UN Envoy Wahlstrom visits Jaffna district

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 January 2005, 17:15 GMT]
Ms. Margareta Wahlstrom, United Nations Secretary General's Special Envoy Sunday visited Jaffna district, UN sources said. Accompanied by Ms. Miguel Bermieo, UNDP Country Director UN and representatives of Fisheries Co-operative Societies she visited Tsunami destroyed coastal areas from Point Pedro to Valvettithurai.
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Canadian PM arrives in Colombo to support tsunami relief

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 January 2005, 14:23 GMT]
Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin arrived in Colombo on Sunday evening for a two day visit to the country. Sri Lanka's Deputy Foreign Minister Lakshman Kiriella welcomed him at the Katunayake international airport. Officials from the Foreign ministry were also present at the welcome, sources in Colombo said.
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Top US defence official on a review visit to Colombo

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 January 2005, 10:22 GMT]
Deputy Defence Secretary of the United States of America, Paul Wolfowitz is scheduled to arrive in Colombo Monday morning on a short review visit to meet Sri Lankan government officials and tour to tsunami-affected areas in the Southern Galle district.
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ADB President visits Trincomalee, meets Tsunami victims

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 January 2005, 14:07 GMT]
Mr.Tadao Chino, President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Saturday visited Trincomalee and witnessed the destruction to coastal areas in Tsunami disaster and met with victims sheltered in welfare centres. Mr.Y.Kanzaki, Chief Advisor, Mr.K.Senga, Director General, Mr.Alessandro A.Pio, Country Director and Mr.Lan A Gill of ADB accompanied him. Sri Lanka's Treasury Secretary Mr.S.B.Jeyasundara and his Deputy Mr.S.B.Divaratne also came with the ADB team.
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Mullaithivu, a model for structuring relief efforts- Rotary DG

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 January 2005, 06:18 GMT]
Mr. Lucky Peiris, Governor of Rotary District 3220 Sri Lanka, speaking to journalists in Trincomalee Friday evening, praised the commitment and devotion shown in the Mullaitivu district in providing relief to the Tsunami victims. LTTE cadres got into action and cleared debris to assist affected people within minutes after tsunami struck Mullaithivu district. This efficiency is urgently needed in other parts of the country, he added.
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Two soldiers die in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 January 2005, 17:02 GMT]
The government security establishment Friday informed the Jaffna Police that two soldiers one from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and the other from the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN)navy had died suddenly in their stations. Police teams from Manipay and Kayts Friday handed over the bodies of the two soldiers to the Jaffna Teaching Hospital, Jaffna Police said.


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Eelathunathan demise irreparable loss to Tamil nation- Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 January 2005, 16:45 GMT]
The sudden death of Mr.S.Pathmanathan also known as Eelathunathan, President of the Trincomalee district branch of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) and a member of the central working committee of the TULF has come as a great shock to Tamils of the country, said Mr.R.Sampanthan, Secretary General of the TULF and parliamentary group leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in a condolence message issued Saturday.
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ADB President to visit Trinco Saturday

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 January 2005, 16:21 GMT]
Mr. Tado Chino, President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is to pay a one day visit to Trincomalee Saturday to witness the destruction caused to coastal areas hit by Tsunami and visit welfare centres sheltering victims of the natural disaster, sources said.
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Avoid politicisation of relief efforts, cautions EU

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 January 2005, 15:31 GMT]
Calling upon President Chandrika Kumaratunga's United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government, all political parties and the LTTE to actively promote a fair distribution of relief assistance to the tsunami victims, Colombo-based Heads of Missions of the European Union on Friday cautioned that there should be no politicisation of relief efforts. In an apparent reaction to the government's decision to deploy its military to handle the relief assistance, the member countries of the EU have also urged all parties to refrain from any actions during the distribution of humanitarian aid that might have a potentially negative impact on the peace process.
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UNHCR deputy head to visit Sri Lanka next week

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 January 2005, 12:34 GMT]
Deputy head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Mr. Kamel Morjane, will be visiting Sri Lanka next week from Tuesday to review UNHCR's work on the ground behalf of people displaced by the tsunami and the conflict.
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Colombo in regular touch with LTTE, says Jayantha Dhanapala

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 January 2005, 19:07 GMT]
The head of the Government's Secretariat for Coordinating Peace Process (SCOPP) Mr. Jayanda Dhanapala said Thursday that the arrangements are in place to be in regular touch with the LTTE for the purpose of coordinating disaster relief operation and to develop a 'positive partnership' in recovering from the common adversity. Stating that these arrangements were made by the Norwegian facilitators, he said that a hotline has also been established to maintain the regular contact with the LTTE. Mr. Dhanapala was addressing a press conference in Colombo at the Board of Investment (BOI) auditorium on the Government's Recovery program aftermath the tsunami.
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Colombo restricting aid flow to LTTE areas- Col. Sornam

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 January 2005, 17:58 GMT]
Colonel Sornam, Trincomalee district military commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Thursday told the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) that the Government of Sri Lanka is restricting the flow of foreign aid under the tsunami relief operations to the LTTE controlled areas. Colonel Sornam Thursday morning held discussions with Major General (retd) Trond Furuhovde for the first time since he took over the LTTE military command of the Trincomalee district last year, sources said.


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Veteran Tamil activist dies in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 January 2005, 20:55 GMT]
Mr.S.Pathmanathan, veteran Tamil activist and fondly called as " Eelathunathan" in the northeast Tamil political circles passed away Wednesday evening in Colombo hospital after brief illness. He was sixty at that time of death, family sources said.
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UNP MP says Government cashes in on victims' misery

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 January 2005, 20:18 GMT]
"Sri Lankan Government is trying to implement its own plan under the guise of tsunami victims relief," said Dr. Rajitha Senaratne, a senior parliamentarian of the United National Party (UNP). "Government has lost its credibility in the eyes of the world. UN decision to directly audit foreign aid to Sri Lanka shows that it has no confidence in the financial management of the government," he said speaking at a press conference held in the office of the opposition leader in Colombo on Wednesday.
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HRCSL appoints task force to monitor aid distribution

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 January 2005, 19:49 GMT]
The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) Wednesday decided to set up a Special Task Force to monitor all relief and rehabilitation works to Tsunami victims in the country to ensure equal distribution to all affected parties. A decision to this effect was taken at top-level meeting held at the headquarters of the HRCSL presided by its Chairperson ms Radhika Cumaraswamy, sources said.
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UN brings top US firm to audit tsunami relief aid

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 January 2005, 09:33 GMT]
Amidst widespread allegations of mishandling of tsunami aid operation, the United Nations have Tuesday called in a top US audit firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers, to monitor and ensure the pledged international post-tsunami relief support reaches the right people.
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Indian High Commissioner visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 January 2005, 19:32 GMT]
Ms Nirupama Sen, Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Tuesday visited northern town of Jaffna. She arrived in Palaly by a special aircraft. Thereafter she was taken in a Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) helicopter and showed the coastal area destruction in Manatkadu and Kudathanai, sources said.
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Government submits estimates to donor countries

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 January 2005, 14:46 GMT]
Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) has submitted a special report to donor countries outlining plans and estimates for tsunami relief work. The report's estimated total for tsunami relief work is Rs. 1.5 billion. Report was prepared by the Department of National Planning within the ministry of Finance and Planning.
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Shankar Raji dies

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 January 2005, 03:04 GMT]
Mr. Thirunesan alias Shankar Raji (54), a leader of a minor breakaway faction of EROS died of a heart attack Monday morning, sources said. Shankara Raji is a close assosicate of Mr. Douglas Devananda.
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Colombo tries to shift blame on mishandling Annan's itinerary

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 January 2005, 23:47 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Foreign Ministry in a statement issued on Sunday tried to shift the blame on mishandling itinerary of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's visit, which sparked controversy that Colombo blocked him from visiting LTTE-controlled areas in the Northeast to witness the devastating tsunami destruction. The Foreign Ministry said that the final itinerary was drawn only after the government authorities and UNDP's Resident Representative's Office reached an agreement in Colombo.
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