JM failure will boost prospects for direct aid to Tigers- SLFP

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 June 2005, 10:31 GMT]
"If we fail to agree on the Joint Mechanism (JM) with the LTTE, it is likely that aid will go directly to the Tigers and LTTE controlled NGOs. The Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) will be left out of the decision-making for reconstruction," said a propaganda leaflet circulated by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), main constituent of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government, Wednesday evening when it launched an awareness campaign in eighteen districts in the south of Sri Lanka to win support for the Joint Mechanism proposal, political sources in Colombo said.
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Do Sri Lanka's defense forces have conventional warfare capability?- Taraki

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 May 2005, 00:34 GMT]
In an article in the Colombo-based Tamil daily, Virakesari, on March 27, 2005, Dharmaretnam Sivaram, analyzed the history of Sri Lanka's defense forces and argued that from the very beginning, the Sri Lankan forces' mission was to confront internal crises that the country's ruling elite feared as grave threats, without the strategic thinking required for conventional warfare or to confront external threats.
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Lack of normalcy eclipsed by joint mechanism debate - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 May 2005, 13:26 GMT]
The serious lack of normalcy in the Tamil areas due to continuing military occupation and restrictions on civilians’ livelihoods, even three years after the mutual ceasefire agreement was signed, is leading to severe frustrations amongst the people, the head of the Liberation Tiger’s political wing, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan told Norwegian diplomats Friday. The extraordinary focus on a post-tsunami aid management mechanism is masking the severity of the obstructions to rehabilitation work and the day-to-day difficulties faced by ordinary people, Mr. Thamilchelvan told Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Mr. Hans Brattskar, when they met in Kilinochchi.
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UN petitioned to pressure GoSL for murder inquiry

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 May 2005, 11:16 GMT]
Speakers at a memorial event held in Temple Hall, Paris, condemned the murder of Tamil journalist, Mr Dharmeratnam Sivaram, and urged the United Nation's (UN's) Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression,Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on human rights defenders to pressure the Government of Sri Lanka to conduct an independent inquiry into the killing, a press release issued Friday in France by Tamil Center for Human Rights (TCHR) said.
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World Bank will support Joint Mechanism- Peter Harrold

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 May 2005, 17:12 GMT]
Mr.Peter Harrold, World Bank Country Representative in Sri Lanka, Friday said in Puttalam, a Muslim dominated town in the north of Western Province, that the World Bank extends its full support to the implementation of the Joint Mechanism proposed by the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for tsunami rehabilitation in the northeast.
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VVT fishermen to launch street protest

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 May 2005, 16:33 GMT]
Fisheries Co-operative Societies in the Valvettithurai division in Jaffna district Friday warned the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) that their members would launch a street protest from next week with damaged boats in tsunami if they are not provided with new boats and fishing gear, sources.
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Civil Groups appeal to reopen Nagarkovil Road

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 May 2005, 14:39 GMT]
Nagarkovil Civil Groups Consortium in Vadamaradchchi east division in the Jaffna district Friday sent a memorandum to Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge to take immediate steps to open the Nagarkovil Road located in the high security zone (HSZ), sources said. The road is currently closed for public use.


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Govt. of Sri Lanka is accountable for journalist's murder- US Tamils

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 May 2005, 00:48 GMT]
"Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) is accountable for the murder of journalist Mr D Sivaram," said a press release issued by a group of US Tamil Organizations, Sunday. "Sadly, the murder of Mr. Sivaram is not an aberration; it is consistent with a long history of state-sponsored murders of journalists and political opponents, and general contempt for freedom, democracy and the rule of law which have become the norm for Sri-Lanka," the release further said.
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Trade unions hold May Day rallies in Jaffna, Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 May 2005, 13:59 GMT]
Tamil speaking trade unions under one wing held May rallies followed by processions in Jaffna and Trincomalee Sunday with large number of trade union activists participating. Marchers carried photograph of journalist Mr.D.Sivaram who was brutally killed in Colombo last Thursday.
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GTZ assists psychosocial counselling in NE schools

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 April 2005, 02:40 GMT]
The German Agency for Technical Co-operation (GTZ) of the German Ministry of Economic Co-operation and Development has donated about 3.1 million rupees worth of playing tools, building blocks, musical toys, puzzles, chess boards and sport equipments to support psycho social counselling in schools in five education zones, Akkaraipattu, Batticaloa, Kalmunai, Mullaitivu and Vadamaradchchi in the northeast province, sources said.
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SLA bans transport of torch batteries to Muttur east

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 April 2005, 19:06 GMT]
Mr.S.Elilan, Trincomalee district political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Friday lodged a complaint with the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in Trincomalee that soldiers in the Kaddaiparichchan Sri Lanka Army are preventing people taking torch batteries to and from LTTE controlled Muttur east villages. Kaddaiparichchan SLA camp is located on the border of the SLA and LTTE controlled areas in the Muttur division, sources said.
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Christina Rocca meets JVP delegation

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 April 2005, 16:16 GMT]
The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), Sinhala Marxist Nationalist Party and a major constituent of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government, Wednesday told Ms Christina Rocca, the visiting US Assistant Secretary of State, that JVP is opposed to the joint mechanism which was proposed to enable the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to disburse funds from foreign governments and international aid agencies to assist tsunami rehabilitation and reconstruction programme in the northeast, sources said.


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Where the truce promise rings hollow

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 April 2005, 14:26 GMT]
The cease fire agreement between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers was greeted eagerly by the people of Batticaloa because it held out the hope that their daily lives would be spared of the tensions, fears, anxieties, stress and trauma which they suffered for two long decades of war. They were glad that they could lead normal lives again. Today the cease fire’s promise rings increasingly hollow to them as the Sri Lankan armed forces reintroduce war era measures, which are tinged indelibly with bitter memories of a past the people of Batticaloa wanted to put behind so that they could start their lives anew.
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Solheim meets Govt. Peace Secretariat head

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 April 2005, 17:24 GMT]
Mr.Erik Solheim, Norwegian special peace envoy Monday met with the Head of the Government Peace Secretariat, Dr Jayantha Dhanapala, and discussed in detail about resolving issues confronting the formation of the joint mechanism between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The joint mechanism is proposed to take forward the tsunami relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction programme in the northeast province, sources said.
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Solheim arrives in Colombo, visits Puttalam

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 April 2005, 14:37 GMT]
Mr.Erik Solheim, Norwegian special peace envoy arrived in Colombo Sunday on a five day visit to Sri Lanka amid expectation that he would seal an agreement between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) that would establish a joint mechanism to take forward the post-tsunami relief, reconstruction and rehabilitation programme in the northeast province, sources said.
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SLA yet to allow mechanized fishing in Ariyalai Sea

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 April 2005, 14:58 GMT]
Fisheries societies sources said that even after elapse of three years from the signing of a ceasefire agreement (CFA) between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers of tamil Eelam (LTTE), the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) stationed in the Jaffna district have yet to allow fishermen of Ariyalai area, a suburb of Jaffna town, to use fishing crafts fitted with outboard engines.
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NESOHR delegation meets UN Rapporteur on education

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 April 2005, 10:25 GMT]
A delegation of the North East Secretariat On Human Rights (NESOHR) led by its Vice President Mr. K. Sivapalan (Attorney-at-Law), met with Mr. Vermor Munoz Villalobos, the Special Rapporteur on Rights to Education of the UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) on Wednesday in Geneva. Mr. T. Mahasivam, member of the NESOHR also participated. The NESOHR delegation submitted a detailed report about the discrimination shown to Tamils and Muslims students in Sri Lanka in the sphere of education.
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LTTE delegation in Finland, meets with Foreign Minister and Åland representative

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 March 2005, 23:54 GMT]
"The Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) was supposed to bring normalcy. But, under the pretext of High Security Zones (HSZ), Tamil people were denied of access to their homes. The war-displaced people were then heavily struck by the tsunami that multiplied the hardships. The delay in institutionalising a Joint Mechanism and the continued Sri Lankan military support to paramilitary operatives in violation to the CFA clause 1.8 have created a collective sense of frustration in the minds of the Tamil People," Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan, LTTE's Political Head explained to Finnish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Erkki Tuomioja, who received the LTTE delegation in Helsinki on Wednesday.
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Equitable distribution of aid stressed in Helsinki meet

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 March 2005, 05:31 GMT]
“Post-tsunami aid should be equitably distributed in proportion to the damage," said Ambassador Mikko Pyhala, Asia and Oceania, when he met the Liberation Tigers' delegation led by Head of the LTTE Political Wing, S.P Thamilchelvan, at the Finland Ministry of Foreign Affairs Tuesday, LTTE sources in Helsinki said. Ambassador Pyhala also encouraged the parties, the LTTE and the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL), to arrive at a decision without further delay to institutionalize the joint mechanism for post tsunami management, sources further said.
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Thamilchelvan expresses serious concern over CFA violations

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 March 2005, 05:32 GMT]
"Norwegian facilitators should take serious note of the deteriorating situation which tends to have adverse effects on the CFA, the peace process and most importantly, post-tsunami management", Mr. S.P. Thamilchelvan, LTTE's Political Head told Norwegian Special Envoy Mr. Erik Solheim who met him in Vienna on Monday. Thamilchelvan expressed serious concern over attacks on Liberation Tigers political officials and unarmed cadres in Amparai and Batticaloa in Sri Lankan military controlled areas. In the meantime, situation is tense in Amparai on Tuesday as protestors called for a Hartal condemning the STF attack on LTTE's Political Head for Amparai, Mr. Kuyilinpan.
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