Balasingham urges action on aid

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 May 2005, 16:37 GMT]
Norwegian diplomats met on Wednesday with the Liberation Tigers’ Chief Negotiator and political advisor, Mr. Anton Balasingham, to discuss current developments in Oslo’s peace initiative in Sri Lanka, sources close to the LTTE in London said. Mr. Balasingham had welcomed the donor community’s commitment to a joint mechanism between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE for aid distribution, but called for an agreement to be finalised and signed, they said.
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SL parliament to hold one-day debate on peace process

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 May 2005, 15:59 GMT]
Leaders of political parties represented in Sri Lanka's parliament, during a meetging held Monday in the Speaker's Chamber,decided to hold a full day debate on the stalled peace process on Friday on a request made by Mr.R.Sampanthan, leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), parliamentary sources in Colombo said. Mr.Sampanthan will open the debate.


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Donors pledge $3bn, push peace process

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 May 2005, 16:19 GMT]
International donors wrapped up a key conference for Sri Lanka pledging $3bn in aid, but stressing the importance of progress in resolving the island’s protracted ethnic conflict to pave the way for its disbursement, press reports and officials said. The onus is on Sri Lanka’s President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who has promised donors she would overcome Sinhala nationalist opposition to negotiate and sign a joint mechanism with the LTTE, to deliver. But amid escalating Sinhala right wing pressure, Tamil optimism is tempered by deep sceptism
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TNA kept out of Development Forum

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 May 2005, 15:06 GMT]
"The programme formulated for the Sri Lanka Development Forum (SLDF) which is to be held in Kandy on May 16th and 17th seeks to marginalize the North East and fails to recognise diversity, and respect the democratic verdict of the people of the North East," said Mr R Sampanthan, Leader of the parliamentary group of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), in a letter he wrote to the Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr. Sarath Amunugama, Sunday, TNA sources in Colombo said.
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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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Muttur Tamils protest against SLA embargo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 May 2005, 16:58 GMT]
About five thousand Tamil civilians Wednesday held a protest march from Poonagar in the LTTE controlled Eachchilampathu division in the Muttur area to the Mahindapura Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camp demanding the removal of ban on the transportation of cement, building materials, petrol and diesel urgently needed for tsunami reconstruction work and agricultural purposes, sources said.
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Convincing donors, Kumaratunge's goal- Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 May 2005, 00:45 GMT]
Accusing Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunge for not taking constructive steps to establish the Joint Mechanism for post-tsunami reconstruction of NorthEast, Head of the Political Wing of Liberation Tigers (LTTE), S.P Thamilchelvan, in a recent interview with TamilNet, dismissed Ms Kumaratunge's positive statements on the Joint Mechanism as a mere tactic to influence the donors in the forthcoming aid conference to take decisions in her favor, and to attract international assistance.
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RSF urges SLMM probe into Sivaram murder

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 May 2005, 11:04 GMT]
Reporters San Frontiers (RSF) Tuesday urged international monitors supervising Sri Lanka’s ceasefire to carry out their own investigations into the abduction and murder two weeks ago of political columnist and military analyst Dharmeratnam Sivaram.
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Tamil scepticism mounts as aid deal drifts

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 May 2005, 18:20 GMT]
As the proposed joint mechanism for aid distribution urged by international donors between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers remains mired in Sinhala political manoeuvring, deep scepticism has replaced early optimism amongst the Tamils. More ominously, a belief is rapidly taking root that Colombo is playing for time and keeping the Northeast in the economic and social doldrums whilst developing the Sri Lankan military for a new war.
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Joint mechanism mired in Sinhala politics

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 May 2005, 15:51 GMT]
The joint mechanism between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers called for by international aid donors has become the centre of political manoeuvres by the main Sinhala parties, in whose zero-sum calculations, international aid has a critical role to play.
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Troops fire on Valaichenai protestors, 1 killed

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 May 2005, 10:51 GMT]
A 65 year old man was killed and at least 15 other civilians were wounded when Sri Lankan security forces opened fire on large crowds of people protesting Monday, demanding removal of new Army checkpoints set up near a school in the Batticaloa district. Five women were among those wounded when soldiers and police fired assault rifles for over 10 minutes at Santhiveli, 27 km. north of Batticaloa on the Valaichenai road, sources said. International ceasefire monitors and reporters witnessed the incident, they said.
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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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Sivaram: ‘Don’t raise false hopes amongst our people’

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 May 2005, 18:35 GMT]
The last article published by Mr. Dharmeratnam Sivaram, the political columnist and military analyst abducted and murdered on Friday, was an appeal to his colleagues in the Tamil media. Urging them not to hype up the chances of a positive outcome with regards to the joint mechanism until it actually happens, Mr. Sivaram argued that the media has a duty to not to raise false hopes amongst the Tamil people and to keep the Sri Lankan state’s determination not to meet Tamil expectations in sight.The article, written in Tamil for the Colombo-based Virakesari newspaper appeared in its edition of Sunday April 24.
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Resettled families in Thiriyai receive houses

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 May 2005, 17:19 GMT]
Twenty houses constructed in Thiriyai, a predominantly Tamil village, about 42 km north of Trincomalee district were handed to resettled families at an event held Friday evening. The World Bank funded North East Housing Reconstruction Programme (NEHRP) allocated one hundred thousand five hundred rupees for each house and the balance money was borne by the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO).
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CPJ condemns ‘brazen abduction and execution’

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 April 2005, 18:25 GMT]
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned the murder on Friday of leading military analyst and political commentator, Dharmeratnam Sivaram, saying “the brazen abduction and execution of a veteran journalist sends a chilling message to others in the Tamil media.”
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Norwegian funded boat repair yard opened in Salli

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 April 2005, 15:37 GMT]
Under the Tsunami Boat Rehabilitation Project funded by the Kystaksjonen of Norway, a boat repairing yard was opened Thursday morning in Salli, a fishing hamlet about eleven km north of Trincomalee under the auspices of Trincomalee Division Fisheries Co-operative Societies Union (TDFCSU). This was the twelfth of the fourteen boats repairing yards scheduled to be opened in the northeast by Kystaksjonen of Norway.
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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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Book on ethnic conflict released in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 April 2005, 11:53 GMT]
A Tamil book written by well-known political analyst, Mr. C.A.Jothilingam, titled "Ethnic Conflict and Proposals for Political Solution" was released and introduced to the Trincomalee audience at an event held Friday evening in Trincomalee Town Hall. Mr.K.Sivapalan, Human Rights activist, presided the event.


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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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SLMM and Elilan discuss Trincomalee situation

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 April 2005, 16:53 GMT]
Ms Helene Fors, acting head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in Trincomalee Thursday evening held discussions with Mr.S.Elilan, Trincomalee district political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), about the recent incidents affecting the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) in the district, SLMM sources said.
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