Category: Politics

Dec 8, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka is to bolster its air force by buying four Mig-27s from Ukraine as its battle with the Tamil Tiger rebels intensifies, a government minister said Friday. Policy Planning Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said Ukraine would also overhaul four identical ground attack aircraft already with the island’s airforce. The four […]

Dec 7, 2006 (AFP) – A powerful explosion blew up a pipeline supplying water to parts of the capital and immediate suburbs, police said Thursday.There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast at Boralesgamuwa, just south of Colombo, late Wednesday. There were no casualties or damage to other property, police said. Water supply […]

PARIS, Dec 7, 2006 (AFP) – Western aid groups warned of a growing struggle to help Sri Lankan victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami and of the country’s war, four months after the massacre of 17 aid workers, and blamed bureaucracy for blocking their work.“The humanitarian situation is catastrophic,” said Aloysius John, head of Asia […]

COLOMBO, Dec 7, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s president has warned that democracy must not come in the way of battling terrorism, after his government moved to revive tough laws to bolster their battle against the Tamil Tigers. In his televised address, broadcast overnight Wednesday, Mahinda Rajapakse said the Tamil Tigers were scuttling the chances […]

Dec 7, 2006 (AFP) – At least seven civilians and two soldiers were killed in fresh violence in Sri Lanka hours after the government announced tough anti-terror laws to battle Tamil Tiger rebels, officials said.Three civilians were killed and 10 students were wounded when Tamil Tiger rebels shelled a school in the northeastern district of […]

COLOMBO, Dec 6, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka Wednesday invoked tough anti-terror laws targeting the Tamil Tigers, but said it was not banning the rebels and asked peacebroker Norway to help bring them back to the negotiating table. The new regulations declared by President Mahinda Rajapakse did not directly name the Tamil Tigers and left […]

COLOMBO, Dec 5, 2006 (AFP) – At least 19 people have been killed in fresh violence in Sri Lanka as peace broker Norway cancelled a meeting with Tamil Tiger rebels, defence officials said Tuesday.Two soldiers and 15 guerrillas were killed in a confrontation in the eastern district of Batticaloa on Monday while 19 troopers were […]

Dec 05 (LBO) – Relief Agency the American Red Cross said Tuesday that it will give ten million dollars in cash grants to over 3000 Sri Lankan families to rebuild their homes destroyed in the tsunami two years ago. The tsunami that struck on December 26, 2004 extensively damaged or destroyed about 100,000 homes and […]

COLOMBO, Sept 6, 2006 (AFP) – A French charity Tuesday announced it is resuming its operations in Sri lankan, four months after 17 of its local employees were gunned down, allegedly by security forces. The Action Against Hunger (Action contre la Faim, or ACF) had in September reduced its number of staff by 60-70 percent […]

COLOMBO, Dec 3, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s government asked peace broker Norway to suspend contacts with the Tamil Tiger rebels as it came under intense pressure Sunday to ban the guerrillas and end an Oslo-backed peace initiative. Norwegian peace envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer was told that his planned visit to the rebel-held town of Kilinochchi […]

Dec 2, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lankan police detained two people over an attempt to assassinate the president’s brother, officials said, as 11 people were killed in fresh fighting.The Police Criminal Investigations Department took into custody two men who owned the auto-rickshaw used in Friday’s suicide bombing targeting Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse’s heavily armed convoy […]

COLOMBO, Dec 1, 2006 (AFP) – The brother of Sri Lanka’s president narrowly escaped Friday when a suspected Tamil rebel suicide bomber blew himself up in the heart of Colombo, killing at least one soldier, police said.In all, more than 60,000 people have been killed in the island’s separatist campaign since 1972. Updated Gotabaye Rajapakse, […]