Category: Politics

July 25, 2010 (LBO) – Vietnam will open an embassy in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo in early 2011, a joint statement following a meeting of deputy foreign ministers of the two countries on the sidelines of a regional group meeting said. Minister Gunawardena had requested co-operation from Vietnam in security intelligence to combat activities of […]

July 21, 2010 (AFP) – The United States pressed Sri Lanka on Wednesday to improve human rights and media freedoms amid charges that security forces committed war crimes during the last days of the island’s civil war. During a one-day visit, US Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake said reconciliation must play a key role […]

JAKARTA, July 15, 2010 (AFP) – Indonesia gave a lukewarm response Thursday to Australia’s plans for a processing centre for asylum-seekers in East Timor, saying it was only a part of a regional solution to people-smuggling. The comments by Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa came after he agreed to meet his Australian counterpart Stephen Smith, […]

KILINOCHCHI, July 14, 2010 (AFP) – The president of Sri Lanka held a cabinet meeting on Wednesday in the northern town of Kilinochchi, the capital of the Tamil Tigers rebels until they were finally defeated last year. Rajapakse’s military offensive triggered international calls for a war crimes probe. The separatist guerrillas controlled one-third of Sri […]

July 13, 2010 (AFP) – The Sri Lankan president and his ministers are to hold a meeting Wednesday in Kilinochchi, the northern town from which the Tamil Tiger rebels once ruled one-third of the island, officials said. Before the rebels were finally defeated last year, Kilinochchi was the capital of a de facto Tamil state […]

UNITED NATIONS, July 9, 2010 (AFP) – UN chief Ban Ki-moon Friday called Friday on Sri Lanka to “normalize conditions” around the UN office in Colombo after days of angry demonstrations over a UN war crimes panel. Following Thursday’s recall of the UN’s top envoy to the island, Neil Buhne, Ban again urges Colombo “to […]

July 10, 2010 (AFP) – A Sri Lankan lawmaker entered the fifth day of a protest outside the main UN compound in Colombo Saturday despite a plea from UN chief Ban Ki-moon for authorities to “normalise conditions”. Ban, who on Thursday recalled the UN’s top envoy to the island, Neil Buhne, on Friday asked Sri […]

July 10, 2010 (AFP) – A Sri Lankan lawmaker ended a “death fast” Saturday outside the main UN compound in Colombo after failing to get the world body to disband a panel probing alleged war crimes in the country. Hundreds of supporters had gathered around him as protest organisers played Buddhist prayers over a public […]

July 10, 2010 (LBO) – Diplomats in Colombo have called upon the government to ensure the security of United National staff and expressed dismay at a ‘blockade’ of its premises in Sri Lanka. Wimal Weerawansa, a government minister who called on protestors to surround the UN office is on fast in front of the UN […]

UNITED NATIONS, July 8, 2010 (AFP) – UN chief Ban Ki-moon recalled Thursday his main representative in Sri Lanka and closed down offices in Colombo that have been the scene of angry protests over a United Nations war crimes panel. “The secretary-general finds it unacceptable that the Sri Lankan authorities have failed to prevent the […]

July 6, 2010 (AFP) – Protesters led by a Sri Lankan cabinet minister surrounded the United Nations office in Colombo on Tuesday to protest at a UN panel set up to probe war crimes allegations. Housing Minister Wimal Weerawansa shouted slogans as protesters broke through a police barricade guarding the office, witnesses said. “We will […]

SYDNEY, July 6, 2010 (AFP) – Australia’s new leader Julia Gillard Tuesday revealed surprise plans to ship asylum-seekers to impoverished East Timor, in a pre-election bid to deter migrants fleeing Asian trouble-spots. Gillard said a regional processing centre would “wreck” the people-smuggling trade that brings dozens of rickety boats to Australia’s north, but denied reviving […]