Won't leave public buildings in Batticaloa - SLA

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 May 2002, 17:41 GMT]
"The Sri Lanka army will not leave public and private buildings and houses until permanent peace is established", said Lt. Col. Gunasekera, the civil affairs officer of the SLA's 23-3 Brigade in Batticaloa, Friday addressing government and municipal officials and more than a hundred locals whose homes are occupied by the military.
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SLA, SLN said promoting fishing by Sinhalese in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 May 2002, 17:39 GMT]
The Federation of fisheries co-operative societies of Vadamaradchi complained to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission in Jaffna Friday that the Sri Lankan armed forces are backing Sinhala fishermen to engage in deep sea fishing off the coast of the northern peninsula while hindering local fishermen from plying their trade freely.
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Sinhala opposition to peace deal gathers momentum

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 May 2002, 18:55 GMT]
More than five thousand protestors Thursday afternoon thronged the Virodhaya (oppose) campaign by Sri Lanka's main opposition alliance against the ruling United National Front's policy on peace talks, the economy and style of governance at Nugegoda Junction, a busy intersection in greater Colombo.
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Prisons check disappoints missing youths' parents

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 May 2002, 16:38 GMT]
The Missing Person's Guardian Association (MPGA) of Jaffna said Thursday after visiting Sri Lankan government prisons outside the northern peninsula that it would launch fresh protests to demand that Colombo investigate the fate of more than 600 youth who went missing after being arrested by the Sri Lanka army in Jaffna in 1997-96.
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Linganagar Tamils complain army harassment

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 May 2002, 05:08 GMT]
The residents of Linganagar, a crowded suburb of Trincomalee town have submitted a memorandum to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in the eastern port city that the Sri Lanka Army has not changed its routine checking and has not relaxed the ban on taking materials such as bricks, cement, tin sheets, poles and cadjans for repairing their houses even months after the permanent ceasefire came into effect.
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SL armed forces said violating children's rights

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 May 2002, 17:38 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army and the Special Task Force haven't come up with a schedule for leaving more than eighty schools occupied by them in the districts of Jaffna, Mullaithivu, Vavuniya, Mannar, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Amparai although they should have started doing so soon after the ceasefire agreement between Colombo and the Liberation Tigers came into effect on 24 February 2002, Northeast Provincial Education Ministry officials said Wednesday.
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Support urged for LTTE’s political efforts

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 May 2002, 00:18 GMT]
The leader of Sri Lanka’s largest Muslim party Monday slammed opponents of the Norwegian peace initiative and urged support for the Liberation Tigers’ political efforts, the Thinakkuaral reported Tuesday. Speaking in the parliament, Mr. Rauf Hakeem, leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), urged political parties to support efforts by the LTTE leader, Vellupillai Pirapaharan, to end the island’s ethnic conflict, the Tamil language daily said.
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Sinhala nationalist MPs vow to fight peace deal

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 May 2002, 22:07 GMT]
A large gathering of Sinhala Parliamentarians Tuesday resolved before the statue of King Duttu Gemunu in the island's ancient capital of Anuradhapura to struggle against what they called a conspiracy to divide Sri Lanka through peace talks with the Liberation Tigers. Duttu Gemunu was an ancient warrior extolled in Sri Lankan Buddhist tradition for killing Ellalan, a Tamil king of the island in the 2nd century BC, and for unifying the island under Sinhala rule.
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SLA said occupying 274 temples in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 May 2002, 05:17 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army continues to occupy two hundred seventy four Hindu temples in the Jaffna district, according to initial estimates, sources in the Ministry of Hindu Affairs said Sunday. The Sri Lanka army should have vacated 'places of religious worship' by 26 March 2002 under the terms of the cease-fire agreement between Colombo and the Liberation Tigers. The SLA continues to occupy hundreds of temples and churches in other parts of the northeastern province despite the lapse of 46 days since the deadline set by the agreement for vacating them.
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TRO office opened in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 May 2002, 07:16 GMT]
The Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) has commenced its activities in the Trincomalee district with the opening of its office in the east port town Friday. Dr.Dedo Geinitz, Team Leader of the German Technical Co-operation (GTZ) in Trincomalee declared open the TRO office.
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Fonseka resumes command of Jaffna SLA

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 May 2002, 19:54 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army Major General Sarath Fonseka took command of troops in Jaffna Thursday, returning to a post he was transferred out of in 2000 following infighting in the SLA high command.
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Ashraff slammed for opposing truce

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 May 2002, 19:27 GMT]
(News Feature) Reflecting increasing irritation amongst Sri Lanka’s Muslim community over ongoing opposition by some Muslim politicians to the permanent ceasefire between the government and the Liberation Tigers, another Muslim organisation this week hailed the truce and condemned those supporting Sinhala nationalist forces opposed to peace.
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PA leader slams truce agreement

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 May 2002, 00:49 GMT]
(News Feature) Sri Lanka’s main opposition People’s Alliance (PA) party Thursday launched a bitter attack in Parliament on the permanent ceasefire signed by the ruling United National Front government and the Liberation Tigers in February, accusing the international truce monitors of being biased towards the Tigers.
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SLA recruitment campaign in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 May 2002, 20:39 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army called on Muslim and Tamil youth in the eastern district of Batticaloa to join up from Thursday. The SLA campaigned for recruits in the villages of Eravur, Chenkalady, Vantharumoolai, Sithaandy, Mavadivembu and Kaluwankerny in vans fixed with loud hailers Wednesday urging youth to enrol in the military.
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Thamilchelvan says A9 should be open 24 hours, slams SLN

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 May 2002, 06:57 GMT]
"The Liberation Tigers want the A9 road to be open 24 hours, on all days of the week, to ensure the free flow of goods between Jaffna and the other parts of the island," Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan, the head of the LTTE's political division, told TamilNet Thursday.
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Spy planes return to Vavuniya skies

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 May 2002, 00:18 GMT]
Flights over Vavuniya by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) of the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF)caused surprise amongst residents this week, Tamil press reports said. The small reconnaissance drones were last seen in the area during the height of bitter fighting in the Vanni between Sri Lankan forces and the Liberation Tigers.
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Jaffna forces strengthen defences

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 May 2002, 23:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s security forces in Jaffna have strengthened their defences and increased their security checks on civilians, press reports said Wednesday. The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) are building new defence lines and bunkers in the Thenmaradchi, Vadamaradchi and Valigamam sectors according to the Tamil language Thinakkural.
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Islet residents protest military zone to SLMM

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 May 2002, 15:26 GMT]
A community group representing residents in the islets off Jaffna has appealed to the ceasefire monitors to allow Tamil Tiger cadres there and to put an end to harassment by the Sri Lanka Navy stationed into the area. The Jaffna based Tamil daily Uthayan said the residents’ two demands are detailed in a report the islanders were to hand present to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in a meeting Tuesday.
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LTTE slams "grave" truce breach by Navy

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 May 2002, 10:19 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Sunday accused the Sri Lankan Navy of a “grave and serious violation” of the indefinite ceasefire when gunboats destroyed several civilian fishing vessels and killed two Muslim fishermen in the seas near Vaharai, Batticaloa on Wednesday. The Sri Lankan Navy is “deliberately creating conflictual situations to disrupt the peace process,” the LTTE said. “We call upon the Sri Lanka government to prevail upon the naval authorities to abandon its hostile attitude and strictly follow the peace agreement,” the Tigers said in a statement.
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SLA concedes on cyanide capsules

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 May 2002, 00:48 GMT]
Twenty-eight Liberation Tigers entered Jaffna last Monday under the terms of the permanent ceasefire, but only after disagreements with Sri Lanka soldiers manning the checkpoint at Muhamalai over body searches, press reports said this week. Following a heated argument over the LTTE cadres’ cyanide capsules, the Army commander has reportedly accepted that the carrying of these was henceforth not to be opposed.
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