Category: Politics
Sri Lanka creates new top military posts: official
July 12, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka on Sunday named its first ever chief of defence staff and created the post of national security adviser to the president as part of an overhaul of the military.President Mahinda Rajapakse’s office said army chief General Sarath Fonseka would take over as Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) from […]
Sri Lankan moderate Tamil party asks freedom for 300,000 war-hit civilians
July 12, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s main moderate Tamil political group Sunday accused the government of holding some 300,000 war-displaced civilians in “open prisons” and demanded their immediate release. The New York-based Human Rights Watch said the squalid camps, which are ringed with barbed wire, were a “national disgrace” and violated international law. The […]
‘s former combatants undergo retraining
WELIKANDA (AFP) – They begin each day saluting the national flag of the country they had vowed to defeat or die trying.Gone are the cyanide capsules that, like all Tamil Tiger rebels, they had worn around their necks for use if captured by the Sri Lankan military. In their place hang religious symbols — a […]
” operations
July 9, 2009 (AFP) – The International Committee of the Red Cross said Thursday it had been ordered by Sri Lanka to scale down relief operations in the island where it has been helping civilian war victims. As a result, the ICRC said it was withdrawing expatriate staff from the battle-scarred northeast which was the […]
Sri Lanka tells foreign aid agencies to scale down
July 9, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka has directed all international relief agencies, including the Red Cross, to scale down operations following the defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels, the human rights minister said Thursday.Mahinda Samarasinghe said the directive was not solely aimed at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) which had first […]
” by Tigers to inflate Sri Lanka tolls
July 8, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lankan doctors arrested for allegedly spreading rebel propaganda before the defeat of the Tamil Tigers told reporters here Wednesday that they were pressured to inflate death tolls. A five-member team of doctors who worked inside the shrinking rebel-held territory during the final stages of the war have been in […]
Sri Lanka troops record first fatality after ending war
July 5, 2009 (AFP) – A Sri Lankan soldier was shot dead by a Tamil rebel in the island’s east, the first military fatality after the crushing of the guerrilla leadership in May, the army said on Sunday.A Tiger rebel grabbed the gun of a soldier and opened fire as he tried to search a […]
Sri Lanka courts politicised, says ICG
July 01, 2009 (LBO) – The Sri Lankan government must reform the country’s judicial system urgently if the military defeat of the Tamil Tigers is to lead to a lasting peace, an international non-governmental advocacy body has said. The Sri Lankan judiciary is not working in a fair and impartial way that secures justice and […]
Sri Lanka arrests astrologer for gloomy predictions
June 26, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lankan police say they have arrested an astrologer after he predicted serious political and economic problems for the government of President Mahinda Rajapakse.Chandrasiri Bandara, who writes an astrology column for a pro-opposition weekly, was taken in on Thursday, police spokesman Ranjith Gunasekara said. “The CID (Criminal Investigations Department) is […]
Sri Lanka hosts meet to thwart terrorist nuclear ambitions
June 24, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is hosting a South Asia workshop organised with the United States to prevent terrorist groups from acquiring nuclear weapons or trafficking in nuclear materials, the foreign ministry said.The workshop, on the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1540 dealing with non-state actors and weapons of mass destruction (WMD), […]
Sri Lanka steps up search for Tiger remnants: report
June 21, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka is pouring more troops into former rebel-held areas in the east of the island to hunt down remnants of the Tamil Tigers following their defeat in the north, a state-run weekly said Sunday.The Tigers have admitted that they lost their top leader Velupillai Prabhakaran in a final battle […]
Sri Lanka should reach out to Tamil: US envoy nominee
WASHINGTON, June 16, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka needs to reach out to its Tamil minority and improve conditions for hundreds of thousands of displaced after defeating Tiger rebels, the nominee to be the next US ambassador said Tuesday. Patricia Butenis, testifying in a Senate confirmation hearing, said she would also press Sri Lanka to […]