Tag: news

TOKYO, June 27, 2007 (AFP) – Japan, the single largest donor to Sri Lanka, on Wednesday expressed concern about the human rights situation in the island nation during a visit by Colombo’s foreign minister, the government said. Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso raised “the Japanese public’s heightening concerns over the human rights situation in Sri […]

GENEVA, June 25, 2007 (AFP) – A bullet being used in an investigation into the killings in Sri Lanka of 17 aid workers last August may have been removed from evidence, an international legal watchdog said on Monday. The International Commission of Jurists said its observer on the probe, senior British lawyer Michael Birnbaum, found […]

June 25, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka ruling party two-man rebel faction led by sacked former foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera has invited the Marxist-nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) for talks. The duo has accused the government of corruption, nepotism and autocratic rule and claimed the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party has no internal democracy. In […]

June 24, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s peace broker Norway said here Sunday it will hold a meeting of the island’s key financial backers this week in a bid to stop the latest wave of bloodshed.Andreas Michaelis will represent the European Union Presidency and James Moran will represent the European Commission. The formal meeting on […]

June 24, 2007 (AFP) – Peace broker Norway is holding a crucial meeting with Sri Lanka’s top aid donors this week in a bid to halt a new wave of bloodshed, but analysts Sunday said they see little prospect of a breakthrough.The military maintained it was unsafe for diplomats to travel to the de facto […]

June 23, 2007 (AFP) – International donors will meet in Oslo next week to review Sri Lanka’s worsening bloodshed and look for a way to revive a moribund peace process.But even without international help, Sri Lanka earns 2.5 billion dollars annually from nationals employed abroad, helping to sustain high defence spending in a country where […]

June 21, 2007 (AFP) – At least three soldiers were killed and another wounded in a roadside bomb attack Thursday in northern Sri Lanka, military officials said.More than 60,000 people are reported to have been killed in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam’s separatist campaign since 1972.A Claymore mine exploded as troops travelled in a […]

June 22, 2007 (AFP) – At least two Tamil Tiger rebels were killed when they detonated their explosives-laden boat off Sri Lanka’s northeastern coast Friday, naval sources said.More than 60,000 people are reported to have been killed in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam’s separatist campaign since 1972. A navy patrol was about to detain […]

June 22, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court on Friday delayed hearing a case challenging the eviction of minority ethnic Tamils from Colombo, which police said was undertaken to root out Tamil Tiger rebels.The legal challenge to the eviction was filed by local lobby group the Centre for Policy Alternatives. The court set the […]

COLOMBO, June 22, 2007 (AFP) – International media rights activists on Friday described Sri Lanka as one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists due to a worsening climate of violence and censorship. Almost 5,000 people have been killed since December 2005, according to official figures, while over 1,000 people are reported […]