SLA rounds up thousand young men, women in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 October 2005, 11:50 GMT]
More than one thousand young men and women from areas of Mamankam, Jayanthipuram, Iruthayapuram and Urani, some popular and heavily populated suburbs of Batticaloa town were herded into common grounds by the Sri Lankan Military personnel in a cordon and search operation that was launched Monday early morning at 4:00 a.m. Masked paramilitary cadres wearing military uniforms assisted the Sri Lanka army personnel to round up the Tamil youth and parade them to common grounds for identification.
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The LTTE’s New Concept- Confederation: Taraki

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 October 2005, 04:41 GMT]
In the 31st July 1991 issue of Sri Lanka's English daily, Island International, popular journalist and military analyst, late Dharmeratnam Sivaram, portrays the 1991 battle of Elephant Pass as demonatrating the LTTE's capability as a conventional army and predicts how this emergent force will dictate the trajectory of Sri Lanka's war.
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NPC urges NorthEast Tamils to vote

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 October 2005, 12:26 GMT]
Media Director of the Sri Lanka National Peace Council (NPC), Dr.Jehan Perera, Saturday appealed to the Tamil people vote for a candidate who could promote peaceful political solution to the ethnic problem and not to boycott the presidential election. He was addressing a seminar on "North-South Dialogue for Rebuilding of Sri Lankan Democratic Institutions," held at the Media Research and Training Centre of the Jaffna University.
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Fostering political transformation, key to peace - Norwegian Don

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 October 2005, 08:48 GMT]
Transformation of the Sri Lankan democracy into one that is capable of handling conflicts is essential in addition to the political transformation of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam for Sri Lanka to resolve its pressing ethnic struggle, notes Kristian Stokke, a Professor of Human Geography at the Department of Sociology and Human Geography at the University of Oslo, Norway. Pointing to the post-tsunami period which has witnessed divisive politicization of both peace and development due to the intra-elite fragmentation and rivalry in Sri Lankan polity, Prof Stokke argues that international community can only act as an enabler to stimulate the needed transformation.
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Foundation laid for Chavakachcheri children medical unit

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 October 2005, 07:56 GMT]
Mr.Kyagama, Director of the Foundation for International Development Relief (FIDR) and Mr.K.Ganesh, Jaffna's Government Agent Saturday laid the foundation stone for children medical unit in the Chavakachcheri hospital. The unit is to be constructed at a cost 2 million rupees funded by the FIDR based in Japan, health department sources said.
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Trincomalee Declaration demands SL troops to vacate NorthEast

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 October 2005, 08:28 GMT]
Tamil speaking people in large numbers from north, west and south of the Trincomalee district attended the Tamil National Resurgence Convention held Saturday morning in the Playground located along the Inner Harbour Road in the east port city which is controlled by the Sri Lanka Army. Co-ordinating Committee of the Tamil national Resurgence in Trincomalee District, in the declaration, demanded the Sri Lanka troops to vacate the NorthEast land and seas and declared that the rally "demonstrates to the international community the thirst for freedom of the Tamil nation."
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UN agencies briefed on Trinco resurgence convention

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 October 2005, 00:11 GMT]
Mr.R.Sampanthan, leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Thursday morning briefed the representatives of the UN agencies, international non-governmental organizations, and the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) working in Trincomalee district on the reasons for holding the Tamil National Resurgence Convention on October 22 in the east port city.
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Rajapakse rejects self-determination, slams foreign intervention

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 October 2005, 01:38 GMT]
In his much-anticipated Presidential election manifesto Mahinda Rajapakse said he would hold talks with the Liberation Tigers on “ending separatism, disarming and [their] entering the democratic process.” In his manifesto, details of which were published in the Sunday Times this week, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) candidate said he hoped that in forging a solution to the ‘crisis in the north and east’ to follow “the theme of undivided country, consensus of the majority and peace with dignity.”
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CFA has failed to advance peace-Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 October 2005, 16:30 GMT]
The ceasefire (CFA) agreement signed by the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) in the year 2002 with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam because of the military strength of the LTTE in the battlefield has not helped the Tamil speaking people to achieve their political aspirations even after four years, said Mr.R.Sampanthan, Tamil National Alliance parliamentary group leader and Trincomalee district parliamentarians addressing an awareness meeting in regard to the proposed Tamil National Resurgence Convention which is to be held on October 22, sources said.
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Military and LTTE in ‘subversive war’ – Oslo envoy

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 October 2005, 14:56 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s military and the Liberation Tigers are locked in a ‘subversive war,’ visiting Norwegian envoy Major Gen. (retd) Trond Furuhovde said Friday, calling on both sides to exercise restraint.


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Furuhovde arrives in Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 October 2005, 12:55 GMT]
The Special Representative of the Norwegian Government and former Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) Major General (Ret.) Trond Furuhovde arrived in Colombo Monday from Oslo to evaluate the current state of the ceasefire.
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Southern journalists on goodwill mission to Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 October 2005, 02:15 GMT]
About fifty sinhalese journalists and three Buddhist monks from Hambantota, Galle and Matara from south of Sri Lanka arrived in Trincomalee Saturday evening on a four-day good-will mission to obtain first hand information about problems faced mainly by Tamil people and others in the Trincomalee district and in areas held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The National Peace Council (NPC) of Sri Lanka organized this visit, sources said.


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School re-opens in Thenmaradchchi HSZ after six years

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 October 2005, 10:18 GMT]
Eluthumaduval North Government Tamil Mixed School located in the high security zone of Thenmaradchchi in Jaffna reopened in its own buildings, after six years. Students, teachers and well-wishers led by the Principal entered the school buildings Thursday and cleaned the class-rooms, sources said.
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Norwegian Special Representative Furuhovde to visit Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 October 2005, 04:04 GMT]
Major General (ret'd) Trond Furuhovde, former head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, will visit Sri Lanka on Monday as a Special Reprsentative of the Norwegian Government to consult with the parties. As a meeting between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to discuss the implementation of the Ceasefire Agreement is not likely to occur in the near future, the visit of the Special Representative would provide an opportunity for both parties to propose measures for strengthening the implementation of the agreement, a press release issued by the Norwegian Embassy in Colombo said Friday.
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Doyen of FP, uncompromising on Tamil National question

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 October 2005, 00:16 GMT]
Are leaders of Sinhala community prepared to share state power with Tamils? Mr. V. Navaratnam, the only surviving founder member of the Federal Party that provided political leadership to Tamils for more than three decades since it was formed in 1949, and described as the brain behind FP, shared with TamilNet his views on Tamil National struggle. The doyen of Tamil politics who negotiated with the father of the incumbent President Chandrika Kumaratunge and other Sri Lanka leaders for sharing state power within a federal framework for almost three decades turns 96-years this month in Montreal, Canada. He also inked the Bandaranaiyake Chelvanayagam pact.
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Vilankulam families benefit from housing project

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 October 2005, 11:10 GMT]
Internally displaced families who fled from Vilankulam, a Tamil village located on the Trincomalee-Kandy highway about 13 km off southwest of the east port city, twenty years ago following ethnic disturbances are slowly resettling back in their own lands. The Trincomalee Rotary Club (TRC) has been implementing a low-cost housing project for these resettled families. Mr.Nihal Bogahalande, Sri Lanka's District Rotary Governor handed over the first house under this project to a beneficiary family on the twentieth anniversary of their displacement last weekend.


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Will EU declaration help Sri Lanka's peace?

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 October 2005, 02:54 GMT]
The European Union’s (EU’s) announcement that it "will not receive members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in its member states until further notice," and is considering formally listing the LTTE as a terrorist organization has raised both controversy and questions over whether the move will aid or hurt the island’s stalled peace process.
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Danish group declares areas in Kanniya, Thiriyai mine free

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 September 2005, 05:34 GMT]
About 10,000 square meter area in Kanniya and about 8,000 square meter area in Thiriyai in the Trincomalee district have been declared mine free by the Danish Demining Group (DDG), civil society sources in Trincomalee said. Mr.Magnus Johansson, Technical Advisor of the DDG Wednesday and Thursday handed over "Release of Land Certificates" to the civil authority in these villages.
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TRO Batticaloa office attacked, one dead, two injured

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 September 2005, 16:09 GMT]
A 70-years-old storewatcher was killed when two motorbike-riding men lobbed grenades at the Tamil Rehabilitation Office located on Station Road near Batticaloa Railway station around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, police said. TRO in a news release said that the attackers fired with automatic rifles for 35 minutes at their office where the watcher was killed and two TRO's Technical Officers were injured. The attackers had lobbed at least three grenades at the TRO office, according to the Police. There are two Sri Lanka Army sentry points within 100 meters from the TRO office.
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LTTE-SLMM hold talks in Pallai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 September 2005, 14:20 GMT]
Mr.Hagrup Haukland, Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) Friday met with Mr.C.Ilamparithi, Jaffna district political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at the latter's district political office located in Pallai in the LTTE controlled Killinochchi district, sources in Jaffna said. Mr. Ari Pekka Nimella, Jaffna district head of the SLMM also met with Mr.Ilamprithi at the same venue on Saturday, sources said.
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