Bodies wash ashore in Mannar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 May 2003, 10:02 GMT]
Two bodies, suspected to be those of Indian fishermen or returning Tamil refugees, washed ashore in Mannar this week, district court sources in the northwestern island town said Thursday. A Sri Lanka army sentry near the Thallaady military base in Mannar detected one on 6 May and a civilian found the other in Talaimannar Wednesday.
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LTTE's participation in Tokyo meeting crucial for peace process - Solheim

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 May 2003, 12:03 GMT]
“Participation of the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the International Aid conference to be held in Tokyo next month is crucial for obtaining much needed funds to develop both LTTE controlled areas in the Northeast and Sri Lanka south. If the LTTE fails to attend, international community will be reluctant to commit funds. Further, it will also be a setback to the peace process,” said Norway’s special emissary Eric Solheim in Vavuniya today.
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GA demands action to improve Kilinochchi postal service

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 May 2003, 15:20 GMT]
Mail is not delivered to a third of the families in the Kilinochchi district, even a half-mile beyond the Kilinochchi town, and immediate action is needed to restore mail delivery, the district’s government agent (GA), Mr. T. Rasanayakam, told Sri Lanka’s Minister for Mass Communication, Mr. Imtiaz Bakeer Markar, at a meeting held at the Vavuniya secretariat, sources said.
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Meeting resolves to prevent communal unease in Musali

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 May 2003, 13:07 GMT]
Representatives of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, the Catholic Church, the Liberation Tigers, Sri Lanka Police, several civil society groups and local community leaders met Saturday in Murunkan in the Mannar District to discuss measures to promote and cement Tamil, Muslim amity in the Musali region. Tension prevailed in the area last month following the murder of a Tamil farmer allegedly by a Muslim believed to be an ex home guard. Musali is in the southwestern part of mainland Mannar where Muslim refugees have been resettling and cultivating their lands since last year.
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Large peace demo in Mannar town

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 May 2003, 09:40 GMT]
More than 3000 people demonstrated in support of peace in Mannar Saturday, demanding full implementation of the ceasefire agreement between Colombo and the Liberation Tigers. At the conclusion of the meeting, a memorandum was submitted to the additional government agent of Mannar. The memorandum states, among other things, that the Tamils and the LTTE have bitter experiences of being “deceived and hoodwinked in many previous peace talks” and that “in the circumstances it is not unreasonable on their part to adopt a policy of caution."
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Mannar farmers said facing ruin

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 May 2003, 00:10 GMT]
“Mannar rice farmers are facing ruin for they cannot market their produce. Each farmer will have to lose more than 9000 rupees per acre (92 USD) of paddy if they do not find means to market their rice at reasonable prices”, Mr. Seemanpillai Soundiranayagam, President of the Federation of Farmers’ Associations of Mannar told Tamilnet Friday. The district saw its first good harvest in 13 years this season following the lifting of draconian Sri Lanka army restrictions on fuel, fertilisers, irrigation and transport of rice last year.
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Repairs to Giant’s Tank after two decades’ neglect

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 May 2003, 12:33 GMT]
Repair work on the long neglected Giant’s Tank (reservoir) in Mannar began Thursday under the World Bank North East Integrated Agricultural Project (NEIAP). The ancient reservoir feeds 160 minor irrigation tanks in mainland Mannar. The reservoir’s 10 sluice gates were opened Thursday to drain its waters for the repairs.
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Indian fishermen released on AG's direction

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 April 2003, 14:22 GMT]
On the instructions of the Attorney General (AG), the Mannar Magistrate Friday released twenty six Indian fishermen who had been remanded by the court after being captured by local fishermen in Pesalai when they were poaching in Sri lankan waters, legal sources said.
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Trade Unions to hold joint May Day with LTTE, TNA in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 April 2003, 18:27 GMT]
Trade Unions in Vavuniya have agreed to hold a joint May Day with the TNA and the LTTE this year, and arrangements are being made for the May day event with the cooperation of the LTTE, sources said.
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SLN arrests youths on alleged boat theft

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 April 2003, 01:53 GMT]
Mannar District Judge Mr.M.P. Mohideen Monday ordered fourteen-day remand for four Tamil youths for allegedly trying to steal a fishing boat kept in the custody of the Sri Lanka Navy, legal sources said. The boat belonged to an Indian fisherman and was confiscated when the fishermen were caught poaching in Sri Lankan territorial waters in Pesalai recently.


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Church farm helps dispossessed, poor

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 April 2003, 03:30 GMT]
The Methodist Church’s Jeevothayam Farm in Pariyaarikkandal, 28 kilometres southeast of Mannar town, has been a refuge for the dispossessed and the meek for more than quarter of a century. Tamils driven out of their homes in the island’s tea producing hills by Sinhala Buddhist nationalists in 1977, 81 and 83 found succour here before they went forth to settle and multiply in the inhospitable jungles of the Vanni.
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Northeast celebrates Annai Poopathy anniversary

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 April 2003, 15:45 GMT]
Fifteenth year anniversary of Annai Poopathy memorial day was celebrated across the Northeast. Special events are being organized in Navalady, Batticaloa, on district basis in Trincomalee, Vavuniya, Mannar, Vanni and Jaffna, sources said. In Nallur, Jaffna the commemoration events started with a symbolic fast.


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Poverty, oblivion dog rape victim

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 April 2003, 00:30 GMT]
Two years since she was brutally raped and tortured in custody, Ms. Sivamani Weerakoon, lives in abject poverty and uncertainty. The mother of three said that she was never offered counselling to help her cope with the trauma of her ordeal. Sri Lankan law is yet to bring the perpetrators of the violence committed on her to book. Ms. Sivamani said that no women’s rights group has ever contacted her in connection with her rape and torture by Sri Lankan armed forces personnel.
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‘Annai’ Poopathy remembered in North-East

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 April 2003, 00:05 GMT]
Ceremonies to mark the remembrance day of Mrs. Kanapathipillai Poopathy, a grandmother who fasted unto death against the atrocities of the Indian Peace Keeping Force and sacrificed her life in 1988, commenced on Thursday throughout the North-East, sources said.
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Dynamiting for fish kills fisherman in Mannar

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 April 2003, 18:43 GMT]
Abdul Amunah of Puthukuddiruppu, Pesalai in the Mannar district, died, and two others were seriously wounded when they were engaged in dynamiting fish in the Mannar Sea Saturday morning, medical sources said.
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NECORD's ambulance gift boosts NE Health services

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 April 2003, 12:09 GMT]
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded North East Community Restoration and Community Development Project (NECORD) Saturday handed sixteen ambulances to the provincial ministry of health to upgrade the health services in the war-torn northeast province.
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An enterprise worth its salt

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 April 2003, 00:10 GMT]
Before the Eelam Wars began, the salterns in the northeast produced enough salt to meet the all the needs of Sri Lanka and a surplus for export. Elephant Pass and Kurinchathivu were the largest of these. The other salt production facilities were in Chemmani, near Jaffna town, in Mannar town, in Nilaveli and Kumburupiddy in Trincomalee.
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TELO holds annual conference

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 April 2003, 12:00 GMT]
Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO), a constituent of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), held its 3-day sixth annual national conference in its Mannar office starting from Saturday, sources said.


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SLN mines infest Talaimannar Mosque

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 April 2003, 15:49 GMT]
More than 300 hundred Muslim families are unable to resettle in Talaimannar because their homes are in minefields laid by the Sri Lanka Navy which are yet to be cleared despite 13 months of ceasefire, rehabilitation officials in Mannar said. Many Muslim and Tamil homes in the once bustling bazaar of Talaimannar Pier are still occupied by the Navy or lie within its security boundary. The area surrounding the local Mosque is infested with land mines and booby traps.
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A9 opens for traffic on Sundays

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 April 2003, 11:58 GMT]
The A9 highway to Jaffna will be open for public traffic on Sundays, starting today, Sri Lanka military sources said. The road was opened last year following the cease fire agreement between the LTTE and Colombo. But it remained closed on Sundays despite pleas by the Tigers to keep it open 7 days of the week. The road to the Vanni in Mannar through the Uyilankulam entry point was also opened to public traffic on Sundays from today.
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