Category: Politics

December 31, (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s defence secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapakse, the brother of the country’s president had escaped a suicide assassination attempt, officials said.The blast had killed at least one person and injured 14 others, police said.The convoy of Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse had been targetted in the morning blast near the Citi Bank branch […]

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, […]

Nov 30, 2006 (AFP) – Two soldiers and three policemen were killed Thursday when their pick-up truck was hit by a commuter train at an unprotected level crossing near the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, police said.Sri Lanka has stepped up security across the country after Tamil Tiger rebels announced Monday that they had no option […]

Nov 30, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s peace initiative was flawed from the start and the island now faces an immediate prospect of more violence, the International Crisis Group (ICG) warns.The conflict resolution experts note however in a new study received here Thursday that neither government forces nor the Tamil rebels appear able to defeat […]

Nov 30, 2006 (AFP) – A top Norwegian peace broker arrived in Sri Lanka Thursday, a diplomat said, as Tamil Tiger separatists insisted government forces have killed off an Oslo-brokered ceasefire. Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict has claimed at least 60,000 lives since it began in 1972. Envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer was to hold separate talks with […]

Nov 29, 2006 (AFP) – The Tamil Tigers have renewed a campaign to partition Sri Lanka, but the guerrillas already have a surreal separate “state” of their own.The Tigers usually sign off their communications with “thirst of the Tigers is Tamil Eelam”. But a former Sri Lankan defence minister said it was not a state […]

Nov 29, 2006 (AFP) – A convoy of food on Wednesday reached 40,000 people trapped by weeks of heavy fighting in the island’s restive east as artillery exchanges died down, a relief official said. The first 20 trucks out of more than 100 vehicles arrived at the rebel-held town of Vakarai bringing food and medical […]

Nov 29, 2006 (AFP) – A rebel bid for an independent Tamil state in Sri Lanka has run into outright international rejection with the United States leading calls for new peace talks and an end to bloodshed. A second round of peace talks this year collapsed in Geneva last month over the government refusal to […]

HANOI, Nov 28, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s prime minister Tuesday said peace talks with Tamil Tigers will go on and urged the guerrillas to stop “terrorism” a day after the rebel leader said the minority must have an independent state.“There is terrorism and there is negotiations,” said Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayaka, speaking during a […]

Nov 28, 2006 (AFP) – A solemn vow by the veteran Tamil rebel leader that his people will now pursue their own independent state has set the stage for a return to full-scale war in Sri Lanka, analysts said Tuesday.“He has gone for a declaration of war,” former Tamil separatist turned politician Dharmalingam Sithadthan told […]

OSLO, Nov 28, 2006 (AFP) – Norway on Tuesday said that while it did not see the need for new initiatives, it would remain in contact with both the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers following the rebel leader’s declaration that the peace process was defunct.“We are prepared to assist the parties, but we […]

Nov 28, 2006 (AFP) – The Sri Lankan government has written to peace broker Norway to ask if the island’s peace process is over after Tamil rebels declared it defunct, a spokesman said Tuesday.“We want a clarification from the Norwegians if the peace process is still on,” said defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella. The demand was […]