Buddhist monks burn effigy of Solheim

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 November 2000, 15:24 GMT]
Hundreds of Sinhala nationalists Thursday evening picketed out side the Royal Norwegian embassy in Colombo and burnt an effigy of Oslo's special envoy to Sri Lanka, Erik Solheim. The majority of the participants were Buddhist monks. Earlier around 4 the far-right Sihala Urumaya party organized a public meeting at Narahenpitiya in Colombo protesting against Norway's involvement in finding a solution to the island's conflict.
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Search operation in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 November 2000, 15:34 GMT]
Hundreds of Sri Lanka Army soldiers conducted a search operation in the Neervely area about 12 km. north-east of Jaffna town from the early hours of Tuesday said sources in the northern town.
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ICRC escort for ships suspended

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 November 2000, 15:26 GMT]
The International Committee of Red Cross has suspended its escort to the passenger vessel City of Trinco and as the well as the voyager 'Jaya Gold' until further notice, said ICRC's spokesman Harasha Gunawardene. The two ships had been transferring seriously ill patients between Jaffna and Trincomalee.
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Shelling kills farmer

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 November 2000, 11:37 GMT]
A young farmer was killed when Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers stationed at Monkey Bridge fired shells towards Soodaikudah, a village in the Mutur Division, south of Trincomalee Monday afternoon, said sources.
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Fire-fight in Valaichenai

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 November 2000, 07:42 GMT]
Four soldiers were wounded when the Liberation Tigers and the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) clashed Sunday night in the Valaichenai area, about 32 kilometers north of Batticaloa, security sources said.
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Tamils demand International presence in massacre probe

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 November 2000, 02:18 GMT]
Tamil people of Trincomalee has sent a memorandum to the Secretary General of the United Nations (UN) this evening requesting him to take immediate steps to inform the Sri Lankan government to include representatives from United Nations, Amnesty International, European Union and Commonwealth Secretariat to investigate the massacre of 29 Tamil detainees at Bindunuwewa Rehabilitation Center, Bandarawela, last month.
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Search operation in Eravur

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 November 2000, 13:38 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and Police cordoned and searched the village in the 5th district of Eravur 12 km north of Batticaloa town today, sources said.
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15 men reported missing

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 November 2000, 21:45 GMT]
Fifteen Tamils from Kopaveli, a village situated 30 km northwest of Batticaloa town, who went to collect firewood in the forests near Ampara border, have been reported missing by their relatives.
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STF charged with Batticaloa security

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 November 2000, 16:31 GMT]
Special Task Force (STF) members replaced Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers from the camps and checkpoints in Batticaloa town today and will be responsible for the security of the town, said army sources.
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Missing man's wife battles in Court

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 November 2000, 00:39 GMT]
The Eastern High Court on Friday re-issued notices on the Inspector General of Police, the Secretary of the Ministry of Defense and the Trincomalee Headquarters Inspector of Police to appear on December 12 in the matter of an application for an order in the nature of a Writ of Habeas Corpus filed by the young wife of a missing Tamil civilian, Vairamuthu Jeyakili.
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Town mourns as slain MP is buried

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 November 2000, 17:53 GMT]
The funeral of slain TULF MP for Batticaloa, Nimalan Soundaranayagam took place at the Methodist burial ground in his native town of Morokkottaanchenai, in Batticaloa at 5 p.m. Friday.
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President urges unity against terrorism

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 November 2000, 01:17 GMT]
(News Feature) Sri Lanka’s President Chandrika Kumaratunge told Parliament Thursday that she was prepared to talk to the Liberation Tigers about a solution to the island’s conflict within the limits of a united Sri Lanka, but said the war “against terrorism” would continue. Addressing Sri Lanka’s newly formed Parliament, she said that “military action against terrorists”, along with her proposed constitutional reforms and the forming of “national unity” was part of her government’s strategy to solve the island’s ethnic conflict. “It is our expectation to finish this war very soon,” she said.
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Friday funeral for slain MP

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 November 2000, 23:21 GMT]
The funeral of slain Batticaloa parliamentarian Nimalan Soundaranayagam, of the Tamil United Liberation Front will take place at Morokkottaanchenai burial ground on Friday evening, party officials said.
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TULF condemns Soundaranayagam killing

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 November 2000, 15:32 GMT]
The Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) has condemned the killing of Batticaloa District Parliamentarian Nimalan Soundaranayagam as a "senseless murder" and appealed for an end to all violence, which they say only makes the search for a peaceful political solution to the Tamil question even more complex and difficult.
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Sri Lanka revives devolution package

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 November 2000, 18:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mr.Ratnasiri Wickremanayake Monday morning met the leader of the opposition and the United National Party, Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe at the Parliamentary Complex and discussed Norway's role in finding a negotiated political solution to the island's protracted ethnic conflict. The talks lasted over ninety minutes, parliamentary sources said.
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Shelling kills child, injures 12

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 November 2000, 22:39 GMT]
A two-year old child was killed and twelve others were wounded, five of them seriously when Sri Lanka Army and Police shelled the villages of Ramespuram and Sunkankerny north of Batticaloa Sunday evening residents said. Thirteen houses were also damaged in the shelling.
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Solheim briefs Kumaratunga on Prabaharan meet

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 November 2000, 14:40 GMT]
Norway's special envoy Erik Solheim had a two-hour meeting with the Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga Friday night to apprise her about the discussion he had with the LTTE leader, V.Pirapaharan at Mallavi in the Vanni on Wednesday.
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Demonstrators protest in Kaluwankerny

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 November 2000, 18:52 GMT]
About 500 villagers demonstrated in Kaluwankerny, about 20 km. north of Batticaloa, protesting against the massacre of Tamil detainees at Bandarawela detention centre last week and the slaying of Jaffna based journalist Nimalarajan.
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JVP slams "secret" talks

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 November 2000, 13:13 GMT]
The Janata Vimukthi Peramuna, (JVP) the Marxist party which secured 10 seats at last month's Parliamentary elections, the third largest tally, Friday condemned the "secret" talks between the Norway's special envoy Eric Solheim and the LTTE leader V.Pirapaharan held at Mallavi in the Vanni region on Wednesday.
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Tigers seek "normalcy in Tamil areas"

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 November 2000, 17:20 GMT]
Norway's Special envoy Mr.Eric Solheim who returned from Vanni after meeting the leader of the Liberation Tigers, V.Pirapaharan told journalists in Colombo Thursday that the LTTE had not laid down any precondition to begin talks with the Sri Lankan Government. He said the LTTE leader brought to the notice of the Norway's delegation that the Tamil areas the island was suffering under the economic embargo imposed by the Sri Lankan government and that he wanted quick return of normalcy in the northeast, Mr.Solheim said.
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