VoT reports UN official's visit

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar's accusations that the Liberation Tigers have built up a military force by conscripting very young children is absurd, senior LTTE officials told Mr. Olara Otunnu, UN Special Representative on Children in Armed Conflict, last Thursday, according to the Voice of Tigers radio.
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SLA soldier killed in Thenmaradchi

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
One SLA soldier was killed and three others were wounded, yesterday at 7.00 a.m., in Usan in the Thenmaradchi sector of the Jaffna peninsula, when the Liberation Tigers activated a claymore mine, said a press statement issued by the Sri Lankan Army Head Quarters in Palay today.
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Jaffna detainees held elsewhere

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
According to lists of detainees submitted to the Human Rights Commissionand the Jaffna courts, people arrested in Jaffna are being taken to distantdetention centres, such as in the central province and Colombo.
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Forced labour builds SLA defences

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) is using forced labour to strengthen the Sri Lanka Army - Police checkpoint at Ottamavadi Bridge 36 km north of Batticaloa, following an attack on the position by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) last Tuesday May 5, said sources in Batticaloa.
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Military activity in Mankulam area

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Three SLA soldiers were wounded in Mannakulam, southwest of Mankulam, when the Liberation Tigers fired mortars on troops of Operation Jeyasikurui yesterday, said SLA sources in Vavuniya.
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Child rape, murder suspects bailed

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
A SLA soldier who was remanded for alleged sexual abuse of a seven year old child last year, in Pathaimeni in Achchuveli, in the Jaffna Peninsula was released on 2000 Rupees (USD 31) cash bail on May 4, said sources in Jaffna.
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SLA recruiting children - Opposition leader

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
"The security forces are campaigning in schools, to encourage 15 year old school children to join the army. When I comment on this, they call me a traitor. If it is so, is Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar also a traitor, who is campaigning in foreign countries saying that LTTE is recruiting children to their forces?", asked Opposition Leader Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe in the parliament yesterday.
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UN official calls for end to war

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The number of children who are being affected by the war in Sri Lanka is on the increase and all those who are concerned with the welfare of the children must come together and stop this, said visiting UN Special Representative on Children in Armed Conflict, Mr. Olara Otunnu, while speaking at a meeting held at Vavuniya Town Council hall, yesterday.
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SLA short of troops - Commander

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Lieutenant General Rohan DeS Daluwatte, Commander of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), said at a press conference today, that there was a shortage of security forces personnel to open the road from Vavuniya to Kilinochchi. He said that it was due to this necessity that deserters were being recalled to service.
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Sinhala race 'being destroyed'

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
"None of the resources in this country can be preserved until the Sri Lankan Government declares the country as Buddhist", said Professor Nalin De Silva, while speaking at a meeting in Colombo, which was titled, "We will protect our race and resources," said sources.
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Batticaloa travellers being filmed

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Passengers undergoing security checks at Mannampitty, 65 km north of Batticaloa, while en route from Batticaloa to Colombo are video filmed by soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) at the checkpoint, said sources in Batticaloa.
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Flu epidemic among refugees

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
S. Satchithanantham, head of Aalankerni Vipulananda Mahaviththiyalayam (school) told a school principles conference in Trincomalee this morning, that 35 families displaced from Upparu, 40 km south of Trincomalee, are camping in the school premises from March 18 without any facilities or a place to go to, said sources in Trincomalee.
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Spotters mark eight for arrest

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Around 700 persons from the villages of Vandaramoolai and Kaluvankerni, 15 km north of Batticaloa, were rounded up and marched to the Vishnu temple at Vandaramoolai during a cordon and search operation by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), which lasted from 5:00 a.m. till noon, said sources in Valaichenai.
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Human rights group quits in protest

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Peace Brigades International (PBI), an international human rights organisation active in Sri Lanka, has withdrawn its services from the country after the Sri Lankan Government imposed conditions which it could not meet, said human rights activists in Colombo.
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Extra checks on Colombo heavy vehicles

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
All heavy vehicles entering Colombo from southern part of the island will be checked for bombs and explosives and will be given security clearance at Kattubedde check point, 8 km south of Colombo, before they are allowed to proceed to the city.
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One killed in firefight

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
One unidentified armed man, believed to be a member of the LTTE, was killed in Mannar in the northwest of the island, this afternoon around 1.30 p.m in a firefight that lasted for 45 miniutes, said Sri Lankan police sources.
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Security tightened after blast

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Arms, ammunition and other military hardware worth of more than 10 million Rs. (USD160,000) were destroyed in the explosion in the ammunition dump in the 211 Brigade Headquarters at Thachchankulam, in Vavuniya, said SLA sources in Vavuniya.
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SCF to study Vanni children's plight

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Ten thousand school children from a total of 66,000 living in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled areas, are unable go to school due to the war. These statistics were presented at a seminar in Trincomalee organised by the Ministry of Education, Cultural Affairs and Sports of the Northeast Provincial Council (NEPC), and sponsored by Save the Children Fund (SCF).
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Rumbled Tiger impersonators retaliate

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
A group of people returning home after poosai (worship) at a temple in Chulipuram, 15 km northwest of Jaffna, were accosted and asked to hand over the food they were carrying by soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) posing off as members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) around 8 p.m. on Monday, said sources in Jaffna.
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Fishermen to share sea with fish

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Fishermen working near certain villages on the northern coast of Waligamam in the Jaffna peninsula, about 15 km north-west of Jaffna, are forced to stay in waist deep water for up to four hours, due to new security restrictions imposed by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on shallow water fishing, said sources in Jaffna.
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