Category: Politics

VIENNA, May 27, 2006 (AFP) – The European Union is expected to put Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers on its list of terrorist groups next week, a spokesman for the EU’s Austrian presidency said Saturday. The Palestinian group Hamas, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the armed Basque separatist group ETA are on it.The EU move, […]

NEW DELHI, May 27, 2006 (AFP) – Norway’s top peace envoy to Sri Lanka, Eric Solheim, said Saturday a major crisis was brewing in the tropical island and that it could be headed back to full-scale civil war. Norway was committed to its role as facilitator despite the problems in the situation, he said. “We […]

May 26, 2006 (AFP) – Norway’s top peace envoy held lengthy talks with Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse Friday in a fresh bid to stop the island from drifting back to war, diplomats said.More than 60,000 people have been killed in the island’s Tamil separatist conflict since 1972.Oslo’s International Development Minister Erik Solheim arrived Friday […]

May 26, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers have released 16 youths who lied about their age to join the guerrilla movement, the rebels said in a statement received Friday.The Tigers maintain that their fighters are volunteers.“During the period of April and May, LTTE released 16 youths aged 15, 16 and 17 back to […]

May 25, 2006 (AFP) – The Tamil people are preparing for war and nobody can defeat them, a top Sri Lankan rebel military commander was quoted as saying Thursday.Colonel Jeyam, of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), was quoted by the pro-rebel Tamilnet.com website at a memorial ceremony for another senior rebel commander who […]

May 25, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s twin-tower World Trade Centre banned vehicles Thursday fearing a car bomb attack by Tamil separatist rebels, police and tenants of the complex said.As part of stepped-up security measures, the 39-storey office complex in the heart of Colombo blocked all vehicles from entering, Colombo’s police chief Pujith Jayasundara said. […]

LONDON, May 25, 2006 (AFP) – An impending European ban on the Tamil Tiger rebels will leave the group with little choice but to engage in peace talks, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse said in an interview published here Thursday.The European Union is expected to add the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to its […]

May 25, 2006 (AFP) – Deadly mine attacks and a bomb scare in Sri Lanka’s capital Thursday brought home the challenge faced by a Norwegian envoy who was set to arrive to salvage peace talks and a tattered ceasefire. Peace broker Oslo’s top envoy Erik Solheim, due to arrive Friday for talks with President Mahinda […]

May 24, 2006 (AFP) – Three security personnel died in a mine blast Wednesday, the Sri Lanka military said, as a Norwegian peace envoy arrived to salvage a collapsing ceasefire that has sparked mounting international concern.Oslo’s number two peace emissary, Jon Hanssen-Bauer, arrived Wednesday and will be joined by the country’s top peace envoy Erik […]