Indian boatmen ferrying refugees arrested

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 April 2003, 16:19 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police produced in the Mannar courts Saturday 23 refugees who had come by boat from the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Sources said that the Sri Lanka Navy had arrested them Friday morning and had assaulted the men in the group after allegedly finding gelignite in the possession of one of them.
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Swiss group awards certificates to de-mining personnel

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 April 2003, 08:35 GMT]
Forty persons who underwent a training program in de-mining organised by Swiss based Foundation for Mine Action (FSD) were awarded with certificates at a function held in Vavuniya Friday. Mr.Christoph Hebeisen, the Project Leader for Foundation for Mine Action (FSD) in Vavuniya, speaking at function said the repatriation and resettlement of all internally displaced people is the primary objective, and added that the training of Sri Lankan personnel had been very thorough and extensive.
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Threats by poaching Indian fishermen escalate tension

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 April 2003, 02:48 GMT]
Indian trawlers have again started trespassing into Sri Lankan terroritorial waters in the northern sea to engage in illegal fishing depriving the livelihood of Vadamarachchi fishermen in the Jaffna district and depleting the marine resources, said a complaint lodged at the political office of the Sea Tigers in Valvettithurai division Thursday, sources said.
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Swiss group de-mines in Talaimannar, Periyamadhu

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 April 2003, 16:48 GMT]
A Swiss de-mining organisation operating in the north said Thursday that it is expanding its team to clear more areas afflicted by land mines and unexploded ordnance. A spokesperson for the organisation, FSD, said that it has trained a new batch forty persons in mine clearing techniques, including twenty from the Humanitarian De-mining Unit (HDU) in Kilinochchi.


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HSZs, scant funds slow resettlement in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 March 2003, 15:09 GMT]
The flow of refugees returning from the Vanni to resettle in Jaffna has slowed down because the fate of their villages and towns occupied by the Sri Lanka army (SLA) inside High Security Zones in the northern peninsula still remains uncertain, a senior government official said Monday.


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Mannar HSZs discussed as re-settler loses arm

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 March 2003, 19:12 GMT]
The Bishop of Mannar said Saturday that High Security Zones (HSZs) are necessary only during war and that displaced people should return to their homes as there is peace now. The armed forces should understand this and leave the HSZs at least in stages, Rt. Rev. Rayappu Joseph said, speaking at a seminar in Mannar Saturday.
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Opening of Pooneryn causeway urged

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 March 2003, 13:28 GMT]
“The Sri Lankan government should take steps to re-open the Kerathivu- Sangupiddy causeway to ease the burden of the civilians living in western parts of Vanni region," said that the President of the Kilinochchi branch of the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society (SLRC), Mr. P. Karthigesu, speaking to Tamilnet about recent moves to further improve transport facilities between Jaffna and the mainland.


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Sri Lanka Police quibble over spent ordnance

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 March 2003, 16:57 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Police Thursday produced in the district court of Mannar a person arrested allegedly for transporting empty casings of artillery shells. Police told court that they had found six empty casings, each two feet long, in a lorry bringing scrap metal from the Vanni at the Uyilankulam entry point in Mannar. Legal sources in the Mannar courts, however, said expended ordnance was not illegal.


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Farmers’ protest brings civil admin to standstill in Mannar

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 March 2003, 13:38 GMT]
More than 1500 farmers in Mannar demanding fair prices for their rice harvest and the removal of Sri Lankan armed forces units which continue to occupy fields and buildings in the region blockaded the District Secretariat Wednesday and brought all government administration in the Northwestern island town to a standstill.
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Remand for Indian fishermen extended

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 March 2003, 00:05 GMT]
The Mannar district judge, Mr. M. A. Mohideen, ordered Thursday that the remand for twenty-six Indian fishermen, who were arrested by local fishermen and handed over to the police on March 5 for trespassing into Sri Lankan waters, be extended until April 3, sources said.
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Vanni TNA MPs fast, demanding Tamil detainees' release

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 March 2003, 02:19 GMT]
Three Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians Messrs Selvam Adaikalanathan, Raja Kuhaneswaran and Sivasakthi Anandan with hundreds of Tamil residents Thursday held a fasting campaign in front of the S.J.V.Chelvanayakam statue in Mannar town Thursday from morning till evening demanding the immediate release of all Tamil political prisoners from prisons at Kalutara and elsewhere in the south, sources said.
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Mannar fishermen protest

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 March 2003, 12:33 GMT]
Members of Parliaments (MPs) Selvam Adaikalanathan, N. Sivasakthi Anandan and K. Rajakuganeswaran joined members of the Federation of Mannar fishing coopertive in a protest march today against South Indian fishermen poaching in SriLankan seas, said sources from Mannar.
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Minister addresses Security forces in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 March 2003, 13:54 GMT]
"Our government is committed to and working hard to finding a political solution through peace talks. Every citizen of this country should be able to live with dignity and freedom and enjoy equality of status. Based on this premise, we are engaged in talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, to find a solution that provides extensive devolution of political powers within a united Sri Lanka," said Prof. G.L.Peiris, Minister of Political Affairs, Government of SriLanka, while addressing security forces in Vavuniya, Sunday, sources said.
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Vavuniya Hospital to provide expanded health services

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 March 2003, 13:05 GMT]
Vavuniya Government Hospital is to be upgraded to a General Public Hospital by the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) said H.A.P. Gajantha Liyanage Health Services Commissioner. Dr. Arumugam Ketheeswaran, the Vavuniya district assistant Commissioner of Health services, confirmed that the facilities and additional medical equipment required for the upgrade will be implemented immediately, said health sources in Vavuniya.


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Modern equipment assists Swiss Organization to demine NE

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 March 2003, 12:41 GMT]
The Swiss Demining Federation (FSD) is currently clearing mines in Thallaimannar and in Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled areas surrounding villages of Pallamadu, Paapamoddai, and Periya Madhu, with a view of preparing these areas ready for resettlement, said a spokesperson for FSD, a Switzerland-based organization currently involved in demining operations in different war affected areas of NorthEast.
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Foundation stone laid for Kilinochchi hospital building

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 March 2003, 05:39 GMT]
Mr. Tadoa Chino, the president of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), laid the foundation stone for a new hospital building in Kilinochchi Friday during a ceremony organized by the Government Agent (GA) of Kilinochchi, T. Rasanayagam and the Sub-Committee on Immediate Humanitarian and Rehabilitation Needs in the North and East (SIHRN), sources said.
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SLN encourages poaching by Indian fishermen - Adaikalanathan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 March 2003, 16:50 GMT]
The Vanni district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Mr.Selvam Adaikalanathan in a letter to the Prime Minister Saturday blamed the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) for causing rift between Sri Lankan Tamil and Indian fishermen. "I strongly condemn the SLN for purposely allowing Indian fishermen to fish in Sri Lankan waters as a ploy to create ill feeling between fishermen of Mannar and India," said Mr.Adaikalanathan.


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GOSL, LTTE gender issues meeting said constructive

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 March 2003, 12:00 GMT]
The Sub-Committee on Gender Issues (SGI), established by agreement between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE during the third round of negotiations in December 2002, held its first stage of meetings on Wednesday and Thursday in Kilinochchi, and in positive and constructive talks between delegates from both parties, agreed to secure“ active participation of women and the effective inclusion of gender issues in the peace process,” said a press release by the Sub-Committee.
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ADB President visits Killinochchi, holds talks with LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 March 2003, 18:21 GMT]
The President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Mr.Tadao Chino, Friday reaffirmed ADB's commitment to supporting the peace process with rehabilitation and reconstruction assistance, during a meeting with representatives of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Killinochchi, northern Sri Lanka, a press release issued by the Sri Lanka Resident Mission of the ADB said.
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Court releases Indian fishermen on police application

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 March 2003, 18:47 GMT]
The Mannar Magistrate, Mr.M.P.Mohideen, Wednesday released 80 Indian fishermen from remand when the Police made an application to release them, saying there was turmoil in India over their arrest and the security of Sri Lankan refugees in South India was at stake until the Indian fishermen were released, legal sources said.
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