Sri Lanka President proposes truce committee

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 February 2004, 13:02 GMT]
Sri Lanka President Chandrika Kumaratunga proposed a committee to discuss matters relating to the implementation of the ceasefire agreement with the Liberation Tigers. The President made the proposal during a meeting with the head of the Sri Lanka truce monitoring mission, Maj. Gen. Tronde Furuhovde Wednesday in Colombo.
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TEPS calls on people to identify anti-social elements

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 February 2004, 05:42 GMT]
The Tamil Eelam Police Service (TEPS), the police division of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, on Tuesday called on the people of the Jaffna peninsula to identify anti-social elements and root them out, according to the Jaffna-based Tamil language daily, Uthayan.
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"Will talk to any government with clear authority" – Col. Karuna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 February 2004, 14:17 GMT]
"We are prepared to talk to any government that comes to power in Sri Lanka with clear authority and power. We are ready to negotiate with them to settle the conflict by peaceful means. We are also firmly committed to observing the ceasefire agreement. We urge the Sinhala people to reject obscurantism and chauvinism and to choose political forces that are forward looking for the sake of peace and progress," said Col. Karuna, senior commander of the Liberation Tigers Tuesday.
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LTTE blames sinhala leaders for lack of political will and vision

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 February 2004, 19:24 GMT]
“The dissolution of the Sri Lankan parliament and the call for a snap election constitutes a grave set-back to the peace process. The decision to seek another mandate from the people clearly demonstrates the fact that the Sinhala political leadership lacks the political will and vision to resolve the country’s burning issue - the Tamil national question,” said Mr Anton Balasingham, the LTTE’s political advisor and theoretician commenting on the current political developments in Colombo.
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TNA MPs boycott as Trinco celebrates Sri Lanka's independence

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 February 2004, 12:20 GMT]
"When peace talks resume, I firmly believe that hopes of everyone yearning for a permanent end to conflict by reaching a just and enduring solution will be achieved", said the North East Governor Major General Asoka Jayawardene addressing the country's fifty sixth Independence Day celebration held in Trincomalee Mc Heyzer Stadium Wednesday morning.


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"UNF ready to get fresh mandate for peace"- Wickremesinghe

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 February 2004, 17:18 GMT]
"The ruling United National Front is prepared to face a snap general election to get a fresh mandate for peace," Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe said Sunday addressing a rally at Hali-Ela in Badulla district. The meeting was held to inform the masses on the current political situation since Sri Lanka President's take over of three key ministries from the UNF government, media sources said.


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"No back-door link with LTTE"- Harim Peiris

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 February 2004, 17:13 GMT]
"The President is not trying to establish a back-door link with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam," said Sri Lanka President's spokesperson Mr.Harim Peiris commenting on a report that Defense Ministry Secretary Mr. Cyril Herath has written a letter to LTTE Peace Secretariat head Mr.Pulithevan, media sources said.


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UNDP funds Muttur Milk-collection project

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 February 2004, 15:36 GMT]
At the Trincomalee district secretariat Friday, the United National Development Fund (UNDP) and the Sri Lanka's Agricultural and Livestock Development Ministry signed an agreement to establish a milk collecting system at Palathadichchenai in Muttur, sources said. The estimated cost of the project is US $ 105,485.
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Colombo political crisis discussed in Jaffna Seminar

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 January 2004, 13:37 GMT]
A two-day seminar on "The current political crisis and the peace process" organized by the Centre for Women and Development (CWD) began Saturday morning in Jaffna Navalar Cultural Hall where topics related to political crisis in Colombo, LTTE's Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) proposals, problems in the current Sri Lanka constitution and other matters related to the Peace Process were discussed, civil sources said.
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LTTE expresses 'serious concern' over Indo-Lanka defence pact

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 January 2004, 14:31 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has expressed serious concern over the envisaged Indo-Sri Lankan Defence Agreement (DCA) arguing that it could have far-reaching negative consequences for the current peace process, sources told TamilNet Monday.
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"Foreign nations understand LTTE’s central role to Sri Lanka's progress" –TNA MP

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 January 2004, 00:47 GMT]
“Currently, diplomats of foreign countries, ambassadors and representatives of donor nations who visit Sri Lanka and meet those in power in Colombo, are also visiting the Vanni to meet with the Liberation Tigers. This shows a clear understanding by the international community that without the participation of the LTTE, no progress can be made in the country,” said Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham, the Tamil National Alliance MP from the Batticaloa district, speaking at the opening of the maternity home in Mandur Saturday.
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Linganagar Tamils complain of SLA harassment

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 January 2004, 18:41 GMT]
The People Welfare Society (PWF) of Linganagar Friday made a complaint to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRC) and the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in Trincomalee that soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers manning a check point in the area are harassing the residents of Linganagar, a crowded suburb of Trincomalee town, civil rights sources said.


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Anura Bandaranaike denies secrecy in SLFP-JVP pact

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 January 2004, 12:15 GMT]
Peoples Alliance parliamentarian Mr.Anura Bandaranaike in a statement issued Friday denied any secrecy in the agreement signed by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the Sinhala Nationalist Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) in forming the United Peoples Freedom Alliance ( UPFA ).


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‘Sri Lanka army does not want war’ says Jaffna commander

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 January 2004, 12:52 GMT]
‘War is not the solution to the problem. The army does not want war. But we wont let the country be divided by war’, said Maj. Gen. Susil Chandrapala, the Sri Lankan armed forces commander for Jaffna speaking at a meeting on problems faced by refugees and civilians in the peninsula’s Valigamam North Division Wednesday. Former Sri Lanka army spokesman, Brig. Sanath Karunaratna, general officer commanding of SLA’s 51 Division in Jaffna was associated with Maj. Gen. Chandrapala at the meeting.
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TNA delegation meets Akashi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 January 2004, 12:05 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Wednesday told the Japanese special peace envoy Mr.Yasushi Akashi that the international community should come forward to help the Tamils in the north east province with an alternative plan to restore normalcy in their lives and to develop their war-ravaged homeland if the political rivalry among Sinhala political leaders stalls the peace process, TNA sources said.


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SLFP-JVP MoU slams Sri Lanka’s peace process

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 January 2004, 10:27 GMT]
The memorandum of understanding signed by Sri Lanka President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Tuesday slammed the peace process, asserting that it “threatens the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of the country, degrading its dignity”. The MoU also lambasted Mr. Wickremesinghe’s government for promoting “crony capitalism, racketeering, corruption and subservience to international financial institutions”.
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SLFP-JVP alliance signed in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 January 2004, 05:10 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Freedom Party and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna signed an agreement to form a new political alliance called 'United People's Freedom Alliance' at 10.40 a.m Tuesday in Colombo. Speaking after the signing ceremony, JVP Gen. Sec. Mr. Tilvin Silva said that the JVP had formed the alliance to prevent the plan to divide the country. The JVP and the SLFP say that the peace process and the ceasefire agreement between the Liberation Tigers and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s are part of a western backed conspiracy to divide Sri Lanka.
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Thamilchelvan deplores Sri Lanka President's 'arbitrary action'

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 January 2004, 10:40 GMT]
The Sri Lankan "governing apparatus that should take forward the peace process with commitment and sufficient strength is in shambles. This no doubt is an imminent threat to the maintenance of the ceasefire with due integrity," said Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan, head of the LTTE’s political division addressing the conference of northeast donors Monday in Kilinochchi. He said that "the arbitrary action" of Sri Lanka’s President "has created problems of vast magnitude vis-à-vis the integrity of the CFA and the progress of the political negotiations."
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Separate body a must to reconstruct NorthEast - TNA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 January 2004, 15:24 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentary group leader Mr.R.Sampanthan Saturday appealed to the international community to take steps to create a separate structure to the Tamil speaking people to rehabilitate themselves and reconstruct their war ravaged province if the current political power struggle between the executive presidency and head of the parliamentary legislature in the south continues without settlement to take forward the stalled peace process.


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Trinco Chamber of Commerce to open Business College

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 January 2004, 00:01 GMT]
A Memorandum of Understanding between the CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants), Sri Lanka Division, and the Chamber of Commerce and Industries of Trincomalee District (CCITD) to open a CIMA information desk in Trincomalee was signed at an event held at the Trincomalee Rotary House Friday evening. The CIMA information desk will function in the CCITD office from January 19 as a first step to open a Business College in the eastern port town, officials said.
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