Category: Politics

Aug 21, 2012 (LBO) – Japan’s special envoy to Sri Lanka Yasushi Akashi will arrive in the Island Tuesday on a five day visit to assess post war developments, the Japanese embassy in Colombo said. Sri Lanka faces a periodic review at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva this November where the island’s human […]

Aug 16, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will start diplomatic relations with 13 Latin American countries, cabinet spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said. “Promotion of diplomatic relations in a wide scale in this region will be another step forward in Sri Lanka’s foreign policy,” a cabinet paper said. Diplomatic relations will be established with Guatemala, Belize, Nicaragua, […]

August 02, 2012 (LBO) – The United States Thursday welcomed the release of Sri Lanka’s National Action Plan on the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) proposals saying its full implementation will help achieve reconciliation and long term peace. The post war commission appointed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa is seen as a home grown mechanism […]

July 31, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will inevitably be drawn in to power struggle for dominance in the Indian ocean as China increasingly seeks to extend its clout beyond its “traditional areas of operation into the Indian ocean,” a top US political scientist told a gathering in Colombo. Professor Sumit Ganguly, a renowned US […]

July 31, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Tuesday briefed diplomats on the implementation of recommendations of a post war commission that looked into the root causes of the island’s ethnic conflict, ahead of a key UN human rights review later this year. External Affairs minister G.L. Peiris and secretary to the president Lalith Weeratunga has […]

July 27, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s budget for 2013 will allocate funds for state agencies where money is needed to implement recommendations of a commission which went in to the root causes of a civil war, a top official said. Sri Lanka’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), has come up with a number […]

July 05, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will start diplomatic relations with 15 African countries, cabinet spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said. Diplomatic relations will be established with the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, Republic of Malawi, Burkina Faso, Republic of Chad, Republic of Djibouti, Central African Republic, Gabonese Republic, Republic of Cameroon, Republic of Cote d’lvoire, Republic […]

July 2, 2012 (LBO) – The European Union and the United States has called upon Sri Lanka not to suppress media and limit freedom of expression, after the arrest of journalists working for two websites critical of the ruling administration. The two websites are linked to Sri Lanka’s main opposition United National Party. “The Heads […]

July 01, 2012 (LBO) – Karu Jayasuriya, deputy leader of Sri Lanka’s main opposition United National Party has called for an end to arbitrary rule stemming from the current constitution, a report said. “As a member of the UNP, the country’s single largest political party, I believe that the time is right to call upon […]

June 23, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lankan and international media freedom organizations had expressed expressed concern over the removal of an editor of Ceylon Today, a Sri Lankan broadsheet, and said it sought to find out the reasons. œThe dismissal of Lalith Allahakkoon by Ceylon Today is worrying, Reporters without Boraders a Paris based press […]

May 21, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka former army chief Sarath Fonseka walked out of prison on Monday to a hero’s welcome, after President Mahinda Rajapakse ordered his release. Fonseka unsuccessfully tried to unseat Rajapakse in the January 2010 presidential election. The two fell-out as to who should take credit to crush the Tigers in […]

Mar 21, 2012 (LBO) – The United States will not push for economic sanctions on Sri Lanka despite calls for a probe into alleged war crimes, Robert Blake, a top US State Department official said in an exclusive interview. But the government needs to move faster on reconciliation between the island’s main communities after the […]