NA: Timeline (Terrorist Activities) -2002

Another report on January 1 said security forces have increased vigil at sentry points in Kaddaiparichchan and Mahindapura before permitting entry for civilians into government held areas, in Trincomalee district, said sources. Also, large numbers of people from LTTE held villages in Mutur east were reported to be waiting to enter Seruvila town to buy essential commodities. The vigil has been tightened to prevent LTTE cadres from members entering into government held areas. Read less...

Voice of Tigers, the clandestine radio of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), said, on January 1, the LTTE’s de-mining division had recovered 132,328 anti-personnel land mines (APLM) and booby traps in villages and towns in the Vanni, northern Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan Army allegedly planted the APLMs and booby traps. The recoveries were made between April 20, 2000 and December 31, 2001, the LTTE said. Reportedly, the Army had mined large areas in the Vanni, including towns, villages and cultivable fields, between 1997––when it captured the area––and 1999 when the LTTE ousted the army from the Vanni region. Read less...

"Dear Prime Minister, "To begin with, allow me to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation of the indefatigable effort and valuable assistance provided by the Royal Norwegian Government over the past two and a half years to promote a negotiated political settlement to the Tamil national question in Sri Lanka. I also wish to commend the Norwegian government for its impartiality and objective neutrality shown in the delicate practice of facilitation. Such a noble approach is widely appreciated by the Tamils in Tamil Eelam as well as by the Tamils living throughout the world. "I am writing this letter to you to seek your government’s continuous engagement as the facilitator to help to find a stable peace and a permanent settlement to the ethnic conflict." A Norwegian delegation headed by Mr Helgeson the Deputy Foreign Minister will meet Mr Anton Balasingham, the official spokesman and chief negotiator for the LTTE in London on 4 January. Mr Erik Solheim and Ms Kjersti Tromsdal will also participate at the meeting. The Norwegian delegation will discuss the latest political developments in Sri Lanka and explore ways and means of advancing the peace process. January 3, 2002 Source: www.tamilnet.com Read less...

An LTTE press release said a Norwegian delegation headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Helgeson would meet LTTE chief negotiator and ideologue Anton Balasingham, tomorrow, January 4. Read less...

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) chief Velupillai Prabhakaran wrote to Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik, asking him to continue acting as a facilitator between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government to find a peaceful settlement to the ethnic conflict, reports on January 3 said. Read less...

Sri Lanka’s Defence Ministry announced on January 2 that it would lift the economic embargo on areas controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the North-East province from January 15. The Prime Minister has already made a similar announcement. Once it comes into force, it would allow the transport of restricted quantities of diesel, petrol, cement and steel bars to the areas held. Besides, other essential food items and medicine will also be allowed into the region. However, illegal arms, ammunitions, explosives, remote control equipment, barbed wire, pen torch batteries and telescopic equipment cannot be sent to the region. The easing of the embargo, the Defence Ministry said was meant to create an atmosphere conducive for initiating peace talks with the LTTE. Read less...

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe has already written to his Norwegian counterpart asking Norway to resume its role as a facilitator. Norway immediately responded and expressed its willingness, but said the LTTE had also to make a similar request. Read less...

Senior Minister G.L. Peiris said on January 3 that the government was in the process of working out a formal truce arrangement that would be acceptable to the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and pave the way to find a solution to the protracted ethnic conflict. The immediate focus is on confidence building, Peiris said at a Cabinet meeting. The Minister also warned that the issue was complex and, hence, problems could crop up from time to time. Read less...

Reports from Sri Lanka said the elite Special Task Force has launched a recruitment drive that would begin today, January 5, 2002 and conclude on January 29. The Sri Lankan Army has already commenced the process of recruiting new personnel. Approximately, there is a requirement for 10,000 troops, reports said. The Army is reportedly hopeful that it wold be able to fill in, through the ongoing recruitment drive, the shortages in five Infantry regiments. The Air Force too conducted a similar drive recently. Read less...

Fishermen near Muttur, 13km away from Trincomalee, alleged on January 8 that Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadres confiscated four fishing boats and demanded SLR 6000 for each of the boats to be returned. Reports did not say if the money was paid or whether the boats were returned. Read less...

Quoting residents in Vantharamoolai village, 18km northwest of Batticaloa, the Sri Lankan Army said LTTE cadres visited the village and asked residents there to send their children for recruitment into the LTTE. They had also reportedly taken a census of the village and raised funds, too, on January 5, delayed reports said. Read less...

The Army said on January 8, that in two similar but separate incidents, LTTE cadres who had entered government-controlled areas were detained for questioning and sent back to LTTE controlled-areas. Read less...

In a related development, the Norwegian delegation briefed President Chandrika Kumaratunga on the LTTE’s proposal for a formal cease-fire and easing of economic blockade on LTTE areas in the North and East. The President was earlier in the day briefed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe, who had himself held talks with the Norwegian delegation on January 9. Read less...

A delegation of six Members of Parliament belonging the Tamil National Alliance (TNA)––a four-party Tamil coalition––which included Anandasangaree and Joseph Pararajasingham, called on Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Vidar Helgeson and Special Envoy Eric Solheim, on January 10, in Colombo, and apprised them of their position on resuming the stalled peace process. Both the government and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have officially asked Norway to recommence its role as a facilitator in the peace process. Read less...

The Tamil delegation said Norway should impress upon the government that the proscription of the LTTE should be lifted immediately so that talks could commence soon. TNA leaders also said the government should speak to the LTTE. Stating that there should be no parallel negotiations with other Tamil parties, the TNA said it too would not participate in the peace talks. Speaking to the LTTE alone would ensure that the negotiations were "focussed, purposeful and successful", the TNA told the Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister. Read less...

Norway’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Vidar Helgeson, said in Colombo, on January 11, that there was an increased level of confidence between the parties to the conflict, the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). He thus expressed cautious optimism about the peace process moving further. The government and the LTTE have been locked in a war for over 18 years now, and have asked Norway to act as facilitator in the peace negotiations. Helgeson said that the proposed peace process would be challenging, and both parties would face difficulties in achieving success. Read less...

Presidential Secretariat said President Kumaratunga fully supports the peace initiative of the United National Party (UNP)-led United National Front (UNF) government in finding a peace solution for the ethnic problem. The UNP is the arch-rival of the President’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). Read less...

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) ideologue and chief negotiator Anton Balasingham, on January 12, said there was no basis in reports that LTTE and the government were considering Nepal as a venue for the peace negotiations. Balasingham told a Website that Nepal was logistically "completely unsuitable" as the venue. Reports in the media had earlier speculated that a city in southern India could be a venue for the talks. "Given the necessity for secure consultation on sensitive matters, regular face-to-face discussions [between teams and their leaderships in north and south Sri Lanka] must be practical," Balasingham added. Read less...

Speaking during a press briefing on January 17, Cabinet spokesperson and Industrial Development Minister G L Peiris ruled out conceding to the demand for de-proscription, put forward by the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), saying that it was too early to comment on such matters. Earlier, on January 15, LTTE’s political wing leader Thamil Chelvam told journalists visiting the Wanni area, that legitimacy was a prerequisite for any negotiations and could be achieved only by de-proscription of the outfit. Reacting to this, G L Peiris said that any preconditions demanded by the LTTE for peace negotiations would have to come through the proper channels and in this instance it would have to be via Norway which is the facilitator. He added that he was optimistic that the one-month cease-fires declared unilaterally by the government and the LTTE could be formalised and extended beyond January 24. Read less...

Following the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) extending its cease-fire on January 20, which was due to end on the midnight of January 24, by another month, the Sri Lankan government also extended the cease-fire with the LTTE rebels by another month on January 21. Read less...

The LTTE in a statement said that it hoped its gesture of "peace and goodwill'' would give the Norwegian facilitators adequate time to work out the terms and conditions for a mutually-agreed ad structured cease-fire with the Sri Lankan government. Read less...

The Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP) which is opposed to either the lifting or the relaxation of the ban on the LTTE, called on the government to accord highest priority to the security of the state and people while taking steps in anticipation of the peace talks. Read less...

The Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Ranil Wickremesinghe, requested the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to make public the Sri Lankan government’s extension of cease-fire up to February 24. Read less...

According to media reports, a fisherman from Batticaloa, who was abducted on January 16, was killed by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on January 21. The fisherman belonged to Navakkuda and was an erstwhile cadre of the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE). He had resigned from the outfit and worked for Army Intelligence. Read less...

Making a special statement to the Parliament on January 22, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said that amendments to the local ban on the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) should be considered to go ahead with "the last chance" for resolving the ethnic conflict in the country. He however clarified that these amendments would have to be designed to ensure that it does no affect the ban imposed on the LTTE by other countries. US, UK and India are among the countries that have termed the LTTE as a terrorist outfit and banned its operations in their territory. The LTTE has demanded that the proscription imposed by the Sri Lankan government must be lifted to ensure that the outfit can ‘legitimately’ participate in the peace process. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe also said that the opportunity to reach a political solution to the ethnic conflict in the country’s north-east region should not be ruined by resorting to narrow political gains. He added that the separate decisions of the LTTE and the government for unilateral cessation of hostilities should be brought together into "a common agreement which would pave the way for talks". Read less...

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) released ten prisoners of war (PoW) on January 22 at Kilinochchi. The released PoWs comprise two army personnel and eight civilians. The two army personnel and a civilian were being held captive by LTTE since 1993 while the others were held captive since 1997. Read less...

Reacting to the Prime Minister’s indication that the ban imposed on LTTE may be reviewed, LTTE’s chief negotiator and political advisor, Anton Balasingham, welcomed the development on January 23. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, making a special address in the Parliament on January 22 had indicated that his government was considering a review of the ban on the outfit. Balasingham said that the de-proscription of LTTE was a long-standing impediment to a peaceful resolution of the conflict. Read less...

The opposition parties in Sri Lanka held discussions on January 23 in an attempt to work out a common strategy to oppose the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) led Tamil National Alliance (TNA) backed by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) campaign to coerce the government to de-proscribe the outfit ahead of the proposed Norwegian facilitated talks. Opposition members also warned that though they did not oppose talks between the government and the LTTE, the government should not consider de-proscription before the outfit returned to the negotiating table. Read less...