Category: Politics

COLOMBO, Sept 1, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka has enforced new controls on foreign aid workers after 17 local employees of a French charity were murdered, allegedly by security forces, aid officials said Friday. Local and foreign non-government organisations were told to obtain work permits for expatriate staff by Friday, before the deadline was extended […]

GENEVA, Sept 1, 2006 (AFP) – The International Committee of the Red Cross on Friday pressed Sri Lanka’s warring parties to allow supplies to reach tens of thousands of increasingly desperate people in the isolated city of Jaffna. Reto Meister, head of the ICRC’s Asia-Pacific operations, said the northern city of around half a million […]

Sept 1, 2006 (AFP) – A powerful Claymore mine exploded Friday in Sri Lanka’s northern Jaffna peninsula, killing one soldier and wounding four more, the defence ministry said.The victims were on foot patrol when they were hit, the ministry said. “Five soldiers suffered injuries and were admitted to hospital,” the ministry said. It added that […]

LONDON, Aug 31, 2006 (AFP) – British Prime Minister Tony Blair met Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse on Thursday for private talks on the political situation in Sri Lanka, a spokeswoman for Blair said.Rajapakse has said he was ready for unconditional talks with the Tigers and described the current military action against the rebels as […]

CHENNAI, India, Aug 31, 2006 (AFP) – More than 11,000 Tamil refugees have fled to India since January to escape renewed fighting between the Sri Lankan army and separatist rebels and more are likely to come, officials said Thursday. The figure includes a batch of about 500 refugees who travelled by boat to reach Mandapam […]

COLOMBO, Aug 31, 2006 (AFP) – The Sri Lankan government demanded proof Thursday of allegations by Nordic truce monitors that security forces were responsible for the massacre of 17 aid workers of a French charity. “It is premature to blame the government without any supporting evidence,” Sri Lankan government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said in Colombo. […]

HELSINKI, Aug 30, 2006 (AFP) – Finland, Denmark and Sweden will pull out all their ceasefire monitors from Sri Lanka by the end of the month in response to a deadline set by rebels, officials said on Tuesday.In Helsinki the government said that the 10 monitors return home by Wednesday. Most of the Swedish observers […]

Aug 30 (LBO) – The media rights organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has voiced deep concern about the rapidly deteriorating media freedom in Sri Lanka.The statement came after the abduction of the news director of a Tamil language radio station in Colombo. Nadarajah Guruparan, the news director Sooriyan FM, a part of the ABC radio […]

Aug 30, 2006 (AFP) – An abducted Sri Lankan radio journalist held overnight was freed Wednesday by unidentified men after appeals for his safe return. Nadaraja Guruparan, a member of the minority Tamil community, said he was forced out of his car Tuesday as he drove to his radio station, Surayan FM, but treated well […]

30, 2006 (AFP) – A battle between Sri Lankan troops and Tamil Tiger rebels over a key eastern naval port continued Wednesday with sporadic artillery duels as both sides claimed to have inflicted heavy losses. Sri Lankan defence officials and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said shelling continued in a government offensive […]

Aug 30, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops killed 17 French charity workers and waged a bombing campaign against Tamil rebels, truce monitors said Wednesday, amid fears the nation was headed for full-scale war.As of Thursday, the SLMM will have to carry out its duties with just 30 members instead of 57.The Swedish-led Sri Lanka […]

LONDON, Aug 30, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka rejected as “outrageous” Wednesday a ruling by independent ceasefire monitors that government forces were responsible for the massacre of 17 employees of a French charity. Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera, who was visiting London, told the BBC that the Swedish-led Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) had […]