NPC urges Colombo to disprove Government support to Karuna group

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 March 2005, 09:36 GMT]
Pointing out the existence of a camp manned by militants of the Karuna group in Government-controlled territory that borders the north east, the National Peace Council (NPC), a Colombo based Sri Lankan peace group, in a media release issued on Thursday, called on the Government to disprove the allegations regarding its support for the Karuna group immediately and ensure that no such camps are permitted to exist in the territory it controls. Cease Fire Agreement between the GoSL and the LTTE in its clause 1.8 prohibits armed paramilitaries in the NorthEast. The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has been accused of collaborating with paramilitaries to promote internecine violence in the east.
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NESOHR Deputy refutes Kadirgamar's statement at the UN

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 March 2005, 23:56 GMT]
Mr. K. Sivapalan, Attorney-at-Law and Deputy Chairperson of the North East Secretariat on Human Rights, on Wednesday refuted the recent statement made by Mr. Lakshman Kadirgamar at the 61st Sessions of the UN Commission on Human Rights. There were several misleading and wrong facts in Kadirgamar's address, Mr. Sivapalan, told the UN Commission.
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JVP will never quit UPFA government, Kadirgamar assures to BBC

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 March 2005, 13:19 GMT]
Throwing his weight fully behind the radical Sinhala nationalistic Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), a major coalition in the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance government, Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar, in a live television interview with the BBC on Tuesday said that the JVP is for the negotiated political settlement with the LTTE and assured that it would never quit the ruling coalition in this regard.
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Swiss firefighting equipment held by Lanka customs

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 March 2005, 14:28 GMT]
Sri Lanka Customs on recommendation from Sri Lanka security forces have refused to release a container with fire fighting equipment sent to the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) from Switzerland, officials of TRO said. In a press release issued from Colombo Tuesday, TRO officials added that the equipments are neither banned nor illegal to import, and are intended for use during emergencies in refugee camps.
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Red Cross signs MoU to reconstruct tsunami hit medical institutions

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 March 2005, 13:19 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Red Cross Society (SLRCS) and the International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC) have undertaken to reconstruct, renovate, repair and equip General Hospitals, Base Hospitals, District Hospitals, Rural Hospitals, Peripheral Units and Central Dispensaries in the tsunami affected areas throughout the island.
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EU commissioner hopeful of LTTE, GoSL joint mechanism for aid delivery

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 March 2005, 18:04 GMT]
The European union's commissioner for external relations Ms Benita Ferrero-Waldner met the Srilankan President Chandrika kumaratunga Monday and said "she hopes...that the Government would soon evolve a joint mechanism to ensure the equitable distribution of aid to all affected areas," in a press release issued in Colombo.
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GoSL, LTTE must grasp opportunities for reconciliation- Prof Oberst

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 March 2005, 23:08 GMT]
While stressing the importance of "the Norwegian effort to create a joint government-LTTE mechanism to be successful" for Sri Lanka to recover from the tsunami disaster, and expressing hope that "UN special ambassador and former U.S. president Bill Clinton will be able to bring the two sides together to work towards rebuilding of the devastated areas," Professor Oberst pointed out that "[The] sad reality of the Sri Lankan conflict has been the remarkable ability of both sides to allow opportunities for peace and reconciliation to slip away from their grasp," when he talked to TamilNet this week commenting on post-tsunami development in Sri Lanka.
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UNICEF has erred - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 March 2005, 18:47 GMT]
The question of child soldiers continues to vex strained relations between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers. That the matter has been raised against the Tigers by the UN and other rights organizations is considered by Colombo as a feather in its foreign policy cap. "The Government of Sri Lanka is more interested in cynically exploiting the child soldiers issue for its black propaganda war against us than in finding a political solution to the conflict", said Mr. S. P . Thamilchelvan in an interview with the TamilNet this week. He said there were serious errors in the UNICEF report on child recruitment by the LTTE.
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Norwegian ambassador meets Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 March 2005, 13:35 GMT]
Mr.Hans Brattskar, Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka Saturday met with Head of LTTE Politicial Wing S.P Thamilchelvan at the LTTE Peace Secretariat, sources in Kilinochchi said. The Ambassador expressed his Government's concern and condemnation over the killing LTTE political cadres in the east, during the meeting and when he later met with journalists in Killinochchi, sources said.
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US Church, TRO pay $7,000 taxes to clear water purifiers from Sri Lanka Customs

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 February 2005, 00:10 GMT]
Five water purifiers donated by the Holy Redeemer Church in Baltimore Maryland, USA, to the people of NorthEast and addressed to Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO)-Colombo were held by Colombo customs from 27 January due to officials demanding payment of import taxes recently introduced by the Finance Ministry of Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) on relief supplies. TRO sources in Colombo said that the purifiers were finally cleared Saturday after a payment of $7,000 to the Government of Sri Lanka Customs.
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CFA has failed to foster trust – Batticaloa VC

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 February 2005, 17:41 GMT]
“What has the cease fire agreement achieved if it has not been able to foster enough trust to form a joint body to deliver aid to the Tsunami hit people of the northeast? We can asses the status of the cease fire agreement from the simple fact that the Sri Lankan government is protesting to the UN over a condolence message for Kousalyan. Why should anyone protest over an expression of condolence? This is the situation in which we Tamils find ourselves today even after three years of cease fire”, said Dr. S. Raveendranath, Vice Chancellor designate of the Eastern University speaking at a seminar to mark third year of the cease fire agreement in Batticaloa Tuesday.
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UPF commends Norwegian role in Sri Lank's peace process

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 February 2005, 16:28 GMT]
Mr.Periyasamy Chandrasekaran, leader of the Upcountry Peoples Front (UPF) and an elected member of Sri Lanka parliament, appealed to the Norwegian government, in a statement issued Tuesday, to continue its facilitator role in the peace process in Sri Lanka without succumbing to pressures by "chauvinistic elements" attempting to derail the peace process.


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Solheim in Sri Lanka, 3rd anniversary of CFA

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 February 2005, 06:25 GMT]
Norwegian Special Peace Envoy Mr. Erik Solheim and Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka Mr. Hans Brattskar arrived in Kilinochchi Tuesday morning to meet with the LTTE's Head of Political Division, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan. The LTTE and the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) signed the Oslo-facilitated Cease-Fire Agreement (CFA) 3 years ago, on 22 Feb. 2002.
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Sri Lanka condemns killing of Kousalyan, ex-MP Nehru at Welikanda

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 February 2005, 14:51 GMT]
The government of Sri Lanka in a statement today condemned the killing six personnel, including Mr. E. Kousalyan, head of the LTTE Batticaloa-Amparai political division and former parliamentarian of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Mr. Ariyanayagam Chandra Nehru and said that it was a violation of the ceasefire agreement.
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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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Jaffna Civil groups call for Independence Day boycott

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 February 2005, 21:48 GMT]
Jaffna District Civil Groups Forum (JDCGF) Wednesday called upon the residents of Jaffna district to observe February 4 as a day of mourning. The 57th Independence Day of Sri Lanka falls on February 4.
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"Opportunities exist to strengthen peace process"- Donor co-chairs

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 January 2005, 21:36 GMT]
In a joint press statement issued by the co-chairs after the Brussels meeting Tuesday, the Sri Lanka Donors ''welcomed the ongoing effective response by the GoSL and the LTTE in distributing humanitarian aid'' and urged the donors to ''ensure [that] the implementation of Tsunami assistance is sensitive to and strengthens the Peace Process.''
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Canadian army gives water, health care to Pandiruppu

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 January 2005, 04:48 GMT]
“We came here when we heard that people in the camps needed some medical assistance. We started setting up a medical facility here today. Our team can see about three hundred patients a day depending on the availability of Tamil interpreters”, Captain Scott Malcom of the Canadian army told TamilNet Sunday, explaining their mission in Tsunami devastated Pandiruppu, a densely populated town by the coast 38 kilometres south of Batticaloa. The Canadian military is supplying drinking water and health services to some villages devastated by the Tsunami on the southeastern coast of Sri Lanka which are yet to see any tangible aid from Colombo.
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Equitable aid distribution, focus of Pirapaharan, Norway meet

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 January 2005, 11:39 GMT]
Leaders of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Saturday requested the Norwegian government delegation led by its Foreign Minister Mr.Jan Petersen to ensure that the northeast region received equitable proportion of the international aid Sri Lanka is expected to receive in the aftermath of tsunami disaster. In the NorthEast region about seventy five thousand families have been affected and around 25,000 have lost their lives, the Norwegian delegation was told, Vanni sources said.
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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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