Category: Politics
Sri Lanka fighting resumes after ceasefire
April 15, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lankan security forces resumed their offensive against Tamil Tiger rebels in the north of the island on Wednesday following a brief holiday ceasefire, the two sides said.The navy attacked two Tamil Tiger boats that tried to approach the coastline on Wednesday, killing at least 10 guerrillas, navy spokesman Captain […]
Sri Lankan rebels say ready for truce, peace talks
April 14, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels said Tuesday they were ready to negotiate a ceasefire with government forces and restart peace talks to halt decades of ethnic bloodshed.The government said it hoped that non-combatants would be able to leave a narrow strip of coastal jungle where they are allegedly held hostage […]
Sri Lanka strips Norway of peace-broker role: official
April 13, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka on Monday stripped Norway of its role as broker of the island’s moribund peace process, a government official told AFP. Sri Lanka formally invited the Scandanavian nation to act as peace broker in January 2000, and Oslo managed to secure a ceasefire between the government and rebels which […]
Sri Lankan military begins two-day ceasefire
April 13, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lankan security forces began a two-day ceasefire on Monday, as the government called for the cornered Tamil Tiger rebels to allow thousands of civilians to flee the conflict zone. The Tigers, who are accused of holding the civilians hostage, have suffered months of battlefield setbacks that could finally end […]
‘s residence
SYDNEY, April 13, 2009 (AFP) – Hundreds of Tamil protesters staged a rally outside Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s official Sydney residence Monday calling for a lasting ceasefire in Sri Lanka. About 300 demonstrators gathered outside Kirribilli House and nearby Admiralty House, the governor-general’s residence, to urge the Australian government to call for Colombo to […]
Sri Lanka declares 48-hour ceasefire in civil war
April 12, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s president on Sunday ordered government troops to halt their offensive against cornered Tamil rebels over the two-day Sinhala and Tamil New Year that starts on Monday. The brief ceasefire is also aimed at allowing more civilians to escape from the remaining rebel-held territory and seek shelter in a […]
‘s Tigers kill five civilians: military
April 12, 2009 (AFP) – Tamil Tiger rebels killed five farmers in southern Sri Lanka on Sunday in an apparent revenge attack for military operations against them elsewhere, the army said. Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fighters killed the farmers in the Buttala area in the far south, more than 300 kilometers (187 miles) […]
Tamil protestors storm Sri Lankan embassy in Norway
OSLO, April 12, 2009 (AFP) – A group of Tamil protesters stormed the Sri Lankan embassy in Oslo Sunday, police said, on the fifth day of demonstrations in the Norwegian capital calling for the end of fighting in Sri Lanka.Even Joerstad, an Oslo police superintendent, told AFP that around 100 Tamil demonstrators tried to storm […]
” Sri Lanka fighting
WASHINGTON, April 9, 2009 (AFP) – International mediators of the conflict that has pitted separatist Tamil Tigers against government forces in Sri Lanka on Thursday called for both camps to cease their “futile” fighting. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) should “permit freedom of movement for the civilians” trapped in the strife-hit northern part […]
” operation for trapped civilians
April 10, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s army announced Friday it had launched an operation to bring to safety thousands of civilians trapped by fighting with Tamil Tiger rebels. The defence ministry statement came as a New York-based human rights group said civilian casualties were “skyrocketing” in the island’s northeast where the rebels have been […]
Rights group slams Sri Lanka over murder probe
April 9, 2009 (AFP) – An international media rights group said Thursday there was a “lack of political will” in Sri Lanka to identify the killers of an anti-establishment newspaper editor. The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders accused Sri Lankan authorities of dragging out the probe into the murder of Sunday Leader editor Lasantha Wickrematunga, who […]
Sri Lanka Tigers threat to Gandhis on poll trail: report
NEW DELHI, April 9, 2009 (AFP) – Indian security officials have warned that the ruling party’s leader and her family could be targeted by Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers ahead of this month’s national polls, a report said.Her son, federal MP and Congress general secretary Rahul, was slated to address rallies in southern India over the […]