Category: Politics

June 4, 2006 (AFP) – Eight inmates, among them two Tamil Tigers being held for firearm offences, broke out of a jail in Sri Lanka’s restive eastern province Sunday after overpowering their guards, an official said.The men, brandishing a firearm, escaped from the main prison in Batticaloa, 300 kilometres (190 miles) east of here, as […]

June 4, 2006 (AFP) – Two soldiers and a bus station guard have been killed in separate attacks in Sri Lanka’s troubled northeast, the military said Sunday.A Claymore mine attack in the district of Mannar killed a soldier and wounded three others while a similar explosion killed another trooper in the northern peninsula of Jaffna […]

June 4, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s warring parties Sunday sent their respective delegations to Oslo, the capital of peace broker Norway, to discuss the safety of Nordic monitors amid a collapsing ceasefire, officials said.A five-member delegation of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was brought by military helicopter to the island’s only […]

June 2, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s military Friday sought public support to step up security in the main city of Colombo amid fears of bomb attacks by Tamil Tiger rebels. Military spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe said residents should alert the authorities to any suspicious individuals or activity in their neighbourhoods. He said 11 telephone numbers […]

COLOMBO, June 2, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s president launched talks with opposition parties Friday to hammer out a plan to grant autonomy to separatist Tamil rebels as the United States warned against a return to full-scale war. The meeting with major parties of the majority Sinhalese community was underway to agree a path to […]

June 2, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka moved closer Friday to granting more autonomy to minority Tamils under a new initiative backed by the opposition, as the United States warned against a return to full-scale war on the island.“Even though we will be having second or third-level talks in Oslo next week, the signal it […]

June 1, 2006 (AFP) – The United States Thursday pledged “tangible military cooperation” with embattled Sri Lanka, but warned the government here against a return to war with Tamil Tiger rebels.Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian affairs, Richard Boucher, said they will strengthen military ties with Sri Lanka, but worried that the […]

June 1, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse urged political parties Thursday to develop a plan that involves giving some power to minority Tamils in exchange for peace, his office said.Rajapakse said he has asked majority Sinhalese political parties meeting here Friday to come up a plan to end violence with Tamil Tiger […]

HONG KONG, June 1, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse Thursday called on more countries to follow the lead of the European Union and label the Tamil Tigers as a terrorist organization.In an opinion piece in the Asian Wall Street Journal, Rajapakse said foreign governments should do more to stop the flow of […]

June 1, 2006 (AFP) – An office of a Tamil political party was bombed in Sri Lanka’s restive eastern province and two party activists were gunned down elsewhere Thursday, the military said.The office of the pro-government Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) came under attack in the town of Batticaloa, 303 kilometres (190 miles) east of […]

May 31, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s media Wednesday reacted to the European ban on Tamil Tiger rebels largely along ethnic lines, but all agreed that the proscription should not lead to renewed war.Newspapers intended mainly for the island’s majority Sinhalese community welcomed the European Union ban Monday on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam […]

KUALA LUMPUR, May 31, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels are believed to be channeling funds through Malaysia and Singapore to buy weapons in the region, Sri Lanka’s foreign minister said according to a report Wednesday. Mangala Samaraweera said in an interview with the New Straits Times that he had informed his Malaysian […]