"Sri Lankan peace process holds lessons for the world" - British Minister

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 January 2003, 12:50 GMT]
The Sri Lanka peace process holds a lesson for the world, that long-lasting conflicts can be resolved if both sides have the courage to put bitterness and mistrust behind them, and find the flexibility and generosity of spirit to reach a compromise which can satisfy all sides, writes British Foreign Office Minister Mike O'Brien who arrived in Colombo today for a two-day visit.
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SLA collects details of resettled families in Thenmaradchchi

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 January 2003, 18:01 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Monday called for details of displaced persons returned from LTTE controlled Vanni region and have resettled in their own villages in Thenmaradchchi area in the Jaffna district after the opening of A 9 highway since the ceasefire came into force, civil sources said.


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SLMM chief holds talks with LTTE political head

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 January 2003, 18:00 GMT]
The Norwegian head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission Major General (retd) Trond Furuhovde Monday held discussions with the political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam Mr.S.P.Thamilselvan, and said that the LTTE has fully co-operated with the mission in its tasks.
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New SLA camp in Chavakchcheri displaces resettlers

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 January 2003, 14:42 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Chavakachcheri, Jaffna, is building a new camp in an outer suburb of the war ravaged town where refugee families that fled the war more than two years resettled recently, residents said. Three families, which resettled in their homes by the Kandy Road two months ago, vacated their houses Friday as ordered by the SLA. Four resettled families here left Saturday out of fear, sources in Chavakachcheri said.


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New SLMM head appointed

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 January 2003, 10:47 GMT]
The head of the international cease-fire monitors in Sri Lanka, Norwegian Army Major General (retired) Trond Furuhovde, will be succeeded by Norwegian Army Major General (retired) Tryggve Tellefsen in late February or March, the Norwegian government said in a statement Friday. Maj. Gen. Furuhovde will hand over leadership of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) to Maj. Gen. Tellefsen, and continue as an advisor on cease-fire related matters to the Norwegian government afterwards, the statement said.
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HRC committee to inquire into disappearances in the East

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 January 2003, 19:23 GMT]
The chairman of the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission (HRC), Dr.Godfrey Gunatilake on Thursday said that the HRC is to appoint a committee to look into the complaints of disappearances of persons in Trincomalee and the eastern province, and people in Trincomalee can make their complaints to the committee regarding all disappearances of persons.
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Humanitarian issues stressed in Swiss Ambassador meeting

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 January 2003, 01:23 GMT]
In a meeting with a Swiss delegation headed by the ambassador for Switzerland in Sri Lanka, Hon. Bernardino Regazzoni today, S.P.Thamilchelvan, the political leader of the LTTE, has stressed that the immediate focus of the peace process should be on the humanitarian needs of the people of the North-East, according to the ambassador.
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Downward trend in ceasefire violations seen - SLMM

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 January 2003, 13:02 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Monitoring Commission (SLMM) in a press release issued today observed that the positive and ongoing development in the ceasefire during the last several months has been the decrease in the number of ceasefire violations. Most number of violations occurred in December was in Batticaloa(61) followed by Jaffna(46), Vavuniya(16), Ampara(7) and Trincomalee(1), the release said.
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SLAF unmanned aerial vehicle crashes in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 January 2003, 12:42 GMT]
An Israeli made unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) of the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) crashed Wednesday morning around eleven into an onion field in Alaveddi, seventeen km from Jaffna town soon after it left the Palaly airbase in the peninsula. No casualties were reported, sources said.


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Japanese peace envoy praises LTTE's sincerity

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 January 2003, 18:49 GMT]
Mr.Yasushi Akashi, Japanese special peace envoy said Saturday that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) participates in the peace talks with dedication, sincerity and with open heart.
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TULF urges govt. to expedite displaced resettlement

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 January 2003, 20:42 GMT]
The Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), main constituent of the Tamil National Alliance Saturday urged the United National Front government to expeditiously take steps to enable the displaced people to recommence normal life in their original places of residence. A resolution this effect was adopted at the central working committee meeting of the Tamil United Liberation Front held in Vavuniya Saturday.
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Apathy spells bleak future for Jaffna coconut

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 January 2003, 20:25 GMT]
More than hundred and fifty thousand coconut trees were destroyed in Jaffna due to military operations, officials of the state run Coconut Development Board (CDB) said Tuesday. However, only about 15 thousand saplings have been replanted so far, one year after the ceasefire agreement between Colombo and the Liberation Tigers, the officials said.
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CJ to lay foundation stone for first court complex in NE

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 January 2003, 19:54 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Chief Justice, Mr.Sarath N.Silva, is to lay the foundation stone for a four-storied court complex in Trincomalee, Wednesday, legal sources said.
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Sri Lanka Buddhist monks oppose peace deal

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 January 2003, 18:45 GMT]
Hundreds of Buddhist monks Tuesday vowed to remove Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s government if it did not listen to their exhortations against a peace deal with the Liberation Tigers. More than two thousand protestors, led by the ‘Federation of Bikkhus to Rescue the Motherland’, a large umbrella organisation of Buddhist monks, gathered at the Nugegoda Junction, a busy intersection in one of Colombo’s crowded suburbs, Tuesday afternoon to condemn Colombo’s peace negotiations with the LTTE.


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SLA occupies 3500 civilian homes outside HSZ -Jaffna GA

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 January 2003, 16:45 GMT]
Three thousand and five hundred houses outside the high security zone (HSZ) in the Jaffna district are still occupied by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) preventing thousands of displaced people to return to their homes, said the Government Agent in his report to Colombo authorities, district secretariat sources said.
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Agreement on resettlement as talks conclude

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 January 2003, 07:49 GMT]
The fourth round of peace talks between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) ended Thursday in Bangkok, Thailand with parties reaching agreement on accelerated action on resettlement of displaced people and making progress on human rights, the Norwegian government said.
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Sri Lanka chief negotiator’s stand absurd- PA

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 January 2003, 10:48 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s main opposition party Friday said the stand taken by Colombo’s chief negotiator Prof. G. L Peiris on the question of high security zones in Jaffna was “absurd” and claimed that it is not endorsed by the Sri Lankan armed forces.
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‘Every child in school programme’ to be inaugurated in NE

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 January 2003, 13:22 GMT]
‘Every child in school programme’ sponsored by the UNICEF in the northeast province will be inaugurated in Trincomalee Thursday, 9 January, morning by the Minister of Human Resource Development, Education and Cultural Affairs Dr.Karunasena Kodituwakku.
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'Sri Lanka is at a crucial stage' - PM

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 January 2003, 17:50 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe Sunday in his evening address to people of Sri Lanka said, "arguments over security matters should not be allowed to derail the momentum of the peace negotiation. The country has entered a stage that would decide the future of Sri Lanka."
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Film release celebrates Sea Tigers' tenth anniversary

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 December 2002, 17:43 GMT]
“Nitharsanam” TV unit of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Tuesday released the film “ Kadaloorakatru” (A wind along the coast) produced after the ceasefire agreement between the government and LTTE came into force, simultaneously in six districts in the northeast province celebrating the tenth anniversary of Sea Tigers, sources said.
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