Cortege of slain Tigers in Batticaloa, Kiran

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 February 2005, 08:44 GMT]
Slain LTTE political leader, Mr. Kousalyan’s body was taken to Kiran, 28 kilometres north of Batticaloa, Wednesday afternoon for the people of the village to pay their last respects to him and his colleagues who were killed by gunmen suspected to working with the Sri Lanka military. Hundreds of people filed past the Tiger flag draped coffins which lay at Kiran Government School. “The Sri Lankan government is fully responsible for this heinous crime. Murdering these men who were working for people affected by the Tsunami is an unpardonable act. It reveals the true face of the racist Sinhala regime”, said Mr. Nadarajah Raviraj, Tamil National Alliance MP, addressing the mourners.
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LTTE leaders visit Kousalyan's wife, mother

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 February 2005, 16:54 GMT]
Head of LTTE Political Wing, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan, LTTE's Special Commander for Batticaloa, Col. Banu, Head of LTTE's Finance Division, Mr. S. Thamilenthi, LTTE Senior Member Mr. K. V. Balakumaran, and LTTE military commander Mr. S. Nagesh arrived in Karadiyanaru Maha Vithiyalam grounds in Batticaloa 5 PM Wednesday in a SLAF Helicopter facilitated by the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM). LTTE leaders visited Mr. Kousalyan's wife Pushpa in Ampilanthurai, Kokkadicholai and Kousalyan's mother and three sisters in Pandariyaveli in LTTE controlled area, LTTE sources said. Kousalyan was married in 22 March 2004, and Pushpa is 7 months pregnant, sources said.
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Prince Charles to visit Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 February 2005, 14:47 GMT]
The Prince of Wales will visit Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the tsunami disaster, Clarence House announced Tuesday. The Prince is scheduled to visit Sri Lanka on 28th February 2005, according to the website of the Prince of Wales on Tuesday. In the wake of the tsunami tragedy, The Prince has been anxious to do what he can to help, quoted the website a spokesman as saying. The exact region The Prince will visit has yet to be decided.
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STF bars mourners, assault LTTE activist

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 February 2005, 10:45 GMT]
Commandos of the Special Task Force (STF) Wednesday assaulted an LTTE political worker who was putting up black flags in Komari to mourn Mr. Kousalyan, slain by gunmen suspected to be working with the Sri Lankan military. Komari is Tsunami devastated Tamil village on Sri Lanka’s remote southeast coast. STF, the elite counter insurgency arm of the Sri Lankan armed forces, prohibited black flags in the village. In Mandaanai, north of Komari, Tsunami refugees protested against the STF Wednesday for preventing them from mourning the slain LTTE political leader.
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Batticaloa shuts down for Kousalyan, funeral Thursday

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 February 2005, 09:33 GMT]
A total shutdown was observed in the Batticaloa district and the coastal areas of the Amparai district Wednesday to mourn the death of Mr. Kousalyan. LTTE officials in Batticaloa said that his funeral would take place Thursday afternoon and that he would be buried at the martyr’s memorial in Thandiyadi, about ten kilometers west Batticaloa town. Muslim towns in the region were also shutdown. Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan, head of the LTTE’s political division and Col. Bhanu, commander of the LTTE’s military forces in Batticaloa-Amparai are expected to arrive in the eastern district Wednesday afternoon.
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Tigers mourn, cancel crucial donor meeting

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 February 2005, 15:20 GMT]
Liberation Tigers Tuesday cancelled a crucial meeting with the World Bank and the Asian Deveopment in Kilinochchi as their leadership had emergency consultations on the implications of Mr. Kousalyan's killing. The Tiger flag was flown at half mast at all LTTE institutions and buildings in Kilinochchi. White flags were flown and in Batticaloa town and in the LTTE held areas of the east.
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Kousalyan killed in ambush

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 February 2005, 16:08 GMT]
Mr. E. Kousalyan, head of the Liberation Tigers' political division for Batticaloa-Amparai district was killed in an ambush on the highway to Batticaloa Monday night around 7.45, Sri Lanka military sources said. Three persons who were travelling with him were killed and four were injured including two policemen in the attack which took place between Sri Lanka army garrisons at Welikanda and Punanai, northwest of Battialoa, according to the SLA. Mr. Kousalyan was traveling with Mr. Ariyanayagam Chandra Nehru, former TNA MP for Amparai district, who was seriously injured in the ambush.
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Vadamaradchi fishermen fear serious damage to coral reefs

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 February 2005, 18:57 GMT]
Fishermen who setout out for fishing on 15 traditional "catamaran" fishing boats without outboard engines from the affected coastal villages from Thondamanaru to Point Pedro Munai in the Northen sea on Saturday, upon their return expressed fear that the coral reefs have been severely damaged by the tsunami devastation and the debris. They said this could affect the fishing in the region for a long time. Tsunami devastation has worsened fishermen's predicament from the already imposed restrictions on fishing in deep waters by the Sri Lankan Navy (SLN), said sources from the Federation of the Fishermen's Union.
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Institutional Decay perpetuated ethnic conflict- Don

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 February 2005, 13:36 GMT]
Noting that from 1950s Sri Lanka's politicians resorted to ethnic outbidding to attain power and in doing so systematically marginalised the country's minority Tamils, Dr Neil Devotta from Hartwick College New York, in an article published in Nations and Nationalism, argues that "institutional decay. which was produced by the dialectic between majority rule and ethnic outbidding, was what led to Tamil mobilisation and an ethnic conflict that has killed nearly 70.000 people over the past twenty years."
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LTTE official shot dead in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 February 2005, 15:56 GMT]
An official of the Liberation Tigers was shot dead by gunmen suspected to be members of a paramilitary working with the Sri Lanka army intelligence Friday morning in Kiran, 28 kilometres north of Batticaloa. The slain official was identified as Mr. Sinnathurai Thevathas, 28, who is charge of LTTE’s Forest Conservation Division for Batticaloa.


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Black flags flown in Northeast on Sri Lanka's Independence Day

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 February 2005, 06:10 GMT]
Black flags were hoisted in many parts of the Sri Lanka's northeast in protest against the country's independence day. Jaffna University students flew black flags and decorated University's main entrance with curry plantain trees which are used by Tamils at funerals. Sri Lanka army soldiers were deployed in the area, as the military beefed up security in many parts of the northern peninsula. Sri Lankan Army and the Police were seen removing black flags in Vavuniya town.
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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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Sri Lanka needs USD 1.5 billion for tsunami recovery, say Donor Agencies

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 February 2005, 01:23 GMT]
Sri Lanka's three key international donor agencies, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and the World Bank said Wednesday that preliminary need assessment survey indicates that the tsunami-devastated Sri Lanka would need not less than USD 1.5 billion to rebuild the country.
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"Disaster Relief" used to bolster Colombo's air-transport capability

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 February 2005, 00:12 GMT]
Sri Lanka has asked the USA to speed shipment of parts required to return one C-130K to flight and to review a 2004 request to obtain at least one additional aircraft from excess US stocks, Flight International, a UK based magazine covering aerospace industry news, in its Defence column of the February 1st 2005 issue, quoted Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) commander Donald Perera as saying. SLAF's two C-130Ks have been grounded for the last two months according to the report.
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SLA-LTTE delegations meet in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 February 2005, 14:22 GMT]
Delegations of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Wednesday morning met at the Jaffna office of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) and discussed several issues including restoring normalcy in the lives of tsunami affected people and the fishing industry, sources said.
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Lack of tents, military meddling trouble Mankerni refugees

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 February 2005, 09:51 GMT]
“There are thousand seven hundred persons belonging to four hundred and eighty one families in this refugee camp. But we have only hundred and ninety eight tents to house them. Hundred and forty five tents were given by UNHCR and ICRC. The government gave us only forty eight tents. It is very difficult for the refugees. But we have asked them to cope”, Mr. Kandasamy Mahtikaran, village officer for Mankerni told TamilNet, describing the travails of this Tsunami devastated coastal settlement about 48 kilometres north of Batticaloa.
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TNA slams NE Governor’s visit to Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 February 2005, 07:20 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance Wednesday boycotted a meeting with Governor of the Northeast Province, Mr. Tyronne Fernando, at the Vavuniya district secretariat in protest against what the TNA described as “gross discrimination by the Sri Lankan state in delivering Tsunami aid to Tamil and Muslim areas affected by the disaster”. At the meeting, Government Agents for Kilinochchi and Mullaithivu informed the Governor that no heavy machinery for clearing Tsunami destruction was sent to their districts.
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EPDP's relief effort draws protest in Vadamaradchy

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 February 2005, 03:57 GMT]
Large number of people Tuesday morning held a demonstration in front of Vadamaradchchi office of the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) located in Manthikai against distributing relief materials to Tsunami victims for political gain. Protesters collected relief materials distributed to several people and burnt them in public, sources said. Manthikai is a residential town located 3 km South of Point Pedro.
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No sunny times for east coast idyll

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 February 2005, 10:50 GMT]
Pasikudah was a tourist’s paradise. Clear blue waters and white sands of the bay attracted thousands. War completely ruined the booming tourist industry here in the mid eighties. The beautiful beach, dotted with the bombed out shells of star class hotels, became a no go zone. Today the beach has vanished, ripped by the giant Boxing Day waves. The hamlet that gave its name to the area is a heap of rubble and debris. There is no warning about mines from destroyed defenses of the Sri Lanka army garrison bordering Pasikudah village.
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US to complete withdrawal of Marines from Sri Lanka by Feb.15

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 January 2005, 10:05 GMT]
The Bush Administration has decided to complete the withdrawal of US Marines, arrived in Sri Lanka aftermath of the tsunami disaster, by February 15, with the US assistance program to Sri Lanka shifting from a combined military-civil relief effort to rehabilitation and reconstruction work to be carried out by civil organisations. Brigadier General Frank A. Panter Jr, said at a press conference at Taj Sumudra hotel in Colombo on Saturday that the CSG-SL has served over 1.5 million tsunami-affected Sri Lankans in nine districts, including Jaffna, Hambantota, Galle and Amparai.
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