Category: Politics

Oct 4, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka said Thursday it would not allow the United Nation’s human rights envoy to visit rebel-held areas in the island’s north.The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, is due in Sri Lanka next week to assess the island’s deteriorating rights record, while the UN’s top torture investigator, […]

WASHINGTON, Oct 3, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka cannot be pressured by the international community to bring about a political solution to its long-running separatist conflict, its foreign secretary T.B. Kohona said. He said the government was searching for a political solution broadly acceptable to all the stakeholders while continuing to encourage Tamil separatists to […]

Oct 2, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels Tuesday rejected lingering allegations that they cut a lucrative deal with President Mahinda Rajapakse to ensure his election victory nearly two years ago.The Tigers are leading a drawn-out campaign for independence, and the island’s mainstream political leaders have often been accused of cutting deals with […]

Sept 30, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s military has killed six suspected Tamil Tiger rebels along front lines in the northwest of the island, the defence ministry said Sunday. The military suffered no casualties in the confrontation, which took place in the Kallikulam area in Mannar late Saturday, the statement added. No independent confirmation was […]

Sept 27, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops claimed Thursday they have killed 45 Tamil rebels in the past week as they step up attacks ahead of monsoon rains that will make fighting harder. Security forces have been trying to push into territory held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the past week […]

Sept 28, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lankan and international media rights watchdogs Friday strongly criticized action by a state television broadcaster to suspend four journalists for distributing a leaflet that said their professional rights had been harmed. State-controlled Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC) has sent four of its journalists on compulsory leave after they submitted […]

Sept 26, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse has told the United Nations that his government’s military campaign was aimed at convincing the Tamil Tigers they cannot achieve a military victory in their campaign for a separate state. Addressing the UN General Assembly at its headquarters in New York Tuesday, Rajapakse called on […]

Sept 25, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Free Media Movement (FMM), a media rights watchdog, said Monday it was concerned over an alleged government move to ban reporting on arms purchases. “If such regulations are intended to be promulgated, FMM calls on the government to desist from such a regressive course of action forthwith.” The […]

COLOMBO, Sept 25, 2007 (AFP) – Sixteen people were killed and 39 others injured as security forces clashed with Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka’s embattled north and east, the two sides reported Tuesday.More than 60,000 people have died since the LTTE launched a military campaign for an independent state for minority Tamils in 1972.Four […]

Sept 24, 2007 (AFP) – Heavy fighting between security forces and Tamil rebels in northern Sri Lanka has left at least 27 people dead, military officials said Monday. The LTTE lost at least 20 men in pre-dawn clashes Monday on the Jaffna peninsula, according to the defence ministry. Another three Tigers were killed in the […]