Jaffna undergrads to agitate for HSZ removal

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 May 2003, 15:04 GMT]
The Jaffna University Students Union Monday decided to hold an upsurge movement in the peninsula, demanding the United National Front (UNF) government to fully implement the ceasefire agreement that the UNF signed with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), sources said.
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Sampanthan writes to PM on interim administration

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 May 2003, 14:28 GMT]
The parliamentary group leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Mr.R.Sampanthan Monday sent a letter to the Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister urging him to act with “adequate clarity and certainty the commitment as stated in his 2001 general election manifesto that an Interim Administration will be set up for the northeast province and such a step will strengthen and consolidate the peace process.”
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SLA suspends construction of new camps in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 May 2003, 11:55 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has suspended its construction work on new camps at Jaffna Fort, Mallakam old railway station and court buildings and at Chunnakam junction, civilian sources in Jaffna said. They added that no army personnel were seen at the sites selected for new camps since Saturday evening and that the heavy machinery used for putting up structures for new camps have been moved from the sites.


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TRO office opened at Thampalakamam

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 May 2003, 18:59 GMT]
The Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) Trincomalee district secretariat Friday opened its second divisional branch at Thampalakamam, 16 km. west of Trincomalee town. The first branch of the TRO was opened at Chenaiyoor in the LTTE held Mutur east. A pre-school also was opened on the same day at Thampalakamam.
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EU urges LTTE participation in Tokyo aid talks

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 May 2003, 16:19 GMT]
European Union (EU) resident representative in Sri Lanka Mr.Wouter Wilton Friday arrived in Jaffna on a two-day fact-finding visit. Addressing a meeting held at the office of the Consortium of the Jaffna District Humanitarian Agencies (CJDHA) Friday afternoon Mr. Wilton said that the EU is of the view that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) should participate in the Tokyo aid summit to be held next month, sources said.


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Valikamam north IDPs picket demanding resettlement

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 May 2003, 14:24 GMT]
Hundreds of internally displaced families of Valikamam north Tuesday held a two hour picketing campaign in front of the Jaffna district secretariat, demanding that they should be allowed to resettle in their lands occupied by the Sri Lanka Army.
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SLA bike patrols horrify Vadamaradchy residents

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 May 2003, 00:28 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has resumed its ' field bike group ' patrolling in several parts of the Vadamarachchi division in Jaffna district causing fear among Tamil people. The field bike group patrolling of the SLA was stopped with the signing of the ceasefire agreement between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), civil sources said.


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LTTE, SLA hold discussions in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 May 2003, 17:10 GMT]
A three-hour discussion was held at the office of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in Jaffna Saturday afternoon between the representatives of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in the presence of the head of SMM Jaffna, sources said.


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LTTE,TNA spell out basis for Tokyo meet participation

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 May 2003, 10:55 GMT]
“The LTTE is of the view that before it participates in the Tokyo Aid Conference currently fixed for 9th and 10th June, the administrative, financial and other structures with adequate powers need to be established in order to reconstruct the northeast and to rehabilitate and restore normal civilian life in the northeast province”, said the Tamil National Alliance in a press release issued Wednesday on the outcome of the talks its delegation had with the LTTE political leadership on Tuesday in Killinochchi.
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Lanka Parliament debates Wickremesinghe's statement on peace process

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 May 2003, 11:16 GMT]
The special debate on the statement made by Sri Lanka's Prime Minister on the present state of peace process began Thursday morning in Sri Lankn parliament, parliamentary sources said. Mr.Lakshman Kadirgamar, foreign minister in the previous Peoples Alliance (PA) government opening the debate said the United National Front (UNF) government has converted the country as a playground for the foreigners by signing the ceasefire agreement with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, sources added.
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Rehabilitate Northeast before 'Regaining' Sri Lanka - NGOs

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 May 2003, 00:05 GMT]
The Chairman of the Consortium of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Trincomalee, Mr.T.Thavasilingam, speaking at a discussion held Tuesday in Trincomalee attended by representatives of provincial trade unions, said that there was an urgent need for rehabilitating all infrastructure destroyed in the twenty-year-old war in the northeast province simultaneously with the resettlement of internally displaced persons.
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Gopalapuram LTTE war memorial opened

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 May 2003, 03:19 GMT]
The war memorial constructed by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at Gopalapuram junction in the village of Nilaveli, about sixteen km north of Trincomalee town in memory of LTTE cadres who died in a mid-sea mishap in 1990 was declared open Monday evening, sources said.


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TRO donates clothes to Aligambay resettlers

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 May 2003, 18:58 GMT]
The Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) on Friday donated clothes to the resettled people in the village of Aligambay, in the Thirukovil secretariat division in the Ampara district, TRO officials said.
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Large peace demo in Mannar town

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 May 2003, 09:40 GMT]
More than 3000 people demonstrated in support of peace in Mannar Saturday, demanding full implementation of the ceasefire agreement between Colombo and the Liberation Tigers. At the conclusion of the meeting, a memorandum was submitted to the additional government agent of Mannar. The memorandum states, among other things, that the Tamils and the LTTE have bitter experiences of being “deceived and hoodwinked in many previous peace talks” and that “in the circumstances it is not unreasonable on their part to adopt a policy of caution."
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Repairs to Giant’s Tank after two decades’ neglect

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 May 2003, 12:33 GMT]
Repair work on the long neglected Giant’s Tank (reservoir) in Mannar began Thursday under the World Bank North East Integrated Agricultural Project (NEIAP). The ancient reservoir feeds 160 minor irrigation tanks in mainland Mannar. The reservoir’s 10 sluice gates were opened Thursday to drain its waters for the repairs.
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UK envoy on fact finding tour in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 April 2003, 17:01 GMT]
The British High Commissioner Mr. Stephen Evans is on a three-day visit to Trincomalee district. He is to meet the political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Trincomalee Mr.S.Tilak on Thursday at Sampoor in the LTTE held Muttur east, south of Trincomalee district, sources said.
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Sri Lanka appeals to LTTE to resume talks

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 April 2003, 10:38 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister this week admitted that efforts to restore normalcy to the Tamil areas had not taken place “at the pace which we might have desired” and vowing matters would improve, appealed to the Liberation Tigers to nevertheless resume peace talks which the LTTE had put on hold two weeks ago.
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Sustaining strategic parity and beyond

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 April 2003, 00:15 GMT]
When the Liberation Tigers routed the Sri Lanka army’s Agni Khiela (Rod of Fire) offensive in April 2001, a year after the fall of the strategic Elephant Pass garrison, the general description of the state of Sri Lanka’s conflict as a military stalemate was no longer tenable. Celebrations by the LTTE on Monday to mark the Elephant Pass victory and the defeat of Agni Khiela underscored Tamils’ perception that their ability to negotiate political rights is essentially predicated on the LTTE’s military power.
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Balasingham to visit Vanni next week

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 April 2003, 20:41 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Chief Negotiator and Political Advisor, Mr. Anton Balasingham, will return to Vanni next week for deliberations with the LTTE leadership on the Norwegian peace process and related matters, sources said Tuesday. Mr. Balasingham is expected to be in Vanni when Japan’s peace envoy, Mr. Yasushi Akashi and the Norwegian Foreign Minister, Mr. Jan Petersen visit the Vanni separately in early May, the sources said.


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Moolai hospital struggles to get back on feet

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 April 2003, 00:15 GMT]
Moolai Hospital in Jaffna, the only large co-operative society medical facility in the northeast, lies largely useless today owing to the lack of doctors, patients and the presence of the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) in its environs. Like most schools, hospitals, other public utilities and temples in the northeast, 16 months of peace and many rounds of negotiations between the Liberation Tigers and Colombo have done little to improve the fortunes of this unique achievement of Jaffna’s co-operative movement.
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