Category: Politics

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 […]

June 12, 2007 (LBO) – Britain’s minister for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Kim Howells says his country will not lift the ban on the Tamil Tigers, and has called on both sides to the conflict to respect human rights. Dr Kim Howells MP Minister of State Foreign and Commonwealth Office June 12 2007 Howells […]

June 12, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s president has called for “careful study” of a critical report that said the island is failing to investigate grave human rights abuses, a spokesman said Tuesday. President Mahinda Rajapakse was speaking after an international panel said a commission appointed to investigate 16 high profile cases, involving murder and […]

June 11, 2007 (AFP) – Britain Monday asked its former colony Sri Lanka to end its military campaign and resume peace talks with separatist Tamil Tiger guerrillas.“The situation in Sri Lanka looks darker now than my last visit in February, where there were many hopes of an all-party political solution that would create a basis […]

June 11, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka was Monday accused of dragging its feet despite a promise to tackle major human rights violations, as Western diplomats warned they will deny visas to security personnel linked to abuses.An 11-member panel of international experts said a presidential commission of inquiry into cases including the massacre of aid […]