Category: Politics

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 […]

COLOMBO, Nov 20, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels Monday scoffed a government offer to send supplies to the besieged Jaffna peninsula as a “political gimmick” aimed at appeasing the international community. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said they had no formal word from the government about its offer to send […]

Nov 19, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse came to power promising a new approach to peace.But as he marks the end of his first year in office Sunday, the country continues to be wracked by violence, pushing its defence budget to a record high. The International Monetary Fund warned last week the […]

COLOMBO, Nov 19, 2006 (AFP) – At least 35 people died in weekend sea, air and land battles between Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels and security forces, according to claims by both sides Sunday.The Sri Lankan navy said it killed at least 15 Tiger guerrillas after sinking three craft off the island’s northwest coast on […]

November 18, (LBO) – The convention of the main opposition in Sri Lanka went ahead without the rebel faction led by its deputy leader being present, deepening the divisions within the party, United National Party sources said.Three rebels last week lost a court challenge which questioned a decision by a top party body not to […]

COLOMBO, Nov 19, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s main media rights group Sunday expressed concern over a death threat against a Tamil television host after a show in which he discussed the assassination of a Tamil legislator.The Free Media Movement said television talk show host J.Sri Ranga was told of the death threat after he […]

Nov 18, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s navy and Tamil Tiger rebels Saturday claimed they had sunk each others’ craft in a sea battle off the northwestern coast as seven people were killed following a mine blast elsewhere. The island’s northeastern seaboard is a vital supply route for security forces and civilians in Jaffna. The […]

Nov 17, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops killed at least 18 Tamil Tiger guerrillas in three separate confrontations in a restive eastern province, the defence ministry said Friday. An upsurge in fighting in the past year in the island’s separatist conflict has claimed more than 3,300 lives. The clashes were in the district of […]

NEW DELHI, Nov 16, 2006 (AFP) – India’s prime minister has expressed deep concern over rising civilian deaths in Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict, saying there was no justification for the violence, the Press Trust of India reported.Manmohan Singh, in a letter to the chief minister of southern Tamil Nadu state M. Karunanidhi, said he planned […]