LTTE opens third office in Ampara

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 June 2002, 11:39 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers' third political office in the Ampara district began work last week, press reports said. The new office in Kalmunai, located near the Fatima college on the Kalmunai-Batticaloa main road, was inauguarated Friday last week, the Virakesari reported on Tuesday.
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'Just solution will end armed struggle'

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 June 2002, 14:10 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers are committed to the ceasefire agreement with the Sri Lankan government and will honour its terms and conditions, but must remain strong until the rights of the Tamil people have been secured, a senior LTTE commander said Monday.
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Changes in SLA senior ranks

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 June 2002, 23:07 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Army Tuesday announced changes in some of its senior ranks. Major General L. C. R Goonewardene has been appointed new Chief of Staff while Major General A.E.D Wijendra has been appointed his deputy. Meanwhile press reports said SLA Commander Lt. Gen. Lionel Balagalle would serve an extended term with the approval of the United National Front government.
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Quit notices on Linganagar Tamil families withdrawn

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 June 2002, 05:13 GMT]
The Trincomalee Divisional Secretary (DS) has decided to withdraw ejectment applications filed in the magistrateís court under the State Lands (Recovery of Possession) Act against several Tamil residents who live on state lands in the Linganagar area, a suburb in Trincomalee, when the defense counsel submitted that the affidavits of the prosecution were bad in law and not in conformity with the land.
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Jaffna court seeks EPDP's weapons list

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 June 2002, 12:26 GMT]
The Jaffna magistrate Mr. R. T Vignarajah Friday directed the Sri Lanka Police to serve notice on the Eelam People's Democratic Party's (EPDP) deputy organiser for Jaffna, Mr. K. Manipallavarajan, to appear in court on Monday, 10 May with the list of weapons the paramilitary group had in its possession when the journalist, Mylvaganam Nimalarajan, was murdered. Mr. Nimalarajan, Jaffna correspondent for the BBC, the Tamil daily, Virakesari and the TamilNet was killed at his home on 19 October 2000 by gunmen suspected to be members of the EPDP, a key ally of President Chandrika Kumaratunga.
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Development Forum awaits 'urgent change'

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 June 2002, 23:54 GMT]
(News Feature) The Sri Lankan government needs to move faster in securing peace and implementing economic reforms, the Vice President of the World Bank's South Asia region, Mieko Nishimizu, said Thursday in her concluding statement to the Sri Lanka Development Forum meeting in Colombo.
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'Wont fall for provocations to break truce' - Karikalan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 June 2002, 16:28 GMT]
"The power of our people is greater than the power of the gun. We have come into areas controlled by the Sri Lanka army because we trust the might of the Tamil masses. The commandos of the Special Task Force are telling our people to make coffins when the whole world is exhorting all of us to make peace. In truth, the STF is trying to bury the peace process in those coffins," said Mr. Karikalan, a senior official of the LTTE's political division, addressing a rally of more than five thousand students in Thambiluvil, 76 kilometres south of Batticaloa, Thursday.
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Donors seek ‘meaningful and lasting reforms’ first

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 June 2002, 12:50 GMT]
(News Feature) Donors to Sri Lanka should see practical implementation of the government’s stated commitment to reforms before providing funding, the Vice President of the World Bank’s South Asia region said Wednesday. Furthermore, without peace, any prosperity would be fragile, just as without growth ‘with equity to all,’ peace would be vulnerable, Ms. Mieko Nishimizu said, addressing the Sri Lanka Development Forum meeting in Colombo.
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Sri Lanka's conditions for talks create an 'impasse' - Balasingham

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 June 2002, 12:42 GMT]
The Norwegian peace initiative in Sri Lanka has been delayed by the government’s failure to implement the terms of the permanent ceasefire with the Liberation Tigers and is threatened by the hostile intervention of President Chandrika Kumaratunga, the LTTE’s chief negotiator and political advisor, Mr. Anton Balasingham, told the Tamil Guardian this week.
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Kumaratunga ally slams PA's chauvinism

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 June 2002, 16:55 GMT]
The Lanka Sama Samaja party (LSSP) Monday accused the main opposition Peoples Alliance (PA) led by President Chandrika Kumaratunge that "it does not maintain a definite position regarding the ongoing peace efforts and the government's economic programme". The general secretary of the LSSP and a former minister in the PA government Mr. Batty Weerakone said the PA has joined the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna to whip up racial hatred in the country, forgetting the economic problems of the masses.
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US denies military alliance amid Tamil suspicion

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 May 2002, 10:04 GMT]
(News Feature) The United States denied Friday it was planning to enter into defence pact or treaty with Sri Lanka and said the proposed Acquisition and Cross Servicing Agreement (ACSA), “does not ally the two countries in any formal way.” Sri Lankan and Indian press coverage of increased defence cooperation between Colombo and Washington, including the supply of two radar-equipped surveillance aircraft, had drawn protests from Tamil politicians and media that the move would damage prospects for peace.
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"Rules for islands humiliating, wont enter" - LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 May 2002, 21:43 GMT]
"We will not enter the islands of Jaffna in compliance with the conditions that the Sri Lanka Navy has imposed on us now. The Navy's action is aimed at further subverting the peace process and creating a fear psychosis among the people of the islands," said Mr. Ilamparithi, the head of the political office of the Liberation Tigers in Jaffna, responding Thursday to the 12 conditions stipulated by the Sri Lanka Navy for allowing his colleagues to engage in political work in the islands of the northern peninsula.
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CID questions Kumaratunga's ex- media advisor

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 May 2002, 18:15 GMT]
Top officials of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) on Wednesday questioned controversial Sinhala film actor Sanath Gunatileke who has been accused of abductions, intimidation and malpractices during the People's Alliance regime, whilst serving as the media spokesman for President Chandrika Kumaratunge for about six years, police sources said.
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Sri Lanka details amendments to strength Parliament against President

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 May 2002, 14:16 GMT]
Sri Lanka this week published details of proposed constitutional amendments that it says will bring about “a new political culture.” The main feature, according to the government, is the creation of an executive committee system which will comprise the elected representatives of both the ruling and the opposition parties. But the amendments are clearly designed to protect Parliament from Sri Lanka’s powerful Executive Presidency.
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Military intransigence, LTTE ban thwart direct talks

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 May 2002, 11:09 GMT]
(News Feature) The Sri Lankan military's continuing refusal to implement the terms and conditions of the 3-month old permanent ceasefire and the government's back-pedalling on the issue of deproscription of the Liberation Tigers is thwarting the holding of direct talks between the two sides, the Tamil Guardian newspaper quoted Mr. Anton Balasingham, the LTTE's chief negotiator and political advisor as saying Monday.
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Tigers prepare for economic development

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 May 2002, 20:07 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers are making preparations for economic development and infrastructure reconstruction in the north and east, a senior LTTE official said Friday. Mr. S. Karikalan, deputy head of the LTTE's political section, was speaking at a seminar for Government departmental heads held in Kokkaddicholai, 16 kilometres southwest of Batticaloa.
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Pandemonium in Sri Lanka Parliament over local polls

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 May 2002, 15:51 GMT]
Pandemonium reigned in the Sri Lanka's parliament Tuesday when the Speaker refused permission to the leader of the Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Mr.Wimal Weerawansa to speak against alleged malpractices in Monday's local elections. The Speaker adjourned the sittings for fifteen minutes as the situation in the house was beyond his control, with MPs of the main opposition Peoples Alliance and the JVP shouting slogans and holding placards in the chamber denouncing the manner in which local elections were conducted Monday.
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'Last chance for peace' - Karikalan

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 May 2002, 08:36 GMT]
"This is the last chance for peace. The Sri Lankan government should firmly grasp this opportunity and make the most of it to settle the conflict. We, the Liberation Tigers, are resolutely committed to peace.
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HC acquits PTA accused in conspiracy case

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 May 2002, 17:22 GMT]
The Colombo High Court Friday acquitted an accused indicted under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) for conspiring to assassinate President Chandrika Kumaratunge in 1995.
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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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