Donor Co-chairs welcome Geneva outcome

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 February 2006, 12:00 GMT]
Japan, Norway, the United States and the European Union welcomed the outcome of the meeting on the "implementation of the Ceasefire Agreement" and the "renewed commitment from the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE to respect and uphold the Ceasefire Agreement, as well as the reconfirmation of their commitment to cooperate fully with and respect the rulings of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM)," in a press release issued Tuesday.
Full story >>

Balasingham rejects Sri Lanka’s "amendment" concept as absurd

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 February 2006, 10:42 GMT]
Anton Balasingham, the chief negotiator and political strategist of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), rejected outright the Sri Lanka government’s claim that the joint communiqué, issued after the Geneva talks, amounted to an amendment to the original Ceasefire Agreement. "This bizarre interpretation given by the President’s counsel, Mr H.L. De Silva is ridiculous and preposterous and totally unacceptable to the LTTE", Mr Balasingham told TamilNet when queried about the issue.
Full story >>

Paramilitary operatives: ultimate victims of covert warfare?

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 February 2006, 22:41 GMT]
Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) met in Geneva Wednesday and Thursday and reconfirmed their commitment to honour and uphold the February 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA). The issue of paramilitary groups figured prominently in the discussions and the GoSL delegation undertook a commitment: that no armed group or person other than its security forces will carry arms or conduct armed operations in GoSL controlled territory.
Full story >>

SL President expresses satisfaction over Geneva peace talks

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 February 2006, 12:38 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse Sunday met with the government delegation, which attended the Geneva peace talks with Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at Temple Trees in Colombo and discussed the outcome of talks in Geneva. Mr Rajapakse was satisfied with the decisions reached at the talks, Presidential Secretariat sources said, according government controlled Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) in its Sunday evening news bulletin.
Full story >>

Building Tamil Eelam State: Kristian Stokke

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 February 2006, 10:54 GMT]
"Sri Lanka’s third Eelam War created a political-territorial division of the island with a resultant dual state structure in the North-East. In the context of the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement and based on earlier institutional experiments, the LTTE is currently engaged in a comprehensive process of state building within the areas they control," says Prof Stokke of Department of Sociology and Human Geography, University of Oslo, in an article which examines the emerging new Tamileelam state structure. He adds that only the "facilitation and dynamics of pro-democracy forces within the LTTE," will determine the transformation from "the"strong and centralized state," that currently exists.
Full story >>

GoSL to disarm armed groups

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 February 2006, 18:09 GMT]
Norwegian Minister of International Development released a statement on behalf of the parties to the Sri Lanka conflict, the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Thursday evening in Geneva. The GOSL is committed to taking all necessary measures in accordance with the Ceasefire Agreement to ensure that no armed group or person other than Government security forces will carry arms or conduct armed operations. The LTTE is committed to taking all necessary measures to ensure that there will be no acts of violence against the Sri Lankan forces and the police. The parties are to meet again in Geneva on April 19th for a second round of talks.
Full story >>

Sri Lanka Government's opening statement at Geneva

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 February 2006, 12:21 GMT]
"Ceasefire Agreement entered into between the then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Mr. V. Prabhakaran, the leader of the LTTE on the 22nd February 2002 is contrary to our Constitution and law," declared Nimal Sripala De Silva, Head of the Sri Lankan delegation at the opening session of the talks between the Liberation Tigers and the Government of Sri Lanka.
Full story >>

Mannar fishermen woes spotlighted

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 February 2006, 11:15 GMT]
In a memorandum issued to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), Wednesday, the Mannar District Fisheries Community highlighted the deprivation of their livelihood due to the ban and restriction imposed by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) on fishing, and urged human rights organizations to take efforts to improve the livelihood of fisher families, sources from Mannar said.
Full story >>

Ceasefire Agreement is foundation of peace and must be implemented - Balasingham

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 February 2006, 10:19 GMT]
Describing the February 2002 ceasefire agreement (CFA) as the “most constructive achievement” of the Norwegian peace process and “the foundation upon which the process has to be built,” the Liberation Tigers’ Chief Negotiator and Political Strategist, Anton Balasingham said Wednesday the CFA had been agreed upon by both the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE after “careful and meticulous scrutiny” and crafted with the skilled assistance of the Norwegian facilitators.
Full story >>

Norway appoints Swedish Brigadier as Head of SLMM

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 February 2006, 13:54 GMT]
Norwegian Government Tuesday announced the appointment of Brigadier Ulf Henricsson, a Swede, as the Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM). "It is very positive that another country in the SLMM has produced such an excellent candidate for this important post," said Mr. Erik Solheim, the Norwegian Minister for International Development, in a press release issued by Norway.
Full story >>

European Union welcomes Geneva talks

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 February 2006, 11:51 GMT]
European Commission Delegation in Sri Lanka in a press release issued Tuesday, welcomed the February 22- 23 discussions between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and described the talks as "an opportunity to restore confidence in the Ceasefire Agreement and move forward towards a peaceful future."
Full story >>

Peace delegation Muslim representative still to be appointed

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 February 2006, 15:57 GMT]
Muslim parliamentarians at a meeting held Tuesday in parliamentary complex decided to submit two proposals to President Mahinda Rajapakse on the question of including a Muslim representative in the government delegation, which is to participate in the Geneva talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on February 22 and 23 on strengthening the ceasefire agreement, sources said.
Full story >>

Switzerland welcomes talks, Swiss Ambassador to visit Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 February 2006, 11:16 GMT]
Government of Switzerland in a press release issued from Berne Monday welcomed the decision by the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers to hold talks on February 22-23 and called on "the parties to the conflict to do all within their powers to ensure that the talks can start in a constructive atmosphere." Mr. Hans Brattskar, Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Mr. Bernadino Regazzoni, Switzerland Ambassador to Sri Lanka, will travel to Kilinochchi on Thursday to discuss preparatory arrangements for talks in Geneva with the LTTE Political Head Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan, LTTE Peace Secretariat sources in Kilinochchi said.


Full story >>

Truce talks in Geneva on February 22

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 February 2006, 15:34 GMT]
The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Monday evening informed the press that the parties to the conflict in Sri Lanka, the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, have asked Norway to facilitate talks in Geneva from 22 to 23 February. The announcement comes following the meeting between the Norwegian International Development Minister Mr. Erik Solheim and the Liberation Tigers Chief Negotiator and Political Strategist Mr. Anton Balasingham in London, and Mr. Solheim's consultations with the Government of Sri Lanka following his meeting with Mr. Balasingham.
Full story >>

Norwegian NGO condemns abduction of aid workers

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 February 2006, 11:12 GMT]
FORUT, a Norwegian non-Governmental Organizaton that works in Sri Lanka, said in a press release issued 2 February that it "condemned strongly the abduction of 10 workers from TRO in eastern Sri Lanka," and urged the "Government of Sri Lanka to give highest priority to the investigation of these abductions."
Full story >>

TRO abductions, GoSL response may stall Geneva talks - TNA

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 February 2006, 14:10 GMT]
"We are concerned that the continued deterioration of ground situation in the NorthEast and the abduction of TRO staff members by paramilitaries can potentially prevent Liberation Tigers' participation in Geneva talks," said Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians after a meeting with Head of the LTTE Political Wing, S.P Thamilchelvan at the LTTE Peace Secretariat in Kilinochchi at 11 a.m. Saturday. "Colombo has openly attempted to discredit the LTTE by making misleading statements to the International Community on the recent abductions of TRO staff by the paramilitary cadres," they added. The meeting lasted for more than three hours sources in Kilinochchi said.
Full story >>

Action, not words is needed - paper

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 February 2006, 20:43 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government’s tardy response to the kidnapping of ten aid workers of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) have raised serious doubts about the prospects of peace talks, the Tamil Guardian newspaper said this week. Arguing that “last week’s optimism [about talks] was premature and, as many Tamils now feel, sorely misplaced,” the expatriate publication said “this incident has demonstrated exactly what the future of negotiations with President Rajapakse and his government is likely to be.”
Full story >>

TNA MPs walk out of parliament in protest of killings, abduction

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 February 2006, 06:07 GMT]
If Colombo continued to allow provocative incidents take place in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) controlled areas of the NorthEast, the peace talks planned between the Government and the LTTE would be in jeopardy, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has warned the Sri Lankan Parliament Wednesday. "This is a calculated move to disturb the talks to be held in Geneva between the Government and the LTTE. We demand that the Government to act urgently in this matter and take appropriate action to save the dialogue," Mavai Senathirajah, TNA MP for Jaffna District told a press conference after walking out of the Sri Lankan Parliament.
Full story >>

Tamil farmer shot dead in Lingapuram

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 January 2006, 12:34 GMT]
Unidentified persons shot dead Mr.Thambiah Jeyarajah (50), father of six children Saturday night around 9.30 p.m.while guarding his paddy crop in Lingapuram, a Tamil village in Seruvila division, down south of Trincomalee district. He was the second Tamil farmer killed in Lingapuram within two weeks' period, Police sources said.


Full story >>

EU commends Solheim, welcomes LTTE, GoSL agreement

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 January 2006, 15:39 GMT]
The European Union welcomed the agreement between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the LTTE to have talks in Geneva, and praised Norway's Minister of International Development, Erik Solheim, for his "longstanding and untiring efforts" for peace in Sri Lanka, in press release issued Friday. The office of Julian Wilson, Head of the Delegation of the European Commission to Sri Lanka and the Maldives in Colombo, issued the release.


Full story >>