Lagoon mines portend danger to Prawn fishermen

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 February 2003, 00:44 GMT]
War has turned Elephant pass lagoon, well known for high quality prawn harvesting, into an area full of landmines, virtually disabling any immediate attempts to resume the traditional trade by fishermen of that area, sources in Vanni said.


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Police arrest eight Tamil youths in Point Pedro

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 February 2003, 20:09 GMT]
The Point Pedro Police Saturday arrested eight Tamil youths in the Kudathanai village in Vadamarachchi division following a dispute between the soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA)and the members of the vigilant committee of the area. The arrest followed an incident Saturday morning when the vigilant committee detained two SLA soldiers who had forcibly entered a house and harassed the family living there, sources said.
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Soil fertility, drainage affected by SLA bunds

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 February 2003, 14:08 GMT]
Extensive construction of earth bunds by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) at both sides of A9 highway between Puliyankulam and Mankulam during the 'Jeyasikuru' battles has adversely affected the fertility of soil and drainage pattern in surrounding areas, agricultural sources in Vanni said.
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SLA suspects identified in attempted rape case

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 February 2003, 02:47 GMT]
In the identification parade conducted today at the Vavuniya Courts associated with the attempted rape last Sunday in Ganesapuram in Vavuniya district, two Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were identified as the alleged offenders by the witnesses, legal sources in Vavuniya said.
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SLA presence is ethnic cleansing in another form - MP

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 January 2003, 14:52 GMT]
“Deploying a Sinhala army in large areas after evicting Tamils from their towns and villages is another form of ethnic cleansing. An army occupying the homes and lands of our people cannot call itself their guardian. Only a foreign army will drive out people and occupy their towns and villages. I therefore consider the army occupying our lands as a foreign army," said Mr. Selvam Adaikalanathan Tamil National Alliance MP for Vanni, sources said.
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'UNF govt is helping LTTE to achieve Eelam'-JVP

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 January 2003, 01:27 GMT]
During a debate in the Sri Lanka parliament Thursday on the presentation made by Prime Minister at the Oslo aid summit, the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) parliamentarian Mr.Wimal Weerawanse said that the LTTE is adroitlyusing the present peace process to show the world that it has already established a region under their control in the island, parliamentary sources said.


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Mirusuvil massacre accused remanded, warrant on witnesses

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 January 2003, 01:00 GMT]
The trial-at-bar comprising three judges of the Colombo High Court in the Mirusuvil massacre case Wednesday ordered remand for the five accused soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and issued warrant on four vital witnesses who had intimated through the State Counsel from Jaffna their inability to attend the trial due to fear, legal sources in Colombo said.
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De-mining in Jaffna said big business, as mines claim more

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 January 2003, 22:04 GMT]
A woodcutter, Sinnathambi Sinnathurai, 50, was seriously injured Tuesday while chopping fire wood with a relative in Mayilankoodal, Erlalai South, Jaffna, when his axe struck a landmine. He was admitted to the Jaffna hospital. Landmines continue to claim lives and limbs of civilians in Jaffna despite much publicised de-mining programs by international NGOs in the war torn northern peninsula.
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'LTTE, IRA have political goals' - British Minister

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 January 2003, 15:39 GMT]
British Foreign Office Minister Mike O'Brien said Wednesday that the global war against terrorism may be long drawn out because the Al Qaeda has an agenda with which there cannot be negotiations, unlike the LTTE and the IRA who have political goals. He was speaking on 'New Threats to International Security' at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) in Colombo Wednesday.
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SLA collects details of resettled families in Thenmaradchchi

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 January 2003, 18:01 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Monday called for details of displaced persons returned from LTTE controlled Vanni region and have resettled in their own villages in Thenmaradchchi area in the Jaffna district after the opening of A 9 highway since the ceasefire came into force, civil sources said.


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SLMM chief holds talks with LTTE political head

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 January 2003, 18:00 GMT]
The Norwegian head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission Major General (retd) Trond Furuhovde Monday held discussions with the political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam Mr.S.P.Thamilselvan, and said that the LTTE has fully co-operated with the mission in its tasks.
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New SLA camp in Varani

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 January 2003, 17:57 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has built a new camp in a housing scheme in Varani, Jaffna, local residents said. They said that the playground of the village has also been taken over by the SLA for the new camp. At least ten families in the housing scheme have been moved out by the military from the area demarcated for the camp, the residents claimed.


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Stop harassing fishermen, Court tells SLN commander

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 January 2003, 15:43 GMT]
The Muttur Magistrate Mr. T.L.A.Manaf Monday instructed the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) to assist Muttur Police to arrest SLN personnel who were in the naval craft which rammed the fishing boat, killing one Muslim fisherman on December 31 last year, legal sources said.
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STF intimidation in Amparai village

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 January 2003, 12:19 GMT]
"Some officers in the Special Task Force (STF) haven't yet come to terms with the reality that Tamils are not their abject slaves- even after one year of peace," said Mr. Ariyanayagam Chandranehru, Tamil National Alliance MP for the Amparai district, referring to instances of assault and intimidation of civilians by commandos of STF, the elite counter insurgency arm of the Sri Lankan armed forces, deployed mostly on the island's Southeastern coast.


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New SLA camp in Chavakchcheri displaces resettlers

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 January 2003, 14:42 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Chavakachcheri, Jaffna, is building a new camp in an outer suburb of the war ravaged town where refugee families that fled the war more than two years resettled recently, residents said. Three families, which resettled in their homes by the Kandy Road two months ago, vacated their houses Friday as ordered by the SLA. Four resettled families here left Saturday out of fear, sources in Chavakachcheri said.


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ICRC assumes new role in peaceful Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 January 2003, 01:21 GMT]
Although the country has entered a transitional period towards normality as a result of the peace process, the ICRC will remain in Sri Lanka to implement long term projects in helping to solve 'missing cases' and dissemination of International Humanitarian Law (IHL), said the Head of the ICRC, Trincomalee sub delegation, Ms Lina Milner at the first press conference of the ICRC in 2003 in Trincomalee Friday.


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SLA intelligence said bullying Mannar farmers

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 January 2003, 16:16 GMT]
The Mannar Farmers' Federation said Friday that soldiers from the Sri Lanka army's intelligence unit in the district were harassing and threatening local cultivators and agrarian officials to dissuade them from attending public functions in which representatives of the political and development divisions of the Liberation Tigers take part.
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GA requests data on SLA occupied private properties

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 January 2003, 01:33 GMT]
The Government Agent (GA) of Jaffna, Mr. S. Pathmanathan, ordered the Assistant Government Agents (AGAs) in Jaffna district to obtain details on civilian residences and private lands occupied by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in the peninsula, sources in the Northern town said.
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SLN eastern commander ordered to appear in court

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 January 2003, 18:47 GMT]
Notice has been served on the Eastern Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy based in Trincomalee to appear in the Muttur Magistrate's Court on January 27 in connection with the death of a Muslim fisherman, Yakub Jawad of Nadutheivu in Muttur, when his fishing boat was rammed by an SLN speedboat on 31st December last year, legal sources said.
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SLAF unmanned aerial vehicle crashes in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 January 2003, 12:42 GMT]
An Israeli made unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) of the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) crashed Wednesday morning around eleven into an onion field in Alaveddi, seventeen km from Jaffna town soon after it left the Palaly airbase in the peninsula. No casualties were reported, sources said.


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