Category: Politics

COLOMBO, Sept 19, 2007 (AFP) – A top international panel on Wednesday accused Sri Lanka of failing to honour promises to investigate grave human rights violations and accused the government of a virtual cover-up.The 11-member International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP) said a government probe into 16 high-profile cases, including mass murder, had failed […]

COLOMBO, Sept 19, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse Wednesday appointed his younger brother as a member of parliament, officials said, in a move which tightens the family grip on power.Basil Rajapakse, senior adviser to the president, replaced a ruling party legislator who died last week, parliamentary officials said. Sri Lanka’s parliamentary system […]

COLOMBO, Sept 19, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s lengthy separatist conflict is compounding problems of malnutrition on the island, an international charity said Wednesday.“The prevailing conflict and the frequency of droughts, floods and landslides have further increased poverty and reduced people’s access to food,” Action Aid senior official Rohitha Rajindra said in a statement. Nearly […]

Sept 18, 2007 (AFP) – The Asian Human Rights Commission asked the United Nations Tuesday to intervene to end extra-judicial killings in Sri Lanka, where it said at least 50 people were killed in the last month alone.It accused the Sri Lankan government of failing to prevent a wave of killings allegedly carried out by […]

COLOMBO, Sept 17, 2007 (AFP) – Navy chiefs in Sri Lanka organised a party Monday to welcome back teams involved in what they claim was the government’s biggest success to date against Tamil separatists. The six patrol craft and their supply ships were reported last week to have sunk three Tamil Tiger gun-running ships in […]

TRINCOMALEE, Sri Lanka, Sept 17, 2007 (AFP) – A top Sri Lankan official said Monday that Tamil Tiger rebels need to be defeated, an apparent shift in the government’s previously stated intention to negotiate.Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse, who is the brother of the island’s president, argued that unless this were achieved, any political solution to […]

Sept 17, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s top business chamber wants to create a lobby group to push for peace but at the same times has acknowledged the necessity for a limited military campaign against Tamil Tigers. Mahen Dayananda, Ceylon Chamber of Commerce chairman, said its leaders had recognized it was almost impossible to separate […]

September 16, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s defence establishment has told the business community that it was working to a plan to defeat Tamil Tiger terrorism that would create the stability they needed for investment. “For you to do your business, first there must be a country,” Gothabhaya Rajapakse, Secretary to the Defence Ministry, was […]

COLOMBO, Sept 16, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops stepped up search operations for Tamil rebels in the embattled north and east after 28 people were killed in a new wave of fighting at the weekend, officials said Sunday. More than 5,400 people have been killed in fighting in the past 21 months following the […]

Sept 15, 2007 (LBO) – An international media rights body expressed outrage after police asked a journalist to reveal his sources over a story about a car allegedly imported by a ruling party politician’s son. “After last month’s death threats against investigative journalist Iqbal Athas, this new case shows that it is getting more and […]

Sept 15, 2007 (AFP) – A roadside bomb set off by suspected Tamil Tiger rebels killed at least two government soldiers and wounded seven others in northern Sri Lanka, the defence ministry said on Saturday.More than 5,400 people have been killed in fighting in the past 21 months following the breakdown of a Norwegian-brokered truce. […]

Sept 15, 2007 (AFP) – At least 26 people, including two security personnel, were killed in a fresh wave of violence in Sri Lanka’s embattled north, the defence ministry said on Saturday.More than 5,400 people have been killed in fighting in the past 21 months following the breakdown of a Norwegian-brokered truce. The two soldiers […]