Sri Lanka's President urged to ensure security to Kinniya Muslims

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 December 2003, 16:32 GMT]
A delegation of the North East Muslim Parliamentarians' Forum (NEMPF) Tuesday afternoon met with Sri Lanka’s President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunge, and discussed in detail the deteriorating security situation in the Trincomalee district, especially the Kinniya division. The delegation urged the President to take immediate steps to bring the situation under control and to help the Muslims there from being killed and wounded, sources said.
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Curfew re-imposed in Trincomalee, Kinniya

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 December 2003, 18:32 GMT]
A curfew has been reimposed in Trincomalee and Kinniya police divisions in the Trincomalee district with effect from 7 p.m. Monday. It will be lifted at 5 a.m. on Tuesday, Trincomalee police said.
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Colombo talks produce no breakthrough

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 December 2003, 11:50 GMT]
Meeting of a four-member committee appointed by Sri Lanka's prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunge to work out a cohabitation arrangement between them ended Monday without a breakthrough, media sources in Colombo said.


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Organized self-help lifts Vanni villages

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 December 2003, 00:11 GMT]
"Under 'Village Upliftment Project' economically worst hit villages in Vanni are identified and efforts are channelled to improve social and economic well-being of the residents through self-help. Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), local NGOs and Tamil expatriates are also financially helping us to carryout this project," Administrative Head, Anbarasan, told TamilNet during a recent visit to the interior villages of the Vanni.
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LTTE leader is our leader - ACTC

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 November 2003, 12:14 GMT]
“The leader of the Liberation Tigers is our leader. The policy of the LTTE is our policy. Our party upholds the ideals of the Tigers. There is criticism that the Liberation Tigers are not permitting some armed Tamils groups to function in the northeast. I say that these groups should not engage in politics as long as they continue to work as mercenaries for the Sri Lankan armed forces”, said Mr. Appathurai Vinayagamoorthy, the leader of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC), addressing a party meeting in Batticaloa Sunday.
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"Prepare to face election instead of losing identity"- Peiris

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 November 2003, 23:21 GMT]
"The United National Front government is willing to meet a snap general election instead of losing its identity in the proposed national reconciliation government," said Sri Lanka's Constitutional Affairs Minister, Professor G.L.Peiris, addressing a UNF party meeting held Saturday evening at Borella in Colombo, media sources said.
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SL Police beefs up security in Trincomalee district

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 November 2003, 16:40 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President, Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge, Saturday instructed the acting Inspector General of Police, Mr.Indra de Silva, to beef up security measures in the Trincomalee district and launch immediate investigation into the killings of three Muslims and other incidents that had taken place recently in the district, police said.
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SL President presents proposals for cohabitation

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 November 2003, 17:38 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President, Ms Chandrika Kumaratunga, Friday submitted a set of proposals to the committee that has been attempting to formulate a programme for cohabitation government comprising the two main Sinhala political parties Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the United National Party (UNP), sources said.
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Pirapaharan's Heroes' day address

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 November 2003, 12:22 GMT]
Mr Vellupillai Pirapaharan, the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in his annual statement commemorating the Heroes’ Day rejected accusations made by President Chandrika Kumaratunga that his organisation was strengthening its military power and preparing for war, and pointed to the power struggle between Sri Lanka's President and Prime Minister as historical repetitive pattern of "political drama [which] has been continuing for the last fifty years aggravating the plight of the Tamil people.”
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Pirapaharan discusses Colombo crisis, CFA with Patten

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 November 2003, 07:09 GMT]
"Our leader Mr. Velupillai Pirapaharan told Mr. Patten it is not at all in the hands of the Liberation Tigers to ensure that there is no return to violence and that it is completely up to the Sinhala polity to see there is no return to war. Mr. Pirapaharan very clearly explained to Mr. Patten that we remain committed to resolving the conflict peacefully," said Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan, speaking to media following the meeting between the leader of the Liberation Tigers and the European Union’s Commissioner for External Relations Wednesday in Kilinochchi.


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EU Commissioner meets Sri Lanka's President

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 November 2003, 15:50 GMT]
European Commission External Relations Commissioner, Mr. Chris Patten, Tuesday afternoon met with Sri Lanka's President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunge, at the Presidential House and discussed the current political crisis that has stalled the peace talks between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), political sources said.
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SLA, LTTE meet again over Jaffna Heroes’ Day

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 November 2003, 09:43 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers and the Sri Lanka army met again Tuesday to resolve persisting friction over the Great Heroes’ Day observations in Jaffna. Speaking to the press after the meeting, Maj. Gen. Sarath Fonseka, the Sri Lankan security forces commander for Jaffna, said his troops won’t interfere in the Great Heroes’ Day arrangements in the peninsula. Responding to a question from TamilNet, he said the SLA won’t allow the Tiger flag to be flown in Sri Lankan government buildings and public places.
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Governing with PM horrendous says Sri Lanka’s President

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 November 2003, 18:16 GMT]
President Chandrika Kumaratunga said Sri Lanka’s current crisis cannot be solved even if all parties are brought together because "the malaise runs deep in the country’s body politic," in a speech to businesspersons and academics telecast on state run TV Sunday night. Referring to cohabitation government with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, she said: "Governing like this is horrendous. The last two years had been the worst possible years of my life."
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SL President vows to unite major political parties

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 November 2003, 18:06 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge Saturday said she would try her best to unite the two major political parties, Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the United National Party (UNP) despite challenges. "I have set aside my personal objective and undertaken the task of uniting the two major political parties for national well-being," said Ms.Kumaratunge addressing a meeting at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) Saturday.


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Paper slams EU peace visit as "pig headed act"

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 November 2003, 08:27 GMT]
Commissioner of External Affairs of the European Union, Mr. Chris Patten’s visit to Sri Lanka next week is expected to draw strong protests from Sinhala nationalists, political observers in Colombo said. ‘The Island’, an English daily published by President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s uncle, slammed Mr. Patten’s plan to meet the Liberation Tigers in Kilinochchi next Tuesday as a “pig headed act” in a prominent front-page editorial Saturday. “This is bloody European gumption and insolence of the highest order”, the paper said.
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UNF minister questions SL President's silence over LTTE camp

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 November 2003, 16:58 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Tourism Minister, Mr. Gamini Lokuge, Friday queried the President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga, as to what had happened to her warning to then Defense Minister to remove the Kurankupanchchan LTTE camp within ten days, as she had said it had been established after the signing of the ceasefire agreement between the UNF government and the LTTE on February 22 last year.
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European Parliament deplores SL President’s actions

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 November 2003, 16:07 GMT]
The European Parliament (EP), in a resolution co-sponsored by all political groups in the body and unanimously approved on Thursday, said that the decision made by Sri Lanka’s President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga, at the beginning of November to sack three ministers and prorogue parliament while the Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremansinghe, was outside the country, represented “a threat to the peace process” and showed “the need, more than ever, for a real bipartisan commitment and approach to securing a political settlement in Sri Lanka between the major parties.”
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Cohabitation talks to end by December 15 - PA

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 November 2003, 11:27 GMT]
The main opposition Peoples Alliance said Friday that the President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge and Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremanayake have agreed to conclude the current high level talks now being held between their advisors to end the political uncertainty by 15th of December, media sources said.
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President appoints new regional commander for Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 November 2003, 09:26 GMT]
Major General Paramee Kulatunga has been appointed as the new Jaffna regional commander of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) replacing the incumbent Major General Sarath Fonseka. Major General Sarath Fonseka has been put in charge of the SLA Volunteer Corp, in a shake up in the Sri Lanka military establishment made by the President, military sources said Friday.
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EU external relations commissioner to meet LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 November 2003, 17:01 GMT]
The Commissioner of External Relations of the European Commission, Mr. Chris Patten, will visit Sri Lanka next week and meet the Liberation Tigers, President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, according to a press release issued by the Delegation of the European Commission to Sri Lanka Thursday.
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