srilanka1998
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- 26. Juli 2005
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Aid workers abducted in Sri Lanka
[ ABC ] [ 11:58 GMT, Jan. 31, 2006 ]
Five Sri Lankans relief workers have reportedly been abducted in the east of the country despite an unofficial truce in the area. The Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation says their employees were engaged in tsunami relief work. It says they were forced out of their vehicle near a Sri Lankan military checkpoint in Batticaloa on Sunday by what were termed "unidentified paramilitary personnel". The abduction came ahead of key talks between the Sri Lanka government and Tamil Tiger separatists aimed at saving their ceasefire. The relief organisation has appealed for the workers' safe return.
Tamil rebels issue peace warning
[ BBC ] [ 12:01 GMT, Jan. 31, 2006 ]
Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka say the abduction of five Tamil aid workers in the east could make it "difficult" for them to attend peace talks in Geneva. The Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO), a group closely linked with the Tigers, said unidentified men kidnapped five of its employees on Monday. It is not clear who was behind the apparent abduction but the Tigers hinted at a breakaway rebel faction. A recent surge in violence has raised fears of a return to all-out war. If Tamil civilians or humanitarian organisation members are being abducted or killed, it makes it very difficult for us to go to Geneva," senior rebel official S Puleedevan told Reuters news agency. "We don't want to say Geneva will not happen. We'd like to wait and see."
Sri Lanka rebels say kidnap makes talks "difficult"
[ Reuters ] [ 12:02 GMT, Jan. 31, 2006 ]
Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels said on Tuesday that the abduction of five Tamil aid workers might make it "difficult" for them to attend peace talks with the government in Switzerland seen key to averting a new civil war. The Tigers say that on Monday army-backed paramilitaries kidnapped five accountants from the Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) -- an agency close to the rebels. The abductors told 10 staff left behind to tell the families of those taken to buy coffins, the rebels said. "If Tamil civilians or humanitarian organisation members are being abducted or killed, it makes it very difficult for us to go to Geneva," head of the rebel peace secretariat S. Puleedevan told Reuters by phone from rebel territory. "We don't want to say Geneva will not happen. We'd like to wait and see."
TRO Staff Accountants Kidnapped by Paramilitary at Welikanda, Polunnaruwa District
[ TRO ] [ 12:16 GMT, Jan. 31, 2006 ]
TRO has been informed that five (5) staff members travelling from the Batticaloa office to Vanvuniya for training have been stopped by unidentified paramilitary personnel immediately after the Welikanda, (Polunnaruwa District) Sri Lankan Army Checkpoint at approximately 2:00 pm 30 January, 2006. Fifteen (15) TRO Batticaloa staff members were travelling from Batticaloa. The TRO staff vehicle had registered at the Welikanda army checkpoint and was continuing its journey when a 'white van' that had been following them obstructed their path and forced them to stop. Five (5) members were dragged out of the TRO van and forced into the 'white van' the others were assaulted and forced to go back to Batticaloa.
The Latest Gimmicks
[ TamilCanadian ] [ 12:26 GMT, Jan. 31, 2006 ]
The situation is a volatile one, designed to trigger super power retaliation against the victims of Sinhalese discrimination and terror. It will take much more than ju jutsu for us to turn the tide in our favor The Americans have ignored their concept of democracy, which is that the majority can rule, but not at the expense of minorities. In Sri Lanka,they have ignored that formula, and stood for the proposition that the majority can rule without restrictions, as long as it satisfies American diplomatic adventures. It is time that this age old diplomatic game of 'We are for you, but also against you' is ended. It is time the Americans recognized that the disguised democracy practiced in Sri Lanka is no democracy at all. It is time they called a dictator, a dictator when they see one before them. It is time they condemned a constitution that guarantees to the Sinhalese Buddhists a right to perpetuate their discriminatory rule against all minorities, as nothing more than a non democratic farce.
Sri Lanka truce may collapse: Study
[ IANS ] [ 12:37 GMT, Jan. 31, 2006 ]
Sri Lanka's ceasefire between the Tamil Tiger guerrillas and the government can collapse and trigger renewed fighting, a path-breaking international study on the peace process has cautioned. At the same time, it is "too early to talk of success or failure" of the Norwegian-mediated peace process between Colombo and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), said the report, "Aid, Conflict and Peace Building in Sri Lanka, 2000-2005". The 105-page Strategic Conflict Assessment said: "The ceasefire in its current form may not survive given the level of pressure being placed upon it.
Who is the indigenous Sri Lankan?
[ Hindustan Times ] [ 12:46 GMT, Jan. 31, 2006 ]
One of the most contentious issues in the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka is the question of indigenousness. Which community is indigenous and which is not? Are the Sinhalas the only indigenous people or the first to arrive in the island? In other words, are the Tamils outsiders or later entrants? Is Sri Lanka a multi-ethnic country or is it essentially a Sinhala country with the other groups being a mere historical add on? When the conflict between the majority Sinhalas and the minority Tamils became the central issue in post-independence Sri Lankan politics, both sides used "history" to buttress their respective cases.
One step at a time towards peace in Sri Lanka, president says
[ AFP ] [ 12:47 GMT, Jan. 31, 2006 ]
Sri Lanka will adopt a step-by-step approach to peace with Tamil Tiger rebels and will try to strengthen the ceasefire in a new round of talks in February, President Mahinda Rajapakse said. "The most important thing is to stop violence," he told AFP in an interview on Tuesday. More than 150 people have been killed since Rajapakse took office at the end of November promising a new peace process. "If we can stop the violence" then peace negotiations can go on, he said in his Colombo office. "It will be step-by-step."
S.Lanka Tigers warn kidnappings may hurt peace bid
[ Reuters ] [ 12:49 GMT, Jan. 31, 2006 ]
Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels said on Tuesday that the kidnapping of five Tamil aid workers in the island's east could affect next month's peace talks in Switzerland and added the government might be to blame. The Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO), which is considered close to the Tigers, said five employees were taken away by unidentified men on Monday in Welikanda, about 150 km (94 miles) from Colombo, after their van crossed an army checkpoint. "It will affect the atmosphere of the peace process," media co-ordinator Daya Master of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam told Reuters from the rebel-held north.
Tamil Tiger rebels threaten to pull out of peace talks after alleged abduction of Tamils
Updated:2006-01-31 04:20:20
By DILIP GANGULUY
AP
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) - The Tamil Tiger rebels said Tuesday they will pull out of Sri Lankan peace talks scheduled to be held in Switzerland in mid-February unless the government takes greater steps to protect Tamils against abductions.
Participation in the talks will depend on what steps the government takes to stop abductions and harassment of Tamils, a senior rebel official, Seevaratnam Puleedevan, told The Associated Press from the rebels' de-facto capital of Kilinochchi.
On Monday, five Tamil employees of a relief agency were kidnapped, the rebels said. There was no independent confirmation of the report.
"This is a very serious incident and it will be very difficult to convince Tamil people to go for talks when the harassment is going on," Puleedevan said when reached on his satellite phone. He accused "paramilitary personnel" - a term the rebels often uses for a renegade faction - of kidnapping the five ethnic Tamil relief workers.
Meanwhile, the renegade Tamil Tiger faction said it has offered its rival mainstream rebel group a cease-fire ahead of the talks, hoping to bring Sri Lanka permanent peace.
"This unilateral cease-fire is declared to create a conducive environment for the Sri Lankan president (Mahinda Rajapakse) to continue with his negotiations to bring about a permanent" end to the civil war, the breakaway Peoples' Liberation Front of Tamil Eelam said in a statement made available Tuesday to The Associated Press.
Puleedevan declined to comment on the declaration, saying the cease-fire agreement was between the mainstream group and the government and there was no scaoe for a third player.
The Peoples' Liberation Front of Tamil Eelam broke from the mainstream LTTE in March 2004 with about 6,000 fighters.
A month later the LTTE had largely suppressed its rivals, but their leader is still believed to have a significant number of followers in the island country's east.
The LTTE - whose main power base in the north - has accused Sri Lanka's military of backing the breakaway faction - a charge the military denies.
The LTTE started fighting in 1983 for a separate Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka's northeast, claiming discrimination by the majority Sinhalese. The conflict killed about 65,000 people.
Norway brokered a 2002 cease-fire and helped coordinate six rounds of government-rebel peace talks, which broke down due to disagreements over the LTTE's demands for extensive autonomy.
Melbourne Tamils Remember Joseph Pararajasingham
[ ETA ] [ 13:31 GMT, Jan. 31, 2006 ]
Melbourne Tamils, politicians and community leaders gathered on Thursday, 26 January, to pay homage to the slain senior Tamil parliamentarian and human rights activist Joseph Pararajasingham, held at the Good Shepard Church Hall, Wheelers Hill. Most Rev. Hilton Deakin, Auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne, lit a candle and inaugurated the meeting with a prayer for the repose of the soul of Joseph Pararajasingham. Later in his speech, Bishop Deakin recalled his meeting with Mr Pararajasingham last May and said 'The murder of this affable and ardent human rights advocate in the Cathedral in his electorate, speaks volumes of the level of brutality faced by those who stand up for the oppressed in Sri Lanka'.
US expresses concern over alleged abduction of Tamil aid workers
[ UNI ] [ 17:21 GMT, Jan. 31, 2006 ]
The United States today expressed concern about the reported kidnapping of five members of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) at Welikanda in Polonnaruwa District of Sri Lanka. ''The Embassy urges the relevant authorities to rapidly investigate these allegations. The Embassy again calls on all parties to exercise restraint and calm, especially in the run-up to the cease-fire talks in Geneva,'' a statement from the US Embassy here said this evening.The TRO is a registered non-government organisation (NGO) in Sri Lanka and said to involve in post-tsunami and post-war humanitarian relief and development work especially in the North-East.The TRO is a registered non-government organisation (NGO) in Sri Lanka and said to involve in post-tsunami and post-war humanitarian relief and development work especially in the North-East.
[ ABC ] [ 11:58 GMT, Jan. 31, 2006 ]
Five Sri Lankans relief workers have reportedly been abducted in the east of the country despite an unofficial truce in the area. The Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation says their employees were engaged in tsunami relief work. It says they were forced out of their vehicle near a Sri Lankan military checkpoint in Batticaloa on Sunday by what were termed "unidentified paramilitary personnel". The abduction came ahead of key talks between the Sri Lanka government and Tamil Tiger separatists aimed at saving their ceasefire. The relief organisation has appealed for the workers' safe return.
Tamil rebels issue peace warning
[ BBC ] [ 12:01 GMT, Jan. 31, 2006 ]
Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka say the abduction of five Tamil aid workers in the east could make it "difficult" for them to attend peace talks in Geneva. The Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO), a group closely linked with the Tigers, said unidentified men kidnapped five of its employees on Monday. It is not clear who was behind the apparent abduction but the Tigers hinted at a breakaway rebel faction. A recent surge in violence has raised fears of a return to all-out war. If Tamil civilians or humanitarian organisation members are being abducted or killed, it makes it very difficult for us to go to Geneva," senior rebel official S Puleedevan told Reuters news agency. "We don't want to say Geneva will not happen. We'd like to wait and see."
Sri Lanka rebels say kidnap makes talks "difficult"
[ Reuters ] [ 12:02 GMT, Jan. 31, 2006 ]
Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels said on Tuesday that the abduction of five Tamil aid workers might make it "difficult" for them to attend peace talks with the government in Switzerland seen key to averting a new civil war. The Tigers say that on Monday army-backed paramilitaries kidnapped five accountants from the Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) -- an agency close to the rebels. The abductors told 10 staff left behind to tell the families of those taken to buy coffins, the rebels said. "If Tamil civilians or humanitarian organisation members are being abducted or killed, it makes it very difficult for us to go to Geneva," head of the rebel peace secretariat S. Puleedevan told Reuters by phone from rebel territory. "We don't want to say Geneva will not happen. We'd like to wait and see."
TRO Staff Accountants Kidnapped by Paramilitary at Welikanda, Polunnaruwa District
[ TRO ] [ 12:16 GMT, Jan. 31, 2006 ]
TRO has been informed that five (5) staff members travelling from the Batticaloa office to Vanvuniya for training have been stopped by unidentified paramilitary personnel immediately after the Welikanda, (Polunnaruwa District) Sri Lankan Army Checkpoint at approximately 2:00 pm 30 January, 2006. Fifteen (15) TRO Batticaloa staff members were travelling from Batticaloa. The TRO staff vehicle had registered at the Welikanda army checkpoint and was continuing its journey when a 'white van' that had been following them obstructed their path and forced them to stop. Five (5) members were dragged out of the TRO van and forced into the 'white van' the others were assaulted and forced to go back to Batticaloa.
The Latest Gimmicks
[ TamilCanadian ] [ 12:26 GMT, Jan. 31, 2006 ]
The situation is a volatile one, designed to trigger super power retaliation against the victims of Sinhalese discrimination and terror. It will take much more than ju jutsu for us to turn the tide in our favor The Americans have ignored their concept of democracy, which is that the majority can rule, but not at the expense of minorities. In Sri Lanka,they have ignored that formula, and stood for the proposition that the majority can rule without restrictions, as long as it satisfies American diplomatic adventures. It is time that this age old diplomatic game of 'We are for you, but also against you' is ended. It is time the Americans recognized that the disguised democracy practiced in Sri Lanka is no democracy at all. It is time they called a dictator, a dictator when they see one before them. It is time they condemned a constitution that guarantees to the Sinhalese Buddhists a right to perpetuate their discriminatory rule against all minorities, as nothing more than a non democratic farce.
Sri Lanka truce may collapse: Study
[ IANS ] [ 12:37 GMT, Jan. 31, 2006 ]
Sri Lanka's ceasefire between the Tamil Tiger guerrillas and the government can collapse and trigger renewed fighting, a path-breaking international study on the peace process has cautioned. At the same time, it is "too early to talk of success or failure" of the Norwegian-mediated peace process between Colombo and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), said the report, "Aid, Conflict and Peace Building in Sri Lanka, 2000-2005". The 105-page Strategic Conflict Assessment said: "The ceasefire in its current form may not survive given the level of pressure being placed upon it.
Who is the indigenous Sri Lankan?
[ Hindustan Times ] [ 12:46 GMT, Jan. 31, 2006 ]
One of the most contentious issues in the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka is the question of indigenousness. Which community is indigenous and which is not? Are the Sinhalas the only indigenous people or the first to arrive in the island? In other words, are the Tamils outsiders or later entrants? Is Sri Lanka a multi-ethnic country or is it essentially a Sinhala country with the other groups being a mere historical add on? When the conflict between the majority Sinhalas and the minority Tamils became the central issue in post-independence Sri Lankan politics, both sides used "history" to buttress their respective cases.
One step at a time towards peace in Sri Lanka, president says
[ AFP ] [ 12:47 GMT, Jan. 31, 2006 ]
Sri Lanka will adopt a step-by-step approach to peace with Tamil Tiger rebels and will try to strengthen the ceasefire in a new round of talks in February, President Mahinda Rajapakse said. "The most important thing is to stop violence," he told AFP in an interview on Tuesday. More than 150 people have been killed since Rajapakse took office at the end of November promising a new peace process. "If we can stop the violence" then peace negotiations can go on, he said in his Colombo office. "It will be step-by-step."
S.Lanka Tigers warn kidnappings may hurt peace bid
[ Reuters ] [ 12:49 GMT, Jan. 31, 2006 ]
Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels said on Tuesday that the kidnapping of five Tamil aid workers in the island's east could affect next month's peace talks in Switzerland and added the government might be to blame. The Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO), which is considered close to the Tigers, said five employees were taken away by unidentified men on Monday in Welikanda, about 150 km (94 miles) from Colombo, after their van crossed an army checkpoint. "It will affect the atmosphere of the peace process," media co-ordinator Daya Master of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam told Reuters from the rebel-held north.
Tamil Tiger rebels threaten to pull out of peace talks after alleged abduction of Tamils
Updated:2006-01-31 04:20:20
By DILIP GANGULUY
AP
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) - The Tamil Tiger rebels said Tuesday they will pull out of Sri Lankan peace talks scheduled to be held in Switzerland in mid-February unless the government takes greater steps to protect Tamils against abductions.
Participation in the talks will depend on what steps the government takes to stop abductions and harassment of Tamils, a senior rebel official, Seevaratnam Puleedevan, told The Associated Press from the rebels' de-facto capital of Kilinochchi.
On Monday, five Tamil employees of a relief agency were kidnapped, the rebels said. There was no independent confirmation of the report.
"This is a very serious incident and it will be very difficult to convince Tamil people to go for talks when the harassment is going on," Puleedevan said when reached on his satellite phone. He accused "paramilitary personnel" - a term the rebels often uses for a renegade faction - of kidnapping the five ethnic Tamil relief workers.
Meanwhile, the renegade Tamil Tiger faction said it has offered its rival mainstream rebel group a cease-fire ahead of the talks, hoping to bring Sri Lanka permanent peace.
"This unilateral cease-fire is declared to create a conducive environment for the Sri Lankan president (Mahinda Rajapakse) to continue with his negotiations to bring about a permanent" end to the civil war, the breakaway Peoples' Liberation Front of Tamil Eelam said in a statement made available Tuesday to The Associated Press.
Puleedevan declined to comment on the declaration, saying the cease-fire agreement was between the mainstream group and the government and there was no scaoe for a third player.
The Peoples' Liberation Front of Tamil Eelam broke from the mainstream LTTE in March 2004 with about 6,000 fighters.
A month later the LTTE had largely suppressed its rivals, but their leader is still believed to have a significant number of followers in the island country's east.
The LTTE - whose main power base in the north - has accused Sri Lanka's military of backing the breakaway faction - a charge the military denies.
The LTTE started fighting in 1983 for a separate Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka's northeast, claiming discrimination by the majority Sinhalese. The conflict killed about 65,000 people.
Norway brokered a 2002 cease-fire and helped coordinate six rounds of government-rebel peace talks, which broke down due to disagreements over the LTTE's demands for extensive autonomy.
Melbourne Tamils Remember Joseph Pararajasingham
[ ETA ] [ 13:31 GMT, Jan. 31, 2006 ]
Melbourne Tamils, politicians and community leaders gathered on Thursday, 26 January, to pay homage to the slain senior Tamil parliamentarian and human rights activist Joseph Pararajasingham, held at the Good Shepard Church Hall, Wheelers Hill. Most Rev. Hilton Deakin, Auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne, lit a candle and inaugurated the meeting with a prayer for the repose of the soul of Joseph Pararajasingham. Later in his speech, Bishop Deakin recalled his meeting with Mr Pararajasingham last May and said 'The murder of this affable and ardent human rights advocate in the Cathedral in his electorate, speaks volumes of the level of brutality faced by those who stand up for the oppressed in Sri Lanka'.
US expresses concern over alleged abduction of Tamil aid workers
[ UNI ] [ 17:21 GMT, Jan. 31, 2006 ]
The United States today expressed concern about the reported kidnapping of five members of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) at Welikanda in Polonnaruwa District of Sri Lanka. ''The Embassy urges the relevant authorities to rapidly investigate these allegations. The Embassy again calls on all parties to exercise restraint and calm, especially in the run-up to the cease-fire talks in Geneva,'' a statement from the US Embassy here said this evening.The TRO is a registered non-government organisation (NGO) in Sri Lanka and said to involve in post-tsunami and post-war humanitarian relief and development work especially in the North-East.The TRO is a registered non-government organisation (NGO) in Sri Lanka and said to involve in post-tsunami and post-war humanitarian relief and development work especially in the North-East.