Tag: lbo

COLOMBO, Nov 24, 2006 (AFP) – Renewed fighting in Sri Lanka’s embattled northern and eastern regions has left at least 30 people dead, according to defence ministry figures Friday. The bitter ethnic conflict has claimed at least 60,000 lives since it began in 1972. Security forces killed 19 Tamil Tiger rebels in two clashes Thursday […]

COLOMBO, Nov 24, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka will seek India’s help to step up patrols of their common maritime border to prevent drug and arms smuggling and cross-border terrorism, President Mahinda Rajapakse said Friday. Rajapakse said he was also keen to boost bilateral trade with India, currently running at an annual two billion dollars, […]

COLOMBO, Nov 24, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s president on Friday asked foreign relief agencies to help supply food and other essentials to half a million civilians trapped in the embattled northern Jaffna peninsula. President Mahinda Rajapakse said essentials had been shipped to the peninsula, 400 kilometres (250 miles) north of the capital, but distribution […]

COLOMBO, Nov 23, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lankan soldiers backed by tanks and artillery launched a fresh ground offensive Thursday into territory held by Tiger guerrillas in the east of the island, a rebel spokesman said. The bitter ethnic conflict has claimed at least 60,000 lives since it began in 1972. Troops were advancing into […]

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 […]

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 […]