Tag: politics

June 3, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka needs a new diplomatic drive to win in the international arena, after defeating terrorism in the country, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said in a nationally televised address. “Many countries have helped us,” President Rajapaksa said. “We appreciate it very much. “The hearts of our people will remember it.” Government […]

June 2, 2009 (AFP) – A Sri Lankan journalist was recovering in hospital Tuesday after being beaten up near the capital Colombo as a rights group expressed renewed concern for the safety of the island’s media. Poddala Jayantha, secretary of the Sri Lanka Working Journalists’ Association, was abducted near his home and severely attacked with […]

UNITED NATIONS, June 1, 2009 (AFP) – UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Monday categorically rejected allegations the world body had deliberately underestimated the death toll in the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.“I categorically reject — repeat categorically — any suggestion that the United Nations has deliberately underestimated any figures,” he told the UN General Assembly. […]

May 31, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka on Sunday rejected growing calls to probe human rights violations amid allegations that thousands of civilians perished in the final battle against Tamil separatists. A report in the Times of London newspaper on Friday citing confidential UN reports said that more than 20,000 non-combatants were killed by Sri […]

June 1, 2009 (AFP) – A Sri Lankan media rights activist was hospitalised Monday after being beaten by unidentified attackers near the capital Colombo, a doctor and journalists said.Poddala Jayantha, secretary of the Sri Lanka Working Journalists’ Association, was abducted near his home and was severely attacked with sticks and later dumped in a suburb […]

May 30, 2009 (AFP) – Amnesty International called Saturday for an independent probe into the number of civilians killed in the final weeks of Sri Lanka’s civil war and also urged the UN to reveal its own estimates. The call by the rights group followed a report in the Times of London newspaper on Friday […]

WASHINGTON, May 28, 2009 (AFP) – President Barack Obama on Wednesday named US ambassadors to Japan, India and Sri Lanka, amid heightened tension in Asia over North Korea’s nuclear tests, unrest in Pakistan and ethnic tension in Sri Lanka. Obama named longtime technology-focused lawyer John Roos as US ambassador to Japan, and named Democratic former […]

May 28, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka celebrated a major diplomatic victory Thursday after managing to torpedo Western demands for a probe into alleged war crimes committed during the offensive against Tamil Tiger rebels. A little more than a week after government troops defeated the separatist army, the island’s diplomats managed to lobby Asian support […]

GENEVA, May 28, 2009 (AFP) – The UN human rights chief and campaign groups insisted Thursday that an independent probe should be held into violations in Sri Lanka although the UN’s top rights assembly turned down such calls UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay maintained her demand for an investigation into abuses allegedly […]

BRUSSELS, May 28, 2009 (AFP) – The European Union expressed regret Thursday at the failure to launch a probe into alleged war crimes committed by the Sri Lankan military during its offensive against Tamil Tiger rebels.On Wednesday, the UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution proposed by Sri Lanka and non-aligned states that welcomed Colombo’s […]

May 27, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka said Wednesday it was confident of averting an international probe into alleged war crimes committed during its offensive against the Tamil Tigers. At the council meeting, two draft resolutions have been put forward — each one at odds in their approach to the aftermath of the conflict. The […]

GENEVA, May 26, 2009 (AFP) – UN human rights chief Navi Pillay on Tuesday called for an international investigation into attacks on civilians during the final stages of the civil war in Sri Lanka.“There are strong reasons to believe that both sides have grossly disregarded the fundamental principle of the inviolability of civilians,” Pillay told […]