SL President threatens to de-merge northeast province

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 August 2003, 15:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunge, issued a warning through her media spokesman, Mr.Harim Peiris, Wednesday that she would not hesitate to de-merge the northeast province if the United National Front government failed to quell the violence and restore peace in the east, media sources said.
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'Stop alienation of State land in Trincomalee district' - Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 August 2003, 15:51 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance’s parliamentary group leader, Mr.R.Sampanthan, Saturday made an urgent appeal to the United National Front government to stop the alienation of State land in Trincomalee district as it would cause serious harmful impact on the peace process, saying that such alienation of land was one of the main causes that led to the commencement of war and therefore it would be “tantamount to an abuse of the current ceasefire.”
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New Sinhala families settled in Nelukkulam

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 August 2003, 10:46 GMT]
Even as thousands of internally displaced Tamil people are languishing in refugee camps, prevented by the Sri Lanka Army from resettling in their own homes, Sri Lankan government officials with the support of the SLA are actively engaged in recruiting new Sinhala families from the South to settle in lands abandoned by earlier Sinhala occupants in the traditional Tamil village of Nelukkulam in the Manalaru region in the Mullaitivu district, sources said.
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Norwegian HR activist visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 August 2003, 14:35 GMT]
The Jaffna District Humanitarian Agencies Consortium (JDHAC) Friday told a visiting Norwegian human rights activist, Mr.Bernt Gelbrandsen, at the JDHCA office in Jaffna town, that the Sri Lankan government has failed to implement the terms of the ceasefire agreement signed by it with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam seventeen months ago last year, civil sources said.
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‘Indian Minister’s visit to SL historic’ - Peiris

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 August 2003, 18:56 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government’s cabinet spokesman, Mr. G.L.Peiris, said Thursday that the proposed visit of the Indian Foreign Minister, Mr.Yaswant Sinha, to Colombo next week would be 'historic.' Replying to a question at the weekly press briefing, Mr.Peiris, who is also the government’s Chief negotiator in the peace talks, said that there would not be any problem in obtaining Indian assistance to the present peace process, media sources said.
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TNA, LTTE meet on IA proposals

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 August 2003, 17:05 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam is conducting individual meetings with constituents of the Tamil National Alliance to inform them about the LTTE’s planned discussions with constitutional experts--and to seek the TNA’s suggestions--on the Sri Lankan government’s proposals for an Interim Administration for the North-East, sources said.
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'Eastern Tamils losing confidence in SLMM'

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 August 2003, 14:09 GMT]
Representatives of the Batticaloa District Non-Governmental Organizations' Consortium Thursday told the Norwegian special peace envoy, Mr. Erik Solheim, that Tamils were losing confidence in the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission as it had failed to take into account the mounting problems of the displaced Tamil people in the eastern province, NGO sources said.
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Norwegian peace envoy Solheim arrives in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 August 2003, 13:10 GMT]
Norwegian special peace envoy, Mr. Erik Solheim, arrived in Colombo Tuesday early morning on a three day visit to hold vital discussions with the leaders of the United National Front government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) intended to sort out differences between the two parties in taking forward the peace process stalled since April this year, political sources said.
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SLA to recruit 4000 soldiers

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 August 2003, 10:16 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) is to launch a massive recruitment drive to recruit about 4000 soldiers and interviews will commence on 18 August in several locations islandwide, the state controlled Sunday Observer newspaper reported quoting Brigadier Jammika Liyanage, Director, Personnel Administration, of the SLA.
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SL President says ‘dangerous’ period ahead

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 August 2003, 18:41 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President, Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge, addressing a workshop of members of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party women organizations Friday, said that the country was facing the most dangerous period in its history as the United National Front government was preparing to “hand over the power to rule a part of the country to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, in the name of taking forward the present peace process."
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Thileepan memorial hospital's service commended

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 August 2003, 02:38 GMT]
In a press release, an organization that represents the people of Neduntheevu, one of the islets off Jaffna, has commended the service rendered by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam through the Thileepan memorial hospital they opened in 2002 and completed its first year of service on August 4, Monday.
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Trinco fishermen demonstrate to safeguard sea resource

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 August 2003, 19:52 GMT]
Hundreds of fishermen from the three main communities, Tamil, Sinhala and Muslim, in the Trincomalee town Wednesday held a demonstration against the use of dynamite and prohibited nets for fishing in the Trincomalee Sea. This was the first time since the ceasefire agreement was signed by the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam that Tamil members joined the Sinhalese and Muslim communities to hold a protest march for a common cause, senior citizens of the eastern port town said.
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SLA pressures villagers to withdraw camp complaint

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 August 2003, 18:47 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army officials stationed at Potpathi in Vadamaradchi east, Jaffna district, are reported to be exerting pressure on the villagers to withdraw their representation to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission and the regional office of the Human Rights Commission (HRC) of Sri Lanka against the establishment of a military camp at Potpathi, civil sources said.
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Thamilchelvan opens TRO's computer centre in Chenaiyoor

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 August 2003, 04:20 GMT]
Mr.S.P.Thamilchelvan, the political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, on Saturday evening declared open a Computer Training Centre at Chenaiyoor in Muttur east established by the Trincomalee district Tamils’ Rehabilitation Organization under the sponsorship of its Canadian branch, TRO sources said.
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Thamilchelvan meets SL govt. officials in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 August 2003, 02:34 GMT]
Mr.S.P.Thamilchelvan, the political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Saturday morning addressed about three hundred government and provincial council officials in the Trincomalee district regarding the rehabilitation, reconstruction and resettlement process now being handled by the Sri Lankan state organizations in the district since the ceasefire agreement came into operation, sources said.
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TEPS expands service in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 August 2003, 17:55 GMT]
Twenty-four policemen from the Tamil Eelam Police Service (TEPS)’s headquarters in the Vanni have reached Batticaloa on Saturday with the guidance of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, and the policemen are staying at the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam-controlled Vakarai area, 32 km to the north of Batticaloa town, TEPS sources said.
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'Pongu Thamil' event to be held in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 July 2003, 14:31 GMT]
Though the ceasefire has brought a halt to the war, "everyone should understand that the fight to win the Tamil people’s political rights has not stopped," said Mr. Sivashakthi Ananthan, the Vanni parliamentarian, speaking at a meeting held Sunday at the Suthananda Hindu Youth Association hall to plan the ‘Pongu Thamil’ (‘Tamil resurgence’) events.
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Two more suspects to be arrested in Nimalarajan murder

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 July 2003, 06:15 GMT]
The Chief Inspector of Police in Jaffna, Mr.Ranjith de Silva, Friday informed the Jaffna Magistrate, Mr.R.T.Viknarajah, that the police are on the trail of two more suspects who are moving around Puttalam and Mannar areas and who are said to be members of the paramilitary Eelam People’s Democratic Party, in connection with the murder of journalist Mylvaganam Nimalarajan, legal sources said
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Vavuniya Judge calls for prompt police action to prevent crime

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 July 2003, 21:26 GMT]
The Vavuniya District Judge, Mr.M. Ilanchelian, in a meeting he convened, has advised the heads of several police divisions in Vavuniya, that the police should conduct prompt and impartial inquiries based on the constitutional principle that everyone is equal before the Law and everyone is entitled to equal protection, that the police should never allow any kind of political interference in cases, and that if he received any complaints about police misconduct, he would deal with the police sternly, sources said.
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NECORD replaces school building destroyed by SLN

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 July 2003, 03:33 GMT]
The district commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Trincomalee, Colonel Pathuman, Monday declared open a new building at the Ilakanthai Tamil mixed school in the LTTE held Muttur east which was constructed under the Asian Development Bank funded North East Community Restoration Development (NECORD) project.
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