Category: Politics

Oct 8, 2007 (AFP) – The head of a prominent Sri Lankan human rights group on Monday accused the island’s government of seeking to “stage-manage” a visit by a top United Nations official.Minority Tamil legislator Mano Ganeshan said Colombo was tightly controlling the five-day visit of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, […]

Oct 7, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s navy attacked a suspected Tamil Tiger ship in international waters, virtually destroying the sea transport capability of the guerrillas, military officials said Sunday.More than 5,400 people have been killed in a new wave of fighting since December 2005 when a Norwegian-brokered truce began to unravel. Naval vessels engaged […]

Oct 6, 2007 (AFP) – Three men were shot dead in execution-style killings in Sri Lanka, police said Saturday, amid heightened international attention on the island’s deteriorating human rights record.Two blindfolded men whose hands had been tied behind their backs were found shot through the head in the northwestern Chilaw area while another body was […]

COLOMBO, Oct 6, 2007 (AFP) – Government forces and Tamil Tiger guerrillas swapped on Saturday the bodies of combatants killed in recent fighting in northern Sri Lanka, doctors said.Government troops sent four bodies of Tamil Tiger rebels to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) through the International Red Cross, a doctor at the Vavuniya […]

Oct 05, 2007 (LBO) – The Sri Lankan government announced Thursday it will soon introduce regulations to protect and compensate victims and witnesses of crimes with the aim of improving the efficacy of the criminal justice system. Policy guidelines have already been prepared by the Attorney General that will help formulate a legal framework to […]

Oct 4, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka on Tuesday called for the expulsion of an Icelandic diplomat who made a clandestine visit to the Tamil Tiger-held north of the island. Sri Lanka’s foreign ministry said it asked Reykjavik to recall Bjarni Vestmann, a minister-counsellor at Iceland’s foreign ministry, after he entered the country on a […]

Oct 4, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka said Thursday it would not allow the United Nation’s human rights envoy to visit rebel-held areas in the island’s north.The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, is due in Sri Lanka next week to assess the island’s deteriorating rights record, while the UN’s top torture investigator, […]

WASHINGTON, Oct 3, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka cannot be pressured by the international community to bring about a political solution to its long-running separatist conflict, its foreign secretary T.B. Kohona said. He said the government was searching for a political solution broadly acceptable to all the stakeholders while continuing to encourage Tamil separatists to […]

Oct 2, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels Tuesday rejected lingering allegations that they cut a lucrative deal with President Mahinda Rajapakse to ensure his election victory nearly two years ago.The Tigers are leading a drawn-out campaign for independence, and the island’s mainstream political leaders have often been accused of cutting deals with […]

Sept 30, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s military has killed six suspected Tamil Tiger rebels along front lines in the northwest of the island, the defence ministry said Sunday. The military suffered no casualties in the confrontation, which took place in the Kallikulam area in Mannar late Saturday, the statement added. No independent confirmation was […]

Sept 27, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops claimed Thursday they have killed 45 Tamil rebels in the past week as they step up attacks ahead of monsoon rains that will make fighting harder. Security forces have been trying to push into territory held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the past week […]

Sept 28, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lankan and international media rights watchdogs Friday strongly criticized action by a state television broadcaster to suspend four journalists for distributing a leaflet that said their professional rights had been harmed. State-controlled Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC) has sent four of its journalists on compulsory leave after they submitted […]