Category: Politics

October 11, 2009 (AFP) – A quarter of a million Tamil civilians detained in state-run camps since the end of Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict are in an increasingly “tense and ugly” situation, a rights group said Sunday. Deteriorating conditions, drinking water shortages and the imminent monsoon have raised tensions among the detainees and sparked clashes […]

October 10, 2009 (AFP) – Voting got underway in southern Sri Lanka Saturday in the final local council poll before national elections due next year, officials said.Some 1.7 million people are eligible to vote for the 55 members of the Southern Provincial Council, a stronghold of President Mahinda Rajapakse’s United People’s Freedom Alliance. “Voting started […]

WASHINGTON, October 9, 2009 (AFP) – The United States on Friday called on the Sri Lankan government to allow Tamil refugees displaced by recent fighting to move freely around the country.Assistant US Secretary of State Robert Blake, who is focussed on US relations with central and southern Asia, “emphasized the importance of the government allowing […]

October 10, 2009 (AFP) – Vote counting got under way in southern Sri Lanka Saturday after nine hours of polling for the final local council before national elections due next year, officials said.Nearly two thirds of the 1.7 million eligible voters turned out to elect the 55-member Southern Provincial Council, a stronghold of President Mahinda […]

October 6, 2009 (AFP) – Britain on Tuesday expressed disappointment with Sri Lanka’s handling of war-displaced civilians and demanded that they be given the freedom to leave state-run camps. “Freedom of movement is critical if a humanitarian crisis is to be averted,” visiting British Development Minister Mike Foster said after touring the camps, where over […]

WASHINGTON, October 4, 2009 (AFP) – The United States, responding to protests from Sri Lanka over remarks by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, said it had no recent evidence of women being raped while in Sri Lankan government custody.Colombo faced condemnation for its handling of the final stages of the war against Tiger rebels and […]

October 5, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka will tap foreign donors to raise more cash to look after over 250,000 people displaced by its offensive against Tamil Tiger rebels, a minister said Monday.“We are drawing up a fresh appeal to meet our running costs next year that will include funds for livelihood support and resettlement […]

WASHINGTON, October 2, 2009 (AFP) – J.S. Tissainayagam, a Tamil reporter and editor serving a 20-year prison sentence in Sri Lanka, was awarded the first Peter Mackler Award for Courageous and Ethical Journalism on Friday.The Peter Mackler Award rewards journalists who fight courageously and ethically to report the news in countries where freedom of the […]

October 3, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka lodged a protest over US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s remarks that rape had been used as a war tactic on the island, officials said Saturday.Colombo’s displeasure over a statement by Clinton to the United Nations Security Council was conveyed to US diplomats in the Sri Lankan capital, […]

September 29, 2009 (AFP) – The United Nations on Tuesday issued its strongest criticism yet of Sri Lanka over its continued internment of 250,000 people who fled fighting in the final stages of the island’s separatist war.Walter Kaelin, a representative of the United Nations secretary-general, said civilians held in tightly-guarded camps should be granted freedom […]

UNITED NATIONS, September 26, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s prime minister vowed anew here Saturday that Colombo would quickly resettle civilians still in state-run camps after being displaced by the government rout of Tamil separatists.He complained that Sri Lankan authorities were not making sufficient progress in implementing a deal reached in May by Colombo and […]

September 23, 2009 (AFP) – Human rights groups urged world leaders Wednesday to pressure Sri Lanka over the immediate resettlement of quarter of a million war-displaced civilians held in state-run camps.New York-based Human Rights Watch said the upcoming UN general assembly as well as the G-20 economic summit in Pittsburgh should address the plight of […]