JVP leader expected on pact signing day

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 January 2004, 18:57 GMT]
Mr. Somawansa Amarasinghe, the secretive leader of the Sinhala nationalist Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) who lives in London, will return to Sri Lanka on 20 January, the Political Bureau of the party said Friday. The JVP and President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party are scheduled to sign an agreement cementing a political alliance on 20 January.
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Jaffna parents protest, want schools reopened

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 January 2004, 15:55 GMT]
Parents demonstrated in two separate places in the Thenmaradchi division of Jaffna Friday demanding that schools where their children studied before they fled the war in 1999-2000 be reopened without delay. The parents’ protest were held amid claims by Colombo that 20000 children have returned to their schools in Sri Lanka’s war ravaged northeast since the Liberation Tigers signed a ceasefire agreement with the Sri Lankan government in Feb. 2003.
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Furuhovde to return as new SLMM Head

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 January 2004, 13:51 GMT]
Maj. Gen (ret.) Trond Furuhovde will assume duties as the new head of the Nordic mission monitoring the ceasefire between the Liberation Tigers and the armed forces of Sri Lanka, Norwegian government said Friday. He will assume duties from 1 February 2004. Maj. Gen (ret) Furuhovde served as the first head of the monitoring mission from March 2002 to Feb. 2003. His successor was recalled by Norway following a complaint by Sri Lanka's President against him.
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Akashi to visit Colombo, Kilinochchi next week

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 January 2004, 06:34 GMT]
Japan's special envoy for Sri Lanka, Mr. Yashushi Akashi will visit Colombo and Kilinochchi next week for talks with Sri Lankan leaders and the Liberation Tigers. During his visit Mr. Akashi will chair the second follow up meeting of the Tokyo donors' conference on reconstruction and development of Sri Lanka on 23 January in Colombo.
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‘Nothing from Colombo to rebuild Chavakachcheri’ – UC

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 January 2004, 15:43 GMT]
‘The Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) hasn’t provided any assistance at all so far to rebuild or repair public buildings and amenities in Chavakachcheri which were destroyed in the war although two years have gone by since the town’s residents resettled’, said the Secretary of the Chavakachcheri Urban Council, Mr. M. S Saravanabhava, addressing the inauguration of the newly formed Urban Development Advisory Board for the second largest town of Jaffna peninsula Wednesday.
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Sinhala nationalists burn another church in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 January 2004, 09:52 GMT]
A group of Sinhala Buddhist protestors set fire to a Catholic chuch late Wednesday night in a town on the outskirts of Colombo, Sri Lanka Police said. Six churches of different christian denominations have been burnt in recent months in the rising tide of violence against Christians in the Sinhala majority districts of Sri Lanka.
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Tigers await Colombo outcome, vow to observe truce

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 January 2004, 00:07 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers have given a solemn pledge to the Norwegian facilitators of the peace process in Sri Lanka that their organization would abide by the terms and conditions of the two year old cease-fire agreement and maintain peace, irrespective of the continuing turmoil in Colombo.
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Enjoining order in Anandasangaree case extended

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 January 2004, 15:44 GMT]
The Colombo Additional District Judge Mr.W.Ganepola Wednesday extended the enjoining order preventing the Secretary General and Senior Vice President of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) from summoning the central working committee or any meeting of the TULF without the permission of the party's President Mr.V.Ananadasangaree and rejected the application moved by respondents to vacate the enjoining order, legal sources said.


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Sri Lanka President, Sinhala nationalists strike deal

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 January 2004, 12:25 GMT]
The Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna and President Chandrika Kumaratunga's Sri Lanka Freedom Party will sign the long delayed agreement to form a political alliance on 20 January 2004, spokesmen for the parties announced Wednesday. The JVP has been campaigning for the cancellation of the cease fire agreement between Colombo and the Liberation Tigers.
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Sri Lanka PM commits to implement possible provisions of truce

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 January 2004, 12:03 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said Wednesday that his government would continue to implement the provisions of the cease fire agreement with the Liberation Tigers for restoring normalcy in the northeast. He was addressing a forum for peace and democracy at the Sr Lanka Foundation Institute in Colombo Wednesday.
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GoSL signs $80 million loan package from ADB for NE rehabilitation

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 January 2004, 09:01 GMT]
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Government of Sri Lanka Wednesday signed first part of an US$80 million loan package to address the immediate rehabilitation needs of almost 2 million conflict-affected people in the north and east of the country, said a press release issued by the Sri lanka Resident Mission of the Asian Development Bank.
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Colombo to decide on North East LG elections

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 January 2004, 04:26 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Elections Commissioner will have to decide on whether to hold the Local Government (LG) elections in the North East, which were postponed last year by the United National Front Government until January 24, said Mr. Alik Aluvihare, the UNF Minister for Local Government Councils.
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Sri Lanka President sets hurdle for stateless Tamils

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 January 2004, 15:07 GMT]
The Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga Tuesday ordered that the granting of citizenship to stateless Tamils in the island “should not be done in a manner that would provide political advantage to one party." The order refers to the Ceylon Workers’ Congress (CWC), the Tamil trade union and political party that lobbied for and succeeded in passing legislation to grant citizenship to thousands of stateless Tamils in Sri Lanka last year. The CWC was recently involved in a program by the UNHCR to help stateless Tamils apply for citizenship.
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Coal piles in Thampalakamam, potential health hazard - MP

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 January 2004, 04:30 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Mr.K.Thurairetnasingham Monday sent an urgent letter to Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Mr.Rukman Senanayake to take immediate steps to remove large coal piles in a private land in Thampalakamam, on the Trincomalee-Colombo trunk road. The parliamentarian pointed out that the piles pose a severe health hazard to the villagers of Thampalakamam, according to civil sources.


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"No decision on general election yet"- SL President

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 January 2004, 04:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge Monday dismissed media speculation that the current parliament would be dissolved on January 26 in preparation to a fresh general election. "I have not taken any decision regarding holding a general election. However I have been studying several requests for a general election," said Ms.Kumaratunge at a conference held at the President's House Monday evening, according to Colombo sources.
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Swedish opposition MPs meet Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 January 2004, 12:48 GMT]
Four Swedish opposition women MPs Monday met the head of the political division of the Liberation Tigers, Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan, for discussions on wide ranging issues. They were accompanied by head of mission of the Embassy of Sweden in Colombo, Mrs. Anne Marie Fallenius, and the UNICEF representative, Mr. Penny Brune, Head of Zone Office, Kilinochchi.
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Security of Sri Lanka's law courts strengthened

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 January 2004, 04:36 GMT]
The security of law courts in Sri Lanka would be strengthened from Monday to ensure safety to suspects, litigants, witnesses, lawyers and judicial officers, in the wake of the killing of a notorious underworld leader, Dhamikka Amarasinghe, in the well of the Colombo Chief Magistrate's Court last week, police headquarters said Monday.
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Jaffna leaflet warns of war

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 January 2004, 13:55 GMT]
"War would be inevitable if Sri Lankan leaders insidiously reject the LTTE's Interim Self Governing Authority(ISGA) proposal and if they consider this peace period as a time to cheat," warned a leaflet issued in Jaffna Sunday by an organisation called Tamil National Awareness Movement.
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Batticaloa faces petroleum shortage as youths disrupt supply

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 January 2004, 13:42 GMT]
Unknown group of youths Friday, in Sitthandy, Batticaloa, forced a private bowzer carrying Petroleum products to Batticaloa from Colombo, forcing the authorities to suspend further petroleum shipments to Batticaloa. This has caused severe shortage of petroleum products in Batticaloa district resulting in temporary closure of Petrol (Gas) stations, sources from Batticaloa said.
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Will fast to death says Jaffna refugee

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 January 2004, 11:28 GMT]
Mr.Sellakili Anandaraja, a refugee in Jaffna whose home and fields are occupied by the Sri Lanka amy said Sunday he would fast to death if he and more than 600 diplaced families in the Thenmaradchi divison of Jaffna are not permitted resettle in their villages before the end of January 2004.
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