Category: Politics

KILINOCHCHI, Sri Lanka, May 21, 2006 (AFP) – Refugees who fled after an alleged military massacre on a northern Sri Lanka islet arrived at the inland Tamil rebel capital at the weekend, and brought their fishing boats with them.“We want to go to a fishing area,” he said. – by Ian Timberlake The 120 people […]

May 22, 2006 (AFP) – A top Tamil Tiger field commander was shot dead in eastern Sri Lanka Sunday by an unidentified gunman, rebel and military sources said. The number two in the Tamil Tiger military wing and its chief intelligence operative in the eastern region — identified as Ramanan — was gunned down in […]

May 20, 2006 (AFP) – Government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels traded artillery fire across a de facto front line in the island’s north Saturday, military officials said.There were no immediate reports of casualties on either side after a 30-minute exchange of fire at Muhamalai in the Jaffna peninsula, but the main entry and exit […]

COLOMBO, May 19, 2006 (AFP) – A European Union ban on Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels will only lead to war in the country, the rebels’ top negotiator said in comments received Friday. The statement by Anton Balasingham came as Sri Lanka’s foreign minister visited Japan where he sought the help of donor nations to […]

COLOMBO, May 19, 2006 (AFP) – The European Union has agreed in principle to blacklist Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels as a “terrorist” group, EU diplomats said Friday, in a move the rebels said would only lead to war in the country. US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Camp […]

OSLO, May 19, 2006 (AFP) – The European Union’s decision to place the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on its list of terrorist organisations risks isolating Norway, which has played a key role in the nation’s peace process, chief negotiator Erik Solheim said on Friday. Norway, which is not an EU member, has mediated […]

TOKYO, May 18, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera called Thursday on donor countries to raise pressure on the Tamil Tigers to resume talks and to curb the rebels’ fund-raising overseas.Samaraweera was in Tokyo ahead of a May 30 meeting here of Sri Lanka’s key financial backers, which comes as killings mount […]

May 18, 2006 (AFP) – A rebel sniper gunned down a soldier at a de facto front line in northern Sri Lanka, the army said Thursday as the country’s foreign minister asked donor nations to pressure Tamil rebels to resume talks.An army statement blamed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for the soldier’s death […]

May 18, 2006 (AFP) – Heavy mortar bomb attacks were reported from Sri Lanka’s restive north-eastern port district of Trincomalee Thursday, residents and police said.Security forces were firing at suspected Tamil rebel positions from which they came under attack overnight, police said as residents said they heard several mortar bomb explosions within a half-hour period. […]

May 17, 2006 (AFP) – The United States is leading international efforts to halt Sri Lanka’s slide back to war, diplomats and officials said Wednesday as four more people died in fresh violence.A US State Department official left here Tuesday, urging the government and Tamil Tiger rebels to resume talks suspended in April 2003 and […]