Scout group at Trinco orphanage holds festival

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 January 2003, 19:27 GMT]
Orphaned children who have formed a scout group at the Uppuveli Sivananda Thabovanam Children Home in Trincomalee held a Scout-Farmers festival Sunday evening.
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SIHRN identifies 11 projects for immediate implementation in NE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 January 2003, 10:31 GMT]
Mr.Yasushi Akashi, special peace envoy of the Government of Japan and Ms Mieko Nishimizu, World Bank Vice President for South Asia participated at the second day meeting of the Sub Committee on Immediate Humanitarian and Rehabilitation Needs in the North and East (SIHRN) held Thursday at Killinochchi. Eleven projects have been identified for immediate implementation in the north and east at the SIHRN meeting after eleven hour discussion, said a press release issued at the conclusion of the meeting.
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UN, GOSL, LTTE discuss refugee return from India

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 January 2003, 18:53 GMT]
Representatives of the UNHCR, Liberation Tigers (LTTE) and the government of Sri Lankan (GOSL) who took part in a workshop on 'Preparations for Voluntary Repatriation of Sri Lankan Refugees from India' held in Kilinochchi Tuesday stressed that further investments in the northeast remains necessary to create conditions conducive to the "safe and dignified organised voluntary repatriation of refugees from India to Sri Lanka."


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Towards building a next generation voice/data network for NorthEast

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 January 2003, 02:18 GMT]
Building a state of the art Telecommunication infrastructure for North East is vital for development, industrial growth, advancement in education, general economic progress and to maintain a competitive edge in a global business environment. With the emergence of a new political configuration, NorthEast administration is rightly positioned to consider building a well designed communication network to connect the NorthEast with the rest of the globe. This article provides technical possibilites and key strategies to consider when designing such network.
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‘Every child in school programme’ to be inaugurated in NE

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 January 2003, 13:22 GMT]
‘Every child in school programme’ sponsored by the UNICEF in the northeast province will be inaugurated in Trincomalee Thursday, 9 January, morning by the Minister of Human Resource Development, Education and Cultural Affairs Dr.Karunasena Kodituwakku.
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Film release celebrates Sea Tigers' tenth anniversary

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 December 2002, 17:43 GMT]
“Nitharsanam” TV unit of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Tuesday released the film “ Kadaloorakatru” (A wind along the coast) produced after the ceasefire agreement between the government and LTTE came into force, simultaneously in six districts in the northeast province celebrating the tenth anniversary of Sea Tigers, sources said.
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Agreement to rebuild A9 signed

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 December 2002, 15:06 GMT]
Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed an agreement Monday morning at the Kilinochchi political head quarters to provide a Rs.600m loan to rebuild 103km segment of Jaffna-Kandy road (A9) beginning from Vilakuvaithakulam in Omanthai to Jaffna Town, sources in Kilinochchi said.


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Magistrate orders India returnees to be resettled

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 December 2002, 17:45 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) arrested seventeen Sri Lankan Tamil refugees Thursday evening in the Talaimannar Sea when they were returning from South India and handed them over to the Mannar Police Friday. When Talaimannar Police produced the refugees before the Mannar Magistrate Mr.M.P.Mohideen later Friday, the magistrate ordered the authorities concerned to resettle the refugees in their villages, legal sources said.
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UNHCR gets Australia's support to help NE IDPs

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 December 2002, 04:47 GMT]
The Australian Government has agreed to provide funds to UNHCR to assist the relocation and reintegration of Sri Lankans internally displaced by conflict, sources close to UNHCR said.


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North East celebrates Heroes Day

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 November 2002, 10:44 GMT]
Towns, villages, remotest hamlets in the northeast province held by government forces and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam are gaily decorated with yellow and red flags and cut outs depicting the Tamil liberation struggle observing the final day of the 'Maaveerar Naal' (Heroes Day) celebrations Wednesday. Jaffna, Batticaloa, Vavuniya and Mannar Maveerar Naal final day celebrations are being held on a grad scale.
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Limited progress reported in Omanthai meet

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 November 2002, 13:05 GMT]
The meeting between the Liberation Tigers (LTTE) and the Officers of Security forces to discuss problems arising from High Security Zones (HSZ) in Vavuniya, Mannar and Mullaitivu districts, conducted in Omanthai no-mans land concluded with decision taken to continue discussions at the forthcoming sub-committee meeting, sources said. The meeting started Monday morning at 9.30am and lasted for 5 hours.
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Trinco journalists briefed on torture victim rehabilitation

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 November 2002, 18:33 GMT]
The Family Rehabilitation Center (FRC) in Trincomalee Saturday held a one-day seminar for local journalists on rehabilitating torture victims. "The main objective of the FRC is to rehabilitate the victims of torture physically and psychologically and make them to lead normal lives in the society," said Dr.Gnanagunalan, medical officer of the FRC when addressing the seminar held at Trincomalee Town Hall Saturday morning.
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Multi-community sportsmeet in Kalutara

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 November 2002, 14:50 GMT]
Seven hundred sportsmen and women and officials from the North travelled to Kalutara to participate in a sportsmeet for peace being held in Matara starting from today. The participants departed from Vavuniya yesterday by a special train, sources said. Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremasinghe, will be the chief guest at the prize giving ceremony on the last day of the meet, sources said.


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NorthEast prepares to celebrate Heroes Week

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 November 2002, 13:43 GMT]
Preparations are underway throughout Northeast to mark Heroes week celebrations between 25th and 27th November during which Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) venerates its fighters who sacrificed their lives for the liberation of Tamil people.
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Protecting Northeastern Coastal Resources

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 November 2002, 02:14 GMT]
Northeast costline, approximately 1000 km long, is home to more than 30 estuaries and sustains a rich ecosystem. Northeast region has remained relatively unhindered by human activity and less affected by the degradation and depletion of coastal habitats usually caused by urbanization, economic growth and overdevelopment.
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MP calls for camp removal, opening of road

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 November 2002, 01:55 GMT]
Selvam Adaikalanathan, Member of Parliament (MP) of the Vanni district, appealed to the Minister of Interior, Mr John Amaratunge, to remove the army detachment camped at the road leading to Kunjukulam village from the Mannar-Madawachchi road, sources said.
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Mannar Co-op council seeks building from SLA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 November 2002, 13:09 GMT]
The District Co-operative Council of Mannar has requested Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Defence to return a two-story building at the entrance to the northwestern town, occupied by the Sri Lankan armed forces from 1990, officials said. The building for long functioned as the SLA’s office for issuing permits to civilians for entering and staying in the Mannar Island. The building’s upper floor was used by the SLA for interrogating and detaining civilians arrested on suspicion and during cordon and search operations.
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Rehabilitation Ministry withdraws spoilt WFP rice from NE

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 November 2002, 17:52 GMT]
The Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Refugees Ministry Sunday began withdrawing its stock of spoilt rice sent to the Trincomalee Multi Purpose Co-operative Society (MPCS) under the World Food Programme (WFP) for the distribution to the internally displaced in refugee camps and welfare centres in the east port town. The withdrawal was prompted by the Medical Officer of Health (MoH) declaration Friday that the rice was unfit for consumption. Rehabilitation Ministry sources said spoilt rice sent to Jaffna, Vavuniya and Mannar will also be withdrawn and be replaced with good quality stock.
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Colombo’s CFA obligations list remains long

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 November 2002, 15:04 GMT]
The Sri Lankan military occupies 216 temples and churches and at least 45 schools in Jaffna. In scores of other schools and places of worship in the northern peninsula the Sri Lankan armed forces have vacated only buildings but are camped in or around the same locations. The Sri Lankan government agreed to pull out its armed forces from schools and places of worship in the island’s Northeastern province when it signed a ceasefire agreement (CFA) with the Liberation Tigers in February 2002.
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Left PA government because Kumaratunga was bent on war - Minister

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 October 2002, 17:10 GMT]
“Prof. G.L Pieris, Mr. S. B Dissanayaka and I left People’s Alliance government last year because President Chandrika Kumaratunga was bent on war and detested peace. We could have been ministers in the PA government until 2005. But had we remained in the PA regime for the full term of the Parliament elected in 2000, war would have continued in this country. It is in this context that we left the PA and helped form a new government. The war came to an end because of this government,” said Sri Lanka’s Minister for Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Mr. Mahinda Wijesekera.
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