Category: Defense

May 4, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka on Monday rejected a Canadian call for a ceasefire in the military campaign against cornered Tamil Tiger guerrillas in the island’s northeast, the foreign ministry said.Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama told the visiting Canadian Minister for International Cooperation Beverly Oda that a previous unilateral truce by the […]

May 2, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s defence ministry on Saturday rejected satellite imagery issued by the United Nations in support of allegations that security forces shelled a civilian area. The defence ministry said the allegations based on UN aerial images posted on the UNOSAT website and used on several foreign television channels had “no […]

April 30, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s president on Thursday ruled out halting the military’s offensive against the Tamil Tigers, and warned the rebels that they must give up or be killed.“We have no plans to go for a ceasefire with the Tigers, but they have a little time left to drop their weapons and […]

April 29, 2009 (AFP) – Two prominent members of Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers who surrendered to government troops have made a televised denunciation of the rebels in a major propaganda coup for the island’s authorities.In a video posted late Tuesday on the Sri Lankan defence ministry’s website, the rebels’ one-time spokesman and another official accuse […]

April 29, 2009 (AFP) – The Sri Lankan navy attacked and sank six Tamil Tiger rebel boats and killed at least 25 guerrillas during a pre-dawn sea battle on Wednesday, a navy spokesman said.Naval craft detected the boats off the coast of the last remaining patch of territory still with the guerrillas, spokesman Captain D. […]

April 27, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s military has been ordered to stop using heavy guns and combat aircraft that could cause civilian casualties in the battle against Tamil Tiger rebels, the government said Monday. The Sri Lankan government says its forces have cornered the Tamil Tigers in a small strip of coastal territory in […]

April 27, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers will never surrender and will fight on until their demands are met, rebel spokesman S. Puleethevan told AFP by telephone on Monday. He said fighting was continuing to rage between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and security forces on Monday, a day after the […]

April 26, 2009 (AFP) – The Sri Lanka government rejected a ceasefire declared by Tamil Tiger rebels on Sunday, defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse said, instead demanding that the cornered guerrillas surrender. Rajapakse, who leads the government’s military campaign against the Tigers, said there was no need for a ceasefire as the military was about to […]

April 26, 2009 (AFP) – The Sri Lanka government rejected a ceasefire declared by Tamil Tiger rebels on Sunday, defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse said, instead demanding that the cornered guerrillas surrender. “The ceasefire is purely for humanitarian purposes and the duration will depend on the response of the Sri Lankan government,” Puleethevan told AFP by […]

WASHINGTON, April 25, 2009 (AFP) – The White House on Friday urged an immediate ceasefire in Sri Lanka and voiced deep concerns over alleged violations of international humanitarian law.It was the first statement by President Barack Obama’s White House on Sri Lanka as concerns grow for the fate of thousands of people trapped in a […]

GENEVA, April 24, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva on Friday rejected calls for a humanitarian pause in the Tamil conflict, saying temporary ceasefires did not work. “The largest number of civilians who have come out (of the conflict zone) came out not during the humanitarian pause, not as […]

April 25, 2009 (AFP) – The UN’s humanitarian chief was due in Sri Lanka Saturday as international concern over civilians trapped in the island’s war zone fuelled a White House call for an immediate ceasefire.John Holmes’ three-day mission will focus on pushing the government to facilitate humanitarian missions in and around the conflict zone and […]