Akashi to meet Thamilchelvan in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 February 2005, 09:55 GMT]
Japan's special peace envoy to Sri Lanka, Mr. Yasushi Akashi, will meet head of Liberation Tigers' politicial division, Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan, Saturday in Kokkaddicholai, 15 kilometres southwest of Batticaloa town, Japanese sources in Colombo said. Mr. Akashi will discuss Tsunami relief work and aid in the northeast and the current state of the island's long stalled peace process when he meets Mr. Thamilchelvan in the LTTE held region.
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Thamilchelvan slams Colombo for Kousalyan's slaying

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 February 2005, 14:35 GMT]
"The cowardly act of the Sri Lankan government has taken away Kousalyan and his colleagues from us. Kousalyan came back to Batticaloa with many dreams. He came back with ambitious plans to rebuild this land, devastated by the Tsunami and impoverished by the war imposed by the Sinhala chauvinist state", said Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan, head of LTTE's political division on Thursday, speaking at the funeral of Mr. E. Kousalyan, at Thandiyadi Martyr's Memorial in Batticaloa.
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SL President declares State of Emergency again

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 February 2005, 11:40 GMT]
Sri Lanka Government has declared a State of Emergency in Tsunami affected Districts again, political sources in Colombo said. Sri Lanka Parliament was informed that Ms Kumaratunge had by Gazette notification published on 3rd February re-declared the State of Emergency for a period of 1 month. The Parliament is scheduled to debate the Emergency declaration on Friday, 11 February, sources said.


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Colombo cannot disclaim responsibility for Kausalyan killing- TNA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 February 2005, 11:41 GMT]
The killings of LTTE Political Head for Batticaloa and Amparai districts Mr.E.Koushalyan, TNA former parliamentarian Mr.A. Chandra Nehru and four others on February 7 raise question as to "how such an attack was carried in an area, which has a strong Armed Forces presence. The question also arises as to who could have carried out such an attack without being deterred by the strong presence of Armed Forces," said Mr.R.Sampanthan, TNA parliamentary group leader in a statement made in parliament Wednesday morning, parliamentary sources said.


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Baby 81 DNA results out in one week

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 February 2005, 09:57 GMT]
Baby 81 with a nurse, two maidens and two armed policemen left Kalmunai Tuesday 10 PM in an ambulance reached Colombo National Hospital early morning 6 AM on Wednesday. After a short stay at the Hospital, the baby was taken to Genetech lab in Borella at 10 AM for DNA tests, medical sources in Colombo said.
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Kousalyan’s body released after 19 hour delay

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 February 2005, 11:42 GMT]
Polannaruwa magistrate Tuesday evening instructed hospital authorities to send Mr. Kousalyan’s body to Batticaloa hospital for autopsy after a delay of more than 19 hours. LTTE officials from Batticaloa who went to take over the body early Tuesday morning said that it had been disfigured by the assassins. The Liberation Tigers strongly objected to the delay in releasing Mr. Kousalyan’s body and a move by the Polannaruwa base hospital authorities to transfer Mr. Kousalyan’s body to Colombo for autopsy.
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Greek Hospital ship idles as SLN blocks patients

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 February 2005, 11:24 GMT]
The Greek floating hospital has been idling in Trincomalee harbour since it arrived Saturday morning following the restriction by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) allowing patients from the Trincomalee general hospital to the vessel citing security reasons. The passenger ship OCEAN MONARCH converted into a hospital with modern operating theatre and laboratories with a team of seventy member medical team is now anchored in the Ashraff Jetty awaiting instruction from Colombo government authorities to begin its mission, sources said.
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JVP says will boycott Tsunami debate

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 February 2005, 06:40 GMT]
In the first clear signal of a rift with President Kumaratunga, her main coalition partner, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), said Tuesday that it will not take part in the debate on the Tsunami devastation in Sri Lanka’s Parliament on Wednesday and Thursday. With thirty nine MPs, the JVP calls the shots in the ruling coalition. If the party pulls out of the Kumaratunga led alliance, Sri Lanka’s President has to go for another general election or seek the support of her rival, Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe, to run the government.
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Wounded ex-TNA MP dies

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 February 2005, 05:07 GMT]
Mr. Ariyanayagam Chandra Nehru, ex-Tamil National Alliance MP for Amparai district, succumbed to his wounds Tuesday morning in Colombo. He was seriously injured when gunmen suspected to be working with the Sri Lanka army shot dead senior Liberation Tigers official, Mr. E. Kousalyan and three members of the LTTE who were traveling with Mr. Nehru in his van to Batticaloa Monday night. Mr. Nehru was elected to Parliament at the general elections in December 2001. Mr. Nehru is the eldest son of one of the most senior leaders of the Tamil rights movement on the east coast, Mr. Arappor Ariyanayagam.
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Kousalyan killed in ambush

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 February 2005, 16:08 GMT]
Mr. E. Kousalyan, head of the Liberation Tigers' political division for Batticaloa-Amparai district was killed in an ambush on the highway to Batticaloa Monday night around 7.45, Sri Lanka military sources said. Three persons who were travelling with him were killed and four were injured including two policemen in the attack which took place between Sri Lanka army garrisons at Welikanda and Punanai, northwest of Battialoa, according to the SLA. Mr. Kousalyan was traveling with Mr. Ariyanayagam Chandra Nehru, former TNA MP for Amparai district, who was seriously injured in the ambush.
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Sri Lanka Navy rescues abandoned refugees

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 February 2005, 11:53 GMT]
Seventeen refugees rescued by Sri Lanka Navy from a sandbank at mid sea were produced in the Mannar court Monday. Indian refugee runners who had promised to illegally ferry them to Mannar abandoned them on one of the shifting sandbanks of the Adam’s Bridge in the early hours of Saturday morning. Mannar magistrate released the refugees.


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Country Reps of WB, ADB, JBIC, UN to meet LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 February 2005, 11:36 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Country Representatives of the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Japan Bank for International Co-operation (JBIC) and the United Nations (UN) are visiting to Kilinochchi on Tuesday to meet LTTE's Head of Political Wing, Mr. S.P. Thamilselvan to discuss the post-tsunami rebuilding process. This was revealed at a joint press briefing held at the Trans Asia Hotel in Colombo on Monday.
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TNA boycotts Tsunami reconstruction meeting

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 February 2005, 11:09 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) boycotted a meeting convened by Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge to discuss the question oTsunami reconstruction, held at 11 a.m. today at the Presidential Secretariat, political sources in Colombo said.
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A question of land

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 February 2005, 03:04 GMT]
“We appealed to the President, we appealed to the Special Task Force, we wrote to the Government Agent and we wrote to several ministers in the government. We pleaded with all of them to find us suitable land to restart our lives. We explained to them why we wanted to leave the camp for Tsunami refugees in Akkaraipattu. But no one responded. That’s why we packed our belongings and came here when we heard of this opportunity”, Ms. Pathmanathan Seetha, told TamilNet, explaining her decision to move to Kavudaapuddi, a mound overlooking the lagoon behind her Tsunami destroyed village on Sri Lanka’s remote southeast coast.
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Greek floating hospital to help Trinco tsunami victims

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 February 2005, 19:44 GMT]
A Greek passenger ship converted into a floating hospital arrived in Trincomalee harbour around 9 a.m., Saturday morning with a 70 member medical team. The ship will remain in the eastern port town till 31 March, said Mr.Efstathios Lozos, Ambassador of Greece to Sri Lanka, addressing journalists on board.
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Colombo dragging feet on joint mechanism, says Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 February 2005, 12:11 GMT]
"The Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) is still dragging its feet over the establishment of a joint mechanism to take forward the reconstruction and rehabilitation of tsunami destroyed Tamil coastal areas in the northeast province," said Mr S P Thamilchelvan, Political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) addressing a press conference following his two hour- talks with Mr Hans Brattskar, Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka held Saturday morning in LTTE Peace Secretariat in Killinochchi, sources said.
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JVP, JHU boycott Independence Day celebrations

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 February 2005, 18:29 GMT]
Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), the powerful ultra Sinhala nationalist Buddhist monks' party in Sri Lanka's Parliament, boycotted Friday's Independence day celebrations organised by Chandrika Kumaratunga's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government, ven. Ellawala Madhananda Thera, the Head of the JHU, told media Friday. Another significant player absent in Friday's celebrations was the marxist extreme Sinhala nationalist party, Janatha Vimukti Peramuna (JVP).
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Netherlands calls for 'conflict sensitivity assurance' in allocation of rebuilding aid

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 February 2005, 14:42 GMT]
Expressing its belief that the government of Sri Lanka would effectively and efficiently channel the international support to all Sri Lankan citizens in need, irrespective of their ethnic and religious affiliations, the government of Netherlands on Friday called for conflict sensitivity assurance in disbursing the international post-tsunami assistance for relief and reconstruction effort.
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Trinco tsunami hit hospitals get medical equipments

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 February 2005, 11:22 GMT]
Franco-Sri Lanka Business Council in Colombo has donated a consignment of medical equipments to North East Provincial Health Department to strengthen its medical services in tsunami-hit areas such as Sampoor, and Eachchilampathu in Trincomalee district and Vakarai in the Batticaloa district, sources said.
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Police security tightened at Kalmunai hospital

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 February 2005, 16:43 GMT]
Judge M.P.Mohideen has ordered the Kalmunai Police to tighten the security provided to Baby 81 at the Kalmunai Base Hospital after Wednesdays incident. The judge has ordered the Police to provide security also during the DNA test which is scheduled to be conducted on 9th of February in Sri Lanka's capital Colombo, sources at the hospital said.
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