UNICEF provides school building for Nochchikulam students

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 March 2004, 16:16 GMT]
About fifty students of resettled families in Nochchikulam village in the Morawewa division in the Trincomalee district Thursday moved into a new building, which has been constructed with the funds provided by the UNICEF. The children of the resettled families studied under tree shades till the completion of the semi-permanent building. UNICEF Trincomalee zone head Ms Gabriela Elroy declared open the building Thursday.


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TNA campaigns, Thiriyai to vote after two decades

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 March 2004, 14:25 GMT]
A group of resettled villagers attended a Tamil National Alliance (TNA) election meeting held Wednesday evening after twenty-one years in Thiriyai, a traditional Tamil village in Trincomalee which was completely destroyed in military operations launched by the Sri Lanka Army, sources said.


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U.S condemns killing of Batticaloa candidate

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 March 2004, 12:09 GMT]
State Department Spokesperson, Richard Boucher, has condemned the killing of Sinnathamby Sunderampillai, a candidate in Sri Lanka's upcoming parliamentary elections. "Although no one has claimed responsibility for the crime, we note recent statements by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam that were clearly intended to discourage Tamil candidates of whom they did not approve," Boucher said in a statement issued March 1 in Washington. Sri Lanka police, however, say the matter is under investigation and declined to blame LTTE.
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TNA holds its first election rally in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 March 2004, 17:34 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) held its first election rally in Trincomalee Sivan Kovil Veethi Monday evening. "The forthcoming general election has been thrusted on the country as chauvinist forces in the south could not digest the contents of the Interim Self Governing Authority proposal submitted by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to the United National Front government,” said TNA leader and the lead candidate in the Trincomalee electoral district, Mr.R.Sampanthan, addressing the rally.
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Tigers seek truce monitors' role to facilitate poll

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 February 2004, 11:43 GMT]
''The question of people from areas held by us voting in the elections involves arrangements by the Liberation Tigers and the Sri Lankan armed forces. This is a ceasefire related matter. Therefore we feel that the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission has a role in working out modalities to help people in our areas vote at the general elections'' said Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan, head of the LTTE's political division speaking to journalists Saturday after meeting with the head of Sri Lanka truce monitoring mission in Kilinochchi.
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Vavuniya refugee camp on fire

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 February 2004, 08:31 GMT]
One of the main refugee camps in Vavuniya caught fire and is burning, Police in the northern border town said Saturday afternoon. The camp in the outer suburb of Poonthottam houses more than five hundred families that were displaced from villages north of Vavuniya due to Sri Lanka army operations.
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SLMM head to meet LTTE leadership Saturday

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 February 2004, 18:11 GMT]
The head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, Major General (retd.) Trond Furuhovde, is to visit Kilinochchi Saturday to meet the political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Mr.S.P.Thamilchelvan. This will be his first visit to Kilinochchi after he assumed office for the second time on February 1, SLMM sources said.
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"UPFA firmly committed to political dialogue with LTTE"

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 February 2004, 12:39 GMT]
“Within a short time of the formation of the Freedom Alliance government President Kumaratunge will call for the recommencement of the peace talks with the LTTE and also propose time frames for solving the problems concerned," said the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) in a press release issued Friday in Colombo.


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UNF committed to achieve lasting peace - Wickremesinghe

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 February 2004, 16:09 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe launching the election campaign on behalf of the United National Front (UNF) Thursday evening at Kandy, appealed to the people to vote for the UNF which he said is committed to taking the peace process forward, political sources in Kandy said. Mr Wickremesinghe said that his new government would strengthen the existing ceasefire, rebuild the economy and achieve lasting peace by working towards a fair and just political solution to the ethnic conflict.


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International community should protect Tamils right to vote - TNA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 February 2004, 15:36 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) will appeal to the international community to exert pressure on the Sri Lankan government to ensure voters in the Liberation Tigers controlled areas in the northeast province to exercise their franchise in the forthcoming general election without any interruption, TNA's leader and former parliamentarian Mr. R.Sampanthan said in a meeting of TNA candidates in Trincomalee, sources said. Mr.Tilak, LTTE Trincomalee district political head also participated in the meeting.
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"Ceasefire has failed to bring normalcy to Jaffna residents"

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 February 2004, 19:22 GMT]
The Jaffna District Humanitarian Agencies Consortium (JDHAC) Sunday handed over a memorandum to the head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in Jaffna stating that normalcy has not returned to the lives of several thousand Tamil people including internally displaced in the peninsula even after two years of ceasefire, civil society sources said.
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Wickremesinghe appeals for renewed mandate for peace

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 February 2004, 14:39 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremesinghe Sunday addressing the special convention of the United National Party (UNP) held at Colombo New Town hall appealed to the voters to give his coalition a fresh mandate with absolute majority that will enable him to take the peace process forward and to build a new nation in the next six years, political sources in Colombo said.


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Thousands of Killinochchi IDPs not paid resettlement assistance

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 February 2004, 15:44 GMT]
About 6,596 resettled families in the Killinochchi district have not been paid any resettlement allowances since the signing of the ceasefire agreement by the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Killinochchi district secretariat sources said.


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Mullaitivu fisheries sector struggles for survival

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 February 2004, 15:39 GMT]
Since the signing of ceasefire agreement by the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam fisheries sector in the Mullaitivu district has received no financial or any other assistance to restore the fisheries industry or to improve the living conditions of the fisher families, Mullaitivu fisheries sources said.


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Donors call for early return to Peace Talks

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 February 2004, 15:12 GMT]
"A return to the peace table, along with strict adherence to the terms of the ceasefire agreement, is essential to sustain the peace process for the benefit of all ethnic communities in Sri Lanka," said the the co-chairs of the Tokyo Conference on Reconstruction and Development of Sri Lanka (the United States, European Union, Japan, and Norway) who met in Washington today, in a press release issued by the US State Department.
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"Sinhala border villagers fear renewed war"- Provincial Minister

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 February 2004, 20:26 GMT]
"Sinhalese people in border villages of the northeastern province live in fear of a renewed war following Sri Lanka President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge's recent action of taking over the three key ministries and the formation of a political alliance between the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna," said a People's Alliance Provincial Minister Mr.K.B.Tennekon Tuesday at an event held at the United National Party (UNP) headquarters Sri Kotha to mark his joining the UNP, media sources said.


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Marxists reject Sri Lanka's truce with Tigers

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 February 2004, 19:51 GMT]
The SLFP-JVP Alliance will not abide by the cease fire agreement (CFA) between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers, instead it would try to negotiate a new CFA, the powerful propaganda secretary of the JVP, Mr. Wimal Weerawansa, told the latest issue of the Sinhala weekly "Lanka". He charged that the CFA Mr. Ranil Wickremesighe signed with the leader of the LTTE in February 2002 poses a clear threat to national security. Informed Sinhala political analysts say "Lanka" is a paper backed by the JVP.


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Election should focus on future coexistence and cooperation - NPC

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 February 2004, 08:37 GMT]
Noting that Sri Lanka is facing its third general election in less than four years and the country is plunged into an election when it is faced with acute financial difficulties, the National Peace Council (NPC), a Colombo based Sri Lankan peace group, in a media release issued in Colombo today said that it is "disturbed by the early emergence of negative campaigning by political parties that aim at fanning fears and apprehensions of the people regarding the breakdown of the ceasefire, the division of the country and the threat posed by one community to the other."
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Highest ranking USAID official visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 February 2004, 03:19 GMT]
Mr. Mark S.Ward, Deputy Assistant Administrator of the Asia and Near East Bureau, US Agency for International Development (USAID), visited Jaffna Thursday to evaluate the progress of several USAID projects providing development assistance to the people of Jaffna, civil society sources said. Mr. Ward is the highest-ranking USAID official covering South Asia.


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Polling stations considered in no-man zones

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 February 2004, 00:26 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Commissioner of Elections, Mr.Dayananda Dissanayake, has summoned all District Returning Officers and District Assistant Commissioners of Elections for a top level conference on Saturday at his office in Colombo to finalize locating polling booths for voters in Liberation Tigers-held areas in the Northeast province and also other related matters, authoritative sources said.
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