Category: Politics

June 20, 2007 (AFP) – The Sri Lankan army said Wednesday that two months of fighting aimed at ousting Tamil Tiger rebels from jungles in the east of the island has left 197 dead, the vast majority of them guerrillas. The island’s security forces have been trying to remove pockets of rebels from the Thoppigala […]

June 20, 2007 (AFP) – Nordic monitors in Sri Lanka said Wednesday they would stop issuing rulings on government or Tamil Tiger violations of a 2002 truce that is no longer being respected.The decision comes after more than a year of escalating fighting between Sri Lankan government troops and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil […]

June 20, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s military now has the capacity to shoot down Tamil Tiger light airplanes which have bombed four targets on the island this year, the government said Wednesday. The enhanced capability means the island’s only international airport will soon reopen for night flights after its closure earlier this year as […]

June 19, 2007 (LBO) – Two former Sri Lankan government ministers crossed to the opposition benches of the parliament Tuesday, deepening divisions in the ruling coalition. Mangala Samaraweera and Sripathi Sooriyarachchi, who were sacked from their portfolios after differences with President Mahinda Rajapakse, took their seats on the opposition benches on Friday morning. Samaraweera explained […]

June 19, 2007 (LBO) – Two former ministers of the main ruling party in Sri Lanka said they are forming a new political wing, after crossing over to sit in opposition benches Tuesday, deepening divisions in the ruling coalition. . The Sri Lanka Freedom Party- Mahajana Wing or ‘Peoples’ Wing’ would be formally launched Friday, […]

June 18, 2007 (LBO) – An international mission by rights bodies will take place later this month to asses the deteriorating media freedoms and human rights in Sri Lanka, the Free Media Movement (FMM) said Monday. FMM said the mission made up of 11 bodies including the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), International Media Support […]

June 18, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels on Monday made a fresh pledge to rid their ranks of child soldiers by the end of the year.The rebels, classified as one of the worst offenders in the world for the recruitment of children to fight, made the same promise in 1998 but have […]

June 17, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka has vowed to wage more attacks against Tamil rebels but analysts warn it faces the prospect of devastating retaliation and risks international isolation over rising rights abuses.State-run media said last week that Tamil Tiger rebels were preparing for attacks on the capital’s harbour, oil storage complex and electricity […]

GENEVA, June 15, 2007 (AFP) – Amnesty International urged Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse to invite UN monitors to verify claims of human rights violations by both sides in the country’s bitter ethnic civil war.After meeting the president here Thursday, the watchdog group’s Secretary General Irene Khan said an escalation of rights abuses over the […]

GENEVA, June 15, 2007 (AFP) – President Mahinda Rajapakse of Sri Lanka and senior Sri Lankan officials said Friday that they were taking their own steps to find the truth behind recent killings of humanitarian workers and alleged rights violations.However, Rajapakse stopped short of responding directly to an appeal Amnesty International made to him Thursday, […]

June 14, 2007 (AFP) – A Filipino aid worker has been shot and wounded in northeastern Sri Lanka, a hospital spokeswoman said Thursday. Antonio Villeomour, of the US charity Mercy Corps, was being treated at Colombo’s National Hospital, spokeswoman Pushpa Soysa said. “He is conscious and not in a critical condition,” she told AFP. Villeomour […]

COLOMBO, June 13, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s top defence official has accused Western nations of bullying his government over human rights and defended the eviction of ethnic Tamils from the capital, a report said Wednesday.Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse also rejected warnings from Britain that the former colony risked international isolation over the deteriorating rights […]