Category: Politics

July 10, 2010 (AFP) – A Sri Lankan lawmaker ended a “death fast” Saturday outside the main UN compound in Colombo after failing to get the world body to disband a panel probing alleged war crimes in the country. Hundreds of supporters had gathered around him as protest organisers played Buddhist prayers over a public […]

UNITED NATIONS, July 8, 2010 (AFP) – UN chief Ban Ki-moon recalled Thursday his main representative in Sri Lanka and closed down offices in Colombo that have been the scene of angry protests over a United Nations war crimes panel. “The secretary-general finds it unacceptable that the Sri Lankan authorities have failed to prevent the […]

July 6, 2010 (AFP) – Protesters led by a Sri Lankan cabinet minister surrounded the United Nations office in Colombo on Tuesday to protest at a UN panel set up to probe war crimes allegations. Housing Minister Wimal Weerawansa shouted slogans as protesters broke through a police barricade guarding the office, witnesses said. “We will […]

SYDNEY, July 6, 2010 (AFP) – Australia’s new leader Julia Gillard Tuesday revealed surprise plans to ship asylum-seekers to impoverished East Timor, in a pre-election bid to deter migrants fleeing Asian trouble-spots. Gillard said a regional processing centre would “wreck” the people-smuggling trade that brings dozens of rickety boats to Australia’s north, but denied reviving […]

SYDNEY, July 5, 2010 (AFP) – Human Rights Watch urged Australia’s new prime minister on Monday to lift a controversial freeze on Afghan and Sri Lankan asylum claims and end “refugee-bashing” ahead of elections. The New York-based group said Julia Gillard, who has signalled a tough approach on immigration, should resume processing Afghan and Sri […]

BRUSSELS, July 1, 2010 (AFP) – The European Union urged Sri Lanka’s government on Thursday to cooperate with a UN panel probing alleged war crimes during the country’s civil war. “If the EU doesn’t want to give it, let them keep it. I don’t want it. We have gone and explained what we have done.” […]

NEW DELHI, June 28, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s president vowed to resist international calls to investigate war crimes allegedly committed during the country’s civil war in an interview published Monday. President Mahinda Rajapakse told the Times of India he did not care about damage to the country’s image as a result of resisting pressure […]

June 24, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka will ban visits by the three-member United Nations panel investigating alleged human rights abuses in the final months of the island’s civil war, a senior minister said Thursday. Troops finally wiped out the separatist Tamil Tiger guerrillas in May last year after decades of ethnic bloodshed, and the […]

June 23, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka accused the UN on Wednesday of a “hidden agenda” behind its plans to investigate alleged human rights abuses by soldiers in the final months of the island’s savage civil war. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s appointment of a panel to advise on any violations of international human rights was […]

UNITED NATIONS, June 22, 2010 (AFP) – UN chief Ban Ki-moon Tuesday set up a panel to investigate allegations of human rights abuses in the final months of the civil war in Sri Lanka, his spokesman said. Ban launched the investigation “to advise him on the issue of accountability with regards to any alleged violations […]

June 21, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka is “deeply unhappy” at a move by UN chief Ban Ki-moon to name a panel to look into alleged war crimes committed during the final months of the island’s civil war, an official said Monday. Colombo repeated President Mahinda Rajapakse’s protest to Ban in March that the panel […]

June 20, 2010 (AFP) – A visiting Japanese envoy said Sunday his country backed efforts by the United Nations to investigate alleged war crimes committed in Sri Lanka during the final months of its ethnic conflict. Yasushi Akashi, whose country is a major donor to Sri Lanka, ended a five-day visit saying he detected a […]