Tag: politics

May 17, 2011 (AFP) – Sri Lanka freed 858 convicts on Tuesday to mark the most important day in the Buddhist calendar, a prison official said. President Mahinda Rajapakse granted freedom to 13 women and 845 men held at 29 prisons across the country to commemorate Vesak, which marks Buddha’s birth, enlightenment and death, commissioner […]

May 17, 2011 (AFP) – Sri Lankan authorities on Tuesday detained a Canada-bound container with a cargo of propaganda material for the island’s Tamil Tiger rebels, a police official said. Police were asked to investigate the consignment of promotional material for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), on its way to Canada from the […]

SYDNEY, May 8, 2011 (AFP) – Australia on Sunday defended plans to send hundreds of asylum seekers to Malaysia, saying it was an important signal to people smugglers, but refugee advocates slammed the proposal as cruel. Australia wants to transfer 800 boat people to Malaysia for processing as part of a yet-to-be-finalised one-off deal which […]

May 1, 2011 (AFP) – The Sri Lankan government used May Day rallies on Sunday to reject a United Nations report that alleged the military may have been guilty of atrocities during the island’s civil war. Roads were decorated in the party colours of blue, red and maroon, while billboards were erected showing the president […]

WASHINGTON, April 29, 2011 (AFP) – A US envoy heads to Sri Lanka next week to encourage a full accounting over its civil war after the government angrily rejected UN-backed allegations of atrocities, officials said Friday. Robert Blake, the assistant secretary of state handling South Asia, will leave Saturday on a six-day trip to Sri […]

UNITED NATIONS, April 27, 2011 (AFP) – The United Nations feared for its staff in Sri Lanka as government troops crushed a Tamil separatist uprising in 2009, UN chief Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday defending the actions of UN agencies. As pressure grew for an international investigation into the killing of “tens of thousands” in the […]

April 27, 2011 (AFP) – Sri Lanka rejected Wednesday what it called a “divisive” and flawed report commissioned by UN chief Ban Ki-moon which holds the government responsible for thousands of civilian deaths in its civil war. “The public release of the report at this stage is divisive, and disrupts our efforts to reinforce peace, […]

UNITED NATIONS, April 25, 2011 (AFP) – The Sri Lankan army killed most of the tens of thousands of civilian victims of a final offensive against Tamil separatists in 2009 but both sides may be guilty of war crimes, a UN panel said Monday. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he could not order an […]

UNITED NATIONS, April 26, 2011 (AFP) – UN chief Ban Ki-moon has said he cannot order an international probe into the killing of tens of thousands of civilians during Sri Lanka’s final assault on Tamil separatists in 2009. His remarks came after a UN panel said Monday that the Sri Lanka military killed most of […]

SYDNEY, April 26, 2011 (AFP) – Australia moved to toughen its refugee stance Tuesday, launching a stricter character test so those convicted of crimes, including rioting, while in immigration detention could be shipped home. Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said the new law, if passed by parliament, would mean any asylum seeker found guilty of an […]

UNITED NATIONS, April 21, 2011 (AFP) – The United Nations insisted Thursday that a report on alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka would be released in full, rejecting demands by the government to hold back the study. “It remains our intention to publish the report of the panel of experts on Sri Lanka in full […]

UNITED NATIONS, April 22, 2011 (AFP) – The United Nations hurtled toward a high-profile confrontation with the Sri Lankan government Friday over international action on alleged war crimes during a military offensive against Tamil separatists. Rejecting a Sri Lankan demand to keep a report by a panel of experts secret, the United Nations said the […]