Tigers meet Muslim refugees in Ullai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 January 2005, 06:22 GMT]
A group of Liberation Tigers led by head of the LTTE’s political division for the Batticaloa-Ampara District, Mr. E. Kousalyan, Friday visited Tsunami affected Muslim refugees in the marooned Ullai-Panama region, to discuss their rehabilitation needs. The LTTE team traveled through the jungle and muddy rivers to the area, which is accessible only by boat after the Tsunami knocked down the ramp and approach road to the Arugambay Bridge last month. The refugees at the Aathimunai Welfare Centre, a mound amidst marshland and paddyfields behind Ullai told Mr. Kouslayan that their main concern is about getting a new settlement.
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Eastern LTTE Commanders in Kilinochchi to consult with Pirapaharan

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 January 2005, 08:34 GMT]
LTTE's Special Commanders from Trincomalee and Batticaloa, Col. Sornam and Col. Banu arrived in Kilinochchi Friday morning for consultations with the LTTE leader Mr. V. Pirapaharan, sources in Kilinochchi told TamilNet. Commander Nagesh also accompanied Col Banu for the Kilinochchi discussions, sources added.
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Pirapaharan's top priority is reconstruction, not politics, says Anton Balasingham

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 January 2005, 07:45 GMT]
"This is not the time to engage in political haggling and our National Leader has prioritised rehabilitation and reconstruction of the devastated Tamil Homeland and thereby give you all a better life, creating the right conditions that would redeem you from the state of dependency attached to a displaced life" quoted LTTE Peace Secretariat website Mr. Anton Balasingham, LTTE Political Advisor, as saying while addressing a group of Tsunami displaced people in the welfare centre at Mulliyawalai, Mullaithivu Friday.
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'Hotel Tsunami' welcomes no more in Arugambay

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 January 2005, 15:08 GMT]
"The government’s treasury is brimming with Tsunami aid money. Here only our eyes brim with tears. The government has not given us anything in aid. We are living mostly on handouts by NGOs and others who come to see the plight of this place", M.L.M Haniffa, a farmer in Ullai, considered one of the ten best surfing spots in the world, told TamilNet Wednesday. The forty eight year old Muslim farmer who lost his wife, daughter and two sons, lives alone in an open tent near the ruins of what once a popular beach front guesthouse in Ullai – Hotel Tsunami.
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PAFFREL to monitor Tsunami relief fund distribution

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 January 2005, 14:46 GMT]
PAFFREL, a non-governmental organization specialised in monitoring elections is to deploy five thousand volunteers to monitor the distribution of relief supply and foreign aid to Tsunami affected districts in the island. The monitoring will commence on February 1, said PAFFREL Chairman Mr.Kingsely Rodrigo Thursday at a press briefing held in Colombo.


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Indian medical team completes Trinco mission

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 January 2005, 03:43 GMT]
Indian navy medical team, which served in Kuchchaveli government hospital in the north of Trincomalee district since December 28 two days after Tsunami disaster completed its mission and was entertained at a farewell function at the hospital Monday morning. Captain Muralitharan Nair, Commanding Officer of the INS Jamuna and Rear Admiral Upali Ranaweera, Commander, Eastern Naval Area of the Sri Lanka Navy participated as chief guests, sources said.
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Temporarily fixed Eastcoast causeway reopens

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 January 2005, 13:42 GMT]
Transport on the main coastal road between Kalmunai and Batticaloa resumed Monday, almost a month after the Tsunami ripped off sections of two causeways in Kallar, 28 kilometres south of the eastern town. The main gap in the Ondaatchi Madam-koddaikallar Causeway was spanned by a temporary bridge by the Road Development Authority (RDA). “The Sri Lankan government has to come up with big money to really repair this causeway. Otherwise this vital part of our district’s infrastructure would be damaged permanently”, an RDA engineer in Batticaloa told TamilNet.
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Tamil absent in tsunami relief forms sent to Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 January 2005, 12:30 GMT]
The tsunami affected people along the Jaffna coastline have been forced to search for translators to fill the form issued by the Sri Lankan Social Services Department, said sources in Vadamadchi. Although the entire population along this coastline is Tamil speaking, the forms sent by the ministry to collect information about the tsunami affected people are in Sinhala and English only.
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LTTE declares January 26 as National Day of Mourning

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 January 2005, 16:42 GMT]
"Liberation Tigers declare 26th January as a National Day of Mourning to remember those who lost their lives in the Tsunami disaster in Tamil Homelands and in other regions of South Asia. Let us all participate in the grief and sorrow of all who have lost their loved ones on this day," said Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in a press release issued from its Kilinochchi political offices Sunday.
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IFT urges Donors to support NorthEast apex mechanism

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 January 2005, 15:03 GMT]
The Geneva based International Federation of Tamils (IFT), a consortium of more than 150 expatriate Tamil organizations, has called on the co-chairs of Tokyo Doner conference (Sri Lanka) to express support for an effective aid distibution apex mechanism to Northeastern region of Sri Lanka. IFT called the attention of the International Community and the Co-Chairs to examine the current post -Tsunami situation in northeastern region. Tokyo Conference on Reconstruction and Development of Sri Lanka is scheduled to be held in Brussels in January 2005.
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No elections for next five years, says President Kumaratunga

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 January 2005, 07:06 GMT]
Stirring yet another political calamity in the South, Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunga, has said in Hambantota on Wednesday that there would be no elections for the next five years and therefore all political forces should sink their party differences and work towards rebuilding the tsunami-devastated country. President Kumaratunga has made these remarks on Wednesday while addressing the gathering after ceremonially launching the post-tsunami rebuilding plan in Kajuwatta in the Southern Hambantota district.
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Balasingham to join Norwegian meet in Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 January 2005, 11:30 GMT]
Liberation Tigers’ Political Strategist and Chief Negotiator, Mr. Anton Balasingham, and his wife Adele are scheduled to arrive in Kilinochchi on Friday, sources close to the LTTE told TamilNet. He is expected to participate in the meeting of LTTE leaders with Norwegian Foreign Minister Jan Petersen and Minister of International Development Hilde F. Johnson who are scheduled to arrive in Sri Lanka on Thursday on a four-day visit to assess the damage and the needs of the people of Sri Lanka in the aftermath of tsunami disaster.
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Army vehicle knocks down cyclist

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 January 2005, 21:03 GMT]
Mr.Vairavan Nadesu aged 52 of Mirusuvil north in Thenmaradchchi division in Jaffna district died on the spot when he was run over by a heavy vehicle of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on Monday night, police said.
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Canadian PM meets with TNA, TRO delegations

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 January 2005, 14:30 GMT]
Mr. Paul Martin, Prime Minister of Canada, met with delegations of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) Monday at Colombo Hilton Hotel at 2.30 PM. The TNA delegation urged that all international aid, including Canadian aid, to be channeled through International Non-Governmental Organizations till a proper mechanism is set up to deal with the post Tsunami situation in the Northeast. The TNA told the Canadian Prime Minister that there was total centralization of all rehabilitation, resettlement, reconstruction and development activities in Colombo, and that this was totally inconsistent with the wishes expressed by the people of Northeast.
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US Marines will not stay any longer than wanted, says US Defence Secretary

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 January 2005, 10:03 GMT]
Visiting Deputy Defence Secretary of the United States of America, Paul Wolfowitz said in Colombo on Monday morning that the US Marine troops would not stay in Sri Lanka any longer than they were wanted. "We don't want to stay any longer than we are needed, most certainly not longer than we are wanted," he told both foreign and local reporters at a press conference at Ceylon Continental Hotel on Monday, before completing his short review visit to Sri Lanka.
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Two soldiers die in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 January 2005, 17:02 GMT]
The government security establishment Friday informed the Jaffna Police that two soldiers one from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and the other from the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN)navy had died suddenly in their stations. Police teams from Manipay and Kayts Friday handed over the bodies of the two soldiers to the Jaffna Teaching Hospital, Jaffna Police said.


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Sri Lanka unique in deploying armed forces at welfare centers- SLMM

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 January 2005, 00:21 GMT]
"Sri Lanka is the only country to deploy armed forces to manage refugee welfare centres in the aftermath of Tsunami catestrophy," said Major General (retd) Trond Furuhovde, Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) when he met with the LTTE's Trincomalee district military commander Colonel Sornam and the district political head Mr.Elilan in Sampoor in the LTTE held Muttur east, down south of Trincomalee.
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SLMM head witnesses army harassing Elilan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 January 2005, 14:32 GMT]
Monitors of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) led by their head Major General (Retd) Trond Furuhovde personally came to the rescue of LTTE Trincomalee district political head Mr.S.Elilan when the latter was stopped by the Sri Lanka military police at Kaddaiparichchan army camp Thursday around noon for about thirty minutes for failing to get down from his vehicle and showed his identity and his baggage at the checkpoint. This incident took place after about one hour Mr.Elilan complained to SLMM head about the harassment by army during the talks SLMM head held with LTTE Trincomalee district military commander Colonel Sornam, sources said.
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Macroeconomic approach should govern reconstruction - Don

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 January 2005, 00:53 GMT]
Professor V. Nithyanantham of the Dept. of Economics, Jaffna University, talking to TamilNet on the socio-economic setting in NorthEast and problems facing the residents in the post Tsunami period, said that planners should adopt a macro-economic approach to reconstruction taking into account relevant humanitarian and social factors.
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Indian High Commissioner visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 January 2005, 19:32 GMT]
Ms Nirupama Sen, Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Tuesday visited northern town of Jaffna. She arrived in Palaly by a special aircraft. Thereafter she was taken in a Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) helicopter and showed the coastal area destruction in Manatkadu and Kudathanai, sources said.
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