says that the Government lacks a roadmap for the future with a "clear and cogently stated vision and action plan," and that the Government's approach to Geneva talks has exposed a "lack of strategic objective" towards conflict transformation, in a political column that appeared in this week's Morning Leader,
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SLFP stopped from joining protest against BBC

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 May 2006, 16:36 GMT]
Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse has sent a directive to the London based Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) officials not to participate in the Monday demonstration in front of the BBC world service offices in UK, party officials said. Sri Lanka media had previously accused BBC of biased coverage, for inflating the number of refugees displaced by the bombing campaign by Sri Lanka Air Force in Sampoor area on the 25 and 26th of April.
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Baby of four months, 4-year-old child, among 9 killed by SL Navy in Jaffna islet

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 May 2006, 16:10 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) troopers from Mandaithivu Sri Lanka Navy camp surrounded a civilian house in Allaipiddy in Mandaithivu islet, west of Jaffna, around 8:30 p.m. Saturday and opened fire killing 8 civilians, including a four months baby and a four year old son, and their parents on the spot. Three persons with serious wounds were rushed to Jaffna hospital after Jaffna district magistrate ordered the Police to provide security to an ambulance from Jaffna hospital, medical sources said. One of the wounded succumbed to his wounds at Jaffna hospital. 13 civilians were killed in Jaffna islets on Saturday alone.
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SLMM temporarily suspends Sea monitoring

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 May 2006, 15:15 GMT]
Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) Saturday evening suspended sea monitoring missions, according to informed media sources in Colombo. The presence of one SLMM monitor on board a ship charted by Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) to transport SLN sailors, caught in the middle of a clash between the Sea Tiger Fast Attack Crafts and the SLN Dvoras Thursday, saved the lives of at least 700 SLN personnel in the seas off Vadamaradchi East, sources from Kilinochchi said.


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2000 books, 40 computers lost in Student office fire - Jaffna MP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 May 2006, 12:12 GMT]
A total of six and a half million Rupees worth of books, computer equipment and property were damaged in the lastest attack on the International Students Association of Tamileelam (ISATE) building and the office of the Jaffna MP Mr. S. Kajendran, in the fifth attack of this kind on the same building, the MP wrote in a letter to the Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) Major General Ulf Henricsson.


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Colombo lacks realpolitik strategy- Furuhovde

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 May 2006, 04:32 GMT]
The present situation in Sri Lanka is mainly caused by Colombo's reluctant approach for a peace based on negotiations involving concessions. Central political players and its Military leadership still believe a military solution to the conflict is possible. This reflects a dangerous perception of reality and lacks a "Realpolitik strategic basis," required to handle Sri Lanka's war, wrote late Maj. Gen. (retd) Trond Furuhovde in a comment he wrote under the title "The troubled Sri Lanka" in Norwegian daily Adressa on January 30, a few days before Geneva-I talks. He touches on the geopolitical significance of the Sea route and the geographic location of the island Sri Lanka in his article.
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SL army launches artillery fire towards Muttur east

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 May 2006, 13:59 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army Thursday evening around 5.45 p.m. started artillery attack from its Monkey Bridge military installation towards LTTE controlled Muttur east villages following a confrontation between Sri Lanka Navy and LTTE. Monkey Bridge SLA military installation is located along Trincomalee-Colombo road about fifteen km off southwest of east port town, sources said.
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Two SLN Dvora boats destroyed, ship moved to international waters

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 May 2006, 13:26 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) ship with around 700 sailors on board got trapped in the clashes that erupted between the Sri Lanka Navy boats and the Sea Tigers boats in seas off Vadamaradchi East, Sri Lankan defence sources said. Two Dvora Fast Attack Crafts (FAC) were reportedly destroyed. The ship, Perl Cruise, has safely arrived in the Indian waters, sources in Colombo said. At least fifteen SLN sailors are reported missing in the clash. Four Sea Tigers died defending the Sea Tiger boats, the Tigers said. The ship was a few miles away from the attack site, according to Sea Tiger sources.
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