'Solution should be based on what Tamils want' - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 August 2004, 18:33 GMT]
"We created the conditions for Peace Talks by unilaterly declaring a cease-fire in December 2001. Solution to the Tamil problem should be on the basis of aspirations of the Tamils because they are the ones who have faced discrimination, oppression and war for many years. It cannot be based on what the Sinhala people want. It cannnot be based on what the Sinhala government wants. This is why the political pacts Tamils made in the past with Sinhala leaders came to naught." said Mr. S.P. Thamilchelvan in a press briefing in Kilinochchi Saturday.
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SLMM-SLA meeting held in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 August 2004, 02:38 GMT]
Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission’s officials coordinating security met with the Commander of the Sri Lanka Army for the Vanni region, Maj. Gen. Sisira Wijesooriya, at the SLMM office in Vavuniya Friday, military sources said.
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SLFP, UNP should act together to recommence negotiations - NLF

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 August 2004, 02:57 GMT]
"It is indeed absolutely incumbent on the two so-called major parties (UNP and SLFP) to get their act together to recommence negotiations and take them forward fruitfully to an equitable outcome, especially because it is these two parties that are irrefutably responsible, jointly and severally, for the sins of omission and commission that triggered the 20 year long war," Dr. Vickramabahu Karunaratne, the leader of the New Left Front (NLF), told TamilNet in an interview Monday.
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Sri Lanka renews weapons deal with China

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 August 2004, 14:56 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government has renewed an agreement with China to continue to procure military hardware from a bonded warehouse Beijing set up ten years ago in the southern capital Galle, the Sunday Times reported. Sri Lanka’s Army, Navy and Air Force have already drawn up their immediate requirements, the paper said.
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"Patience running thin"- Gajendrakumar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 August 2004, 18:37 GMT]
''Tamil people are fast running out of patience. It has been three years since the ceasefire agreement was signed and our people continue to be denied the fruits of peace,'' Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, Tamil National Alliance MP told TamilNet Thursday.
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SLRC's peace building training programme concluded in Trinco

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 August 2004, 13:53 GMT]
USAID supported one month long residential training programme for 90 youth and social animators in the Trincomalee district on the urgent need of promoting peace and harmony which was conducted by the Sri Lanka Red Cross (SLRC) through its Trincomalee district branch concluded during the weekend at Nilaveli SLRC Training Centre.
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Jaffna IDPs woes worsen without relief

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 August 2004, 03:01 GMT]
Lack of employment opportunities, stalled economic growth, and infrastructure development at a virtual standstill continue to affect the lives of people of Jaffna especially the Internally Displaced People (IDPs). Many families, who have suffered loss of lives and loss of property during the two decades of war, face uphill battle to stay above the poverty line.
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BBC's Harrison leaves

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 August 2004, 00:04 GMT]
Frances Harrison, BBC's Colombo correspondent for the past four years and who is leaving Sri Lanka to her new assignment in Tehran, pointed out in one of her last reports filed that she was troubled by the hardships the family of a murdered Jaffna journalist went through: "As I leave Sri Lanka I have on my mind a journalist called Nimalarajan Mylvaganam. He worked for the BBC in the northern city of Jaffna," she said, adding that Nimalarajan's family had become part of her life during the first eighteen months of her assignement in Sri Lanka.
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Civil society role vital to peace- SLMM Trinco Head

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 August 2004, 13:33 GMT]
Lions Club of Trincomalee Town honoured its past presidents at a special event held Saturday at the Trincomalee New Silver Star Hotel with Mr.Dagffin Aadness, Trincomalee head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) as the chief guest. Mr Aadness speaking at the event said the civil society including Lions Clubs and other organizations could play a vital role in safeguarding the current peace environs, sources attending the event said.


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UNP to support peace talks based on ISGA proposal

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 July 2004, 00:18 GMT]
The main opposition United National Party (UNP) said Thursday in a press briefing that it would support the resumption of peace talks by the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on the basis of LTTE's Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) proposal.


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SL Government ready to resume peace talks- Cabinet Spokesman

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 July 2004, 10:25 GMT]
The minority United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government said Thursday that it is prepared to commence peace talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at any time and anywhere. Speaking at the post Cabinet press briefing held Thursday Media Minister Mr. Mangala Samaraweera said that the LTTE should adopt a policy of flexibility in its stand, sources in Colombo said.
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New Killings Threaten Ceasefire- HRW

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 July 2004, 03:01 GMT]
Human Rights Watch, a U.S. based independent nongovernmental organization said in a media release Wednesday, "A spate of killings between factions of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) threatens Sri Lanka’s ceasefire...More than a dozen people have been murdered over the last month in apparently politically motivated killings attributed either to the LTTE or a faction led by the LTTE’s former eastern commander, Colonel Karuna, who broke away from the LTTE in March 2004."
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Norway says peace hopes at new low

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 July 2004, 18:02 GMT]
Hopes that the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers would soon restart peace talks plunged Wednesday after a top Norwegian envoy said there is “little reason for optimism” and warned of a resumption of the protracted ethnic conflict.
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Helgesen meets SLMC leader

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 July 2004, 16:07 GMT]
Mr. Vidar Helgessen, Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister is reported to have told Mr.Rauff Hakim, Leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), Tuesday that renegade Karuna's affair has become a stumbling block in taking forward the stalled peace talks between the Government Of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), according to SLMC sources.


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"LTTE will remain militarily strong"- Semmanan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 July 2004, 00:00 GMT]
"Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) will defeat government's hidden agenda to weaken our military and political strength," said Mr.K.Semmannan, Deputy Political Head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Jaffna district said when speaking at a meeting of the Thamileelam Resurgence Forum held in Karainagar Subramaniam Vidiyalayam Monday.
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Tamil conference slams Indo-Lanka defence pact

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 July 2004, 13:11 GMT]
The World Tamils Confederation came out strongly Sunday against any move for a defence pact between India and Sri Lanka, cautioning that New Delhi was being lured into a "trap to use its army to crush" Tamils in the island.
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Australian High Commissioner visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 July 2004, 16:43 GMT]
Mr.David Binns, High Commissioner for Australia in Sri Lanka Thursday morning paid a surprise visit to Jaffna, sources in Jaffna said. Accompanied by the First Secretary, Mr.Binn arrived at Palaly main military air base by a special aircraft and later held discussion with the Jaffna District Secretary and Government Agent Mr.S.Pathmanathan and local heads of government departments, secretariat sources said.
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SLMM head to meet LTTE political leadership Thursday

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 July 2004, 23:31 GMT]
The Norwegian Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), Major General (retd) Trond Furuhovde, is scheduled to hold talks with Political Head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Mr.S.P.Thamilchelvan, Thursday morning at Killinochchi Peace Secretariat, SLMM sources said.
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Jaffna fishing production increases amid poaching, security restriction

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 July 2004, 19:13 GMT]
Jaffna district last year recorded a fish production of about 21,206 metric tones amid poaching and restrictions imposed by the Sri Lanka security forces on fishing by local population. Currently about 14,515 fishermen from 14,780 families are engaged in fishing in the peninsula, fisheries sources said.
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SL Govt. is preparing for war-Jaffna undergrads

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 July 2004, 15:57 GMT]
''Main aim of the Deputy Defense Minister Mr.Ratnasiri Wickremanayake's visit to Jaffna district was to put the security forces on red alert for another war. His inspection of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) forward defense lines of Muhamalai has proved Sri Lanka government's intention beyond any doubt,'' said the Jaffna University Students Forum (JUSF) in a statement issued to the media today.
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