Category: Politics

COLOMBO, Nov 23, 2006 (AFP) – Heavy fighting gripped Sri Lanka on Thursday as Tamil Tiger rebels and troops blamed each other for the renewed battles and India sent a top envoy to discuss the worsening violence. Sri Lanka’s defence ministry said war planes pounded bases of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) […]

COLOMBO, Nov 23, 2006 (AFP) – Tamil Tiger peace negotiator Anton Balasingham has confirmed he has terminal cancer but that it is “minor” compared to the “immense suffering” of Sri Lanka’s minority Tamils, a report said Thursday. The London-based Anton Balasingham, 68, who was diagnosed with bile duct cancer last week, also said he was […]

WASHINGTON, Nov 21, 2006 (AFP) – Major donors engaged in efforts to end Sri Lanka’s civil war condemned the government and Tamil rebels alike Tuesday for human rights abuses and systematic violations of a 2002 ceasefire. Senior diplomats from the United States, European Union, Japan and Norway issued a statement expressing “alarm” at the ongoing […]

COLOMBO, Nov 22, 2006 (AFP) – The top peace negotiator for Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels, Anton Balasingham, is terminally ill with cancer, a Tamil newspaper here reported Wednesday. Balasingham had been the main contact for peace broker Norway as well as other key international players involved in attempts to bring about a peaceful resolution […]

COLOMBO, Nov 22, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s government was Wednesday undeterred in its battle against Tamil Tigers, despite heavy criticism dished out to the warring parties after a key international donor meeting.“Even more impatient than us, we believe, are the different people of Sri Lanka.They are suffering from this present atmosphere of fear,” Solheim […]

COLOMBO, Nov 21, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lankan jets bombed a suburb of the Tamil Tiger’s northern political capital Tuesday at what the military said was an insurgent training site. Both the military and the rebels said that casualties or damage assessments were not yet available. A Tamil Tiger military spokesman said the attack was […]

Nov 21 (LBO) – President Mahinda Rajapakse spent the first year in office trying to cobble together a stable coalition but squabbling in the opposition ranks has given him a new opening to call a snap election. The president told his close associates early last month that he did not want to call a snap […]

WASHINGTON, Nov 20 (AFP) – Major donors engaged in efforts to end Sri Lanka’s long-running civil war will meet Tuesday in Washington in the latest attempt to revive peace talks between the government and Tamil rebels, the State Department announced Monday.The Co-Chairs, the sole international mechanism focused on the peace process in Sri Lanka, last […]

Nov 21 (LBO) – President Mahinda Rajapakse spent the first year in office trying to cobble together a stable coalition but squabbling in the opposition ranks has given him a new opening to call a snap election.The president told his close associates early last month that he did not want to call a snap election […]

COLOMBO, Nov 20, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka has sent essential supplies to the besieged Jaffna Peninsula amid local and international concern for half a million civilians trapped there, officials said. A government spokesman said a formal request was offered to relief agencies to support a food convoy by road to the Jaffna Peninsula, virtually […]

COLOMBO, Nov 20, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lankan nationalists led by the island’s main Marxist party Monday demonstrated against a top UN envoy who accused the military of recruiting child soldiers on behalf of a Tamil rebel faction. Hundreds of protestors carried an effigy of special advisor to the United Nations Representative for Children and […]

COLOMBO, Nov 20, 2006 (AFP) – Tamil Tiger rebels set off a land mine in northern Sri Lanka Monday, killing one soldier and wounding three others, defence officials said. The killings added to a weekend toll of 35 people killed according to claims by both sides. The bitter ethnic conflict between Tamil rebels in the […]