Norwegian peace envoy Solheim arrives in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 August 2003, 13:10 GMT]
Norwegian special peace envoy, Mr. Erik Solheim, arrived in Colombo Tuesday early morning on a three day visit to hold vital discussions with the leaders of the United National Front government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) intended to sort out differences between the two parties in taking forward the peace process stalled since April this year, political sources said.
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JVP to hold demonstration against IA in Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 August 2003, 17:30 GMT]
The Marxist cum Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, the third largest party in Sri Lanka’s parliament, Monday announced that it would hold a large demonstration and rally in Colombo Tuesday afternoon against the establishment of an Interim Administrative Structure for the northeast province and to “defeat the attempt by the United National Front government to bring foreign forces into the country in the name of peacekeeping forces.”
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Non-academic University staff in Sri Lanka to strike indefinitely

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 August 2003, 15:44 GMT]
The All-University Non-Academic Staff Unions' Federation (AUNASUF) and six non-teaching staff unions in Sri Lanka will go on a strike indefinitely starting Tuesday, August 12, putting forward a 21-point demand, including the call for a salary review and raise and the payment of a monthly cost of living allowance, sources said.
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New SLA commander post created for the East

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 August 2003, 15:01 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Defense Ministry has created the new post of Security Forces Commander for the Eastern province, which is to take effect from August 15,Friday, and Major General Nanda Mallawaarachchi of the Sri Lanka Army has been appointed to that post, military sources said.
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Priests champion revival of HSZ Hindu temples

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 August 2003, 14:24 GMT]
Mavittapuram temple, Naguleswaram temple and Keerimalai temples all lie within 3km radius within the High Security Zone (HSZ) near KKS harbor. These temples almost completely destroyed during the war in early 90s are being resurrected amid heavy odds by temples’ custodian priests.


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SLA to recruit 4000 soldiers

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 August 2003, 10:16 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) is to launch a massive recruitment drive to recruit about 4000 soldiers and interviews will commence on 18 August in several locations islandwide, the state controlled Sunday Observer newspaper reported quoting Brigadier Jammika Liyanage, Director, Personnel Administration, of the SLA.
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‘Tamil question is not a minority issue' – Prof. Uyangoda

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 August 2003, 19:09 GMT]
“The challenge for the future is to reform the Sri Lankan state without generating violence in Sinhala society. And that is a tremendous challenge for any ruling elite in Colombo,” said Prof. Jayadeva Uyangoda, the well regarded political commentator in the Sinhala and English media in Sri Lanka, in a wide ranging interview with TamilNet this week. He emphasised the need for developing means for greater dialogue and engagement between the Tamils and Singhalese to resolve the conflict.
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Veteran Tamil newspaper Editor Sivagurunathan passes away

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 August 2003, 13:40 GMT]
Mr.R. Sivagurunathan, a veteran Tamil journalist who held the post of Chief Editor of the Tamil daily THINAKARAN for about thirty three years, passed away peacefully early morning Saturday after a brief illness in Colombo at the age of seventy-two, media sources said.
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Compensation sought for plantations destroyed by SLA

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 August 2003, 20:54 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army Friday said they would permit displaced persons to enter their lands in a section of Nagarkovil and Eluthumadduval forward defence position for the explicit purpose of inspecting the damage caused to their Palmyra and coconut plantations by the Sri Lankan security forces, but placed stringent conditions on their entry, sources said.
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SLA buried 48,518 mines in Paranthan

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 August 2003, 03:26 GMT]
During the time the Sri Lanka Army was controlling Paranthan, the Army buried 48,518 land mines in the area, according to information provided to the Humanitarian De-mining Unit by the United Nations Development Plan, HDU sources said.
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Thileepan memorial hospital's service commended

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 August 2003, 02:38 GMT]
In a press release, an organization that represents the people of Neduntheevu, one of the islets off Jaffna, has commended the service rendered by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam through the Thileepan memorial hospital they opened in 2002 and completed its first year of service on August 4, Monday.
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Jaffna fishermen capture Indian poachers

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 August 2003, 14:45 GMT]
A Group of Vadamarachi fishermen in the Jaffna district Wednesday around midnight took into their custody ten Indian fishermen with their trawlers when they were engaged in poaching in northern waters. The Indian fishermen and their trawlers were brought down to the Vadamarachchi shore and later handed over to the Point Pedro police through the village level officer (Grama Sevaka) of the area, Police sources said.
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Acute shortage at Thellipalai hospital

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 August 2003, 03:22 GMT]
The Thellipalai hospital for mental patients, completely destroyed by the Sri Lanka Army operations in 1990, has been operating since then in a private building that falls under the SLA’s High Security Zone without any facilities, and there are only 4 doctors and 16 nurses, though for proper patient care the hospital would need at least 12 doctors and 42 nurses, hospital sources said.
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SLA pressures villagers to withdraw camp complaint

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 August 2003, 18:47 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army officials stationed at Potpathi in Vadamaradchi east, Jaffna district, are reported to be exerting pressure on the villagers to withdraw their representation to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission and the regional office of the Human Rights Commission (HRC) of Sri Lanka against the establishment of a military camp at Potpathi, civil sources said.
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Bhikku Front launches campaign against IA

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 August 2003, 17:12 GMT]
The National Bhikku Front (NBF) of Sri Lanka Tuesday commenced a propaganda campaign opposing the establishment of an Interim Administration (IA) for the northeast province by the United National Front government, and the general secretary of the NBF, Ven. Chandaloka Thera, said that the campaign will be held in Colombo and 50 other cities in the south through nearly 1500 Buddhist Vihares in the island.
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SLA agrees to ease conditions on Vadamarachchi fishermen

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 August 2003, 19:30 GMT]
At a discussion with the representatives of the Vadamarachchi Fisheries Co-operative Federation Sunday, the Sri Lanka Army agreed to ease several conditions imposed on fishermen in the Vadamarachchi coastal areas for fishing in northern waters, fisheries sources said.
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Deputy Foreign Minister of Japan visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 August 2003, 14:51 GMT]
The Japanese Senior Vice Foreign Minister, Mr.Tetsura Yano, visited Jaffna Sunday morning and inspected the conditions of a refugee camp at Inuvil where hundreds of internally displaced people from Valigamam north, deprived of their homes by the Sri Lanka Army’s High Security Zones, are staying, sources said.
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Owners of paddy lands in HSZ to meet

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 August 2003, 23:52 GMT]
Owners of the paddy lands ocated in the High Security Zone of Thenmaradchchi in the Jaffna district and released by the Sri Lanka Army for cultivation last week, will meet on August 7 at the office of the Kaithady Divisional Agrarian Office to decide on the next course of action, civil sources said.
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'SLMM unjust in asking the LTTE to remove camp' -Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 August 2003, 20:01 GMT]
Mr.S.P.Thamilchelvan, the political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, speaking to journalists at the LTTE secretariat in Sampur in Muttur East on Friday evening, said that there was no need for him to inspect the Kurankupanchan LTTE camp, which has been the subject of recent controversy, adding that the area had been under the LTTE's control for a long time and it was “unjust” for the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission or the Sri Lankan Army to ask the LTTE to remove the camp.
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SLA denies passage to dead LTTE cadre's uniformed body

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 August 2003, 01:55 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army refused permission to take the body of a dead Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam cadre through the SLA checkpoint in Uylankulam in Mannar to his hometown under the SLA control in Mannar for funeral rites, on the grounds that they could not allow the LTTE uniform and flag on the body, and the relatives of the cadre had to be taken to an LTTE-held area where the funeral with full honors took place, LTTE political sources in Mannar said.
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