Category: Politics

Jan 11, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lankan war planes carried out fresh raids Friday on rebel-held territory in the north, the defence ministry said, reporting 30 more guerrillas killed in ground fighting.Jets hit a naval base of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at Alampil, the ministry said, adding that the facility was destroyed. […]

Jan 11, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s top business chamber came out in support for state television workers who broadcast live a government minister’s attempt to intimidate its news chief and called for better governance from law makers. It also called on government law enforcement agencies to act speedily on complaints of threats to the […]

Jan 11, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s government said Friday it was pressing ahead with efforts to defeat the Tamil Tigers and dismissed rebel talk of restoring a ceasefire.Presidential spokesman Chandrapala Liyanage said the rebels had made no formal offer to revive a truce, playing down a statement from the Tigers the previous day that […]

Jan 9, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka has increased its already tight security arrangements for members of parliament following the death of a cabinet minister in a suspected Tamil Tiger bomb attack, officials said Wednesday.The number of bodyguards and security vehicles assigned to lawmakers was stepped up after Tuesday’s roadside bombing just outside the capital […]

Jan 8, 2008 (AFP) – A Sri Lankan government minister and six other people were wounded on Tuesday in a powerful roadside bomb attack between the capital Colombo and the island’s international airport, officials said.“Minister of Nation Building, D.M. Dassanayake, was injured in the attack,” military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara told AFP by telephone. Police […]

Jan 8, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lankan government minister D.M. Dassanayake died in hospital Tuesday after his convoy was hit by a powerful roadside bomb near the capital, doctors said.The minister for nation building suffered severe head injuries in the attack and died while undergoing surgery, doctor Lalini Gunasekera said. Police said a fragmentation mine […]

Jan 08, 2008 (LBO) – The European Union (EU) has stepped up pressure on Sri Lanka after the government withdrew from the truce with the Tamil Tigers, with its external relations chief calling for a peace deal that goes beyond previous “failed” offers. The EU’s Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner […]

A powerful roadside bomb exploded Tuesday outside Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo that hit a convoy carrying a government minister, police said.Police said there were no immediate reports of casualties from the explosion which targeted the convoy of Building Minister D.M. Dassanayake, about halfway between Colombo and the international airport..

Jan 7, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka Monday took exception to a statement by Nordic nations which voiced distress over the situation in the Indian ocean island, where the government abrogated an Oslo-arranged truce.With fighting escalating in recent months, Colombo now believes it has the upper hand over the rebels and is in a position […]

Jan 06, 2007 (LBO) – Top donors to Sri Lanka who funded the island alongside a recently scrapped peace deal with the Tamil Tigers may meet this week to review their future course of action, a media report said. “It is likely that the Co-chairs would participate in a teleconference to review the situation that […]

Jan 6, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse’s top advisor on the peace process quit Sunday, after the government scrapped an Oslo-brokered truce with Tamil Tiger rebels. Jayantha Dhanapala, a diplomat and former candidate for the post of UN secretary general who was appointed as peace advisor in December 2005, said he was […]

Jan 5, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka urgently needs an international rights monitoring mission following Colombo’s decision to pull out of a ceasefire pact with Tamil rebels, a London-based rights group said Saturday.The Minority Rights Group International said Colombo’s decision to formally withdraw from the ceasefire deal with the rebels would result in escalating violence. […]